Not all driftwood gets picked up. Some floats by and is never seen by anyone. Some will drift in the water for years. This is the last episode of Driftwood Christianity, the last piece of driftwood that I'll send down this river.

If you found me on social over the year of this project, keep looking there. Perhaps you'll find more driftwood from me.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/driftwoodtheology

Andrew on twitter: https://twitter.com/amgsmith

Andrew on mastodon: https://mastodon.au/@andrewsmith

Sermons and preachers aren't perfect. It's OK to take them and debate. And in this episode I use guidance from a rabbinic method to show you how you can do that in a way that helps you grow in faith.

LINKS

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg https://danyaruttenberg.net/

Find the show on facebook, or find Andrew on twitter and mastodon.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/driftwoodtheology

Andrew on twitter: https://twitter.com/amgsmith

Andrew on mastodon: https://mastodon.au/@andrewsmith

The life of faith is sometimes pitched as a binary between certainty and doubt, and some people might be generous enough to make it a spectrum between these extremes. But what if we bring wonder into the life of faith?

REFERENCES

Another take on different kinds of faith is from Brian McLaren. He has a long interview on The Bible For Normal People in which he talks about stages of faith: simple, complex, perplexed, and harmony.

Brian's interview podcast: https://thebiblefornormalpeople.com/episode-174-brian-mclaren-the-four-stages-of-faith/

Brian's book: https://read.macmillan.com/lp/faith-after-doubt/

Find the show on facebook, or find Andrew on twitter and mastodon.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/driftwoodtheology

Andrew on twitter: https://twitter.com/amgsmith

Andrew on mastodon: https://mastodon.au/@andrewsmith

This episode is about religious freedom in Australia, and liberal democracies in general. The debate is still going and there's much we can learn from Christian history, theology, and critical thinking that can see us through.

REFERENCES

ALRC anti-discrimination laws proposals.

The ALRC publication (look for the PDF linked from this page).

An article about the Munster Rebellion. There are plenty more out there.

David McRaney's book, How Minds Change

Let's ask the birds! The driftwood of this episode is birds. We learn a bit more about them and how they experience the world. And from there, we de-centre our own experiences of reality. If you've never considered the God-bird relationship, this is the episode for you.

Links & References

Australian Museum, "The first birds"

Chooks, "What can your chickens see?"

Australian Geographic, "The mystery behind a scoprion's glow"

The Conversation, "When did we become fully human?"

Bush Heritage Australia, Firebirds

Biblical passages quoted today: Isaiah 40:31, Psalm 50:11, Job 12:7-9

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Anzac Day is a war memorial day in Australia, but it doesn't have to be the last word. Listen to this exploration of what a Christian response to the day could be. The episode covers a little history of the day, some critique and analysis of it, but finishes with an exploration of what it means to be Christians in a community of love and peace, over against a day of war and sorrow.

Links

Who likes cosplay? So many people. Is it just a bit of fun, or is there something more to it. In this episode I look at cosplay, myth, and religion; and ask where the boundaries are between them.

Links

Driftwood Christianity on facebook.

Andrew on twitter and mastodon.

Gold Coast Supanova

Oscar Wilde's poem, The Sphinx

A summary of Berger's Sacred Canopy.

The Keeping It 101 podcast.

Layout of St Paul's cathedral in London.

PreachersNSneakers on instagram.

Badiou's Ethics.

Today I pick up the story of Andrew the Apostle and take a look and then turn to look at another of Jesus' disciples: Joanna. She's got quite the story and it's worth your time to know more about her and to hear some of her story.

Links about Andrew

The Acts of Andrew: https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/actsandrew.html

An article about Andrew: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=109

Two articles about Joanna

https://womeninthebible.net/women-bible-old-new-testaments/joanna/

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2018/06/27/101827-saint-joanna-the-myrrhbearer

The reference for the statistic that almost 90% of men and women have a bias against women.

Thanks to you for listening. If you'd like to support the show you can rate and review it in your podcast app. You can like and share the episode, the posts, the page. 

Find me on twitter: https://twitter.com/amgsmith

Find me mastodon: https://mastodon.au/@andrewsmith

"But even on this point, their testimony didn't agree." This episode digs a little into the contradictions of scripture, the disagreements in testimony between the gospels, and between Christians. And it ends up in radical ecumenism.

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Today was an episode with a zero so I interviewed local pastor Erin Mawhinney. She leads the congregation at West End Uniting in Brisbane. We talk about her calling to ministry, her congregation and their ministry in their local community, before we move through a few thoughts from biblical texts and how they interact with her ministry.

Many thanks to Erin for her time. You can find West End Uniting on facebook, and if you're looking for an affirming progressive church in the centre of Brisbane, this might be the community for you.

Thanks to you for listening. If you'd like to support the show you can rate and review it in your padcast app. You can like and share the episode, the posts, the page. Find me on facebook, twitter, and mastodon.

And best of all, you can comment! This episode is now driftwood for you. What will you carve out of it?