Chris Baker SSC, Australian Catholic Social Justice Council/St Columban’s Mission Society, 92 pages, $8.00

While the advent of the year 2000 is associated in the minds of many of us with the dangers of the millennium bug, the beginning of a third millennium of Christianity, the Sydney Olympics, or even the debate about whether the new millennium really begins on 1 January next year, some are working for the ‘Jubilee Year’ to be a time for righting injustices. In this country, the Missionary Society of St Columban has been especially active in this regard, including its publication of a number of useful resources on ‘Jubilee 2000’.

Its latest contribution, in association with the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council, is the book Jubilee Spirit for a Global Family. It was written in Australia by Columban Missionary and biblical scholar Chris Baker, who has now returned to the parish in a poor section of Lima, Peru, where he has worked for over twenty years. He brings to his challenging book practical experience of the vast and unjust divisions that characterise the global family of humankind today, as well as a deep pondering of the biblical imagery of Jubilee that has become a profound source of inspiration in our time for those wanting to change our world for the better.

Baker begins by demonstrating how Jesus launches his ministry by proclaiming a year of Jubilee (Luke 4:16–30). He explains how Jesus, heralding ‘good news to the poor’, added depth and breath to the Hebrew understanding of the ‘year of favour’ and ‘year of release’.

The concept of Jubilee is explored as an essential expression of the Jewish experience of Covenant. It included the return of families to their ancestral land and home. Here and elsewhere, Baker draws out the implications of the Covenant and Jubilee for our world today, both globally and in Australia. For example, a chapter is devoted to a detailed consideration of the rural crisis in Australia.

Another major concern of the book is the crippling debt that burdens many developing nations. Baker reveals the magnitude of this problem, and exposes the policies of the organisations behind it, such as the World Bank. Baker links the spirit of Jubilee to the call to forgive or reduce these intolerable debts.

Baker joins the call for new global ethic in the spirit of biblical covenant. He concludes his book by providing detailed suggestions for a eucharistic celebration of the Jubilee spirit.

Chris Baker has produced a concise, ideal primer in the Catholic social justice dimensions of the Jubilee year, particularly valuable because it also includes consideration of our Australian situation.