Life & Faith

By Centre for Public ChristianitySociety & Culture Religion & Spirituality

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38 min
per episode

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Life & Faith episodes

June 01, 2016 Life & Faith: Exceptional
The human brain is the most complex object
known to exist in the universe.
This is the thought that Marilynne Robinson
begins many of her classes with. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and
acclaimed essayist is a Professor at the University of Iowa’s Writers’
Workshop.
“I want to encourage my young writers to
value their characters sufficiently to make them complex enough to be credible
and also to value themselves in a way that makes them push toward real
authenticity, real originality,” she says.
Human exceptionalism is something that comes
across not only in the characters she writes about, but in the way she treats
her readers.
Robinson’s latest offering, The Givenness
of Things, builds bridges across science and religion, theology and humanism,
to provide a gracious, respectful, and an ultimately hopeful contribution to public
culture and conversation about life and what it means to be human.
“We know that given any possibility, human
beings blossom into beauty and ingenuity and tragedy and all the rest of it
that could not be anticipated and that the world would be utterly cruel
without,” she says.
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READ Natasha Moore’s review on The
Givenness of Things: http://ab.co/1oqtqI6
15 min
May 25, 2016 Life & Faith: Reconciliation Week
The story of Christianity and Aboriginal culture in Australia, is one of tragedy, loss and deep sorrow.
“It was the church’s decree that they pillage our land and conquer us,” Larissa Minniecon says. “So through Christianity, or churches - we have lost everything.”
Larissa is a Kabi Kabi woman and a Torres Strait Islander. She is also a Christian woman. In fact, her last name may sound familiar - Ray Minniecon, is her father and a prominent Aboriginal Christian leader.
“We deeply believe in the message, we deeply believe in Jesus, and I think because of that we’ve survived all the atrocities that have been thrown to us,” she says. “Being a Christian helps us survive and give grace to a lot of people, and also hope.”
In this episode of Life & Faith, we consider these stories of hope and reconciliation that are found hidden within the darker narrative that charts the relationship between the church and Aboriginal people.
You’ll hear from Larissa Minniecon, who heads up Common Grace’s Aboriginal Justice team, and her colleagues, TanyaRiches and Shane Fenwick.
Grant Paulson, an Aboriginal man, a son of a Baptist minister and a trained clergyman himself, also joins us with a candid interview about his thoughts on reconciliation. He’s also recorded a song for us so listen out for it at the end of the episode.
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19 min
May 18, 2016 Life & Faith: A Religious World
It may feel like we’re living in an
increasingly secular world, but the numbers tell a different story.
According to a recent study, by the year
2050, the number of people in the world without any religious affiliation will
decline as a share of the global population. At the same time, Muslims and
Christians are on track to make up nearly equal shares of the world’s
population – around one-third each.
So, if you’re not religious or if you’re
disinterested in religion, “you will be a stranger on this planet,” Dutch
philosopher Evert-Jan Ouweneel says. “Just for the sake of feeling at home in
the world, learn about other religions.”
In this episode, we discuss how to learn
about other religions well, the ways we can bridge gaps between different
religious groups, and what it means to reach out beyond borders to make a
positive impact in the world.
15 min
May 11, 2016 Life & Faith: Music and the Mind
Ivy is 105 years old and she loves music. She
sings along to “old-timers” in the car when she’s traveling around Australia,
and listens to “sad” songs before she goes to bed.
“I usually have the music playing softly,”
she says, “I go to sleep that way.”
The truth is, Ivy hasn’t done that for a
while. She lives with dementia and has been a resident at a care home in Sydney’s
north for the past couple of years. Her carers tell me that Ivy goes to bed
pretty early, around 5pm, and she doesn’t have a radio or music player in her
room.
Instead, Ivy has an iPod loaded with a
personalised playlist of songs for her to enjoy. It was given to her as part of
Hammondcare’s new music engagement program designed by former music professor,
Dr Kirsty Beilharz.
So, what’s on her playlist? “I like all the
old time songs,” Ivy says, before the conversation suddenly shifts to why she
didn’t learn how to play the piano. “My mother tried to make me learn but I was
too much of a larrikin,” she says.
There are more than 353,000 Australians
living with dementia in Australia.
As part of Dr Beilharz’s program, Ivy -
along with 750 other Hammondcare residents living with dementia - have received
iPods with personalised playlists so they can listen to the songs they love and
remember.
In this episode, we speak with residents, a
care worker and Dr Beilharz, about the unique and powerful way music and
singing can connect with people living with dementia.
15 min
May 04, 2016 Life & Faith: On Terror
One of the defining narratives of the twenty-first
century is the threat of global terrorism. It dominates the news cycle and is
one of our society’s greatest fears.
According to a recent Pew study,
Australians consider the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) as the global threat
they are most concerned about – 69 per cent of people responded that they were
“very concerned” about ISIS, ahead of climate change and the economy.
This response means that for most
Australians, terrorism isn’t a vague global threat that we perceive from afar –
it’s real, frightening and near.
In this episode, we look at how terrorism
affects people in our everyday lives.
Richard Shumack talks about what it’s like
to live alongside Muslim people and being a part of their community.
“Some people told me they hated me,”
Richard says. Some of the people he worked with were grateful for his
friendship, while others were bitter about their circumstances. Nevertheless,
Richard says his first response is always compassion.
Professor Greg Barton explains what’s involved in the work that’s
happening on the ground to counter violent extremism.
“Almost invariably, radicalisation happens through peer networks,” he
says. “Friendship tends to be the first thing that moves people to the ideas.” Professor
Barton talks about society as a whole having a ‘duty of care’ to steer young
Australians away from a pathway towards radicalisation and violent extremism.
To round off our conversation on terror, clinical psychologist Leisa
Aitken explores our greatest fear and suggests ways we can counter our
collective and individual anxiety around terrorism.
“Work out a way not to avoid what you’re anxious of,” Leisa says. “Every
time you avoid it, you send a message to yourself – I’m safe because I avoided
it.” With terror attacks happening in places that we visit every day – a coffee
shop, the airport, on a bus or train – it’s important and helpful to keep doing
life normally.
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READ MORE from Richard Shumack: http://bit.ly/1nhMQfB
FIND OUT MORE about Professor Greg Barton’s
work: http://bit.ly/1S6Q43P
CONNECT with Leisa Aitken: www.eaglepsychology.com.au
28 min
April 27, 2016 Life & Faith: Adoption
“It’s a
mixed blessing to see yourself in your kids,” says Geoff Broughton, the rector
at Paddington Anglican Church in Sydney.
He’s only
half joking.
As an
adopted child, the first time he met a ‘blood relative’ was at the birth of his
son. Watching his son grow up and take on his likeness stirred something in
Geoff that he had never felt before – a desire to find out about his birth
family.
By age
40, Geoff realized that he had to make a decision. He went from saying, “I
don’t need to know”, to asking “Do I never want to know?” If he waited another
decade, it might be too late.
In this
episode, Geoff shares his story of reconnecting with his birth family and what his
experience as an adoptee has taught him about the theological concept of
adoption.
Also, we
consider the fact that Geoff’s positive experience of adoption is not what many
children in his situation face.
In
Australia, 2013-14 figures show that more than 43,000 children were placed in
out of home care. Compared to the 317 adoptions finalised in this same period,
there’s clearly an overwhelming number of children in need of a permanent home.
Jane
Hunt, CEO of Adopt Change, tells us the real stories behind these statistics, explains
the need for adoption reform so that policies prioritise the best interests of
the child.
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to our podcast: http://bit.ly/lifeandfaithpodcast
FIND OUT
MORE about Adopt Change: http://www.adoptchange.org.au
15 min
April 20, 2016 Life & Faith: Good Grief
Nothing
in life is certain but death and taxes. But if death is something we all face
at some point, and grief is part of the human experience, we talk about them
surprisingly little. In fact, it’s something we don’t necessarily do all that
well as a culture.
“The word
death is not pronounced in New York, in Paris, in London, because it burns the
lips,” wrote the poet Octavio Paz in 1961. His words still ring true today.
Some of
us, like musician Phil Davidson, eventually find a way to deal with sorrow
after the loss of a loved one.
“I could hear the foghorns of the ships that were leaving Belfast
harbour and going out to sea,” Phil says about that night after he last saw Agnes,
his grandmother, alive.
“I was lying there just thinking about my
grandmother, I could hear these foghorns, and I’m thinking these ships are kind
of all lost at sea. I thought that’s a great kind of analogy of how I was feeling
– I felt really lost at sea at that point, but she was also lost at sea as well.”
So he got up and started writing Ballymena
Agnes. It was his way of connecting with his emotions and working through his
grief.
For philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff, it
has been a different journey. His son died at 25 years of age in a mountain
climbing accident.
When he turned to philosophical attempts to
explain this loss, he didn’t find any of them compelling.
“So I live with unanswered questions,” he
says. “I continue to have faith in that there is a creator of this universe and
that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, but how I fit that altogether with the
early death of a beloved son … I live with the question.”
In this episode,
we explore the tension that is presented in the face of death. On the one hand,
the Christian faith says that death is much worse than we think and our
instincts are right, it’s really not ok. But it also says that there’s far more
hope and comfort to be found in the face of death, more than we might imagine.
SUBSCRIBE
to our podcast: http://bit.ly/lifeandfaithpodcast
LISTEN to
music by Phil Davidson: http://bit.ly/phildavidsonfb
PURCHASE Nicholas Wolterstorff’s ‘Lament for a Son’: http://amzn.to/1Vh6TMd
15 min
April 13, 2016 Life & Faith: Leadership, Justice and Creativity
“I don’t have a creative bone in my body.”
You’ve probably said that before, or heard someone say that before. But Ken Wytsma won’t say it. And if he hears it, he won’t believe it.
“Artistic ability is a talent some possess,” he writes in his latest book, Create Vs. Copy. “Creativity is a human trait.”
In our fast-paced and rapidly changing world, it’s not uncommon to feel overwhelmed or anxious. According to Ken, creativity is one of the keys to break through the anxiety and flourish in leadership and life.
“Imagination not only helps us see more clearly what is, but what should be,” Ken says.
In this episode, Ken explains why creativity is an important leadership quality, explores the connection between justice and imagination, and tells us why fairytales are not just stories for children – they’re for adults too.
More info about Ken Wytsma: www.kenwytsma.com.
More info about The Justice Conference: www.thejusticeconference.com.au.
Subscribe to Life & Faith: www.bit.ly/lifeandfaithpodcast.
15 min
April 06, 2016 Life & Faith: Museum of the Bible
The Bible is the best-selling book of all time - today, over 100 million copies a year are either sold or given away for free around the world. It’s also had an immeasurable impact on the world, for better and for worse.
In 2017, the Bible is getting its own museum. The Museum of the Bible is due to open in the middle of Washington DC, just a few blocks from the US Capitol and the Smithsonian, with a collection of more than 40,000 objects.
What is the museum for? What will be in it? Why is it a good idea? Who should visit it and why? In this episode of Life & Faith, Simon Smart and Natasha Moore interview two of the key players in this process: Allen Quine, Vice President of International Relations for the Museum of the Bible, and David Trobisch, director of the collections, to get an idea of what the Museum of the Bible will look like.
15 min
March 30, 2016 Life & Faith: Disagreeing Well
More than ever, left and right and ‘us and them’ seem like interminable divides, which makes it harder than ever to live productively alongside, and argue peaceably with, those with whom we disagree. What art is there to learning to disagree well, and what can Christianity offer in this regard? We speak to Scott Sauls, senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and author of the book Jesus outside the lines: a way forward for those who are tired of taking sides.
15 min