178: THE SPIRIT IN AUSTRALIA
ISBN 0 9750837 5 9
AUTUMN 2005

In the first Overland public lecture of 2005 (published in this issue) VERONICA BRADY—Roman Catholic nun, academic, popular author and media personality—examines Australian religion and national character. In a timely and original article, Brady argues that the general absence of spirituality from Australian life, our “preoccupation with, if not worship of, affluence”, will not serve us well “in the kind of world in which we now find ourselves”.

PETER HOLDING looks at the rise of fundamentalist Christianity in the US and Australia, and asks how political progressives should respond to this phenomenon.

LINTON BESSER, a journalist, gives an inside account of a ‘cult busting’ media beat-up that went wrong.

PAUL MAGIN draws on his years of living in close contact with the Burarra Aboriginal people of central Arnhem Land, to shed light on the unique cultural and spiritual identity of this group.

DALE ATRENS argues that blind faith in our society today is best exemplified in the ongoing demand for the products of the diet industry.

In a major contribution to contemporary understandings of Australian culture, MARY KALANTZIS questions a pervasive pessimism amid writers and intellectuals, particularly of the political Left. She argues that, often in spite of their political leaders, Australians tolerate difference to a degree that could not be imagined in many other parts of the world: “This is a nation that could show moral, cultural and political leadership in a world pulled apart by conflicts over borders and belonging.”

SARAH WILLS re-examines the legacy of the English in Australia, criticising the lazy assumption that English-Australians have constituted a ‘dominant’ culture; while HUMPHREY McQUEEN’s controversial take on this question is re-visited by ROBERT PASCOE, in light of a twenty-fifth anniversary edition of McQueen’s A New Britannia.

OVERLAND 178 also contains new fiction by MISCHA MERZ, TONY BIRCH, NEIL BOYACK and GREG BOGAERTS; new poetry by JOHN LEONARD, BRUCE DAWE and JOHN KINSELLA; and Overland’s famously fearless reviews section. Check out JEFF SPARROW’s critique of Black Inc.’s best Australian essays of 2004.

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