John Butler is one of Australia's most beloved musicians, known for his infectious energy. But after a period of turbulence he turned to composing meditative and instrumental music as a form of healing.

Indigenous people and faith communities aren't waiting for government to do truth-telling and treaty. Although the Voice referendum did not pass, some churches and First Nations people are building better relationships and even forming treaties of their own.

In post-apartheid South Africa, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela is asking, when is forgiveness possible, and where does that leave the search for justice?

This episode originally broadcast on 15 September 2024.

What does it mean to be fully alive? Elizabeth Oldfield has ditched the conventional script of what life can look like — instead choosing to live in what she calls a "micro-monastery".

The episode originally broadcast on 21 July 2024.

The nature of consciousness is a subject of enormous interest to both science and religion. Modern, secular mindfulness techniques have their foundation in ancient Buddhist thought, but it's only recently that neuroscientists have given serious attention to what actually happens in the brain when we meditate.

This episode originally broadcast on 5 May 2024.

How do you cultivate a lifetime of curiosity? When Amy-Jill Levine was a child, her parents would ask, "Did you ask any good questions today?" That mindset has propelled AJ through a lifetime of discovery, learning about all kinds of things, but especially sacred texts and the people who read them.

The world Christians live in is changing, so Christian theology is too. David Bentley Hart — one of the world’s most prominent and influential theologians — calls elements of mainstream Western Christian thought “a psychotic fantasy”. Wow! In Australia, theological colleges grapple with environmental and postcolonial questions, and it might just change the church here going forward.

This episode originally broadcast on 3 August 2023.

For the final episode of Soul Search in 2024, join Meredith Lake for a campfire discussion reflecting on the year that’s been. Meredith is joined by three returning guests, responding to listener questions and yearnings that have arisen from our present moment, pondering the theme of inner and outer peace.

Have you had enough? There are lots of ways you could interpret that question, and almost all of them are relevant to the end of the year! It's a time when many of us reassess our priorities and wonder, what does it look like to live "the good life"?

What does a future of freedom and justice look like? Recently-deceased Peruvian theologian Fr Gustavo Gutierrez spoke about liberation from all kinds of oppression and God's preferential option for the poor. It's a vision that began on the fringes, but has wound up influencing the very centres of power in the Christian world.