Bishop Robinson’s previous book – Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus (John Garratt, 2007) – has sold more than 10,000 copies in Australia alone and has been translated into French, German and Spanish. That book was a deeply challenging book, one that drew both resounding applause and fierce resistance. Power and Sex called for a radical re-think of structural, cultural, political and even theological matters within the Catholic Church. Loves Urgent Longings is a more personal but in some respects even more challenging book.

These two books deserve a place in any spiritual library: Aboriginal Church Paintings, Reflecting on our Faith is a remarkable book that connects Christian faith with the Aboriginal tradition of the land. It is a journey through an Australian Aboriginal perspective on the Christian faith. It enables us to explore an overview of some of the best Aboriginal Christian art in the country from many remote areas as well as urban perspectives.

O’Day begins his book with “We live in very challenging times! Many are searching for a spirituality to suit their twenty-first-century needs and many young people have joined this search. However, I fear too few are engaged in a serious search. My hope is that this book will assist the serious searchers to find their spirituality in the Eucharist.”