Tim Dixon illuminates the forces across the Western World that are driving us apart and the challenge this presents for how we live together in pluralistic societies.

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Tim Dixon gave CPX’s Richard Johnson Lecture in 2019, and in this extended podcast we revisit the timely insights we gained from Tim that night. This speech turned out to be eerily prescient given all that came to pass in the years after it was delivered.

In a lively and engaging presentation, we are reminded of the perils of public conversation that is overrun with a spirit of contempt. Our democracies are precious and fragile, and Tim believes there really are things we can do to preserve them. 

He offers realistic initiatives that help us withstand the forces of division and strengthen the social glue that healthy societies require. Might faith communities have something unique to offer in this regard? Tim Dixon believes so.

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Explore:

Richard Johnson Lecture

More in Common

On May 21, Australians won’t simply elect a Prime Minister but the nation’s “comforter-in-chief”. 

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Bushfires, floods, and pandemic: Australians have weathered plenty of crises over the last few years. Who do they look to in times of trouble – and what do they want from those who lead them?

In this Life & Faith, we explore an unofficial but significant part of any political leader’s job: their responsibility to not only steer people through a crisis but also comfort them with empathy, compassion, and wisdom. 

Regardless of whether we have a Prime Minister or a President, we also want our leader to be a pastor to the nation.

Tim Costello, Senior Fellow at CPX, explains the role of the pastor and how former Australian Prime Ministers have inhabited that role over time.

Erin Wilson, Professor of Politics and Religion at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, explains how “civil religion” – the intertwining of religious symbols and language with the political state – accounts for the “priestly role” of national leaders.

Mike Baird, Former NSW Premier, gives an insight to the pastoral role he played during the aftermath of the Lindt Café Siege in Sydney.

We also hear a few American presidents in that “comforter-in-chief” mode and sample the stylings of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in this area as she prepared New Zealanders to bunker down in the fight against Covid-19.

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Explore:

Want more on civil religion? Read Erin Wilson’s article for CPX 

Hear more about what Mike Baird has been up to since leaving politics

Listen in on Part 1 and Part 2 of Life & Faith’s interview with Tim Costello as he looks back over a long career advocating for social justice 

To sacrifice for Queen and country is one thing, but would you lay down your life for an enemy?

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This week we are repeating an episode that first aired in 2017 when, like this year, Easter and Anzac Day were very close together.

“Australian service men and women serve for their Queen, their country and their comrades. They do that willingly, and they do that well. But Christ laid down his life for his enemies, which is just an incredible thing to do when I think about it.”

As a member of the Australian Defence Force, and a Christian, Colonel Craig Bickell is all too familiar with the reality – and cost – of sacrifice.

In this episode, we asked him about Easter and Anzac Day, what Christian faith has to offer the profession of arms, and how he remains hopeful even in the face of the darker side of humanity. Also, he shares his own journey of faith involving a girl, warrior’s guilt, and a stained-glass window.

The Enneagram helps us ask questions like: who am I, and is who I am good?

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I strive for perfection. I am prepared for any disaster. I seek out experiences that I know will make me feel happy or excited.

Have you heard people say “I’m a seven” or “oh, that’s because you’re a five” … if you’re not familiar with the Enneagram, a model which describes people in terms of nine interrelated personality types, that will sound like gibberish. And if you’re into the Enneagram, you’re probably very into it!

In this episode of Life & Faith, the CPX team venture into the world of the Enneagram. Simon Smart invites Justine Toh, Natasha Moore, and producer Allan Dowthwaite to take the test, find out their types, and re-examine what they think they know about themselves and their relationships. And Sandra Van Opstal, author of Forty Days on Being an Eight, explains how understanding herself as a “Challenger” has changed her approach to advocacy, parenting, and her own sense of self.

“The Enneagram’s main focus as I understand it is to help us understand our motivations – what's happening on the inside. And so for me, I'm asking the question: who am I, and why do I do what I do? They're questions of intention, questions of identity. Way beyond any label someone could put on us is the question of who are we, and why were we created this way?”

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Explore:

Check out the Enneagram Daily Reflections series from IVP

Take the Enneagram test from Truity

A plumber, a pastor, and a pilgrim forge poems out of what’s right in front of them.

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She will keep you like she keeps the Sabbath.    

Did you know that 21 March is World Poetry Day? Do you … care?

In this episode of Life & Faith, we speak to three poets about why they write poetry, and find out how intimately linked to real life their words actually are.

Sit back and enjoy a feast for your ears as Erin Martine Sessions, Drew Jackson, and Jonathan McKeown bring you poems they’ve written about (respectively) an ancient city; about mass incarceration and the fight for justice; about mushrooms and motherhood. 

From very different starting points, all three wrestle to give words to the realities of the world around them - however beautiful, overwhelming, devastating, infuriating, or even repulsive.

“Plumbing has really given me a physical connection to both work and my own body that has forced me to come to some kind of reconciliation between this flighty mental side that just wants to remove itself from all the awkward matter and stuff that you have to deal with in the physical world at times … there's a lot of very physically disgusting stuff plumbers get to deal with on a daily basis. So for me, working out some kind of synthesis, which I think is what selfhood is really about … to do that in your own experience is I think part of the process of becoming the self that you are.”

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Explore:

Read more of Erin’s poetry

Check out Drew’s book God Speaks Through Wombs

Check out Jono’s book Genesis 

From Roman emperors to modern PMs, Life & Faith tackles the fraught relationship between church and state.

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“At the end of the day I am quite happy that the throne-and-altar accommodation was shattered, and that the church does not wield that kind of power.”

Dust-ups between religion and government are rarely out of the news for long. Sometimes church and state seem too cosy, sometimes they’re fiercely at odds. What has this relationship looked like, and how should it look?

In this episode of Life & Faith, Simon Smart and Natasha Moore trek back to the dramatic beginnings of the church-and-state relationship in the West with Emperor Constantine, make a brief stop among the medieval heights of Christendom, and consider some wisdom for all of us living in a post-Christendom world.

All brought to you from some of our favourite and most eminent voices on the topic: Miroslav Volf (Yale), Teresa Morgan (Oxford), Nick Spencer (Theos), David Bentley Hart, and more. Along with cameo appearances from the perennial classic Yes Prime Minister.

“So the ideal candidate from the Church of England’s point of view would be a cross between and socialite and a socialist?”

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Explore:

Sir Humphrey explains about The Church of England | Yes Prime Minister

Miroslav Volf, On private Christianity [NEEDS LINK]

Teresa Morgan, On the Emperor’s new religion

Teresa Morgan, On the conversion of the Empire

Teresa Morgan, On the double-edged sword, power

Sarah Coakley, On lament

Nick Spencer, On popes and power

David Bentley Hart, On minority Christianity

Joel Edwards, On speaking up

Craig Calhoun, On doubt and certainty

Browse For the Love of God: The Interviews

Feel exhausted, cynical, and utterly ineffective at work? There’s a cure for what ails you. 

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Jonathan Malesic had always dreamed of being a college professor. The reality, however, didn’t match up to his expectations. It got to the point where he found it difficult to drag himself out of bed to teach a class. Nothing seemed to help: therapy, medication, even extended leave. 

So he quit. 

Obviously, that’s not the solution for everyone. But in his new book The End of Burnout: Why work drains us and how to build better lives, Malesic reflects on his own experience as well as our “burnout culture” that primes us for exhaustion. 

In this interview on Life & Faith, Malesic describes that culture as a toxic combination of deteriorating working conditions – think stagnant wages, the gig economy, the decline of union membership – as well as our overinvestment in work as a source of meaning and purpose (“do what you love”). Then there’s the “badge of honour” in being a “work martyr” – someone so committed to work they’re prepared to sacrifice themselves to the cause. 

To plot a path out of burnout, Malesic turns to unlikely sources – like the ora et labora (prayer and work) rhythms of Benedictine monks at Christ in the Desert Monastery in New Mexico. There, the monks tame the “demon of work” by subordinating it to their higher callings.

If you’ve ever felt demoralised about your job, this is an interview that will name your spiritual ills and convince you that there is more to life than work.

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Explore:

Buy Jonathan Malesic’s book The End of Burnout: Why work drains us and how to build better lives

Follow him on Twitter

Sign up for his newsletter

Interested in the Maslach Burnout Inventory? Find more info here.

Buildings and public spaces tell a story about what our culture values and who belongs.

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This week, Life & Faith channels popular TV program Grand Designs through its focus on the built environment and how our public spaces express ideals and aspirations for our life together. 

Our guest is Kamila Soh, who is pursuing a Masters in architectural history at the University of New South Wales. 

Kamila recently contributed a column to The Catholic Weekly about 111 Castlereagh, a luxury apartment development in Sydney boasting pristine views of Sydney Harbour, Hyde Park, and St Mary’s Cathedral. She contrasts the cathedral with the glamorous high-rise – where an off the plan penthouse sold for A$35 million in 2021 – and suggests that the church is a genuinely public space while the exclusive development is not.

We also discuss the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral, which revealed the emotional and spiritual connections people feel to place.

Then there’s the growing recognition that we navigate public space via our phones, like posting photos to social media. But what if we need less – not more – stimulation, especially after two years of lockdown and Zoom fatigue? Kamila suggests what we need from public space are spaces for contemplation and opportunities to genuinely connect with each other.

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Explore:

Kamila Soh’s column in The Catholic Weekly

A glimpse of the lifestyle promises of 111 Castlereagh - hit “play film”

Kamila’s article on the way architecture frames our relationships with each other – explored through working from home during lockdown and people’s responses to the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral

Simon’s article on Easter and the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral

The story of the Hilton Bombing, Evan Pederick, and the Ananda Marga. 

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On Feb 13 1978 a bomb exploded at the front of the Hilton Hotel in Sydney. It had been planted in a garbage bin and as a truck emptied the bin it exploded, killing two garbage collectors and a police officer guarding the entrance to the hotel lounge.

Ten years later, Evan Pederick turned up to a Brisbane Police station and confessed to the bombing. What followed was an incredible tale of conspiracy theories, trials, appeals, re-trials, claims of false convictions and the extraordinary situation of Pederick having to try to prove his guilt!

Evan Pederick’s journey to prison and beyond involved an attempt to come to terms with his crimes and culminated in him becoming an Anglican Priest.

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Imre Salusinszky's book: The Hilton Bombing: Evan Pederick and the Ananda Marga

Young, married, and living in community housing with 28 men.

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When the pandemic hit, plenty of us reassessed our lives: changing jobs, leaving relationships, taking up a new hobby. 

Jayden and Mikyla Battey, a married couple in their 20s, did their own soul-searching and, as a result, decided to move into community housing with 28 men who are at risk of homelessness and face mental health issues and challenging life circumstances.

They were looking for a deeper way of living alongside others. They’ve found that as House Managers at Hamer Court, an affordable housing initiative run by the group Servants.

In this Life & Faith episode, Jayden and Mikyla talk about the joys and the difficulties of living with vulnerable people, and what it’s like for those on the margins to find a home with each other. We also get a glimpse of what extended lockdowns meant for the residents of Hamer Court who were already socially isolated to begin with. 

For Jayden, this way of life is a calling. “My understanding of the way that Jesus has called us to live our life is one where we dig deep and lean into the messy relationships. If I always kept difficult people at arm’s length, then I never have to face the reality of my own impatience and the brokenness in my own heart,” he said. 

“When you live with a group of people who test you and call out your BS and tell you when you’re not loving them – well, then you realise that you have to actually rely on God to be the patient, kind, and loving person that everyone likes to think they are.” 

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Explore:

The article Jayden wrote for the ABC

Servants