Eremos

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• A New Climate for Theology
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 1 May 2009
  A New Climate for Theology, Sallie McFague, Fortress Press, Mineapolis, 2008  There are many reasons why this book is relevant to us. After her wonderful book, Life Abundant, she wasn’t... More...
  
  
• Amazing Encounters
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 26 November 2009
  Amazing Encounters, Direct Communication from the Afterlife. Elizabeth Nowotny-Keane. David Lovell Publishing, Kew East, Victoria, 2009. I begin my reviews for this issue with a book which I haven’t finished reading... More...
  
  
• Back on the Block
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 26 November 2009
  Back on the Block: Bill Simon’s Story, by Bill Simon, Des Montgomerie and Jo Tuscano, Aboriginal Studies Press, Sydney, 2009.  There are parts of Bill Simon’s story which are almost... More...
  
  
• Being in Ministry
  Review posted by Stephanie Dowrick - 18 November 2010
  Being in Ministry: Honestly, Openly, and Deeply.  Douglas Purnell. Wipf & Stock, Eugene, 2010 For relatively contemporary accounts of ministry or the priestly life, Roman Catholics have largely been much better... More...
  
  
• Blessed Twice
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 1 May 2009
  Blessed Twice, Lynn Galli, Outskirts Press, Inc, Denver, Colorado, 2008.  This is a novel, not especially well written but interesting because it tells, in a fairly matter-of-fact way, the story of... More...
  
  
• Christianity and Process Thought
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 25 May 2007
  Christianity and Process Thought, by Joseph Bracken, Templeton Foundation, Philadelphia, 2006.  This book is a good example of Process Theology. Its subtitle Spirituality for a Changing World .really suggests why... More...
  
  
• Confession of a Buddhist Atheist
  Review posted by Walter Mason - 10 August 2010
  Confession of a Buddhist Atheist by Stephen Batchelor. Released March 2010, published by Spiegel & Grau.  Stephen Batchelor enjoys a reputation as a troublemaker in the Buddhist world. A kind of... More...
  
  
• Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church
  Review posted by Clive H Norton - 15 May 2008
  Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus. John Garratt Publishing, 2007. Available from Aquinas Academy 02 9247 4651.Bishop Geoffrey Robinson’s book was first published... More...
  
  
• Consecrated Religious Life
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 25 August 2007
  Consecrated Religious Life: the changing paradigms, (Diarmuid O’Murchu. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, 2006,) is an excellent sequel to his earlier books. The title might suggest that it is for the... More...
  
  
• Dark Nights of the Soul
  Review posted by Mary Emeleus - 8 June 2010
  Dark Nights of the Soul by Thomas Moore (Piatkus, 2004) This is a book I have returned to many times. It is also a book I have had to replace many... More...
  
  
• Doing Girlfriend Theology
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 25 May 2007
  Doing Girlfriend Theology, Dori Baker, The Pilgrim Press, Cleveland, Ohio, 2005.    You will remember, if you were a student or a teacher at an independent school, that there was a subject... More...
  
  
• Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life
  Review posted by Hedley Beare - 15 May 2008
  Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life by Christopher Jamison, London, Phoenix Paperback, 2007 ($24.95)In 2005 the Benedictine Abbey at Worth in Sussex invited five men to sample the monastic... More...
  
  
• Florence Nightingale: The Making of a Radical Theologian
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 25 May 2007
  Florence Nightingale: The Making of a Radical Theologian, Val Webb, Chalice, 2002.    Until I read this book, I thought Florence Nightingale’s main contribution was in nursing training and hospital management. It was... More...
  
  
• Following Jesus in Invaded Space
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 26 November 2009
  Following Jesus in Invaded Space: doing theology on Aboriginal Land, by Chris Budden. Pickwick Publications, Eugene, Oregon, USA, 2009.  Chris Budden’s book reminds me of some of the feminist theology... More...
  
  
• Great Souls: Six Who Changed the Century
  Review posted by David Cohen - 15 May 2008
  Great Souls: Six Who Changed the Century by David Aikman, Word Publishing 1998.The author, a former Senior Correspondent for Time magazine, has written what has been described as a book... More...
  
  
• Holy Conversations: Strategic planning as a spiritual practice for congregations
  Review posted by Doug Dargaville - 3 August 2009
  Holy Conversations: Strategic planning as a spiritual practice for congregations by Gil Rendle and Alice Mann, Alban Institute 2003   Over the last 50 years there have been a number of... More...
  
  
• I Met God in Bermuda
  Review posted by Drew Hanlon - 5 May 2011
  I Met God in Bermuda, Steven Ogden, O Books, Arlesford, 2009.  This is a book that logically follows the progressive realism of contemporary Christian theology and spirituality in the west.... More...
  
  
• In Search of Paul
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 27 November 2007
  In Search of Paul: How Jesus’ Apostle Opposed Rome’s Empire with God’s Kingdom. John Dominic Crossan & Jonathan L. Reed. Harper. San Francisco. 2005.    In Search of Paul claims to... More...
  
  
• In the Company of Rilke
  Review posted by Douglas Purnell - 18 November 2010
  In the Company of Rilke. Stephanie Dowrick. Allen and Unwin. Sydney. 2009 I loved this book. I read it slowly. It was a conversation that I wanted to savour. Long after I... More...
  
  
• In the Eye of the Storm
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 1 August 2008
  In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God by Gene Robinson, Seabury Books, New York, 2008.  I agree with Joan Chittister that this book is grounds for... More...
  
  
• Into the Silent Land
  Review posted by Anne B Udy - 15 May 2008
  Into the Silent Land by Martin Laird, OSA. Oxford University Press, New York, 2006. This book is, as Rowan Williams says, ‘a rare treasure’. The abbess of Redwood Monastery in... More...
  
  
• Jesus Rediscovered?
  Review posted by Eric Stevenson - 1 February 2011
  Jesus Rediscovered? Lloyd Geering. St Andrews Trust, 2010 The visit to Sydney this year of a grand old pioneer and brilliant scholar of progressive religion has prompted me to study this... More...
  
  
• Like Catching Water in a Net
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 25 August 2007
  Like Catching Water in a Net: Human Attempts to Describe the Divine. Val Webb. Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. New York & London. 2007. This book is scheduled for launch in USA... More...
  
  
• Living the Journey
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 27 November 2007
  Living the Journey: Everyday Heroes tell their Story. Bridget McKern. A&A Book Publishing, Leichhardt, NSW. 2007.  This book is by Eremos member, Bridget McKern. This is Bridget’s second book. Her first book was... More...
  
  
• Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time
  Review posted by Harry Graves - 15 May 2008
  Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time by Marcus Borg, Harper Collins, USA, 1995.I have been reading Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time. It richly rewards a return visit.... More...
  
  
• No Fixed Address - Faith as Journey
  Review posted by Douglas Dargaville - 8 June 2010
  No Fixed Address - Faith as Journey by John Bodycomb  The title is intriguing. I have visited John at home and he doesn’t appear to be moving out! But as he... More...
  
  
• No god but God: the Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam
  Review posted by Val Webb - 15 May 2008
  No god but God: the Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan, Random House, New York 2006.This is a highly readable account of the evolution of Islam by... More...
  
  
• Parenting for a Peaceful World
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 25 August 2007
  Parenting for a Peaceful World, Robin Grille, Longueville Media, NSW, 2005.  Robin Grille’s website www.our-emotional-health.com might be a good place to start of you would like to see some of... More...
  
  
• Peace Begins Here
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 24 August 2006
  Peace Begins Here: Palestinians and Israelis Listening to each other, Thich Nhat Hanh, Parallax Press, Berkeley California, 2004. Thich Nath Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who is a prolific writer,... More...
  
  
• Saving Jesus from Those Who are Right
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 25 May 2007
  Saving Jesus from Those Who are Right: Rethinking what it means to be Christian, Carter Heyward, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1999.  This book also uses Process Theology and demonstrates what feminism... More...
  
  
• Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope
  Review posted by Anne Bailey - 3 August 2009
  Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope by Joan Chittister, W B Eerdmans 2005   In Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope, Sr Joan Chittister, OSB takes the Bible story of Jacob... More...
  
  
• She Who Changes
  Review posted by Tony Newman - 11 September 2012
  She Who Changes: Re-Imagining The Divine In The World by Carol Christ, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2003. Can we re-imagine divine power as deeply involved in the changing world? Can we... More...
  
  
• Spirit Matters
  Review posted by Frances MacKay - 1 February 2011
  Spirit Matters: How making sense of life affects wellbeing.  Peter Kaldor, Philip Hughes and Alan Black. Mosaic Press, 2010 There is no denying that we live in a context of spiritual... More...
  
  
• Spirituality, Mythopoesis and Learning
  Review posted by Frances MacKay - 18 November 2010
  Spirituality, Mythopoesis and Learning, ed. by Peter Willis, Timothy Leonard, Anne Morrison, Steven Hodge, Post Pressed, Mt Gravatt, 2009. I have always been drawn to mythopoesis, although I would not have... More...
  
  
• Stepping out with the Sacred
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 18 November 2010
  Stepping out with the Sacred: Human Attempts to Engage the Divine. Val Webb.  Continuum International Publishing Group, 2010. Val Webb writes again! Our own Eremos member and popular contributor has written... More...
  
  
• Stepping Out With the Sacred: Human Attempts to Engage the Divine
  Review posted by Anne Deane - 5 December 2011
  Stepping Out With the Sacred: Human Attempts to Engage the Divine. Val Webb. Continuum. London and New York, 2010. It never ceases to amaze me that while the energy and vibrancy... More...
  
  
• The Coming of Lileth
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 1 May 2009
  The Coming of Lilith: essays on Feminism, Judaism and Sexual ethics, 1972-2003; Judith Plaskow (edited with Donna Berman), Beacon press, Boston, 2005  Judith Plaskow became a feminist in 1969, the year... More...
  
  
• The First Paul
  Review posted by Suzanne Vernon - 24 September 2012
  The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church’s Conservative Icon ​by Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2009. Appealing or Appalling? by Suzanne Vernon. Last year our... More...
  
  
• The Gift of Years and Uncommon Gratitude
  Review posted by Shirley Parkin - 26 May 2011
  The Gift of Years - Growing Older Gracefully by Joan Chittister, OSB (BlueBridge Books, NY, 2008)  This is not just a book about ageing. It is about life, lived fully... More...
  
  
• The God Problem—Alternatives to Fundamentalism
  Review posted by Jonathan T Dixon - 15 May 2008
  The God Problem—Alternatives to Fundamentalism by Nigel Leaves, Polebridge Press 2006. The author of this 81 page book is the Warden and Dean of Studies of the John Wollaston Anglican... More...
  
  
• The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ
  Review posted by Jenny McDougall - 18 August 2011
  The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. Philip Pullman. The Text Publishing Company, Melbourne, 2010. In this radical and very controversial allegorical re-telling of the gospel stories by British author,... More...
  
  
• The Gospel of Mark
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 24 August 2006
  The Gospel of Mark: a Commentary, Michael Mullins, The Columba Press, Blackrock Co Dublin, 2005. I have mentioned this commentary before, but the more I read and use it, the more... More...
  
  
• The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
  Review posted by Peter Correy - 15 May 2008
  The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis S Collins, Free Press, New York 2007 (paperback). This book raises issues which may be of interest to... More...
  
  
• The Last Protector
  Review posted by John Wiley - 3 August 2009
  The Last Protector by Cameron Raynes, Wakefield Press 2009  William Penhall was the last Chief Protector of Aborigines in South Australia, from 1939–1954. Extensive research by Adelaide historian Cameron Raynes... More...
  
  
• The Last Week
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 25 May 2007
  The Last Week: The day to day account of Jesus’ final week in Jerusalem, John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg, Harper, San Francisco, 2006.   I have been an enthusiastic reader... More...
  
  
• The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions
  Review posted by Sarah Carew - 3 August 2009
  The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions by Marcus J Borg and N T Wright, HarperOne 1999   Borg is one of the leading liberal scholars of our time, and Wright a... More...
  
  
• The Misunderstood Jew
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 1 May 2009
  The Misunderstood Jew: the Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus, Amy-Jill Levine, Harper Collins, New York, 2006  In the introduction, Amy-Jill Levine tells of her Catholic friends and school... More...
  
  
• The New Puritans
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 24 August 2006
  The New Puritans: the rise of fundamentalism in the Anglican Church, Muriel Porter, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria, 2006. Muriel Porter understands the situation of the Anglican Church in Sydney very... More...
  
  
• The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity
  Review posted by Peter Correy - 3 August 2009
  The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity by Philip Jenkins, Oxford University Press 2002  In a careful and well documented analysis of the present and the possible future, Philip... More...
  
  
• The Old Creed and the New
  Review posted by Eric Stevenson - 3 August 2009
  The Old Creed and the New by Don Cupitt, SCM Press, 2006   Don Cupitt assumes that traditional religion is ‘rapidly breaking down and melting away’ and discounts the significance of... More...
  
  
• The Sapphire Blue Light: Prayers of the Early Church
  Review posted by Linda Turton - 5 December 2011
  The Sapphire Blue Light: Prayers of the Early Church. William W. Emilsen. ISPCK, Delhi, 2010.EREMOS readers might remember William Emilsen, a long-term member of Eremos, who has visited... More...
  
  
• The Search for Spirituality: Our Global Quest for a Spiritual Life
  Review posted by Val Webb - 3 August 2009
  The Search for Spirituality: Our Global Quest for a Spiritual Lifeby Ursula King, New York: BlueBridge 2008  In this book, Ursula King gathers together the global threads of the elusive... More...
  
  
• The Song Bird
  Review posted by Lynne Roberts - 5 December 2011
  The Song of the Bird. Anthony de Mello. The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group, New York, 1984.Welcome to the Wisdom of the World: And its Meaning for You. Joan Chittister. Eerdmans... More...
  
  
• The Three Revolutions
  Review posted by Bernadette Kiley - 11 September 2012
  The Three Revolutions: Three Drastic Changes in Interpreting the Bible by Robert Crotty, Launched by Bernadette Kiley, ATF Press, Adelaide, 2012. At Writer’s Week in Adelaide, Dr. Bernadette Kiley, well-known... More...
  
  
• The Universal Heart
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 24 August 2006
  The Universal Heart: Golden Rules for Golden Relationships, Stephanie Dowrick, Penguin Books, Ringwood Victoria, 2000.   This is one of Stephanie Dowrick’s earlier books, and Eremos has others (e.g Intimacy and Solitude).... More...
  
  
• The World According to Jesus
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 5 August 2011
  The World According to Jesus: his blueprint for the best possible world. Lorraine Parkinson. Spectrum Publications, Richmond, Victoria, 2011. There are many reasons for my enjoyment of this book. As well... More...
  
  
• Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality
  Review posted by Harry Graves - 3 August 2009
  Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality by Richard Rohr, St Anthony Messenger Press 2008   Reading this book is for me an exhilarating adventure of ‘feet on the ground’, renewal, liberation and... More...
  
  
• Three Books
  Review posted by Sue Emeleus - 15 May 2008
  Like Catching Water in a Net: Human attempts to describe the Divine (by Val Webb, Continuum, New York, 2007)Sex and the Sacred: Gay identity and spiritual growth, by Daniel A... More...
  
  
• Together at the Edge: Trust Me
  Review posted by Alex Nelson - 7 July 2012
  Noel Davis Together at the Edge: Trust Me Reviewed by Alex NelsonEvery now and again, friends who are artists in image, word, movement and music, come forward with a new... More...
  
  
• Too Soon Old. Too Late Smart
  Review posted by Peter Willis - 15 May 2008
  Too Soon Old. Too Late Smart by Gordon Livingston, Hachette Australia, 2004. As a wounded healer and now well over 60 with one son dead from childhood leukaemia and one... More...
  
  
• Welcome to the Wisdom of the World: And its Meaning for You
  Review posted by Lynne Roberts - 5 December 2011
  Welcome to the Wisdom of the World: And its Meaning for You. Joan Chittister. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2007. The Song of the Bird. Anthony de Mello. ... More...
  
  
• What Is The Point Of Being A Christian?
  Review posted by Greg Latemore - 3 August 2009
  What Is The Point Of Being A Christian? by Timothy Radcliffe OP, Burns & Oates 2005   Tertullian wrote in the second century that people were astonished at how Christians loved... More...
  
  
• Who on Earth was Jesus?
  Review posted by Jenny McDougall - 5 December 2011
  Who on Earth was Jesus? The modern quest for the Jesus of history. David Boulton. O Books, Arlesford, 2008. Despite his rather trite title, David Boulton has... More...