Thoughts on faith, culture, and public life.
Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has criticised the Australian War Memorial's approach to telling the story of historic conflict between Indigenous Australians and European invaders. Few Australian institutions carry more symbolic weight than the Australian War Memorial. It is at once a national shrine, a museum, an archive and a place where military service …
Continue reading "Whose wars? The Australian War Memorial and the colonial frontier conflicts"
By Rod Benson Brandi Carlile’s Returning to Myself, her first solo release in four years, was recently named Song of the Year at the 2026 Americana Honors & Awards. It is not explicitly a Christian song, yet my friend and Baptist theologian Steve Harmon’s description of it as a work of “theological anthropology” is perceptive. In …
Macklemore performs on stage at the Goldencoast Rap Festival in Corcelles-les-Monts on 3o August 2026. Photograph: Arnaud Finistre/AFP/Getty Images By Rod Benson The controversy surrounding Macklemore’s recent removal from the remaining U.S. dates of Ed Sheeran’s 2026 Loop tour raises a question extending far beyond one rapper, one pop star or one geopolitical conflict. Should musicians use concert …
By Rod Benson Christian worship is enriched when it draws from the breadth of the Christian tradition rather than relying on a single inherited pattern. Among the streams that have attracted renewed attention is the Christianity associated with Ireland, Scotland, Wales and other Celtic-speaking regions. The expression “Celtic Christianity,” however, requires careful definition. There was …
Continue reading "Six gifts of Celtic spirituality for Christian worship"
Skul bilong wok na save, na wok bilong bildim kantri long Papua Niugini Rod Benson i raitim Lae em wanpela siti em graun na ples bilong en i bin stiaim tru histori bilong en. Lae i stap long het bilong Huon Gulf, klostu long maus bilong Markham River, long hap we wanpela bikpela veli i …
Continue reading "Histori bilong Lae Technical College (Tok Pisin)"
