What Does Faith Have to Do With Politics? My latest guest on From the Heart of the City is theologian Luke Bretherton, and our conversation begins with a question that feels particularly important right now:

What is political theology — and why should ordinary Christians care about it?

For many of us, the word politics immediately brings to mind elections, political parties, candidates, left and right, winners and losers. But Luke invites us to think much more deeply. Politics, at its heart, is about how we learn to live together. It is about power and responsibility. About neighbours and strangers. About who gets heard and who gets overlooked. About the common good. And about the kind of communities we are trying to build together. Which means Christian faith has always had something to say about politics — not because the Church should become an arm of a political party, but because following Jesus inevitably raises questions about how we share life with one another.

Luke Bretherton is one of the most thoughtful voices working at the intersection of theology, politics and public life. In our conversation we explore what political theology actually is, why democracy requires more than simply casting a ballot, what it means to listen across real differences, and what role churches and other communities can play in rebuilding a common life.

And underneath it all is a question I find myself returning to again and again here in the heart of the city: How do we live together well when we do not all agree?

At a moment when our public life can feel increasingly polarized — when disagreement so easily becomes suspicion and neighbours can quickly become opponents — I found Luke’s perspective both challenging and deeply worthwhile. This isn’t a conversation about telling you what to think politically.

It’s a conversation about how Christians might think faithfully about our shared life — and what it might mean to show up, listen, participate, disagree, organize, serve and seek the good of our neighbours.

I hope you’ll join us.

🎙️ From the Heart of the CityFaith. Justice. Community. Radical Hospitality.

What happens when wanting to do well becomes needing to do better than someone else?

Today I had the opportunity to engage in a very meaningful conversation with a man, whose writing has sustained me over these last couple of decades of ministry. Theologian and author Miroslav Volf, is the founder and director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture and one of the most significant theological voices of our time. I have most of his books on my shelf. His most recent book is about ambition.

Ambition is complicated. I think most of us want to do something worthwhile with our lives. We all want to use our gifts well. We all want our work to matter. There is nothing particularly troubling about that. But what happens when the measure of a good life becomes comparison? When doing well is no longer enough unless we are doing better than someone else? That is the question at the heart of my conversation this week with professor Volf.

His new book, The Cost of Ambition: How Striving to Be Better Than Others Makes Us Worse, asks us to examine something deeply embedded in our culture—and, if we are willing to admit it, deeply embedded in many of us. We talk about what Volf calls the “worry of comparison”: that almost irresistible temptation to look sideways at someone else and measure our lives against theirs. We always seem to be measuring ourselves against someone else’s metric. Just think of how social media alone drives us to seek likes and shares. We are a culture driven in many ways to be hopelessly competitive.

In this episode, Professor Volf and I discuss about a different possibility: What if excellence does not require superiority? What if another person’s success doesn’t diminish mine? What if our gifts really are gifts? What if being beloved in our own right is enough?

One of the biblical questions at the heart of our conversation comes from Paul:

“What do you have that you did not receive?”

It is a deceptively simple question. If what I have has ultimately been received—my abilities, opportunities, relationships, even life itself—then perhaps achievement begins to look less like something that establishes my worth and more like something for which I can be grateful. And being grateful, perhaps I can respond in gratitude with grace toward others.

Our conversation ranges from Kierkegaard to Paul, from Cain and Abel, to Milton, to Jesus, and into the life of the Church itself. We talk about ambition in ministry, our tendency to count and compare, and what it might mean to pursue excellence without needing someone else to come second. And underneath it all is an even deeper question:

If I truly believe that my worth is received rather than achieved, what might I finally be free to become? How might I truly flourish?

This was a rich and thoughtful conversation with Miroslav Volf, and I’m delighted to share it with you.

From the Heart of the CityFaith. Justice. Community. Radical Hospitality.

What kind of downtown do we want London to become?

That question is personal for me, because, every day at St. Paul’s Cathedral, I see the very best of downtown London — extraordinary people, businesses, arts and culture, new neighbours, beautiful spaces and a community with enormous potential. I also see the challenges up close: homelessness, addiction, poverty, concerns about safety, struggling businesses and people wondering what the future of our downtown will look like.

My guest on this episode of From the Heart of the City is Ward 13 Councillor David Ferreira, who is seeking re-election this fall. And I want to be transparent: I support David and am pleased to endorse his re-election. But this isn’t simply a campaign conversation. We talk honestly about homelessness and human dignity, downtown businesses, housing, Bus Rapid Transit, bike lanes and what makes a city truly livable. We talk about what has worked — and what hasn’t. And I ask David a question I think every elected official should have to wrestle with: Are you willing to make the right decision even when it might cost you your seat?

Leadership isn’t simply about getting elected. It’s about what you’re prepared to do once people entrust you with the responsibility. I think David gets that.

So this is a conversation about downtown London, but ultimately it’s about something bigger: What kind of city do we want to be — and who do we want to become together?

Enjoy this BONUS episode of From the Heart of the City.

Faith. Justice. Community. Radical Hospitality.

There are books that offer a gentle invitation to reconsider a few things.

And then there are books called How Western Christianity Got It Wrong.

In this episode of From the Heart of the City, I sit down with theologian, author, activist and wisdom keeper Randy Woodley to talk about his provocative new book, How Western Christianity Got It Wrong: Replacing the God of Fear with a Spirituality of Healing.

Randy asks us to confront a difficult question: How did a movement centered on Jesus—who taught love of neighbour and enemy, challenged domination, welcomed the outsider, and proclaimed good news to the poor—become so entangled with empire, colonization, violence, exclusion and the exploitation of creation?

Our conversation explores the influence of Western ways of thinking on Christianity, our understandings of sin and salvation, theologies of fear and punishment, and what Indigenous wisdom might teach Christians about relationship, creation and healing.

But for me, the conversation also became personal. At one point I found myself asking Randy a question that has been sitting with me for some time: Why should I still care about the Church? I am still here. I am still a priest. I still preach the Gospel and celebrate the Eucharist. And despite all of the Church’s failures, I still care deeply about it. So if Western Christianity has wandered this far from the Way of Jesus, what is left here worth loving—or redeeming?

Randy doesn’t offer easy answers. He invites us into something deeper: to distinguish between defending Christianity as we have inherited it and actually following the Way of Jesus. It is a challenging conversation that ultimately it is about healing and hope.

I hope you’ll listen.

From the Heart of the CityFaith. Justice. Community. Radical Hospitality.

Today is publication day for Robert P. Jones’ new book, Backslide — and I am delighted to mark its release with a special edition of From the Heart of the City.

Robert P. Jones — Robbie, as you’ll hear me call him in our conversation — is one of the most important voices examining the intersection of religion, race, culture, and politics in the United States. His previous books, including White Too Long and The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future, have challenged readers to reckon honestly with stories Christianity has sometimes preferred not to tell about itself.

Backslide continues that work.

And the title itself is provocative.

For many of us who grew up in the Church, “backsliding” was religious language. It described someone who had wandered away from the faith — someone who had fallen backwards spiritually.

But Jones turns the word around and asks us to consider a different possibility: What if the backsliding we should be worried about is happening within Christianity itself?

What happens when Christian faith becomes entangled with nostalgia, nationalism, racial hierarchy, and the pursuit of political power?

What happens when preserving a particular version of the past becomes more important than following Jesus into the future?

And how do we tell the truth about our history without surrendering hope for what the Church might yet become?

Those are some of the questions at the heart of this conversation.

One of the things I appreciate about Robbie’s work is that he refuses the easy comfort of pretending our present moment appeared from nowhere. The tensions we see around Christianity and politics have histories. The stories we tell about race have histories. Even the stories churches tell about themselves have histories.

If we are going to imagine something different, we first have to be willing to look honestly at how we arrived here.

That makes this an uncomfortable conversation at times.

I think it also makes it a hopeful one.

Because Christianity need not be captive to fear, nostalgia, or power. There remains another way — the way of Jesus, whose life continually draws us away from domination and toward neighbour, stranger, mercy, justice, truth, and love.

So on the day Backslide makes its way into the world, I’m grateful to Robert P. Jones for joining me for this special conversation.

I hope you’ll listen.

And then, perhaps, pick up the book.

🎙️ BOOK LAUNCH SPECIALRobert P. Jones — BackslideFrom the Heart of the City

Faith. Justice. Community. Radical Hospitality.

What happens when the pastor is the one who needs grace?

We talk a lot in the church about forgiveness. We preach grace. We proclaim second chances. We tell stories of redemption and resurrection. But what happens when someone really messes up? And what happens when that someone is the pastor?

On this episode of From the Heart of the City, I’m joined by the Rev. Lillian Daniel for a remarkably candid conversation about her new book, Defrocked: Good News from a Bad Pastor for a Better Church.

Lillian doesn’t tell a story in which she was simply misunderstood or falsely accused. She writes openly about crossing a pastoral boundary, the consequences that followed, being removed from ministry, and finding herself on the other side of the church’s disciplinary process.

But Defrocked is about much more than what happened. It’s about what comes next. What does genuine accountability look like without becoming dehumanizing? Can we take seriously the harm people cause while still believing they are more than the worst thing they’ve ever done? What does repentance actually require? Is restoration possible? What does genuine accountability look like? Most importantly: Do we actually believe the things we say about grace when grace becomes difficult?

One of the images that runs through Lillian’s book is the ditch in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. Sometimes we’re in the ditch because someone pushed us there. Sometimes life put us there. And sometimes we’re there because we jumped in with our own two feet. The question is whether anyone will stop to help.

Our conversation moves from Lillian’s own experience of failure and accountability to larger questions about clergy discipline, institutional processes, forgiveness, restoration, vocation, and the kind of church we might become if we stopped pretending that some people are beyond grace. There is something deeply hopeful in that.

Ultimately Defrocked isn’t simply a book about a ‘bad pastor.’ It’s a book about whether we can become a better church.

🎙️ From the Heart of the CityFaith. Justice. Community. Radical Hospitality.

What are young adults really asking of the Church?

This week on From the Heart of the City, I’m joined by the Rev’d Matthew Martin, Chaplain at Huron University, for a conversation about faith, learning, belonging — and what it means to accompany young adults at one of the most formative times in their lives.

We often hear that younger generations are walking away from religion. But does that mean they’ve stopped asking spiritual questions?

Or are they asking different questions — about identity, purpose, loneliness, justice, relationships, vocation, and what makes a life meaningful — and looking for answers in places the Church hasn’t always been willing to go?

Matt spends his ministry right in the middle of those questions.

We talk about what university chaplaincy actually looks like today; how a Christian priest ministers within a diverse and pluralistic community; the pressures facing today’s students; and why presence and listening can sometimes matter far more than having the right answer.

We also turn the question back on the Church.

Instead of continually asking, “Where are the young people?” perhaps we need to ask:

Where are we?

Are we present where people are actually living, questioning, struggling and searching? Are we listening before we speak? And are we creating communities where people know they belong before they have everything figured out?

It’s a conversation about university chaplaincy, but ultimately it’s about something much larger: how we accompany one another as we discover who we are, what we believe, and what kind of life is worth living.

From the Heart of the City — Episode 9Guest: The Rev’d Matthew MartinChaplain, Huron University

There are some conversations that stay with you long after the microphones are turned off. My conversation with Chris Moss is one of them.

As Executive Director of London Cares, Chris spends his days working alongside people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. Our conversation goes beyond headlines and political debates to explore the human stories behind them. We talk about Housing First, outreach, dignity, and what it means to build a community where everyone has a place to belong.

Whether you work in social services, volunteer in your community, attend church, or simply care about the future of our city, I think you’ll find this to be a thoughtful and challenging conversation.

I hope it encourages us all to look beyond assumptions and remember that every person we encounter has a story worth hearing.

Thanks for listening, and as always, I’d love to hear your thoughts after you’ve had a chance to watch or listen.

There are conversations that challenge what we think.

And then there are conversations that challenge where we begin.

This week’s episode of From the Heart of the City is one of those.

I sat down with Kevin Nye to talk about his book Hope for the Mission, and our conversation quickly moved beyond the familiar debates about homelessness, charity, and the role of the Church. Instead, Kevin invites us to ask a deeper question:

What if we’ve misunderstood the mission itself?

For generations, many churches have measured success by how many people they convert or how many moral boxes they can check. Kevin doesn’t dismiss the importance of faith—far from it—but he challenges us to consider whether we’ve sometimes placed conditions on compassion that Jesus never did.

We spent time talking about the Housing First movement, a model that begins not with programs or prerequisites, but with the conviction that every human being deserves a safe place to call home. It is a simple idea, yet one that forces us to examine our assumptions. Is housing a reward for getting life together, or is it the foundation that allows healing to begin?

Serving in the heart of downtown London, these aren’t theoretical questions for me. Every day at St. Paul’s Cathedral and through the ministry of Paul’s Place, we encounter people carrying stories of trauma, resilience, addiction, recovery, hope, and heartbreak. We have learned that listening often matters more than lecturing, and that relationships change lives more than transactions ever can.

One of the things I appreciated most about Kevin’s book is that it refuses to caricature either people experiencing homelessness or the Church itself. Instead, it calls Christians back to the ministry of Jesus—a ministry rooted in presence before persuasion, dignity before judgment, and love before labels.

That doesn’t mean the conversation is always comfortable.

In fact, it shouldn’t be.

If following Jesus never asks us to reconsider our assumptions, we may not be paying close enough attention.

Whether you work in social services, volunteer in your parish, lead a congregation, or simply care about the future of our communities, I think you’ll find this conversation thoughtful, challenging, and deeply hopeful.

I’d love to hear what resonates with you. What challenged you? What surprised you? Where do you see signs of hope in your own community?

Thank you, as always, for listening and for being part of this growing community around From the Heart of the City. These conversations are helping us imagine what faith can look like when it is lived in the places where people actually are.

Every morning I come to St. Paul’s Cathedral, I’m reminded that ministry happens at the intersection of so many realities. Some people come looking for a quiet place to pray. Others are searching for community. Many simply need somewhere safe to sit for a while. Throughout the week I meet newcomers beginning a new life in Canada, people experiencing homelessness, those struggling with loneliness, and others carrying burdens that aren’t always visible. The heart of the city has a way of reminding you that the world’s problems are never simply headlines. They have names, faces and stories. That’s one of the reasons I was looking forward to my conversation with theologian Grace Ji-Sun Kim.

Climate change is one of those subjects that can end a conversation before it even begins. The moment it’s mentioned, we tend to retreat into familiar camps. We assume we know where the other person stands, and before long we’re debating politics rather than listening to one another. Beneath all the noise are questions the Church cannot afford to ignore.

* What does it mean to confess that “the earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it”?

* What responsibility do we bear for God’s creation?

* How do we love our neighbour when environmental degradation so often affects the poorest and most vulnerable first?

Those aren’t simply political questions. They’re theological ones.

This week on From the Heart of the City, I had the privilege of speaking with Grace about her remarkable new book, Earthbound: God at the Intersection of Climate and Justice. What I appreciated most was that Grace wasn’t inviting us into another political debate. She was inviting us into theological reflection.

Throughout our conversation we explored creation, baptism, justice, Indigenous wisdom, and what it means to see the earth not as something to be exploited but as a gift entrusted to our care.

She introduced me to two Korean concepts that have stayed with me long after we finished recording. The first is jeong—a deep, enduring love that binds people together and reminds us that our lives are profoundly interconnected. The second is han—the deep suffering that injustice leaves behind, not only in individuals but in communities and even in creation itself. I find myself returning to those ideas again and again.

Good theology doesn’t simply reassure us that we’re right. It invites us to see more clearly, to think more deeply, and sometimes to be challenged in ways that lead us closer to walking the Way of Jesus.

Perhaps we’ve sometimes spoken as though God’s concern is only for human souls, when the Scriptures paint a much bigger picture—a God who delights in all creation and calls us to be faithful stewards rather than careless consumers.

My hope is that this episode doesn’t simply leave you thinking differently about climate change. I hope it leaves you thinking more deeply about God. Because the way we understand God will always shape the way we live in the world.

If you’d like to meet Grace, consider signing up for an upcoming retreat, later this summer at the Crieff Hills Retreat Centre. You can Register HERE. n the meantime pick up Earthbound at your favourite book store.