What is ‘ethical consumption’? What are the practical challenges and spiritual risks involved? Is it something Christians should engage with or would we do well to stay clear? What difference does it make anyway? 

Jacob and Jonathan take aim at the heart of the matter to find out if what is good for the world is also truly good for us.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions. 

Don't do a Bible word search for 'economics': you won't find anything! Yet the church takes up and extends Israel's calling to communicate God to the rest of the world, primarily by the way it worships God. This worship is embodied in the way God's people are to live, meaning how the community works, rests, uses money, gives and shares, contributes skills, distributes property, etc. In short, economics!

What kind of economic vision does the Bible commend to us? What potential lies dormant in our churches for experiments in life-giving economic community?

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions. 

The first Christian communities existed before the New Testament was written, and their word for their meetings is normally translated into English as 'church'. But what do we mean when we talk about The Church? The meaning and story of the Christian community from those first beginnings is a complex one, and often not well understood. Truly, there is much to criticise and repent of, and sometimes it can feel marred beyond recovery. But there is also unique and indispensable hope to be found in the New Testament's vision of The Church, and many exciting ways we can participate in its reality here and now.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions. 

The way we relate to the material world has always had a profound relationship with the life of faith, while the dramatic implications for the health of all on the planet have never been clearer. In this episode Jacob and Jonathan unpack what it might mean to 'live with less': the biblical calling, ecological necessity, and evangelical opportunity it presents, as well as a number of the difficulties and pitfalls it can involve.

In the economy of God, what is good for others is also good for us.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions. 

We are often told there is no alternative to our current economic structure and that we have never had it so good.  But the cracks in this claim are clearly evident -  overlapping ecological, financial, social and mental health crises now demand our urgent attention. In this podcast Jacob Garrett joins Jonathan Cornford to consider many of the forgotten alterative forms of economy from history and take a look at some the new economic alternatives that are already in our midst.

Beginning to form a new economic imagination is the first step to change.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.  

Jonathan and Matt explore some of the thornier questions that arise from Jonathan's final article in the series on the moral ecology of judgement.

Read the article: https://www.mannagum.org.au/manna_matters/december-2020/faith_and_economy1

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.  

This is the second of a two-part talk that Jonathan Cornford gave to the TEAR NSW Conference in 2016. Over the course of these talks Jonathan suggests that central to the task of living faithfully in the 21st century, is the task of allowing the gospel to speak re-shape our material lives. In this talk he begins to sketch out what that might look like in practice.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.  

This is the first of a two-part talk that Jonathan Cornford gave to the TEAR NSW Conference in 2016. Over the course of these talks Jonathan suggests that central to the task of living faithfully in the 21st century, is the task of allowing the gospel to speak re-shape our material lives, and that this is a necessary pre-condition to proclaiming good news. But before we can proclaim good news, we first need to come to grips with the bad news of our times ...

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.  

Jonathan and Matt discuss being overwhelmed by ecological and other crises and how we deal with it, the scope of salvation in Christian theology, why some Christians are unconcerned by animal extinctions, how overseas travel has become an expected part of life for many folks, whether we'd walk from Melbourne to Sydney, the place of imagination in the Christian life, and individual vs. collective action.

This is our last episode for the year, so Merry Christmas everyone!

Read more: https://mannagum.org.au/manna_matters/october-2020/understanding_the_times2

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.

Jonathan and Matt discuss the topic of co-housing. What is co-housing? Why might it be important in an age of environmental disaster and social isolation? Why do Christians need "scaffolding" in their lives to make it easier to live according to the gospel?

Read more: https://www.mannagum.org.au/manna_matters/october-2020/everyday_people1

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.