Faith at the Frontiers

By Barnabas Aspray and Austin StevensonReligion & Spirituality Christianity

Faith at the Frontiers episodes

July 03, 2023 #45 The True Story of the Science-Faith ‘Conflict’, from the Galileo affair to Draper and White
What is really at stake in seeing faith & science as in conflict with each other? What are the origins of this conflict narrative and what were the theological motivations behind it?
These questions and others are the driving force behind today's episode, the first in our ECLAS series. We interview David Hutchings and Dr Amanda Rees for their perspective - both practical and academic - on the common perception of a conflict.
Note this episode was recorded shortly before the passing of Tom McLeish, who is mentioned near the beginning.
Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound engineering!
53 min
June 26, 2023<Trailer> introducing the next series
News from Faith at the Frontiers:
We’re at the end of the Faith & Economics series. What a thought-provoking series it was!

Goodbye to Carmody! She has had to step down because she was too busy to keep it up. A new co-host will be joining us in the series after next.

Introducing the next series: in partnership with Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science (ECLAS), we are running a second series on science & religion, much more practically oriented than the last. First episode will be out next week!
3 min
June 12, 2023#44 How Christianity transforms the most fundamental economic principles - with Prof. Paul Williams
For our final episode on faith & economics, we’ve invited Prof. Paul Williams to share his vision for a Christian transformation of economics. Prof. Williams has studied economics and theology, and worked as both an economist and a theology professor for many years. He is uniquely qualified to give insight on our question and this episode is a powerful ending to an incredible series.
Written by Paul Williams:
‘Christianity and the Global Economic Order’, in The Oxford Handbook of Christianity and Economics, ed. Paul Oslington (Oxford University Press, 2014)

Entry on ‘Capitalism’ in The Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics, ed. Joel Green (Baker Academic, 2011).

‘Evangelicals, Pope Benedict, and the Financial Crisis’, The Review of Faith & International Affairs 8, no. 4 (1 January 2010): 65–68.
Books/articles recommended by Paul Williams:
Peter J. Buckley and Mark C.Casson, “The moral basis of global capitalism: Beyond the eclectic theory,” International Journal of the Economics of Business, 8(2), 2001, pp.303-327.
Donald A. Hay, Economics Today: A Christian Critique (Regent College Publishing, 2004).

William T. Cavanaugh, Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2008).

Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound engineering!
1 hr 1 min
May 29, 2023#43 What we really think about capitalism and other things - a reflection on recent episodes
Carmody & Barney pause to reflect on our recent episodes and the opinions presented by our guests. We appear to have invited quite a few capitalists recently without intending to over-represent one viewpoint. So most of this discussion is our own reflections on the varieties of capitalism that we’ve encountered from our guests. We reflect on things like:
What are the conditions for the possibility of economic activity?

Is there such a thing as an isolated individual?

What happens when you build a worldview out of fear?

Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound editing!
33 min
May 15, 2023 #42 Christian Finance: Creating a Virtuous Circle - with Pete Gladwell
Carmody and Barney interview Pete Gladwell, who works for one of the largest investment companies in the UK. Pete explains how he views investment as a community service and tries to make investments that will benefit society rather than only making money for himself or his company.

This episode is really interesting to compare to the previous one with Robert Netzly: two Christian investors with different visions of what Christian values in investment look like.

Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound editing!
48 min
May 03, 2023 #41 God, Mammon, and Ethical Investing - with Robert Netzly
Barney and Carmody interview Robert Netzly, founder and CEO of Inspire Investing. Robert recently made the decision to withdraw all ESG investment on the basis that it has been overtaken by a Marxist agenda. We ask Robert about his understanding of faithful Christian investment and the principles on which he founded his business.

Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound editing!
53 min
April 17, 2023#40 The power of the free market to create wealth - with Dylan Pahman
Barney and Carmody interview Dylan Pahman on whether there is any such thing as ‘Christian economics’, or whether economics is a value-neutral space like mathematics. We discuss questions like:
Is the free market the most natural and universal economic system?

Should theologians stay out of economics?

Should economists stay out of theology?

What should our goals for society be in the first place?

Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound editing!
42 min
March 30, 2023#39 Transforming economic theory through the Christian tradition - with Helen Alford
We interview Helen Alford, one of the leading voices in Christian economics. Helen offers an amazing array of insights. Helen had a transformative experience upon reading the following article:
Howard Rosenbrock, 'Engineers and the Work People Do', in The Experience of Work, ed. Craig Littler.
The key insight was that 'If engineers could think of people as if they were robots, they would give them more human work to do'.
This led Helen on to a journey of discovery about the Christian tradition's perspective on economics and the need to address the problems we are seeing in the present day.

Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound engineering!
59 min
March 13, 2023#38 Freedom and Loneliness: Reflecting on recent episodes
Barney and Carmody respond to feedback and reflect on the last two episodes (with Ondrej & Jared, and with Adeel Malik). Themes that appear include:
What role does freedom play in an economic system ?

Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound editing!
21 min
February 27, 2023#37 Investing in your success: Islamic economics and the role of community - with Professor Adeel Malik
Carmody & Barney invite Adeel Malik of Oxford University to discuss the Islamic view of economics and finance. We discuss questions like:
Why is lending money at interest banned in traditional Islam, Judaism, and Christianity?

Why can economics never be separated from morality and religion?

Why is community a neglected dimension of economic theory?
Hope you enjoy the episode!
Thanks to Jamie Maule for sound engineering!
52 min