Culture

Continuum 2009 RRP $30.95 Reviewed by Alan Renton During more than 50 years as country minister and retired minister I have made many friends with men and women whose lives have been distorted and traumatised by dysfunctional homes, unsatisfactory child-care "homes" and abuse. This book is a must read for those who believe that the God we know in Christ ...

Lion Books, 2009 RRP $19.95 Reviewed by Sue Pickering, minister at Trinity Wilston Uniting Church and a passionate social justice advocator. Stop the Traffik is campaign against human trafficking and this book provides some facts about this trade. People all over the world are victims of trafficking with around 80per cent of trafficked people being women and girls and up ...

Lion Children’s, 2009 RRP $19.95   Reviewed by John Ruhle, minister at The Gap Uniting Church   Bedtime Stories for Little Angels is a collection of 10 “delightful stories of mirth and mischief which will bring every little angel’s day to a perfect ending” and bring sweet dreams.  I read the stories with my three, five and seven-year-old girls and ...

Morehouse Publishing, 2009 RRP: $34.95  Rev Mel Perkins is Families Minister at Aspley Uniting Church .     The author starts her introduction with the story of the little boy who needs “God with skin on” to help him through his night-time fears. We all need “God with skin on” in our lives, myself included, which is why I jumped at ...

Darton, Longman & Todd, 2008  RRP $38.95 Reviewed by Karyl Davison, Rural Ministry Coordinator, Presbyteries of Mary Burnett and Central Qld  It is perhaps one of the greatest ironies in the church throughout the ages that despite the radical message of the gospels, and the Genesis 1 assertion that all people are made in God’s image, the church has often ...

Paulist Press, 2009 RRP $19.95 Reviewed by Rev Paul Clark, minister at Burdekin Uniting Church, children’s author and puppeteer. I received this book just before Christmas. The predominate word I’ve got for it is ‘nice’. God goes on Vacation has got nothing to do with Christmas. It tells the story of a very human God who goes on vacation, because, ...

Australian Academic Press, 2009 Reviewed by Rev Brian Lee, a Uniting Church minister who worked in India for many years and has learned much about living in a multifaith society. He has also been involved in multifaith discussion and action in Australia. In Us and Them Dr Ata gathers together and comments on a number of academic papers dealing with ...

RRP$24.95 Reviewed by Jan Bryde, pastor and member of Thursday Island Uniting Church. This is a great little book (only 126 pages) for those of us that are busy and can’t always read a huge novel or long chapters each day. The book is in 4 sections: Ourselves, Jesus Life, Jesus Death and Resurrection and God. Within each section there ...

Authentic, 2009 RRP $22.95 Reviewed by John Ruhle, minister at The Gap Uniting Church. The full title of this book is The Blood and the Blues: Daring Escapes, Dangerous Songs. The Legacy of Slavery’s Underground Railroad. That in effect is the heart of the book. The first section of the book is devoted to issue of slavery in America and ...

David Lovell Publishing Melbourne, 2009 RRP $24.95 Reviewed by James Huges. Father Ted Kennedy, the Catholic priest in Redfern, is a personal hero of mine so I was glad to be able to review a book about his life and ministry. This passionate advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people died on 17 May 2005 (the same day as ...