Non-fiction

Kelly, Michael Bernard - 'Seduced by Grace: Contemporary spirituality, Gay experience and Christian faith'
ISBN: 978-0-9802983-2-1 | RRP $24.95

Foreword by The Honourable Michael Kirby AC CMG.

In these collected writings - essays, articles, letters, talks - Michael Kelly invites us into an intimate exploration of the inner wisdom and radical challenge of Christianity. In reflections that take us from the fields of Nicaragua to the 'War on Terror', from the joy of erotic pleasure to the challenge of rebuilding the church, Kelly gives voice to a spirituality of desire, grounded in justice and love.

Michael Kelly is a freelance writer, activist, counsellor and educator, known internationally for his ministry in spirituality, sexuality and human integration.

'Every chapter of this book is an invitation. It's thoughts and stories carry you over and over again into a deeper place...' -- Rev. Dorothy McCrae-McMahon

'Michael Kelly writes with great precision and poignancy of a yearning which everyone shares. A yearning for love, both physical and spiritual. A yearning for completion. In this wonderful collection of essays, Kelly seduces the reader with his insights into those fleeting moments in which we encounter the greatest mystery of all' -- Dr Fiona Capp

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REVIEWS

'With a subtitle such as this you might think this collection of essays and reflections (many of which were published in The Age) is heavy going. In fact, it's anything but that. Although Michael Kelly is dealing with weighty and contentious issues - revolving round the plight of today's gay and lesbian Christians - his writing is learned and perceptive, often conversational in tone. The pieces vary in mood, from the quiet and contemplative as in 'On the Peninsula, alone with God', to the more assertive and argumentative and more speculative portraits of a very human Jesus in 'Could Jesus have been Gay?' and 'Jesus Gloried in a Woman's Touch'. Above all, there is a spirit of optimism running through most of the collection, perhaps best exemplified in his portrait of S Francis of Assisi (an excellent piece of writing), whom he sees as emblematic of the kind of saint the modern church is so sadly in need of

. -- Steve Carroll, The Age

Eureka Street - reviewed by Terry Monagle

Catholica - reviewed by Amanda McKenna

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Boyd-Macrae, Clare - 'Three Gates to Paradise : articles & reflections'
ISBN: 978-0-9802983-0-7 | RRP: $24.95.

The shops and streets of Brunswick, kite flying in Ahmedabad, moonlight on the Snowy River, family, friends, birth and death... Clare Boyd-Macrae writes about her life and her Christian faith with breathtaking frankness, inviting us into an intimate space.

'As Clare Boyd-Macrae well understands, the art of the reflective, short essay lies in its apparent artlessness. It is intimate and conversational, as if the writer were simply thinking aloud. Her essays, many of which were published in The Age, bring to mind the beautifully crafted pieces of Charmian Clift, which also appeared in newspaper columns. Like Clift, Boyd-Macrae knows how to take ordinary events and moments - camping with one's children, the experience of walking around one's suburb, a chat with the washing-machine repairman - and weave them into memorable meditations on the complex emotions, values and dreams that underpin daily life...' -- Fiona Capp The Age

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