Prayers of a Secular World, edited by Jordie Albiston and Kevin Brophy
Available October 2015.
A meditation on living in a post-religious world, this little book is packed with big ideas about doubt, faith and redemption for the ‘delicate formation of faults’ that runs through human nature.*
Reading these droplets of insight about everyday life is a practice in mindfulness offering the opportunity to lift the veil and gaze at eternity.
‘A mantra that will keep us in one piece’, as the poet Kim Cheng Boey writes, this book allows us to dwell in uncomfortable ideas.
Prayers of a Secular World is a compendium of meditations from over eighty poets including the well-loved Cate Kennedy, Judith Beveridge, Chris Wallace-Crabbe and Mark Tredinnick, award-winning poets such as Christine Paice, Lisa Jacobson, Debbi Hamilton and Lesley Lebkowicz.
From their personal experience of our contemporary world, poets such as Ron Pretty, Robyn Rowland, David Brooks and many more have created a language of encounter that is universally resonant. Their blessings and epiphanies, insights and concerns, are the prayer that lives in all of us.
Exquisitely finished with gold foil, this is a book of wonder and wondering, of faith and doubt, signs and epiphanies, of blessings and longing will lift you through the darkness.
*the phrase ‘delicate formation of faults’ is from the poem ‘Christmas Island’ by Renee Pettitt-Schipp
The Editors
Jordie Albiston has published eight poetry collections. Two of her books have been adapted for music-theatre, both enjoying seasons at the Sydney Opera House. Jordie’s work has won many awards, including the 2010 NSW Premier’s Prize. She lives in Melbourne.
Kevin Brophy has published thirteen books of poetry, fiction and essays. He teaches poetry and short fiction in the Creative writing program in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. In 2009 Kevin was awarded the Calibre Prize for an outstanding essay. He lives in Melbourne.
Introduction by:
David Tacey is an independent scholar and public intellectual who has written extensively on spirituality, religion, youth experience and mental health. David grew up in central Australia alongside Aboriginal cultures, and has a life-long interest in indigenous issues. He is the author of fourteen books, including Edge of the Sacred, Re-Enchantment, and The Spirituality Revolution.
