 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
||||||||||
Australian Stories of the Heart is a book you can leave on your coffee table, desk or car—or anyplace where you may pick it up when you have a spare minute. Each story is generally three or four pages and gives reason for thought—often touching the heart—as you get back into whatever you were doing.
However, you may find yourself beginning to create more and more “spare minutes” to see where the next instalment will take you.
Like its 2001 predecessor—Australian Stories for the Soul—the new Australian Stories for the Heart brings together some of Australia’s best-known names in religious circles and beyond. Contributors include Gordon Moyes, Kel Richards, Michael Frost and Mal Garvin; identities Margaret Court and Ken Duncan; musicians Darlene Zschech, Geoff Bullock, Colin Buchanan and Steve Grace. In all, there are 65 stories from 35 different writers.
Drawing together such an array of writers from so many backgrounds, walks of life and geographical locations, Australian Stories for the Heart presents a variety of ideas, attitudes and styles. However, the overall impression describes an intriguing aspect of Australian life: the reality of Christian faith and experience, and how they impact many ordinary Australians.
It is a reality often overlooked by the myth-makers, historians and commentators of Australia and Australians. As the title suggests, Australian Stories for the Heart doesn’t set about doing this in clinical, academic, sociological, argumentative or even a preachy way. Rather the various contributions tell the stories of ordinary—and some extraordinary—Australians who find direction and hope for their lives from their personal experience of Christianity.
Australian Stories for the Heart is available in Christian and mainstream bookshops around Australia. As such, it should be accessible to a broad reading audience. But this is where some of the individual pieces making up this collection fall short. Not all, but some of the writers use an in-house, Christian-speak style of language and ideology that assumes too much of a readership not necessarily familiar with such terminology and usage.
This may have resulted from drawing many of these pieces from other Christian publications. Unfortunately, this may raise a hurdle to readers outside the sub-cultures that exists around many Christian churches and organisations.
Having said that, most of the stories are well written and readable without knowledge of the “Christian” vernacular. It’s worth persisting with Australian Stories for the Heart through the potentially difficult patches, both for the broader challenges these stories present and the gems to be found in many of the more accessible contributions.
You don’t have to agree with or accept the ideas and attitudes presented by the authors. Be critical as you read, but also be open to being challenged and touched by the book’s common denominator: an Australian belief in a God who still cares in today’s world.
Christianity is a significant and relevant factor in the everyday lives of many Australians. The cornucopia of stories in Australian Stories for the Heart presents an engaging reminder of this reality—but this collection also works as a reminder to Christians and their churches that we often need to find better language and methods to share this with the wider community. Christianity is and must be more than a subculture. Australian Stories for the Heart—as did the first book Australian Stories for the Soul—makes some worthwhile progress in this direction.
Australian Stories for the Heart, various authors, Strand Publishing, Sydney, 2002, 260 pages.
Extract from Signs of the Times, May 2003.
Home - Archive - Topics - Podcast - Subscribe - Special Offers - About Signs - Contact Us - Links
Copyright © 2006 Seventh-day Adventist Church (SPD) Limited ACN 093 117 689
Unassociated
advertisement:
This article comes from a
regular column in
Signs
of the Times.
