Memory matters

Review by Nick Mattiske

Book | Collected Short Fiction | Gerald Murnane

Gerald Murnane is one of our finest writers and was recently shortlisted for the Miles Franklin award for his latest novel Border Districts.

But his fiction, including the recently released Collected Short Fiction, is a strange kind of fiction, reading more like nonfiction, and as ...

Divine nature

Review by Belinda Clear

Album | Finding Faith | Andrew Tierney and Timothy Dunfield

This contemporary Christian album features songs written by Andrew Tierney of Human Nature fame and Timothy Dunfield, a worship pastor from Canada.

It is an album that will appeal to those familiar with contemporary Christian music and those who are ...

Still incredible after all these years

With school holidays approaching we asked budding film critic Emily Gittins, aged 14, to give us a review of the long-awaited sequel to a Pixar family favourite.

Review by EMILY GITTINS

Film | The Incredibles 2 | PG

It has been a long time since The Incredibles (2004, PG) left us on a cliffhanger with the attack of the Underminer.

...

Split decision

Review by TIM LAM

Film | Come Sunday | M

Carlton Pearson was one of the most popular preachers in America during the 1990s, his Pentecostal mega-church regularly drawing more than 5000 worshippers.

But when he saw footage of starving children in Rwanda, Pearson had an epiphany: Jesus died for all humanity and ...

Rescue hut

Review by Nick Mattiske

Book | The Shepherd’s Hut | Tim Winton

In Tim Winton’s fiction, reconciliation, sacrifice, redemption and the like work themselves out in the lives of society’s fringe-dwellers – those not usually thought of as upright, moral citizens.

In Winton’s latest novel, The Shepherd’s Hut, main character and narrator Jaxie is a ...

Age appropriate

Review by Jean Warriner

Book | Old Old Age: A Brief Guide | Ian Hansen

This book is written by a man in his late 80s. He tells of how the world has changed greatly from the one he grew up in.

Early in his life there was no electricity or any of the ...

Apostle’s journey

Review by Nick Mattiske

Book | Paul: A Biography | Tom Wright

A new book from Tom Wright is always notable, even at the pace he churns them out. Here he returns to probably his biggest topic, Saint Paul.

This book is conceived as a popular biography, rather than another book on Paul’s theology, ...

What Did Jesus Look Like?

BOOK | WHAT DID JESUS LOOK LIKE? | JOAN TAYLOR

Review by Nick Mattiske

Jack Broadbent is an English blues guitarist who has been described as having the ‘Jesus’ look.

We can instantly picture this – thin, European good looks, full beard and long straight hair – almost certainly, ironically, not how Jesus actually looked.

Joan Taylor, in What did ...

Food for thought

Review by Nick Mattiske

Book | Call of the Reed Warbler| Charles Massy

Our supermarket shelves may be groaning under the weight of stock, but it is increasingly obvious that our food economy is a problem.

Monoculture crops and overly processed foods can lead to obesity, heart disease and cancer with fewer nutrients ...

Rising hope

Review by Karel Reus

Book | The Day the Revolution Began | TOM Wright

Wright seeks to answer these questions, or at least throw light on them, in the context of a continuing theological debate. He argues that neither conservatives nor liberals have “seen the bodily resurrection as the launching of God’s new creation within the present ...

Mental battle

Review by Jean Warriner

Book | Joy Interrupted | Geoffrey Lilburne

This book could be very helpful to any Christian who has ever struggled with mental illness, especially depression, or knows someone close who has done so.

Christians can sometimes feel, or may even have been told, that if they are mentally ill it is ...

Star struck

Review by David Southwell

TV | Louis Theroux: Savile | ABC iview

Louis Theroux has made a career out of asking awkward questions but in this documentary he has to answer them.

Louis Theroux: Savile is a 2016 follow-up to the previous program When Louis met Jimmy, where Theroux spent several days inquisitively ...