Tag Archives: Book Review

Rebecca, an ordained minister of the United Methodist Church and a seminary president and Rita, a theologian and researcher, explore through their own individual experiences, deep and difficult theological perspectives and teachings of Western Christianity in relation to issues of family violence, physical, sexual and emotional abuse, racism, addiction, homophobia and post-traumatic disorders. The detailed analysis of their life experiences ...

Testing Tradition and Liberating Theology is a little Aussie gem from our own pre-eminent lay theologian Dr Val Webb.  Webb’s goal in this book is to unlock theological process from the rarefied academic world of the seminary and encourage everyone to do their own theological thinking, “rather than continually accepting the often dumbed-down scraps from the altar of others”. Testing ...

The easiest way to tell what anyone believes, what they value, is to look at how they behave and how they spend their time and money. It becomes uncomfortable when, through either our own realisation or by someone else pointing it out, our external behaviours don’t match up with what we say we value. The problem is worse for those ...

When I was younger, making ethical decisions seemed a fairly straightforward process. As a Christian I had the Bible and centuries of Christian tradition to draw on when it came to making wise ethical choices—all pretty black and white and all pretty easy to understand. Now I am older things seem much greyer. As a practising Christian and in the ...

Breathtaking in scope and certainly ambitious in prospect, Adam Hamilton has written an important book that many people in congregations will find stimulating, challenging and, in the end, comforting. With clear and understandable language, this book is not only an invaluable resource for ministers, but also a must-read for the growing number of book clubs Uniting Churches are establishing. This ...

Somewhere around age 16, I got worn out by the charismatic evangelical youth group culture where I had been spending most of my free time. I had been to what seemed like hundreds of camps, conferences and youth rallies all around Australia, each with its own stadium rock worship band, multithousand dollar lighting rig and intense preacher who used words ...

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 ...