Matthew Fox, Sheer Joy, Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality, HarperSan Francisco, 1992, 532 pages. reviewed by Ted Witham In 1986, I was lucky enough to spend 13 weeks with the medieval genius, Saint Thomas d’Aquino. It was by accident. Forced to choose a Church History unit in my studies, I opted for the [...]
Archive for the ‘Book Review’ Category
9 Jan
Moved by Priest’s First Love
Glynn Young, Dancing Priest, Dunrobin Publishing, 2011 ISBN-13: 978-0983236351, paperback 380 pages (from $AUD14.15), Kindle $US2.99 Reviewed by Ted Witham I was surprised at how much this first novel moved me. The two main characters, Michael Kent and Sarah Hughes, are attractive young people who have fallen in love with each other, but who believe [...]
31 Dec
Untimely, but gentlemanly, Dying
P.D. James, Death Comes to Pemberley London: Faber & Faber, 2011. Pback 310 pages. ISBN 9-780-57128358-3. RRP $29.99 I’ve had to have been persuaded to read Jane Austen; despite the enthusiasm of some friends for the 19th Century novelist, I have been put off by her high style and the brittle world she builds of [...]
12 Dec
Meat and Right for Lent
Meat and Right for Lent John Warner, We Believe: studies in the Nicene Creed, Perth: John Warner, 2011 (available from St John’s Books, Fremantle) 68 pages, A4 paperback Reviewed by Ted Witham The Rev’d John Warner believes that “Christians should say what they mean and mean what they say”. The question raised by these substantial [...]
10 May
Beyond Brokeback Mountain: the church and rainbow sexuality
Stephen Hunt, Contemporary Christianity and LGBT sexualities, Burlington VT: Ashgate Publications 2009 Reviewed by Ted Witham Check availability and price (Australian site) Soon after its release, my wife Rae and I went to see the movie Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee’s brilliant adaptation of Annie Proulx’s short story. We saw it as tragic story of bisexuality [...]
2 Apr
New Communities, Monastic Memories
Graham Cray and others, editors, Ancient Faith, Future Mission: New Monasticism as Fresh Expressions of Church, London: Canterbury Press, 2010. Reviewed by Ted Witham Published in Anglican Messenger, May 2011 From the time of Jesus, some Christians have felt impelled to express their faith in community. The early Christians in Acts 2 “were together and [...]
18 Mar
The Nine Lives of India’s Religions
William Dalrymple, Nine lives: in search of the sacred in modern India, Knopf 2010. Hardcover 304 pages. Approx. $27 posted from online stores. Reviewed by Ted Witham Published in REJA, the journal of the Australian Association for Religious Education, Volume 21, No. 2, 2010 I took my first tentative steps in teaching Indian religion 30 [...]
3 Feb
Rollicking journey to Eternal Life
John Shelby Spong, Eternal Life: A New Vision: Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven…, Harper One 2009, Hardcover 288 pages. (Under $20 on the internet.) Reviewed by Ted Witham Bishop Jack Spong takes his readers on a long journey to “Eternal Life“. His vision of eternal life is broad: it includes a plan for the [...]
1 Nov
The Meaning of Pain
Melanie Thernstrom, The Pain Chronicles. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010. EAN:978-0865476813 $22 approx. on line Reviewed by Ted Witham One purpose of religious faith is to make meaning. Christians especially find it difficult to make sense of chronic pain. As Melanie Thernstrom explains in her entertaining Pain Chronicles (yes, entertaining!), acute pain is [...]
