thinking honestly about life and faith
I am greatly enjoying Tim Winton’s The Boy Behind the Curtain. It shows him to be a deeply reflective man, a person of spiritual and ethical sensitivity as well as dedicated and hard-working in his life as a writer. The … Read More »
I have greatly enjoyed reading Tom Keneally’s novel Crimes of the Father, which is set in 1996 and relates to the stories of victims of priestly sexual abuse, the official processes of the Catholic Church in Sydney (and some very recognisable … Read More »
Parting is not such sweet sorrow: actually it is very difficult. As I approach the end of my time at Whitley College, where I have worked for 26 years, there are a lot of endings. So here I want to … Read More »
Today, July 19th 2016, it is exactly 100 years since what has been called the worst 24 hours in Australian military history: at Fromelles in Northern France, 1,917 Australians were killed and 3,416 were wounded. This was part of the great … Read More »
I’ve been delighted to discover David Brooks’ book The Road to Character. It will be a great resource in many ways, including for my upcoming course on ‘Lives of Faith’. Brooks has written a very personal book about a number … Read More »
The saying ‘All will be well’ is central to the thought of Julian of Norwich. I’ve been enjoying reading a small book exploring her thought, The Gift of Julian of Norwich, written by Karen Manton and illustrated beautifully by Lynne Muir. … Read More »
I’m really enjoying Randall Balmer’s biography of Jimmy Carter, Redeemer. This semester I am going to be teaching a course on biographies and I’m halfway through this new one about the life of a truly impressive person. I say impressive not … Read More »
I’ve greatly enjoyed David Malouf’s The Writing Life, a collection of his reflections and talks about writing, many of them offering insights not only into his own experience but the lives of other great writers as well. One really superb … Read More »
The words of Peter, Paul and Mary’s song, ‘When will they every learn?’ spring to mind, as we engage yet again in a bombing war in Iraq and adjoining countries. Except it is not ‘they’, but us. When will we … Read More »
Peter McKinnon’s novel The Songs of Jesse Adams is a good read. It’s his first novel and is a vibrant story of a rock star, set in the late 60s, culminating in 1970, and has all the passion, vision and energy of … Read More »