Vittore Carpaccio, "Saint Augustine in His Study," 1507. A biblical reconsideration of the views of Augustine and Calvin By Rod Benson I’ve been reading Rutger Bregman’s 2019 New York Times bestseller, Humankind: A Hopeful History, and it has me questioning my views about human nature and Christian anthropology. Of course, this is a good thing because engagement …
River ecology
Lake Parramatta and Hunts Creek, just a few hundred metres from North Rocks Community Church, Sydney. At first glance, the Book of Ezekiel can seem a baffling piece of literature. Ezekiel is a young priest caught up in the historic exile of around 10,000 people of Judah after a failed rebellion against the Babylonian superpower …
Feminism, power and the politics of human dignity
Gloria Steinem on Jan. 15, 2013, in Pasadena, CA. A reflection on the legacy of Gloria Steinem By Rod Benson As a man, and as a Christian, I admired Gloria Steinem from a distance as one of the most influential feminist writers, organisers and public intellectuals of the modern era. From the 1960s onward, she helped …
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North Rocks Road: From ancient Indigenous landscape to contemporary suburban sprawl
A story of bushrangers, commercial and industrial development, the evolution of transport, and the aftermath of the postwar housing boom. By Rod Benson North Rocks Road is one of the principal routes connecting North Parramatta, North Rocks and Carlingford, but its significance reaches well beyond transport. The road extends from the junction of Church Street …
Is the Uniting Church in danger of mission creep?
Mosaic depicting Moses and the Burning Bush at Saint Catherine Monastery, a Greek Orthodox monastery at the base of Mount Sinai in Egypt. Rod Benson The Uniting Church does many things well. It advocates for justice, runs major community services, supports vulnerable people, promotes reconciliation, addresses ecological responsibility and contributes to public debate. Yet its breadth and …
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