Life & Faith

By Centre for Public ChristianitySociety & Culture Religion & Spirituality

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Life & Faith episodes

August 10, 2016 Life & Faith: Spotlight - 15 Years On
In 2002, the Boston Globe’s investigativereporting team, Spotlight, published a series of reports exposing clergy childsexual abuse, and a cover up by the Catholic Church. As the horrific andheartbreaking instances of abuse and betrayal came to light, more stories ofclergy sexual abuse and the Catholic Church’s effort to hide it began tounravel across the US, and all around the world.
“I don’t think any of us understood thatthis was a global phenomenon,” says Mike Rezendes, one of the Spotlightjournalists who reported on the original cover up of clergy child sexual abusein Boston. “None of us could’ve foreseen it, none of us did foresee it.”
Fifteen years on, a film about the originalSpotlight investigation has, importantly, brought this issue to the fore onceagain.
“There’s no doubt that the Spotlight moviehas inspired another wave of victims and survivors to come forward,” Mike says.“I think a lot more needs to be done, and I think the movie is letting peopleknow that more work needs to take place.”
In this episode of Life & Faith, MikeRezendes talks about his work on the Boston Globe investigation into the coverup of clergy sexual abuse, and the aftermath. He’s still a part of theSpotlight team at the Boston Globe, and continues to have a strong sense of socialjustice – which has a surprising origin.
Plus, we have a bonus interview withProfessor James O’Toole from Boston College. He explains the complexrelationship between the prominent and powerful Boston archdiocese and thepeople of the city, and why some local parishes grew stronger after the scandalbroke.
“I think what was going on in people’sminds there was they had completely lost confidence in Cardinal Law, they’dlost confidence in the hierarchy and the leadership of the institution, butthey were committed to their local parish church,” Professor O’Toole says. “Ina sense they were saying, even after everything that’s gone wrong, they’re notgoing to take my church away from me.
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26 min
August 03, 2016 Life & Faith: How Would Jesus Vote
Religion plays a significant role in every US
presidential election – and this year is no exception. The candidates on either
side of the aisle, and the religious leaders who back them, claim to know where
Jesus stands on various issues, or what the Bible says about the hottest
political topics. But do they?
In his latest book, ‘How Would Jesus
Vote?’, Professor Darrell Bock that the Bible challenges simplistic conclusions
to complex issues, and encourages people to engage in respectful, passionate
and peaceful dialogue instead.
“Something is valuable not because it’s in
Scripture, but it’s in Scripture because it has something valuable to say,” he
says.
In this episode of Life & Faith,
Professor Bock tackles some of the most contentious political topics of today –
immigration, welfare, race, and more – and examines them through the lens of
the Bible.
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15 min
July 27, 2016 Life & Faith: Live Long
Research suggests that doing good is actually good for you. Stephen G. Post, author of Why Good Things Happen to Good People, explains why.
Stephen G. Post is Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University, and Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics. He is recognised internationally for his work on unselfish, compassionate love at the interface of science, ethics, spiritual thought, and behavioural medicine. He was in Sydney to speak at HammondCare’s international dementia conference in June, 2016.
15 min
July 20, 2016 Life & Faith: Notes on Blindness
John Hull began losing his sight in his mid-forties. He describes it as a dark black disc that slowly progressed over his field of vision.
“Do remember that day when I caught a glimpse of a church spire?” the Australian theologian asks his wife, Marilyn,in the documentary film, Notes on Blindness. “I think that's the last thing you ever saw,” she replies.
As John was losing his sight, he was intent on understanding blindness and started recording an audio diary. “I had to think about blindness because if I didn't understand it, it would defeat me,”he explains.
On these tapes, he records his daily“notes” on blindness, his frustration and fears, and candid conversations with his children about blindness and why “God doesn’t help him get his eyes back”.
Thirty years later, these tapes have become the basis for a documentary created by Peter Middleton and James Spinney, Notes on Blindness. The film takes viewers into the experience of what it was like for John Hull to lose his sight, and how he ultimately came to consider his blindness as a gift.
In this episode of Life & Faith,Natasha Moore speaks with Peter Middleton, about the documentary, the life ofJohn Hull, and how his audio diaries continue to shape our understanding of blindness.
15 min
July 13, 2016 Life & Faith: Ten Commandments
“The Ten Commandments are among the great
cultural icons of the West,” John Dickson writes in the introduction to his new
book, ‘A Doubter’s Guide to the Ten Commandments’.

For some, doubters and believers alike, the
Ten Commandments conjures an image of a white-bearded Charlton Heston standing
on top of a mountain, with the voice of God booming like thunder from the sky,
and lightning bolts of fire inscribing these ancient instructions on two
tablets of stone.
But perhaps there’s more to the Ten Commandments
than this mystical event.
In fact, John Dickson says that these ten
ancient instructions have changed the world and shows us, even today, what it
means to live a good life.
BUY the book here: http://bit.ly/29AqBSu
15 min
July 06, 2016 Life & Faith: Field Hospital
“I see clearly that the thing the church needs
most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the
faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital
after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high
cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his
wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the
wounds … and you have to start from the ground up.”
– Pope Francis, America: The National
Catholic Review, September 2013 http://americamagazine.org/pope-interview
In 2013, Pope Francis famously likened the
church to a field hospital. Renowned theologian, William Cavanaugh, takes hold
of this metaphor and explores the meaning of it in his latest book, ‘Field
Hospital: The Church's Engagement with a Wounded World’.
“I think in some senses, what Pope Francis
is trying to do is to recapture the sense that you find in the earliest church
where things are very decentralized,” Cavanaugh explains. “What you had was not
very tightly institutionalized, but was more based on small communities of
people taking care of each other’s needs.”
“It’s a response to the kind of one-on-one,
flesh-to-flesh encounter with another person who suffers.”
In this episode of Life & Faith, we
talk about how the church can operate as a ‘field hospital’, and why it is
important for the church to do so.
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JOIN US at this year’s Richard Johnson
Lecture with William Cavanaugh: http://www.richardjohnson.com.au
15 min
June 29, 2016 Life & Faith: Beautiful Proof
“An equation for me has no meaning unless
it expresses a thought of God.” – Srinivasa Ramanujan
Ramanujan was a self-taught mathematical
genius from India, who moved to Cambridge University in 1914 to work with the
eminent mathematician, GH Hardy
His story, as told in the movie The Man Who Knew Infinity, not only
tells of a brilliant mind capable of remarkable work, but of an unlikely
friendship between a devout Hindu, and an atheist who was a stickler for
proofs.
“Your theorem is wrong,” Hardy tells
Ramanujan in the movie, “this is why we cannot publish anymore until you
finally trust me on this business of proofs.”
Once described as “the most romantic figure
in recent mathematical history”, Ramanujan’s life also speaks to the idea of
finding beauty in maths – and this is what we explore in this episode of Life
and Faith.
You’ll hear from a homegrown mathematician
about how Ramanujan’s work has been influential in her own. Then, Oxford
mathematics professor, John Lennox, shares his thoughts about the beauty of the
world of numbers and patterns. Finally, we wrap up the episode with a beautiful
poem from former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams – you won’t want to
miss it.
“Why are numbers beautiful? It's like
asking why is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony beautiful. If you don't see why,
someone can't tell you. I know numbers are beautiful. If they aren't beautiful,
nothing is.” – Paul Erdős
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READ a review of The Man Who Knew Infinity from
ISCAST: http://iscast.org/node/1144
15 min
June 22, 2016 Life & Faith: Beyond Belief
According to Hugh Mackay, Australia is in themiddle of a “soft revolution”.
After 30 years of consumerism and theso-called happiness movement, Mackay says people are ready to rid themselves oftheir materialistic and narcissistic characteristics and embrace that there’smore to life.
“Unless there’s something I put my faithin, life is meaningless.”
This is essentially what dozens ofAustralians across the spectrum of faith and spirituality told Mackay as heconducted interviews for his new book, BeyondBelief: How we find meaning, with or without religion.
The book explores Australia’s current spiritualclimate and recent shifts in our religious faith and practice. Mackay openlyadmits, though, that the book probably won’t appeal either to committedbelievers or committed atheists – and in this interview Simon and Hugh findplenty to disagree on, as well as some common ground.
In this episode of Life & Faith, we explore the spiritual landscape of Australian society,challenge some of Mackay’s views on Christian faith, and discuss the role ofreligion and the church in helping people find meaning and purpose.
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15 min
June 15, 2016 Life & Faith: Freedom Regained
Neurons and genetics cannot explain away
the existence of free will, according to Julian Baggini.
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When philosopher Julian Baggini – author of
more than a dozen books, including Atheism:
A Very Short Introduction and Freedom
Regained: The Possibility of Free Will –
hears someone talking about free will, they’re usually talking about why
humans don’t have it. This doesn’t sit well with him.
“They think it’s the view of intelligent
informed opinion, that there’s some sense in which science has shown that we definitely
don’t have free will,” he says. “So it’s ceased being a matter of philosophical
speculation and it’s become a matter of empirical, scientific fact.”
In this episode of Life & Faith, Baggini takes back the reins on the free will
debate and guides us through his thoughts on this question of whether we have
free will, and what true freedom might look like.
“Freedom isn’t about the ability to just
choose anything you want, it’s actually the capacity for your actions to flow
from your best nature.”
20 min
June 08, 2016 Life & Faith: By The Book
Can books be a cure for the common cold?
Can a novel help us navigate a midlifecrisis?
Can reading be a remedy for a broken heart?
These are just some of the questions that bibliotherapyclaims to be able to answer. Whatever your ailment may be, there’s a novel – ortwo – that will supposedly provide temporary relief of your symptoms.
The first instance of bibliotherapy wasrecorded in an Atlantic Monthly articlepublished in 1916. The author writes about bumping into an old friend, Bagster,who has set up the Bibliopathic Institute. Bagster welcomes clients into hisoffice in the basement of his church, and prescribes books to heal a variety ofailments.
In the article, Bagster says:
“Bibliotherapy is such a new science thatit is no wonder that there are many erroneous opinions as to the actual effect whichany particular book may have. …
A book may be a stimulant or a sedative oran irritant or a soporific. The point is that it must do something to you, andyou ought to know what it is.”
This episode of Life and Faith explores thetherapeutic and perhaps even salvific qualities of books, in response to the“Bibliotherapy” theme of the 2016 Sydney Writers’ Festival.
15 min