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So why did I choose 'In Darkest Australia' as a title for my new blog?
It is an allusion to William Booth's book titled "In Darkest England and the Way Out". It is a seminal book for the Salvation Army, which sadly most Salvationists have never read. In it Booth (or perhaps more correctly WT Stead and James Barker) set out a plan for dealing with the social and spiritual poverty of London at the turn of the 20th Century. The culmination of the plan was the creation of "Colonies over the Sea" where people would be able to move to find a new life of employment and prosperity. It was a very Victorian Era plan but it aimed to deal with the problems of a society on a societal level.
It is also an allusion to Gary Bishop's book titled "In Darkest England and the way back in!" Bishop's book is itself an illusion to Booth's work. But Barker is interested in calling Christians back into the darkest neighbourhoods in England to live and minister amongst the poorest and most marginalised in English society.
Both are great books and well worth the read. I am not wanting to suggest that this blog will be as interesting or as useful as either of those two books. I am however interested in asking the hard questions and dealing with the big issues that Christians, and specifically Salvationists, in Australia in the 21st century face. Both of those books were born out of a specific context and in Australia we need to be asking specific questions regarding our unique context. Hopefully that is where my thinking will be heading, I hope you come along for the ride.
Hey Liam!
ReplyDeletecool, u have a great way of writing blogs, straight to the point and well worded:-)
i have read 'In Darkest England and The Way Out', took me a while tho, lol.
it's a very inspiring book and i reckon that more ppl, especially salvos, should read it coz it shows us that we shouldn't be seperating the social and evangelical sides of the Salvation Army.
maybe instead of having the Salvation Army 'bird' with it's 'social wing' and 'evangelical wing' (was it Eva Burrows or someone who likened it to a bird?) we can have a Salvation Army ... dolphin? lol.
it makes sense though, coz the dolphin uses ONE tail to propel itself through water!
ok, i'm being a little silly, but it's great to see you're blogging again and i hope u get some great conversations and thoughtful challenges out of it.
God bless, Alana:-)
hello Liam,
ReplyDeleteHas the driver taken a break? You haven't added much more. We are called to serve others, all others, from family to collegue to stranger..to feed the hungry, give those who thirst a drink, clothe the naked and so on. Tis ok for me to do that as my response to God's love in my life...my question is when, if ever, will the out of this world wages of CEOs and the like, stop feeding the greed of those that have and making the chasm between the haves and have nots even greater.