Against the backdrop of the medieval Scottish highlands, Brave presents wild-haired, free-spirited Merida. She is Pixar’s first female protagonist and, perhaps more significantly, Disney’s first heroine without a romantic connection by the end of the film. In our world where little girls’ futures are often reduced to finding the right […]
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
We’ve already looked at Jesus as Creator (and therefore conqueror) but the question remains: if Jesus is so powerful, why doesn’t the name of Jesus ‘work’ or ‘win’ every time? Why do Tanzanians so often experience the spirits as more powerful than Jesus? The typical evangelical answer is that we […]
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Remember when we blogged about the Tanzanian doctor strike? They won, in theory, but tensions have flared up again, most notably in the beating of the doctors’ public representative, Dr Ulimboka. Tanzania has so prided itself on peace, especially compared with the strife and corruption of some of its African […]
Estimated reading time: 49 seconds
I was waiting for this day. The day when my favourite feminist blog Jezebel discovered CBMW. Hugo Schwyzer’s a thoughtful writer but I confess I did feel a little sorry for CBMW — they just have such a PR problem! Take Schwyzer’s quote about their fight against ‘feminist egalitarianism’. That’s […]
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Adelaideans will be well familiar with the statistic that South Australia is the driest state on the driest continent on earth. I was wondering about how this compares with Dodoma the other day and here’s what I found: Adelaide is drier. It gets 546mm of rain per year; Dodoma gets […]
Estimated reading time: 1 minute
An excluded middle denies the presence or at least the power of the spirits. Animism, on the other hand, seeks to control a situation by means of the spirit world: you need to have the most powerful spirit in order to get what you want. One way of viewing Jesus […]
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Perhaps you saw the Herald Sun article about the wife beater awarded for bravery? It came to my attention through Melinda Tankard Reist’s blog. For those unfamiliar with the case, here’s a quick rundown. Paul McCuskey is currently serving a 5.5 year sentence for intentionally causing serious injury: his violence […]
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes