DARREN CRONSHAW reads Tim Costello’s book, Faith…
Tim Costello
Faith: Embracing Life in All its Uncertainty
Hardie Grant Books, Melbourne, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1743791929
“An inspiring and thought provoking book, Faith is ideal for anyone interested in public theology and faith-based activism, and equally those who are merely curious about how one well known Australian relates his personal and communally-focused values to public issues.”
The place of faith in Australian society is contested variously by secular, atheist and multi-faith perspectives. Even the place of faith in our individual lives is challenged by the experience of uncertainty and disappointments – in our own experience and in how we see others express faith.
Well known social justice activist and former CEO – and now chief advocate – of World Vision Australia, Tim Costello, faces this reality from the beginning of this memoir on faith: “I often feel fed up with faith. So much said in the name of God I do not believe in or want anything to do with. The public religious discourse is narrow, bigoted and judgemental. I cringe when I hear these attitudes from my Christian colleagues who believe they are speaking for God. Often I wonder how much these purported followers of Jesus actually know about him.”
The remainder of the book explores and appeals for a lived faith that is practical and applied to the most urgent public issues of our world. Costello offers reflections and case studies of responding to domestic violence, addictions, human rights, slavery, refugees, secularism, nationalism, atheism, Islam, gender roles, homophobia, sports doping, funerals, friendship, corrupt international politics, tax avoidance, famines, global inequalities and climate change.
With short chapters (2-9 pages each), it is easy to read; but with insightful social critique and transparent personal reflection it contains much to challenge people of Christian faith as well as people of other faiths or no faith.
Costello celebrates the generosity of struggling Australians (citing World Vision’s experience that the greatest number and biggest generosity of donations come from the poorest postcodes), and bemoans the Australian government’s reduction in overseas aid. He upholds stories of forgiveness and grassroots community development, and questions why some believers get preoccupied with issues of sexuality and personal morality while ignoring pressing global issues that threaten Creation and world peace. The book appeals for a faith that works for shared interests, and that offers spiritual capital to our communities – in contrast to faith that is self-obsessed with self-realisation or personal prosperity.
A feature of the book is the insight into how Tim Costello’s faith developed as the basis for his widely respected advocacy for social justice, ethics and leadership for the greater good – including his Bible-believing father and his socially engaged mother (who embraced feminism and Freud), his University Evangelical Union days and theological studies in Switzerland, and his experiences as a pastor at St Kilda and especially his 13 recent years with World Vision. I appreciated reading about why he decided not to take an offered Democrats Senate seat – he realised politics was his passion but not his calling. Yet Faith shows how he has shaped and lived out his calling by advocating for a more just world across a huge range of social and public issues.
An inspiring and thought provoking book, Faith is ideal for anyone interested in public theology and faith-based activism, and equally those who are merely curious about how one well known Australian relates his personal and communally-focused values to public issues.
This review was originally published in Colloquium (November 2017)
