Seeing Christ in Australia: Introduction

While religious literacy is on the decline in Australia, the essays in this volume bring unexpected insights, finding allusions to Christ in portrayals of bushrangers and soldiers, popstars and political activists. They see Christ in popular stories that speak of primal fear, shame, and desire, lost children and lost hope. They discern Christ in the storytelling practices of First Nations peoples, in the ecstatic joy of Kylie Minogue, the righteous anger of Ned Kelly, and the everyday struggles of workers. They read visual and literary artworks and see Christ betrayed, politicised, and embodied. These are visions that resist and disrupt, disorienting theory and belief. They provide a counter to totalising tendencies, especially the kind that colonise and co-opt Christ or seek to control how Christ is received. Instead, these deeply contextualised stories attest to the variety and subtlety of what are sometimes unspoken representations of Christ in Australia. They bring consciousness of Christ to the surface.