Welcome to Eureka Street

back to site

Author: Andrew Hamilton

There are more than 200 results, only the first 200 are displayed here.

  • RELIGION

    Hands-on faith

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 06 May 2021
    17 Comments

     The laying on of hands has been associated with controverted change in Western religious societies. Central in religious societies, it became neuralgic in cultures seeking to mark out clear boundaries between religion and such domains as politics, science and medicine and demography. To appreciate the significance of the action, it is worth reflecting on its history.

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    Football, money and the nature of the local

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 29 April 2021
    4 Comments

    The history of sport, with its varied and often conflictual relationships between local communities, money and administration, provides the context for understanding the Super League move. It also raises more important questions about the nature and importance of the local. 

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Polls and trolls

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 22 April 2021
    20 Comments

    It is axiomatic that all intelligent people consider polls on political intentions to be unreliable. That no doubt says something about the mental acuity of those of us who duly glance at the news poll every month or so. The breakdown of the figures of this and similar polls, however, was interesting. It showed that support for the Prime Minister had declined substantially among women, but had remained steady or increased among men.

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    Fragile fraternity a hundred years on from Black Friday

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 15 April 2021
    4 Comments

    The parallels with our own times of the events of Black Friday in 1921, with its movement from a time of heavy social spending and the flowering of social capital to a time of recovery, and the fateful choices that are made at such times, are evident. We await the results of the economic choices being made by government and their effects on community and solidarity.

    READ MORE
  • FAITH DOING JUSTICE

    The hollow meritocracy

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 08 April 2021
    19 Comments

    The debate about quotas based on gender has been well canvassed. The wider issues raised about merit and meritocracy, however, merit further reflection. Far in the background to both conversations lies a sophisticated body of reflection on merit among Christian theologians. 

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    The grounded hope of Good Friday

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 01 April 2021
    18 Comments

    In its Christian context, Easter Sunday celebrates the rising of Jesus to life. It follows his brutal execution on Good Friday after rigged trials. Good Friday this year occurs at the beginning of April, a month which Pope Francis dedicated to prayer for ‘those who risk their lives while fighting for fundamental rights under dictatorships, authoritarian regimes and even in democracies in crisis’.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    When poetry purifies

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 25 March 2021
    15 Comments

    We recently celebrated World Poetry Day, which gives poets, both public and private, a day in the sun. It also renews old conversations about why poetry might be important and whether all poems should rhyme.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Questions of courage and risk

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 18 March 2021
    50 Comments

    Before travelling to Iraq Pope Francis was criticised. The criticism bears reflection. It leads us to ask what weight we place on courage, a quality much discussed in antiquity.

    READ MORE