Why should Christians be thanking God for Dan Brown as opposed to Patrick White? Greg Clarke explains

Never have I longed for the Second Coming more than when I first read The Da Vinci Code. "Oh, Lord, come quickly," I found myself thinking as I barged into Dan Brown’s cardboard characters, impossible storyline and outlandish fabrications of history. But two years later, I’m still writing and thinking about it—sometimes fluff sticks.

In fact,

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David Starling offers these notes from the diary of a pastor on what to make of the Mel Gibson passion film.

The violence
As everyone had warned me, it was a violent film - much more violent than I’m used to watching at the movies. Parts of the film I just couldn’t watch. In other parts, I had to keep reminding myself that this was a film, not the real thing, that the actor was just an actor and the blood was just make-up. Nevertheless, the fact

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A review article of the Dan Brown novel on the alleged conflict between science and religion.

The idea of the conflict between science and religion is pervasive in our society, particularly in popular literature. This article examines the mythical origins of the conflict metaphor and its employment by the airport novelist of the moment, Dan Brown.

Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons is a page-turner mystery novel, and has proved a very successful one at

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Do religious perspectives have any place within the activities of the secular university today? Trevor Cairney and Greg Clarke suggest they do, and that a genuine intellectual pluralism would welcome them.

Specific Worldviews in Tertiary Education: a way forward

Pluralism and specific religious belief (Greg Clarke)

In a recent article in The Australian newspaper’s Higher Education supplement, Professor Elspeth Probyn of the Department of Gender

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Does the Bible get overused in educational theory? And does mainstream research get ignored by Christian practitioners? Trevor Cairney explores a book guilty of both.

Douglas Wilson’s book The Paideia of God derives its title from one word within Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In Ephesians 6 Paul addresses the relationship and authority patterns between parents and children , particularly writing to fathers:

"Fathers, do not exasperate your

Alister McGrath calls on Christians in academia to see their work in terms of the gospel.

Many Christian academics long to serve God more effectively, and they see their role as scholars as offering them important strategic opportunities for service. I believe their roles are strategic, and I have some thoughts on how evangelical scholars can begin to develop their ministries more effectively. This is to be the general theme of the highly important

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Faced with entering the teaching profession after graduation, what is in store for a teacher who is a Christian? A graduation address by Professor Trevor Cairney.

This is an occasion to recognise above all that the graduands have achieved a significant milestone. But it’s not just the students’ milestone. Graduations should acknowledge the contribution made by teachers and the institution itself. As well, at any graduation it is also important to

The power of Mel Gibson in the world of film is on display in The Passion of the Christ. But what if Mel had chosen the life of Buddha instead?

Recently about 40 students from New College decided to go as a group to see Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ at the local cinema. Not surprisingly, discussion of the film’s artistic merit, violent content and use of biblical and other Catholic texts has been red-hot among Christians and non-Christians

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From the CASE seminar, Creation, redemption and Lord of the Rings. Best read after the first two papers, available in Case #4.

Lord of the Rings devotees gathered recently at New College to explore a theological perspective on Tolkien’s trilogy and the recent film treatments. Three papers were presented—two of them are printed here; the third paper, by Dr Kirsten Birkett, is available in the subscriber-only Associate Access section of the CASE

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A review of Life of Pi by Yann Martel and Dirt Music by Tim Winton.

The Booker Prize for literature is not usually accompanied by theological proclamations, but 2002 was different. The Booker is given each year to what is judged as the best work of contemporary fiction by a writer from the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. In 2002, it was won by Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, a previously obscure writer who begins his novel with an

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