Life & Faith

David Wilikinson works in the Theology and Religion department at Durham University. His background is research in theoretical astrophysics, where his PhD was in the study of star formation, the chemical evolution of galaxies and terrestrial mass extinctions such as the event which wiped out the dinosaurs. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and has published a wide range of papers on these subjects. His latest book is called Science, Religion and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

He also has a PhD in theology and on Life and Faith he discusses the place of faith in a scientific, technological age.

Justine Toh and Simon Smart discuss Only God Forgives, Winner of the Sydney Film Festival Official Competition, and the chilling documentary The Act of Killing - focusing on the way the two films navigate questions of justice, mercy, and forgiveness.

Justine Toh speaks to Mick Martin about the way that names connect with identity. They discuss the process of choosing a name and how we want them to express the uniqueness of a person.

Life and Faith tackles the controversial topic of Hell. Simon Smart and Justine Toh speak to Kevin Miller, director of the documentary Hellbound, and John Dickson, Ancient Historian and CPX Director.

Life and Faith tackles the controversial topic of Hell. Simon Smart and Justine Toh speak to Kevin Miller, director of the documentary Hellbound, and John Dickson, Ancient Historian and CPX Director.

In this Life and Faith we talk about the craft involved in producing musical instruments and how such an activity might reveal something of humanity’s creative calling in the world—all to the beautiful playing of violinist Rebecca Irwin.

Some say faith has no business at work. But Kara Martin, Associate Dean of Ridley’s The Marketplace Institute, explores many of the reasons—among them work-life balance—that make it a good idea to link the two.

Simon Smart and Justine Toh discuss the effects of technology on our relationships. Justine also spoke to technology journalist Alex Kidman about the potential for technology to turn us into introverts and how he avoids having it take over his life.

HammondCare is an independent Christian charity that was started during the Great Depression by Archdeacon Robert Hammond. Today it offers a wide range health and aged-care services. Meredith Lake is an historian who was offered access to HammondCare's archives to write a book on the history of the organisation. She came into CPX to discuss how HammondCare got started and the effect it has had on people over the last 80 years.

We live in a world where people are on the move all the time, many of whom are fleeing war, discrimination or persecution. CPX spoke to Erin Wilson about the work faith based organisations do in seeking to care for refugees.