Rod Benson - Book Review

Rosalind Bradley, Mosaic: Favourite Prayers and Reflections from Inspiring Australians (Sydney: ABC Books, 2008).

Of the making of devotional anthologies there is no end. The human spirit is in need of continual refreshment & replenishment, and there are many sources from which gurus and devotees are both willing and able to draw & offer all kinds of spiritual succour. The Christian tradition from my perspective is the greatest and most comprehensive. Certainly there is a breadth and depth within Christian spirituality (I'm thinking of the rich treasury of Christian wisdom and critical reflection on these) that is hard to match.

Three of my favourite devotional anthologies - as distinct from primary sources - are Lion Christian Meditation Collection (edited by Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild, 1998), The Eternal Vision (compiled by Anglican chaplain William Sykes in one volume in 2002, based on his much larger five-volume collection), and Australian Baptist Rowland Croucher's six volumes of meditations and reflections (published between 1987-1998). Then there are classic hymns, which you can find in any classic hymn book. Then there is great poetry, not only Christian, harder to discover but accessible through trusted guides such as Harold Bloom (who, despite his gnosticism, is responsible for introducing me to George Herbert) and Czeslaw Milosz (to whose slim volume, A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry, I keep returning).

Though not in the same league, a new anthology of prayers and reflections has just appeared in bookstores. Compiled by Rosalind Bradley, Mosaic features inspiration selected by more than 150 prominent Australians from a variety of ancestries and faiths, along with short explanations of why the pieces are significant to them. The sources are varied, from the Bible to the Qur'an, Pope John XXII to the Dalai Lama, William Penn to David Mowaljarlai, William Shakespeare to Michael Leunig. Several contributors chose to pen their own pieces. One, Jennie Brand-Miller, chose a Leunig cartoon in lieu of words.

Bradley was born & raised in the UK, worked for two years in PNG as a volunteer teacher, lived in Australia for the last 23 years. She worked in public relations / marketing for several charities, including the Fred Hollows Foundation. Proceeds from the sale of the book, she says, to The Asylum Seekers Centre of NSW, which offers welcome and support to community-based asylum seekers; and Bethlehem Communities Australia, which assists disadvantaged people in the Philippines. Bradley has an interesting spiritual background in keeping with the diversity evident among contributors to the book. She confesses to a Jewish heritage, an agnostic upbringing, baptism and confirmation as an Anglican in her late twenties, employment in "world development" for the Methodist Church in London, and reception into the Catholic Church in Cardinal Pell's Sydney in 2002.

In her introduction, Bradley reveals the origin of her idea for such an anthology: The idea for compiling Mosaic had its genesis in the London bombings on 7 July 2005. I was in London at the time, and this tragic event distressed me greatly. It made me feel powerless and vulnerable - especially as one of the suicide bombers lived on the same road as my twin brother - so I was determined to channel my concerns into something constructive and positive. Hence the birth of Mosaic. Contributors include Elizabeth Murdoch, Phillip Aspinall, Muriel Porter, Frank Lowy, Tom Uren, Tim Costello, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, Stephanie Dowrick, Tim Fischer, Gabi Hollows, Veronica Brady, Aden Ridgeway, James Strong, Jeff McMullen, Anthony Field, John Eales, Petrea King, Andrew Denton, Charmaine Solomon, Tim Winton.

A common theme, shared by many contributors, is an optimism regarding the human spirit or human potential, together with a concern for social justice. This is a useful anthology, not least because it features contributors who identify as Australians from beginning to end. For me, the Christian heritage of our nation, and Christian traditions that have profoundly shaped so many of us, are clearly in evidence in the collection. Perhaps it is simply due to my cultural roots, but I perceive a certain depth, and an open-heartedness, in the Christian passages that is not matched by the Islamic and Asian writings published here. And, of course, there are also contributors and passages reflecting no commitment to organized religion. There is much food for thought here, as well as for personal challenge, inspiration and guidance in the large and small decisions of our lives.