Life & Faith

By Centre for Public ChristianitySociety & Culture Religion & Spirituality

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36
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Typical duration
38 min
per episode

Based on Podcast App listening data

Life & Faith episodes

February 17, 2021 A most reluctant convert
Acclaimed author Susannah McFarlane on meeting her birth mother and then, to her great dismay, God.
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The EJ12 Girl Hero series, the EJ Spy School Series, D-Bot Squad, Boy vs Beast, Go Girl!, and Zac Power. For decades, Susannah McFarlane has been the author, publisher, and driving force behind some of Australia’s most popular children’s books.
In her 50s, Susannah met her birth mother for the first time but discovered - to her shock - that she was a Pentecostal Christian. A staunch atheist, Susannah tried to argue her mother out of belief, but in researching the historical claims of Christianity, found herself converted - reluctantly - to the faith instead.
In this episode of Life & Faith, we hear about Susannah’s reunion with her mother, the fallout - and also the joys - of coming to faith, and how this spinner of remarkable tales makes sense of the way her own story fits into the Christian story.
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EXPLORE
Heartlines: The year I met my other mother, co-authored with Robin Leuba
The story of your life, an episode of Life & Faith that also deals with the way people’s lives are story-shaped
34 min
February 10, 2021 Do I have a soul?
Do you have a soul? What is soul/a soul/the soul? We talk as though it’s a real thing: you can sell your soul, search your soul, keep body and soul together, not tell a soul, be the life and soul of the party, find something good for the soul or else soul-destroying. But do people still believe in the soul? And why?
In this episode of Life & Faith, Simon Smart, Natasha Moore, and Justine Toh debrief about the new Pixar movie Soul. A school chaplain describes what happened when she asked her students if they believe in the soul, God, miracles, ghosts, or angels. And J. Richard Middleton, Professor of Biblical Worldview and Exegesis at Northeastern Seminary, argues that the Bible doesn’t say what most people (including Christians) think it says about what it means to have - or be - a soul.
32 min
February 10, 2021 Do I have a soul?
Do you have a soul? What is soul/a soul/the soul? We talk as though it’s a real thing: you can sell your soul, search your soul, keep body and soul together, not tell a soul, be the life and soul of the party, find something good for the soul or else soul-destroying. But do people still believe in the soul? And why?
In this episode of Life & Faith, Simon Smart, Natasha Moore, and Justine Toh debrief about the new Pixar movie Soul. A school chaplain describes what happened when she asked her students if they believe in the soul, God, miracles, ghosts, or angels. And J. Richard Middleton, Professor of Biblical Worldview and Exegesis at Northeastern Seminary, argues that the Bible doesn’t say what most people (including Christians) think it says about what it means to have - or be - a soul.
32 min
February 03, 2021 The Alphabet of 2020
Dom Knight's 2020 Dictionary provides a light-hearted (and at points serious) look back at the most extraordinary of years.
32 min
February 03, 2021 The Alphabet of 2020
Dom Knight's 2020 Dictionary provides a light-hearted (and at points serious) look back at the most extraordinary of years.
32 min
December 16, 2020 The World Turned Upside Down
As we come to the end of the year that seemed like it might never end, the CPX team gets together for one last episode. We talk about the year that was - including Megxit, impeachment, Netflix, and zombie minks - as well as the “one story” that Christians keep coming back to, and why we think it’s the right story for this year (and every year!)
Simon Smart, Justine Toh, Natasha Moore, Mark Stephens, and Tim Costello each pick a line from a beloved carol, and join the dots to life in 2020. We reflect on cynicism and division, light and life, hopes and fears, and what joy there might be for a weary world.
32 min
December 16, 2020 The World Turned Upside Down
As we come to the end of the year that seemed like it might never end, the CPX team gets together for one last episode. We talk about the year that was - including Megxit, impeachment, Netflix, and zombie minks - as well as the “one story” that Christians keep coming back to, and why we think it’s the right story for this year (and every year!)
Simon Smart, Justine Toh, Natasha Moore, Mark Stephens, and Tim Costello each pick a line from a beloved carol, and join the dots to life in 2020. We reflect on cynicism and division, light and life, hopes and fears, and what joy there might be for a weary world.
32 min
December 09, 2020 Nothing but neurons
What do neuroscience, philosophy, and theology have to say about the mystery of human consciousness?

“Even if we come up with a beautiful elegant neuroscience of consciousness - which I hope we do - that will still leave the question, why are we conscious at all? Why does consciousness exist in the first place?”

Despite everything we know about the universe we live in, the content of our own heads remains a mystery in many ways. Does everything that matter - everything that makes you you - reside in your brain chemistry? What is the relationship between the brain and the “mind”, or even the “soul”? Is there such a thing? And if not, are we simply at the mercy of our neurons? Can we be said to have any kind of free will?

Dr Sharon Dirckx has been wrestling with existential questions like these since childhood, through her PhD in brain imaging at the University of Cambridge, and now as a senior tutor at OCCA The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. In this episode, she speaks with Simon Smart about her book Am I Just My Brain? and our quest to comprehend ourselves.
29 min
December 09, 2020 Nothing but neurons
What do neuroscience, philosophy, and theology have to say about the mystery of human consciousness?

“Even if we come up with a beautiful elegant neuroscience of consciousness - which I hope we do - that will still leave the question, why are we conscious at all? Why does consciousness exist in the first place?”

Despite everything we know about the universe we live in, the content of our own heads remains a mystery in many ways. Does everything that matter - everything that makes you you - reside in your brain chemistry? What is the relationship between the brain and the “mind”, or even the “soul”? Is there such a thing? And if not, are we simply at the mercy of our neurons? Can we be said to have any kind of free will?

Dr Sharon Dirckx has been wrestling with existential questions like these since childhood, through her PhD in brain imaging at the University of Cambridge, and now as a senior tutor at OCCA The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. In this episode, she speaks with Simon Smart about her book Am I Just My Brain? and our quest to comprehend ourselves.
29 min
December 02, 2020 What love looks like
Three stories of ordinary people, and the extraordinary care they take of people in their lives.
For 11 years, Diana Aitken has been part of the soup kitchen at St Matthew’s Anglican Church in Manly, where a community of care has sprung up that goes far beyond the lavish meals served every Monday night.
Issam Khoury cared for his wife Irene during her long struggle with polycystic liver and kidney disease, and throughout her transplant journey.
Carolyn Stedman, 74, has fostered 74 children over 45 years. While she has no intention of stopping, saying goodbye to these children can be gut-wrenching.
The work of care doesn’t tend to grab the headlines, but in this episode of Life & Faith, we shine the spotlight on three ordinary people who take extraordinary care of the people in their lives.
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READ:
C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

35 min