I love a good worship album. I’ve been listening since the late 1980s. One of my favourite early albums features a song led by British songwriter Graham Kendrick titled, “Lift high the banners of love.” I’ve listened to the album countless times. Spliced into the heart of Kendrick’s song is an interlude where he declares: …
Theologies of happiness
When you hear the phrase, “theologies of happiness,” what comes to mind? We seek happiness in many different ways, and the various approaches can be grouped into three broader categories: Having: pursuit of pleasure, wealth, security, success. Doing: pursuit of achievement, growth, creativity, service. Being: pursuit of virtue, spirituality, wisdom, loving relationships. However, the world's …
Why do some novelists drop quotation marks?
I recall opening Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang on its publication in 2000 and being struck by the absence of quotation marks around speech. I found it distracting. Dialogue merged into narration, and the visual markers that guide readers through conversations had disappeared. Why, I thought, would an accomplished novelist dispense with such a …
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On the limits of forgiveness
The tragic deaths of five-year-old Katherine and one-year-old Harry in Cabramatta, Sydney, on 17 June 2026 confronted Australians with one of the most painful realities imaginable. Yet amid their grief, the children’s parents publicly expressed forgiveness towards the driver involved. Their response echoed another well-known Australian tragedy. In 2020, Danny and Leila Abdallah lost three …
Freedom of the press and Australian democracy
Freedom of the press is one of the foundational principles of a democratic society. It refers to the ability of journalists and media organisations to investigate, report, publish, question those in positions of authority, and express opinions without intimidation, censorship, retaliation, or undue interference. Yet press freedom is not primarily a privilege exclusive to journalists. …
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