After decades of rapid expansion and booming student numbers, the British university sector is gripped by a financial crisis. Dozens of institutions are trying to make major cuts, gutting entire departments and making thousands of academic staff redundant. This week we are joined by two Christian university professors, who are each trying to face down their own university’s cuts to staff, to discuss the roots of this crisis, but also why it should matter to the church more broadly. We talk about the Christian origins of the idea of the university itself and how their goal to unveil knowledge about the world might be a surprisingly godly one. But we also discuss the growth of managers and administrators (something familiar to many denominations), if university education really is a universal public good, and if it was a mistake to turn universities from an elite pursuit for a tiny academically-minded minority into the default method of training young adults for the workplace.

The series of blogs on the university crisis recommended by Nick Megoran are here: https://isrf.org/search?q=&tags%5b%5d=he-dispatches&type=posts

John Heathershaw’s own writing on the topic is here: https://johnheathershaw.substack.com/p/the-crisis-in-britains-universities

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Two quickfire topics for today’s episode. A listener writes in with some concern about a BBC article which explored the growing trend of people celebrating their choice to not have children, known online as being ‘childfree’. Is it a problem if people wish to rid the social stigma or shame about not having kids, in a world in which birthrates continue to plummet? And what does the Christian tradition think about people opting out of parenthood because they want to focus on their career, be able to travel more, or just don’t feel they have the emotional resources to raise children?

But first, we look at a pioneering medical science breakthrough, after an American surgical team successfully corrected an intestinal problem while a child was still in the womb. The media reporting on this has been understandably celebratory, but it does raise the question of doublethink in a culture which simultaneously lionises doctors for saving ‘babies’ while pre-term and also defends the rights of those same doctors to abort other children with the same congenital disabilities or health concerns if that is the mother’s wish.

The two articles we refer to in today’s episode:

These women said no to having kids - here's why - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz0jx2z2l41o

Woman has pioneering womb surgery to fix 'miracle' baby with intestines outside its body https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c86ngegz9qno

• You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to [email protected]

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Tim is still away so this week we're bringing you a classic episode from 2024 where we interview the influential writer Andy Crouch on a question which was everywhere that year and is only become more pressing since: are smartphones damaging our children? A growing number of writers and thinkers are arguing that our digital technology, most notably social media and smartphones, are responsible for rocketing rates of mental illness and epidemics of bullying among young people. Andy has written three recent books exploring how Christian families can put in place good habits around tech and screens, and explains his convictions around how to keep tech in its proper place. How can we ensure the key formational environments of home, school and church are centred around spiritually healthy interpersonal relationships and not lost to endless scrolling? Or is a radical neo-Luddism both unattainable and needlessly ostracising for our children?

• You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to [email protected]

• Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173

• If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com

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• For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

Tim’s on holiday this week, so here’s an episode from the MOLAD archive we hope you will enjoy.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.”’ These famous words from the first chapter of Genesis are the touchstone of the theology of the image of God, or Imago Dei. Christians throw this reference out a lot, but we’re often a bit unclear about it really means to say humans are made in the image of God. Is it about certain things we can do that God also does? Is it about what God is calling us towards as humans? Is it about how our relationships? How can we come up with a definition which does not exclude the disabled, children, or the elderly? It’s worth dwelling on, as the image of God and how we define human distinctiveness as believers is critically important in an era when human uniqueness is under attack from many directions. From artificial intelligence to abortion, the question of personhood and recognising and protecting the humanity of others is something we all have to wrestle with, and getting our foundations right on the image of God is a good place to start.

• You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to [email protected]

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• For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

In May, Pope Leo released the first encyclical letter, a teaching document, which focused entirely on artificial intelligence. The first ever American head of the Catholic Church argued that as a new industrial revolution powered by ever-growing AI loomed into view it was vital to apply centuries-old Catholic Social Teaching to our current age. University of Oxford theologian Sam Tranter, who researches AI and Christian ethics himself, was at the Vatican launch of the encyclical ‘Magnifica humanitas’ and joins us today to talk through what Leo writes about AI. Is he a doomer or a booster? Does the Catholic Church now see AI as simply a neutral tool to be used for good or ill depending on the humans behind it, or a more malevolent and systemically suspect technology we should be wary of? And is anyone listening to what a celibate Christian cleric in his 70s is saying about ChatGPT and Claude – will the encyclical actually affect the development of AI and how it is embedded in our societies and economies?

Read Magnifica humanitas here - https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html

Find out more about Sam’s research at the McDonald Centre at the University of Oxford here - https://mcdonaldcentre.web.ox.ac.uk/political-theology-emerging-technologies-and-common-life#tab-5740011

• You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to [email protected]

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In the modern West we normally do not question the idea that it’s always a good thing to have more medical research, more treatments, more new drugs and more money spent on healthcare. But could we be making an idol of our own bodies and health, as well as creating unintentionally perverse consequences for lower income countries trying to keep up with the West’s rapacious and insatiable desire for longer, healthier lives?

• You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to [email protected]

• Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173

• If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com

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• For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

Even sober-minded experts are getting excited about solar power. Respectable estimates suggest the price of energy derived from sunlight will continue to drop spectacularly as the number of panels installed worldwide continues to explode exponentially. In the relatively near future we may move into an era of energy abundance, where we have not just decarbonised our existing energy sources but are also able to cheaply generate ten or even a hundred times more energy. How should Christians feel about a future society with green, clean energy ‘too cheap to meter’? Can we see in this potential bounty God’s extravagant blessing, as we bring forth from his creation huge amounts of resources to tackle poverty, water shortages, climate change and more? Or is this a secular example of an ‘over-realised eschatology’, and foolishness in believing that once again sinful humans can bring about heaven on earth?

• You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to [email protected]

• Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173

• If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com

• Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com

• For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

Our first topic this morning is about the fall of yet another prime minister here in the UK, our sixth to resign since the Brexit referendum exactly 10 years ago. We explore some of the structural problems built into modern British politics which have made it so hard for any leader from any party to govern effectively for more than a year or two, and consider what the church can witness to society as a better way to reconcile competing interests between old and young, rich and poor.

Then we move on to the other big story from the UK last week – the blistering heatwave we endured. This prompted us to return to a topic we covered many years ago, climate change and the differing ways people respond to the fact of our rapidly heating world. Why is it that most Western nations have been focused on cutting emissions and not also considered what mitigations and adaptations could we make to cope with our increasingly unliveable world? Can we do both at the same time? Is their moral virtue in making plans to live within a broken system as well as striving to fix what is broken?

• You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to [email protected]

• Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173

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• For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

John is away this week so here’s an episode from the MOLAD vault to enjoy. Diagnosis rates for autism have been steadily rising for decades now, and as the condition has become more prevalent there has been a growing debate within the community and wider society about what autism is. Some prefer to talk about neurodiversity rather than think of it as a developmental condition, and others go as far as calling it a superpower. How should we as Christians engage in this important conversation? And should we be concerned by research efforts underway to identify an ‘autistic gene’ or pre-natal test for autism, which could be used to try and select or abort the condition away? This week we discuss these questions and more with Erin Burnett, a theologian and author who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder as an adult and has researched and written on the intersection between autism and the church.

• You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to [email protected]

• Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173

• If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com

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• For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

For the first part of this episode we return to a subject we discussed last year, after new data from India showed its fertility rate had continued to plummet and was now below replacement rate. Just a few decades ago, many feared India would be among those countries whose populations would uncontrollably explode, plunging tens of millions into famine and disaster. But in fact, even developing nations with wildly different cultures around marriage and family are emulating the developed West’s steep decline in birth rates. Does any of this matter though, and should it concern Christians beyond blood-and-soil nationalists worried about ethnic vigour?

Then we move on to consider the wave of bans on social for under-16s, as countries like the UK and Canada begin to follow Australia’s lead in restricting access to apps like TikTok and Instagram for teens. Is it credible to actually prevent determined teenagers and greedy tech firms from colluding to sidestep these laws? And what responsibility should Christian parents take on themselves, rather than wait for governments or Silicon Valley to protect their children?

The Economist article on India’s birth rates https://www.economist.com/briefing/2026/06/04/indias-population-will-soon-be-falling-probably-quite-fast

• You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to [email protected]

• Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173

• If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com

• Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com

• For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com