JourneyOnline
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 than that, he has played a significant part in the social development of the state.
In this volume he uses his remarkable memory and his incisive analytical skills to provide us with a most helpful assessment of recent Queensland history, particularly during the years of upheaval between the 1970s and 1990s.
He also deals with central public issues, including nuclear disarmament, the rights (including the land rights) of Aboriginal people, civil liberties, corruption, and public governance.
This book is helpful in the way in which it locates these issues within the wider political, social, ethical and theological debates of his time, and then draws out the implications for Christianity.
However, these memoirs are more than that with the location and analysis intertwined with Preston’s own biography and involvement in each issue, all recounted with great candour and integrity.
His reflections on the existential issues of his life are moving and a source of strength for all who read them. In particular, the account of living with cancer, and his reflection on the nature of love, human and divine, are of great value.
The book is attractively written and the drama of Preston’s involvement in turbulent events makes the narrative exciting. It provides a most valuable and comprehensive source for the history of the Uniting Church, especially in Queensland.
Beyond the Boundary is a book for all who wish to understand Queensland, and for all who wish to appreciate social responsibility and social ethics, both within the church and within a liberal democracy.
Rev Professor James Haire
President of the National Council of Churches
Read more about this book at www.noelpreston.id.au
