Salt Live

Millennials and Gen Z are reportedly experiencing higher levels of anxiety than any generation before them. Anxiety feels ever-present in modern Western culture. What’s causing this? Are we simply more willing to admit to poor mental health? Have our circumstances become more uncertain? How much do lifestyle factors play a part? Loneliness? Screen time? Overbusyness? Is there a solution to this anxiety epidemic?

In this archive episode from our Salt Live event in November 2021, speaker and pastor Jeremy Moses seeks to understand the sources of our present discontentment and considers whether Christianity has anything to say to this modern phenomenon. Jeremy helps to lead a church called Grace London. He is married to Jen, a nurse, and has two children. He spends much of his time meeting with young adults, helping them to think through life’s big questions. He has engaged with many Londoners who have grappled with anxiety.

For some, we're merely advanced apes who've managed to establish ourselves as the dominant species on the planet. For others, we're sophisticated biological machines, ready to be upgraded or replaced by superior technology. Is there anything about human beings that makes us special? Do we have a soul, or are we just clumps of cells?

In this archive episode from our Salt Live event in February 2022, speaker Dr Sharon Dirckx. Originally from a scientific background, Sharon has a PhD in brain imaging from the University of Cambridge and has held research positions at the University of Oxford, UK, and the Medical College of Wisconsin, USA. Sharon is a speaker and author, and has written two popular-level books, one on the question of suffering and religious belief, 'Why? Looking at God, Evil & Personal Suffering' (IVP) and one on neuroscience, consciousness and free will, 'Am I just my brain?' (The Good Book Company).

The Q & A session from this talk is also attached to the end of this session's audio.

21st-century society lacks a positive vision of what it means to be a man. For many, masculinity is something poisonous or toxic. How can men understand themselves, and seek to be better men, in a world in which the idea of masculinity is so divisive, disparaged and unclear?

We’re left asking, what’s the point of men? And how can men flourish in a post-patriarchal world? In this archive episode from our Salt Live event in May 2022, Speaker Andrew Haslam seeks to answer these questions and consider what the Christian faith has to say about the modern crisis of manhood.  

Christianity has been used to justify the conquest, enslavement, oppression and marginalisation of Black people. Churches can be places where racism goes unaddressed. Christian teaching often feels irrelevant to life in inner-city London. Yet all over the world, Black Christians find identity, hope, comfort and joy in Jesus Christ. We're asking, is there a contradiction here? Does it really make sense to be Black and Christian?

In this archive episode from our Salt Live event in September 2019, speaker Felix Aremo explores Africa's history with Christianity and why it is relevant for Christians in the 21st century, where many see Christianity as an import from Western culture. Felix is a training manager at London City Mission, where his focus is mentoring and teaching Christians. He's married with one son.

We’ve been told that the purpose of life is self-discovery and self-expression and that the key to good mental health is boosting self-esteem. We have been raised on a steady diet of praise and positive self-talk: You are special. You can be anything you want to be. You do you. But is our self-obsessed age fuelling the crisis in mental health?

In this archive episode from our Salt Live event in March 2022, speaker Glynn Harrison speaks into the problem of self-obsession and its impact on our mental health. Glynn is a former Professor of Psychiatry and consultant psychiatrist who has written a popular book on this subject, ‘The Big Ego Trip’ (IVP) which explores the contemporary self-esteem movement. Before retirement, Glynn was Head of the Department of Psychiatry at Bristol University and has also acted as an advisor to the WHO.

The Q & A session from this talk is also attached to the end of this session's audio.

The world of sex and dating has changed more rapidly since the onset of the smartphone than at any point in the history of the world; hence some are calling it a dating apocalypse.

In this archive episode from our Salt Live event in February 2018, Speaker Andrew Haslam thinks about how we should think about dating apps, sex, and love in the modern age.

Listen to the Q&A session from our latest Salt Live event "The Age of Self-Obsession", where speaker Jeremy Moses and host Andrew Haslam take questions from the audience.

The modern era has become the ‘age of the self’. It sounds compelling. But is this contemporary focus on ourselves part of the problem rather than the solution?

In this episode from our latest Salt Live event on 6th of February 2024, speaker Jeremy Moses explores what ancient Christianity has to say about our modern era's focus on self.

Are we really living in a post-truth world or is there such a thing as objective truth? Are truth claims nothing more than disguised bids for power, or is truth the only weapon that can speak to power? Our answers to these questions have profound implications for us as individuals and for our interactions with wider society.

In this archive episode from our Salt Live event in 2018, speaker Simon Edwards looks at the implications of living in a ‘post-truth’ society and asks if the Christian faith has anything to say on the subject.