Articles
Recent Articles & Reviews
Telling the Truth about the Colonisation of Australia
Telling the Truth about the Colonisation of Australia: “the loss and the loneliness” SOFiA AGM, 22 June 2024 on Yuggera and Turrbal Country By John...
A modern malaise
A modern malaise Greg Spearritt casts a jaundiced eye over social media. In 1964, Canadian academic Marshall McLuhan sparked a global ‘aha moment’...
All the way with the US of A
All the way with the US of A Greg Spearritt reflects on the 2022 book Sub-Imperial Power by Clinton Fernandes It’s almost axiomatic in Australia, as...
Reality
Reality By Glen Beasley Many years ago at the age of fifteen, five first year students went AWOL from Queensland Agricultural College to the nearby...
Soil
Matthew Evans SOIL– The incredible story of what keeps the earth, and us, healthy (Allen and Unwin, 2021) A review by Judy Lewis A short time after...
Faithless fictional Fathers
Faithless fictional Fathers Greg Spearritt reflects on some fiction from the Naughties. (Original article published in the SOFiA Bulletin, March...
Articles & Reviews Archive
Arts
Book reviews
- Soil
- Faithless fictional Fathers
- Telling Tennant’s Story: The strange career of the great Australian silence
- Andreas Wagner – Arrival of the Fittest
- Peter Wohlleben – The Hidden Life of Trees
- Adrian Cooper – Sacred Mountains
- Durack, Mary – Keep Him, My Country
- Cupitt, Don – The Meaning of the West
- Crossan, John Dominic – God and Empire
- Nunn, Gary – The Psychic Tests
- Dessaix, Robert – What Days Are For
- Grant, Stan – With the Falling of the Dusk
- Women in Islam
- Griffiths, Billy – Deep Time Dreaming
- Solnit, Rebecca – A Paradise Built in Hell
- Ishiguro, Kazuo – Klara and the Sun
- What I gain from Bertrand
- Yunkporta, Tyson – Sand Talk
- Gilbert, Elizabeth – City of Girls
- Kent, Jacqueline – Vida, a Woman for Our Time
- Flannery, Tim – Life: Selected Writings
- Keneally, Tom – The Dickens Boy
- Grenville, Kate – A Room Made of Leaves
- Bourgeault, Cynthia – The Meaning of Mary Magdalene
- Stewart, Katherine – The Power Worshippers
- Carroll, John – Ego and Soul
- Phelps-Roper, Megan – Unfollow
- Tsiolkas , Christos – Damascus
- Martel Fredéric – In the Closet of the Vatican
- Bryson, Bill – Life, the Universe and Nearly Everything
- Boulton, David – Godless for God’s Sake
- Armstrong, Karen – The Gospel According to Woman
- Armstrong, Karen – The Case for God
- Armstrong, Karen – On the Bible
Ethics/Morality
- Telling the Truth about the Colonisation of Australia
- Are moderns less moral?
- Converted!
- Star of Taroom – a journey of the heart
- Criminal justice in Australia: the madness in the method
- The Rev. John Dunmore Lang and German immigration into Queensland
- Loving enemies and losing friends
- Moral guidance without Christianity
- An Ethic of Civilisation
- The Failings of Religion
- The Ethic of Jesus
- The Changing Moral Imperative
- Should We Always Forgive?
- My Brother’s Keeper
- Are We Obliged to Forgive?
Faith/Belief
- The afterlife in Ancient Egypt
- Individualism and the Myth of Secularity
- Horror Stories
- The dope on dowsing
- Jack Spong: right or wrong?
- Exiting Religion
- Why religion is important for survival
- Women in Islam
- Ghostly entertainment
- Enlivening belief
- The need to believe
- A Miscellany of Heresy
- God as Love or God as Life?
- Jihad: Filling a Vacuum?
- The Atheist, the Agnostic & the Scientist
- Aboriginal Beliefs and Customs in Early Brisbane
- A Militant Atheist’s Viewpoint on Agnosticism
- A Better Easter
- Christian Fundamentalism: Is It Valid?
- Who on Earth was Jesus?: The Scholarship and Research
- Does Jesus Matter Anymore?
Film Reviews
Organised Religion
- Individualism and the Myth of Secularity
- Understanding Others
- Jack Spong: right or wrong?
- Exiting Religion
- The Rev. John Dunmore Lang and German immigration into Queensland
- Women in Islam
- The Language of Spiritual Care
- Bourgeault, Cynthia – The Meaning of Mary Magdalene
- Christianity: Best of a bad lot?
- Many Religions: One God?
- A Miscellany of Heresy
- Dogma and Karma
- A Fifth Column?
- What is the Church?
- The World According to Jesus
- New Thinking About the Historical Jesus
- Asian & Indian Christianity
- Why Buddhism Beckons
- What’s Wrong With Buddhism?
Philosophy
- Reality
- Philandering Philosophers
- Loving Linnaeus
- On what SOFiA is for
- Individualism and the Myth of Secularity
- Speaking of Love
- On being a pessimist
- Understanding Others
- Now, then: what’s all this about Time?
- Ishiguro, Kazuo – Klara and the Sun
- What I gain from Bertrand
- A clear, calm voice
- Certainty and Gaia
- The need to believe
- Seeing Double
- Loving enemies and losing friends
- Random thoughts in a Katoomba café
Religion/Spirituality
- Reality
- The afterlife in Ancient Egypt
- Andreas Wagner – Arrival of the Fittest
- On what SOFiA is for
- Adrian Cooper – Sacred Mountains
- The future, dreariest of prospects
- Individualism and the Myth of Secularity
- Speaking of Love
- Cupitt, Don – The Meaning of the West
- Nunn, Gary – The Psychic Tests
- Dessaix, Robert – What Days Are For
- Jack Spong: right or wrong?
- The urge to merge: spirituality and sexuality
- Exiting Religion
- Why religion is important for survival
- The Language of Spiritual Care
- Certainty and Gaia
- Is science a form of religion?
- Mysticism And Ultimate Reality
- Hope, Hopelessness and No Hope
- Choosing a Spiritual Path
- Atheism as a Spiritual Path
- A Spiritual Ethic
- A Psychological Approach to the Experience of Spirituality
- If Only…
- Half a Century Later
- Does God Create Religion or Religion Create God?
- Now and Forever, Amen
- Easter & Eggs, Heaven & Hell
- A Sporting Chance of Being Religious
- Muslims aren’t all the same
- Prelude: Naturally Green
- Buddhist Existentialism
Science
- Reality
- Soil
- Andreas Wagner – Arrival of the Fittest
- Loving Linnaeus
- Peter Wohlleben – The Hidden Life of Trees
- The future, dreariest of prospects
- On being a pessimist
- Nunn, Gary – The Psychic Tests
- Now, then: what’s all this about Time?
- The dope on dowsing
- Ghostly entertainment
- Certainty and Gaia
- Flannery, Tim – Life: Selected Writings
- Seeing Double
- Is science a form of religion?
- Science and its Quest for Objectivity
- Mystical Experiences and Respect for the Whole Brain
- Is Science the New Religion?
Society
- Telling the Truth about the Colonisation of Australia
- A modern malaise
- All the way with the US of A
- Soil
- Archers Crossing
- Down the (white) rabbit hole
- Philandering Philosophers
- Gift of the gab
- The Giants
- Are moderns less moral?
- Telling Tennant’s Story: The strange career of the great Australian silence
- An Indigenous Voice to Parliament
- On what SOFiA is for
- The future, dreariest of prospects
- Australian Election 2022
- On being a pessimist
- Petit Maman: a review
- Horror Stories
- Durack, Mary – Keep Him, My Country
- Converted!
- Cupitt, Don – The Meaning of the West
- Understanding Others
- Crossan, John Dominic – God and Empire
- Nunn, Gary – The Psychic Tests
- Musing on makarrata
- Now, then: what’s all this about Time?
- The dope on dowsing
- La Bonne Épouse
- A day in hospital – freedom and control
- Grant, Stan – With the Falling of the Dusk
- Structure and creativity
- The urge to merge: spirituality and sexuality
- Star of Taroom – a journey of the heart
- Why religion is important for survival
- Criminal justice in Australia: the madness in the method
- The Rev. John Dunmore Lang and German immigration into Queensland
- Women in Islam
- The Language of Spiritual Care
- Report from Cherbourg
- Ghostly entertainment
- Ishiguro, Kazuo – Klara and the Sun
- Satellite Boy
- Supernova
- Friendship
- Yunkporta, Tyson – Sand Talk
- Gilbert, Elizabeth – City of Girls
- Enlivening belief
- A clear, calm voice
- Kent, Jacqueline – Vida, a Woman for Our Time
- Promising Young Woman
- A visit to the Ration Shed
- Better dead than red?
- Media and misinformation
- Building Hope
- Stewart, Katherine – The Power Worshippers
- Christianity: Best of a bad lot?
- On downplaying difference
- Societies and their stability
- Nationalism
- Dark Emu – a review
- Passing
- The Euthanasia Issue
- On Discipline
- Invoking Religion in Australian Politics
- Desperately Seeking Sophia
- Confucious Says: On Being a ‘Superior Person’