Mission and the art of powerful questions

In my sharing with gathered communities across our Church, I am convinced we are helped by those among us who can ask ‘powerful questions’.

Powerful questions is a term made popular by Canadian business strategist Eric Vogt who was convinced that:

  • questions are a prerequisite to learning;
  • questions are a window into ...

Wonder full

Review by Penny Mulvey

Movie | Wonder Woman | M

The basic premise of a superhero movie is that good triumphs over evil. The only grey to the story is that the personification of ‘evil’ has experienced something which tipped him (evil in the genre is normally male) into the world of darkness.

Historic truth

Review by Suzanne Yanko

Book | The embarrassed colonialist | Sean Dorney

Sean Dorney is an Australian journalist who has probably been the most trusted voice on Papua New Guinea affairs since he arrived in Moresby as a rookie ABC reporter in the early 70s. His thesis in this slim volume is simply that Australia needs ...

Stranger than fiction

Review by Nick Mattiske

Book | The Stranger in the Woods | Michael Finkel

One day in the 1980s a young man fed up with the modern world abandons his car by the side of the road and disappears into the woods of the northeast United States, where he remains for the next 30 years, living ...

Pope fiction


Review by TIM LAM

TV | THE YOUNG POPE | M

In the 2000-year history of the Roman Catholic Church, there has never been a Pope quite like Pius XIII, the fictional pontiff played by Jude Law in the new HBO series The Young Pope.

Born Lenny Belardo, Pius XIII is the first American Pope and the youngest ...

Believe it or not


Review by MATTHEW JULIUS

BOOK | DISBELIEVING DISBELIEF: HOW THE NEW ATHEISTS MAKE ATHEISM UNBELIEVABLE | PHILLIP BROWN (ED.)

Disbelieving Disbelief collects essays written in response to the New Atheist convention held in 2012. New Atheism grew in part as a reaction to September 11, 2001 and the editor frames the collection with this reference. (Phillip Brown ...

Keep telling


Review by PENNY MULVEY

MOVIE | DON’T TELL | M

The unspoken grief and brokenness of a father – a secondary victim of the destructive effects of sex abuse – ripples through a new Australian movie, Don’t Tell, a compelling true story about one young life deeply scarred by a teacher’s callous disregard for the sanctity of ...

Open invitation

Review by TIM LAM

BOOK | THEOLOGY OF THE OPEN TABLE | EOJIN LEE

The Eucharist is one of the most significant sacraments in Christianity. But the question of who is welcome to receive the Body of Christ has generated much debate amongst theologians and biblical scholars over the centuries.

While some churches such as the Uniting Church practice ...

Finding forgiveness

Review by NICK MATTISKE

BOOK | FROM GENOCIDE TO GENEROSITY | JOHN STEWARD

At the time of the Rwandan genocide, it was said that there were no more devils in Hell because they were all in Rwanda. In 1994, ...

Age old story


Review by PENNY MULVEY

PLAY | MINNIE & LIRAZ

My mother, quoting my grandmother, regularly reminds her three daughters that ‘ageing is not for wimps’. The latest production from the Melbourne Theatre Company bears this out.

Minnie & Liraz by Melbourne playwright Lally Katz puts paid to the myth that as people age they become meek sweet ...

Inspirational art

REVIEW BY PENNY MULVEY

EXHIBITION | THE 64TH BLAKE PRIZE

The number of entrants to the 2016-2017 Blake Prize is testament to the ongoing interest in religion and spirituality.

The 64th Blake Prize, Australia’s prestigious religious art prize, received a staggering 594 entries, which the judges whittled down to 80 finalists. Of those, 26 are part of the Casula ...

Blinding insights

Review by David Southwell

MOVIE | NOTES ON BLINDNESS

For John Hull the experience of totally losing his sight became something of a spiritual quest.

That’s not such a surprise considering he was the son of a Melbourne Methodist minister who became a theologian and eminent religious educator.

John’s determination to wrest a sense of meaning from his mid-life ...