The Estuary Book Club (Hobart)

The Estuary Book Club Hobart is a fortnightly group for people wanting to discuss religion, faith, and belief from the outside. We invite people from all backgrounds and philosophical positions to read a book with us, and chat about it in community.

An estuary is a body of water into which one or more rivers flows, and which also has access to the sea. It is a place of joining and mixing. This is what we are hoping our book club will be - a place where people can join and mix with others as we discuss some of life's deeper questions.

All backgrounds welcome—Christians, atheists, agnostics, and everyone in between

Imagine a gathering where:

• Your doubts are heard
• Your perspectives matter
• Complexity is embraced
• No belief is too controversial to discuss

We're not here to convert, but to understand. Our book club is a judgement-free zone where different worldviews can meet, challenge each other, and grow together—with a particular interest in exploring Christian thought.

We will slowly work our way through a variety of books and authors exploring life, faith and culture, albeit with a slant towards the Christian world view. Sceptics and enquirers are very welcome to come and share thoughts, to offer critique, to come learn together with us in a safe and open environment.

The Current Book

Fully Alive by Elizabeth Oldfield

In a world of rapid and unsettling change, Elizabeth Oldfield starts from a simple but urgent premise: we need people who are resilient, kind, open, generous, and brave — and yet becoming such people has never felt harder. Fully Alive is her deeply personal response to that challenge, drawing on her own wrestling with faith to ask what it truly means to live a good, whole, and fulfilling life in the modern age.

While the book is undeniably rooted in Christian faith, Oldfield brings a conversational warmth that welcomes people from all walks of life. Part confessional, part devotional, and part practical guide, it is the kind of book that feels less like a lecture and more like an honest conversation with a thoughtful friend.

Using the seven deadly sins as her structural framework, Oldfield works through each one and how it can be understood in today's world, while uncovering its positive opposite. In a culture stripped of both forgiveness and responsibility but heavy on judgment, she makes the surprising case that the concept of sin can actually be liberating — and that the themes, rituals, and communities of Christianity offer a genuine source of strength when things fall apart.

Candid, touching, funny, and incredibly human, Fully Alive points not toward some unreachable spiritual ideal but toward a deeper, more soulful experience of the life we are already living — making it, as many readers have noted, the rare religious book you can confidently hand to almost anyone

• When: Every second Wednesday at 1pm at the The St John's Reading Room (79 Davey Street)
• Cost: Free (whenever you join the first book is on us!)
• Who: Anyone looking for a community to discuss big ideas. Feel free to bring friends

Alistair Bain is the facilitator of the Estuary Book Club Hobart, and he will help conversation flow during our times together.