Culture

Secrets of Super Achievers By Philip Baker Bookwise International and Lion Publishing RRP $19.95 If you watched the Commonwealth games you will know the Microsoft advertisement in which Kieran Perkins says “I believe everyone can be great at something, for me, it just happened to be swimming”. “I agree” would shout Philip Baker in his book Secrets of Super Achievers ...

God’s Politics: why the American right gets It wrong and the left doesn’t get it By Jim Wallis A Lion Book, 2005 RRP $24.95 As a leader of Sojourners, a radical Christian community based in Washington DC, Jim Wallis has been a challenging prophetic figure for decades. God’s Politics, written against the backdrop of the American Presidential election of 2004, ...

Beyond the Boundary: a memoir exploring ethics, politics and spirituality By Noel Preston Zeus Publications, 2006 RRP $28.95 This memoir is a very Australian story of personal faith and social responsibility over the past forty years. Noel Preston has been a public face of Christian discipleship, particularly in Queensland and in the Methodist and Uniting Churches, throughout those years. More ...

The Da Vinci Code Directed by Ron Howard 149 minutes Rated M The movie is never as good as the book. That is a fair statement. While the Da Vinci Code basically follows the plot of the book, screen writer Avika Goldsman and director Ron Howard got around having to cut the 600 page book down to two and half ...

There’s something intriguing about a book that comes with a warning. As I grab hold of this book, the cover warns me of the contents. This is no normal evangelism book. If I am looking for an evangelism book that offers sales pitches and argument techniques, then I should keep looking. But if I am ready for something new and ...

Tsotsi Directed by Gavin Hood Palace Films (M) A young thug living in a shanty town outside of Johannesburg gets more than he bargained for when he steels a car (and shoots the female owner) only to find a baby sleeping quietly in the back seat. Orphaned at a young age and with little respect for the lives of others ...

The Aussie Bible (Well, bits of it anyway) Re-told and presented by Kel Richards DVD Divine Entertainment RRP $25.95 A few years ago I took a youth group on a chalk chase where we nearly got into a street fight with some older boys who were wandering the streets. That night it so happened that devotions were on some of ...

Jesus: The Complete Guide Edited by Leslie Houlden Continuum RRP $69.95 Notwithstanding its slightly over-ambitious subtitle, this is an impressive book. Leslie Houlden has assembled 117 scholars to produce a 922-page encyclopaedic overview of Jesus’ life, mission, context and historical impact. The range of the more than 200 alphabetically-arranged entries is vast and transcends the categories usually covered in one ...

Kokoda Directed by Alister Grierson Palace Films(M) Kokoda, filmed in Mt Tamborine with a cast of relatively unknown actors, attempts to capture the essence of the collective will which turned back the Japanese invasion of Papua New Guinea during World War 2. The film follows a small patrol of inexperienced Australian soldiers cut off from their supply lines; Jack, his ...

The Wonderful World of CS Lewis’ NarniaBy Linda and Robert Banks. Bible Society NSW RRP $5.95 or$50 for a pack of 10 This small booklet of five discussion group studies follows the release of the movie The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe which is based on the children’s book written by C.S. Lewis. The studies reflect a growing interest ...