Tag Archives: review

This is a book the church really needs. Many people in our communities are affected by mental illness of one kind or another, but how do our church communities respond? This book identifies people who fall through the gaps or are even damaged by contact with churches and looks at what can be done about it. Let’s look at some ...

This is the story of young missionaries Don and Olive Boorman, who left Brisbane in the 1930s to serve in Fiji with the Methodist Missions and their momentous decision to leave in 1940, as researched by their daughter Noela Boorman. In times past, in missionary biographies, faith conquered all, and missionaries were venerated as superhuman. In Tala Tala (Fijian for ...

Pastrix – the cranky, beautiful faith of a sinner and saint Nadia Bolz-Weber Jericho Books, 2013 RRP $22 Frank, amusing and profoundly moving; this book is Nadia’s faith journey told through anecdotes from her life, with vulnerability and disarming simplicity. The theme of death and resurrection weaves through the book, as Nadia tells her story of the down-and-out alcoholic who ...

The Book Thief, written by Sydney-based author Markus Zusak, is one of Australia’s most successful recent cultural exports. It is a story set in Nazi Germany, narrated by Death and follows a girl who loves to steal books. The film adaptation, directed by Brian Percival (best known for directing several episodes of Downton Abbey) is a mixed success, but still ...

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 ...