Culture

Canoe the mountains? Yep, it’s the question author Tod Bolsinger wants us to ask when we first scan the title of this vital contribution to the field of Christian leadership in a post-Christendom era. Post what? (And I’m unsure how to pronounce ‘Christendom’.) It’s okay – that’s not the significant bit. What makes Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted ...

Australians are generally not very good with struggle, suffering and grief. We rarely choose to look at these things if there is anything else that can take our attention. But they are a part of life for all of us in one season or other; we will all need to travel through them and find a path to a sense ...

Wesley Mission Queensland celebrated with the graduates of the Emerging Leaders Program with a ceremony on Thursday, June 23. Congratulations to the graduates who demonstrated commitment, enthusiasm and openness throughout the program; their desire to become great leaders has helped the initiative succeed.

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Queensland artist Uncle Jo Stuurman talks about his work and the enduring link between art, family, culture and spirituality. My name was originally Joseph Cuttabut, I am a Noongar from Western Australia. My people were at Carrolup Mission near Katanning during the Forties. I was adopted out as so many of us were at the time. As a child I ...

Is faith fervour? Or a holding on in the company of doubt? Two rather different novels explore what it means to live out faith in the world. Nick Mattiske reviews. Little Faith is set in what has been called “flyover country”, that neglected part of America, midwest small towns where there is a different pace, where there is more contact ...

World-renowned religious author Karen Armstrong explores the value of scripture in an increasingly secularised world and ponders whether we’ve lost our ability to engage with faith texts as spiritual tools rather than binding rules. Nick Mattiske reviews. Karen Armstrong’s epic study of the way scripture developed in the religious traditions of Europe, the Middle East and Asia begins back in ...

Rev Dona Spencer was born in and grew up in Atherton, far north Queensland, where colour, texture and pattern feature strongly in the local tropical/farming landscape. She is the minister at Kenmore Uniting Church, Bremer Presbytery. Which artwork do you consider to be your most significant? A piece of work which has come to be of meaning and significance is ...

Miroslav Volf and Matthew Croasmun’s latest book may challenge readers in the church to think deeply about what is theology in today’s Christian context and what role it plays in shaping future Christians but, as Nick Mattiske writes, their work is timely and urgent. For those outside the church, if they even know what theology is, theology is as redundant ...

Meet Uniting Church artist Cees Sliedrecht, who was born and educated in The Netherlands. Cees moved from a career in business management and education about ten years ago to focus on the visual arts, including art tutoring Australia-wide and in Europe. In the beginning I mainly work in watercolour, using a detailed pen drawing as a basis. My style is ...