Culture

“Aren’t we forgetting the true meaning of Christmas? You know, the birth of Santa,” asks Bart Simpson. We wince, and wonder if this is how the post- Christian world really sees us. Have Santa and Jesus coalesced into a single mythical character of indeterminate age and girth, a miracle worker who is great with kids? There is no denying that ...

Michael Leunig has made teapots, ducks, crescent moons, fish and flowers an enduring fixture in the Australian cultural landscape. Perhaps best known for his cartoons, which feature regularly in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Leunig’s latest collection of artwork, Holy Fool, instead draws heavily from his other works: paintings, etchings, mixed-media collages and sculptures. Leunig’s work is always ...

With the upcoming release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire at the end of November, buzz is once again gathering around the franchise, originally a trilogy of books written by Suzanne Collins. In September, the first book of the The Hunger Games series was discussed on Jennifer Byrne’s ABC show, Books that Changed the World—alongside titles including Darwin’s The Origin ...

“I used to think Jesus motivated us with ultimatums, but now I know he pursues us in love.”—Bob Goff Love is something that is often talked about, but it seems to be rarely understood. Bob Goff’s book, Love Does is a rarity. Although it is a memoir, it is not just an appreciation of Goff’s achievements and commitments—many and varied ...

Being an inclusive community of faith with respect to adolescents with developmental disability is not just about the “how”. It is not just a pragmatic question of leadership, or support mechanisms, or developmentally appropriate programming. It is a question about who we are as the people of God, and the reality that we are not all we can be if ...

Good science fiction doesn’t just tell us where we are going, it explores where we are now. Although set in Los Angeles and directed by a South African, Elysium actually feels like it could have been made for an Australian audience. Writer-Director Neill Blomkamp’s first feature District 9, as well as some of his short films, has given him a ...

It is easy to overlook the stories of others when we do not have a name and a face to put to them. The power of getting to know others personally is indisputable and can completely change our worldview, but getting to know people who are radically different from us is a challenge. Oceans—both literal and metaphorical—separate us, preventing us ...

A lot of noise has been made about the Christian themes contained in the latest effort in the Superman franchise, Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder. Warner Bros has even specially marketed the film to Christians, hiring Dr Craig Detweiler, a communications professor at Pepperdine University, to write a series of sermon resources to accompany the film. Superman comics ...

The Mark Burnett-produced series, The Bible, aired on Channel 9 in July to 1.2 million viewers and was the number one show in the timeslot, beating Winners and Losers and Master Chef. It also trended well across social media in the lead up to its broadcast. Some would say airing it after the Country Women’s Association-friendly The Great Australian Bake ...

Two friends immediately spring to mind when reading Rob Bell’s new book What We Talk About When We Talk About God. The first would call himself an atheist. One might say he is potentially intrigued by the idea of God, but utterly unconvinced of the existence of God, especially from a scientific point of view. My second friend is a ...