Soul Search

Birth: we all go through it — according to some religions, at least twice! For Flesh Week, Soul Search looks at ideas and experiences of birth, including the Christian story of Mary as the mother of God, and being a Muslim 'milk mother'.

Guests:

Raidah Shah Idil is a multi-genre writer based in Malaysia who has studied Islamic Sciences with scholars in Jordan. She is milk mother to her nephew.

Jodie McIver is a registered midwife, a theology graduate and a mother of three. Her first book is Bringing Forth Life: God’s purposes in pregnancy and birth.

Under one of the last remaining scarred trees in Sydney, Pastor Ray Minniecon is imagining a reconciled community. 

In a plague-riven Medieval Europe, a woman wrote a book in English that has inspired 650 years of devoted readers.

The search for a language that can hold rage and heal pain.

The river is sacred to many cultures, including the Barkindji community of NSW. For them, the beloved Barka, also known as the Darling River, is a life source and Ancestor.

The Indigenous people of Papua have a philosophy of nature that’s helping them resist deforestation. And, we explore shinrin-yoku – the Japanese art of forest bathing. 

Around 84% of the world’s population affiliates with a religion, so how might that matter in the Anthropocene, for the ways our species interacts with the rest of environment? And can religious beliefs and practices add something to the pursuit of climate justice?

Professor Mary Evelyn Tucker is the co-founder and director of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, and a member of the global steering committee of the Interfaith Rainforest Alliance. 

Professor Guillermo Kerber is an expert on ecological thinking in Latin American theology, and former director of the World Council of Churches' program on care for creation and climate justice.

Laudato si', Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical letter on care of our common home.

Tim Winton is one of Australia’s most awarded and prolific authors. Ningaloo Reef has inspired him for decades, both in his written work and environmental activism.

The varieties of atheism in different times and cultures are the subject of a new book that aims to reveal just how diverse non-religious experience is. 

There’s already been a lot in the media about the upcoming referendum for a First Nations Voice to Parliament. Similar Indigenous bodies have existed in Australian churches for some time, such as the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council. Rev Canon Glenn Loughrey is an elected member of this council.

Rev Canon Glenn Loughrey is a Wiradjuri man, a member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council and artist in residence at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne. This year, he is the Diocese of Melbourne’s designated advocate for the recognition of First Nations people in the constitution, and an enshrined Voice to Parliament. His memoir is titled, On Being Blackfella’s Young Fella.

• Glenn Loughrey blogs at RedShoesWalking
• ABC News: A 'permanent acknowledgement of country' installed at Melbourne's St Paul's Cathedral