Australia Books

Gary Bouma, Australian Soul: Religion and Spirituality in the Twenty-first Century (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

Professor Gary Bouma, an ordained Anglican priest, is head of the School of Political and Social Inquiry at Monash University. He's one of Australia's leading sociologists of religion, and excellently equipped to survey the Australian religious scene.

Australians are more reserved about their expression of religious commitment, writes Bouma, but religion and spiritual life in Australia are not in decline. His firm opinion is that `the secularity of the twenty-first century is not anti-religious or irreligious, as it was in the twentieth century.' `While to many educated in the 1960s and 1970s "Australian religion" was a contradiction in terms or at best an embarrassing legacy of a forgettable past, that is not so now'. A 2005 survey found that 35% of Australians in their twenties said `religion was important in their lives' compared with 21% in 1978. And while `in the twentieth century religion and spirituality often provided an identity and meaning for people, in the twenty-first century the core is the production and maintenance of hope.' Another summary-statement: `The needs addressed by religion and spirituality are core to humanity: hope, and meaning grounded in a connection with that which is more than passing, partial and broken' (p. 205).

The references to theoretical and research sources are authoritative, and in my view are worth the value of the book. The suggested reading, references and index at the back of the book are second-to-none. It's all the work of a careful scholar, who is as familiar as anyone with the main sources of religious knowledge about Australians (the censuses, Christian Research Association, NCLS surveys etc.). And he's an irenic commentator - even when describing what others might call `religious crazies'. (Which means - you guessed it - that he's on the liberal end of the theological spectrum. He recommends the works of Karen Armstrong, for example).

I'd recommend that all clergy, in particular, read this book right through - even those in mainline churches who are having a hard time attracting new parishioners. (`The formerly mainstream Protestant groups find themselves on the margins of a world they do not understand' p. 171). Although a substantial majority of Australians continue to identify with a religious group, religious and spiritual life is becoming more diverse, and less tied to formal organizations. This book is strong on analysis, diagnosis, trends, surveys, aetiology, rather than prescription. The parish clergy I work with want to know `How can we in the churches harvest this growing interest in religion/ spirituality, without sacrificing our intelligence to fundamentalism, or our traditions to the latest cultural trends (eg. in music)?' Bouma's book doesn't answer these questions directly, but if read carefully, my dear Watson, there are clues everywhere!

Now, some interesting facts/opinions in the `Did you know?' or `Want to argue with this?' categories:

`There are now more Australian Buddhists than Baptists, more Muslims than Lutherans, more Hindus than Jews and more than twice as many Sikhs as Quakers' (pp. 55-6)

`In the 2001 census [there was] a dramatic rise in the number of Australians who wrote something down that related more to spirituality than to particular organized religious groups' (p. 61)... `Only otiose religion is an opiate; the rest is dynamite' (p. 197)

Between 1996 and 2001 the following Christian groups were among those suffering from numerical decline (Source: ABS census data): Brethren (down 12.28%), Churches of Christ (- 18.25%), Presbyterian/Reformed (- 5.57%), Salvation Army (- 3.67%), Uniting Church (- 6.46%). Baptists grew by 4.75%, Catholics 4.22%, Pentecostals 11.37%, `Other Christian' 27.95%. [Why have the Baptists roughly kept pace with population growth but their sister denomination the Churches of Christ declined? My opinion: factor in the growth in the greater number of Baptist megachurches and ethnic congregations].

The Christian groups emanating from Britain in the 1800s - Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists etc. - `are moving from asking "Will our children have faith?" to "Will our faith have children? ...They have effectively lost two generations and are in the process of losing a third' (p. 67)

`It is not acceptable to express unhappiness in a Pentecostal assembly. Sadness, grief and guilt are but momentary transitional feelings on the way to ecstasy and praise. Pentecostal forms of Christianity do not demand orthopraxy or orthodoxy so much as orthopassy' (p. 94)

`The primary aim of the evangelical movement is to gather people out of society and into the church, not to engage the world or to engage in attempts to shape the world from which they seek to draw people' (p. 134)

Since the Age of Reason began `God was seen as the lawgiver, the source of reason... This era saw the rise of Calvinism and the Jesuits, who quintessentially expressed Christianity via reason. [Hence] the phrase "Think right thoughts and be saved; think wrong thoughts and be damned". All of this is reflected in creeds, confessions and statements of union, which essentially demand that the believer "Toe the creedal line and you will be all right"' (p. 166)

Disclosure: I studied with Gary Bouma towards a PhD in the early 1990s - and enjoyed the stimulation of being in academia again - but decided there were too many other competing demands for my time, and `demitted'.

Rowland Croucher
June 2007

This book was published in 1987 and knowledge of the history and significance of Austrailian studio pottery has increased since then. However this is the most useful work for identifying studio works and to obtain short bios. on the artists. It is highly sought by collectors of Australian pottery and is a worthy addition to a reference collection. Note a new book covering Australian Studio potters will be available SHORTLY through the Shepparton Art Gallery, Austalia. The Author is Greg Hill.

A classic text on Australian wood. Out of print now, but prized by all in the trade. A must for serious joiners.

I was pleased to see a book on this subject as there has been so little written about it. I am writing a paper on the legal relationships in the travel industry and I would like to contact the author. My opinion is that travel agents do not fall within the framework of agency law in the true sense. Any comments would be appreciated.. Thanks

I found this a fascinating look at colonial life, with much excellent firsthand information. A valuable and interesting work!

I had the priviledge of reading this book while being taught by the author. Prof. Terrill was my Australian Society and Politics Professor in 2003 at the University of Texas @ Austin. He was a very dry lecturer yet I could never turn away. The depth of his knowledge was never-ending. The subject was made great by him. The book is even more exciting than the stories and events he told in class. I hope to see and hear more from him in the future. Now I'm planning to go to Autralia in the future. All I can say after reading this book and taking Terrill's class is Australia Rocks!

Had not Master James Joyce sought "silence, cunning and exile" abroad as an escape from paralysis, but had stayed home to do full battle for his own family's full well-being, had small James Joyce never suffered the profound intellectual, psychological and spiritual trauma of a good Jesuit education from a very tender, impressionable and an early age, he might one day have aspired to write an autobiography as well as this. He might one day have achieved the skill of this record of Dublin life.

When you pick up this book you will not swiftly set it back down. Too hastily it records, quick as the rushing River Liffey, the most brilliant observations, leaving you breathless for more precise information, yet grateful for the wonderful song, as does this writing sing gloriously, sorrowfully, gaily, deeply, full throated, a lusty and a keening song.

This book reads like the RIver Liffey washing its way through dear, dirty Dublin city, flashing brilliant, reflecting all without scorn, carrying her commerce, her sewage, her refuse and the occasional dead body, ever fascinating to regard from over the bridge.

Had Stephan Dedalus himself not sought his lonesome refuge in silence and exile and quiet cunning and inscrutable humor, but thrown himself whole heartedly with all of his might and mind and body and soul into Dublin's life, without paralysis but throbbing with life, he might have hoped to have recorded this present work. Had Dedalus loved, he might have written this book.

Allow this work wash over you like the shining, singing black waters of the River Liffey. Let these waters pass impenetrably, hypnotically, beneath the bridge as you toss bread to the calling gulls below. Watch fascinated these laughing, sobbing, roaring waters pass beneath your bridge as you learn and meditate and reflect, unmoving and still in their wonderful grasp.

You will not quickly let down this book.

Certainly we now require dangling commentary for this song of Dublin. We now need historical texts to supplement our reading of allusions to a history that has been censored, erased, never written, ever oral, but whose speakers now have gone on. Much of this history died under the ice blue cruel pencil of the office of the British Censor at that dark enslaved time, a pencil which so callously and calmly vivisected our living history, and cut out its beating heart alive. Bless for ever the dear and learned and wise and courageous scribe, Sean O'Casey, for what magnanimously little of it he has preserved so well for our benefit herein. No, you will not soon set down this historical, this lyrical text.

Let us rather pursue his clues and singing slight indicationsand recapture our own mighty history, erased by the British opppressor. Let us hold our own history to our greiving, consoled heart like a hero fallen in war, as a babe that is born too soon and is gone, a holding as vain as stopping for our careful examination roaring waters of our mighty mother the River Liffey passing on to the father the sea beneath our dear Dublin bridge.

Take and read, for this is our body. Lift then this book, and laugh, and weep, without full knowledge yet fully illuminated and comforted and consoled and befriended and accompanied by all those who have gone before us.

For, you will not soon set her down again.

Aviculture in Australia. The title says it all. This is a fantastic book for both the beginner and the experienced enthusiast. I heartily recommend a read. It covers housing, feeding, pest and desease as well as individual bird descriptions. Plus much much more. I guarentee that if you pick it up, it will be a while til you put it down again!

Wilkie's book is a stunning read. He explains clearly why he felt it was necessary to resign from his post at ONA and speak out about the misleading information being spread by the Australian, US and UK governments prior to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. If you want to educate yourself about what is leading to the Islamic terrorism the West is currently experience, read this book.

This book is not only visually stunning but is great for those who are looking for, among other things, the top hotels, restuarants, and spas in Bali. Unlike other guide books, this one presents only the most important aspects of the island and its amenities so that you can decide whether to go, when to go, and where to go. If you are looking for a guide to the most luxurious Bali experience, this book seems to be the best!