Category Archives: Uncategorized

I’ve been re-reading a paperback from the 1970s, Inward Stillness by George Maloney, a Jesuit. For Maloney, God’s silence is not an illusion nor a temporary state. Nor is it even something to be mourned: it is the way of … Continue reading →

I don’t know about conferences. Not easy for the introverted. Not necessarily natural for the bookish. To read someone’s book at length and then respond in writing feels right. But what about if you’re in an audience of a hundred … Continue reading →

Every couple of years newspapers will run a feature article on hip young Christians and the rise of megachurches. Alas, today’s story, "JC and the Cool Gang", in the Weekend Australian Magazine, doesn’t break much new ground. It stays at … Continue reading →

Two random thoughts, which don’t touch on theodicy or climate change or the things one should be thinking. Both are observations, rather picky ones, but meant merely as things I find interesting, rather than criticisms of Australians. 1. I see … Continue reading →

I hear Subiaco Oval is to be renamed Patterson Oval because the stockbroking firm has bought the ‘naming rights’. Incredibly, even team names are for sale these days – the ‘Retravision Warriors’. It’s like a satirical science fiction dystopia become … Continue reading →

I didn’t use to think much about atheism; it didn’t bother me. But lately it is – the fact that intelligent people can come to such an opposite conclusion about the nature of the universe to me. Perhaps it’s because … Continue reading →

I sent out On The Road #45 today. To subscribe email me at nathanhobby at gmail.com. Or you can find it online. There’s plenty of interesting reading inside. There are four different Anabaptist ways to read the Old Testament proposed, … Continue reading →

Yesterday The West Australian previewed the findings of a survey about to be released by the Christian Research Association into belief and church attendance in Australia. The print version of the newspaper had more information, quoting, I think, that only … Continue reading →

It was a fascinating episode of Insight on SBS last night, as audience members put their views on the pilot ethics program in NSW public primary schools. The ethics program runs as an alternative to the ‘scripture’ classes (or whatever … Continue reading →

… we tend to use scripture like a condiment, something added to our intellectual and political positions after they have been cooking for a while. – Lillian Daniel in Christian Century, 23 March 2010, p. 36