Welcome to Episode 7 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with Dr. Sarah K. Johnson.  The Rev. Canon Dr. Sarah Kathleen Johnson is Assistant Professor of Liturgy and Pastoral Theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa and the author of Occasional Religious Practice: Valuing a Very Ordinary Religious Experience (Oxford University Press, 2025). Sarah is also an ordained Mennonite minister and has been made an honorary canon by the Anglican Church. Her research at the intersection of liturgical studies and sociology of religion explores Christian worship in a changing religious landscape. She holds a PhD from the University of Notre Dame and served as president of the Canadian Theological Society.

Today’s podcast is not specifically on the occasional religious practice that Sarah will be speaking about on November 12, 2025 for the CCE at St. Mark’s College, but new research with which she has been engaged on young people and worship. With scholars at Samford University in the USA, and others, Sarah is exploring how and why young people worship at a variety of Christian faith traditions.

This podcast emerges from the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC, a centre that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, other religious traditions, and those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. 

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Our goal, then, is to talk to a lot of people, to learn from them, to listen to them, and to find out what motivates them, what gives them hope, what gives them peace, and what allows them to go out into the world to love their neighbors.

A few thanks are in order. To Martin Strong, to Kevin Eng, and to Fang Fang Chandra, the team who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly. 

I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please let your friends know. It’s the free gift that you can give to all of your friends! And also let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. And subscribe to the podcast. If you are listening, please subscribe. It’s free!

Thanks again for listening and remember what matters most.   

John W. Martens

Director, Centre for Christian Engagement

Welcome to the sixth episode of Pop Culture Matters, the sixth epsiode of season four. In today's episode I discuss Halloween, All Saints Day, All Souls Day, and Samhain.  (sow-in) information too. Growing up, I was clear what Halloween was: a night to get candy and dress up. Halloween is All Hallows Eve, hallows referring to Saints, that is, Halloween was the day before All Saints Day on Nov. 1, and two days prior to All Souls Day on Nov. 2. These links seem strangely tenuous now. Halloween stands on its own. But then I also heard later that Halloween emerged from or was adopted from Samhain (sow-in), an ancient pagan Celtic festival that was celebrated on November 1 in Ireland and Scotland and preceded the arrival of Christianity. These connections, touted both by modern Wiccans and pagans and bemoaned by fundamentalist Christians, have led some Christians not to celebrate Halloween due to pagan or satanic connections. Fang Fang tells me Christians in Indonesia are encouraged not to celebrate the festival.

Since I am no expert on Halloween, but do see its ubiquity all around me, I wanted to understand how we got from a Church festival that focused on purgatory, to a modern celebration of wirches, goblins, spooky movies, and a lot of candy. I relied specifically on an excellent book from 2003 by Nicholas Rogers, a historian now retired from York University. The book is Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night (Oxford University Press, 2003), and one its best features is that history and practices from both Canada and the USA are discussed. 

 I have to say that one thing that I did not get into, as I think it needs its own episode, is Dia De Los Muertas (Day of the Dead). This festival, which is celebrated in Mexico and parts of the USA,  traditionally is celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31, are often included. Day of the Dead in some ways preserves more of the medieval traditions surrounding  All Hallows Eve than Halloween does. Nicholas Rogers covers it in depth, but not only does it need its own episode, I think it could benefit from a conversation with someone who knows the lived experience of Dia De Los Muertas. Next year!

This podcast emerges from the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC, a centre that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, other religious traditions, and those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. 

Upcoming Events

We will be having some new in person and virtual events starting in this coming Fall and I can now give you some details. 

Save the date of November 12, Sarah Johnson will be joining us from Ottawa to speak about her new book, Occasional Religious Practice: Valuing a Very Ordinary Religious Experience (Oxford University Press, 2025). You can come in person or virtually, so sign up at Eventbrite for Occasional Religious Practice and Grassroots Ecumenism, also featuring a panel discussion with Rev. Dr. Nick Meisl and Rev. Alisdair Smith.

 On February 20, 7 pm, Cathy Clifford from St. Paul’s University in Ottawa will join us to speak about the synodal process at St. Mark’s College. Her lecture is called, “Toward a Spirituality for a Synodal Church,” but her lecture will be the end point of a number of lectures offered throughout the Lower Mainland:

-          November 20 - Dr. John Martens, The NT Foundations of Synodality (St. Matthew's, Surrey), 7 pm.

-          December 13 - Dr. Fiona Li, Mary as a Model for a Synodal Church (St. Peter's, New Westminster); Fr. Nick Meisl, The OT Origins of Synodality (St. Peter's, New Westminster), 2:30 pm

-          January - Dr Nick Olkovich - The Synodal Parish: A Sign of Hope for a Broken World (St. Paul's, Richmond) TBD

and on March 17, Pavlo Smytsnyuk will speak on Christianity and nationalism, a part of the Christian Nationalist project until we get a new title. Pavlo Smytsnyuk specializes in political theology and religious nationalism in modern Orthodoxy and neo-Hinduism. In particular, he is interested in how the dichotomy between the religious and political manifests itself outside of the Western context. His research explores how non-Western, especially Orthodox, traditions deal creatively with the category of religion (as separated from the political), and how holistic theological-political narratives make space for violence.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please let your friends know. It’s the free gift that you can give to all of your friends! And also let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. And subscribe to the podcast. If you are listening, please subscribe. It’s free!

Thanks again for listening and remember pop culture matters. 

John W. Martens

Welcome to Episode 5 of Season 4! This episode marks the formal beginning to the Christian Nationalism project, which might acquire a new name soon, that will run from 2025 to 2028, culminating in a conference in May or June 2028. In this episode I speak with Dr. Steven W. Tyra. Dr. Steven W. Tyra holds a PhD in Historical Theology from Baylor University, with expertise in both John Calvin and Martin Luther. He is currently a History and Theology Teacher in the Midway Independent SD, Waco, Texas.

He is the author of Neither the Spirit without the Flesh: John Calvin's Doctrine of the Beatific Vision, published by T&T Clark in 2024. He is currently underway on his second book, which will be published by Bloomsbury Press. Steven has also written two significant articles that challenge the biblical and reformation roots of Christian nationalism which we will discuss today. The first, “’Christ is not the shepherd of wolves’: Reading John Calvin on Dominion in a Time of Christian Nationalism” will be published soon in Church History and Religious Culture. I was able to read a draft copy prior to speaking with Steven. The second, “Babeling Nationalism: Reading Genesis 11:1–9 with Luther and Calvin” is published in Principia: A Journal of Classical Education 3, no. 1 (2024) and is available for free download. Please do read it. 

This podcast emerges from the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC, a centre that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, other religious traditions, and those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. 

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Our goal, then, is to talk to a lot of people, to learn from them, to listen to them, and to find out what motivates them, what gives them hope, what gives them peace, and what allows them to go out into the world to love their neighbors.

A few thanks are in order. To Martin Strong, to Kevin Eng, and to Fang Fang Chandra, the team who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly. 

I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please let your friends know. It’s the free gift that you can give to all of your friends! And also let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. And subscribe to the podcast. If you are listening, please subscribe. It’s free!

Thanks again for listening and remember what matters most.   

John W. Martens

Director, Centre for Christian Engagement

Welcome to Episode 4 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with Dr. Paula Fredriksen. Paula Fredriksen is the Aurelio Professor of Scripture emerita at Boston University, where she taught for 30 years, and, since 2009, Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Hebrew university in Jerusalem. In addition, she is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was educated at at Wellesley College, Oxford University and Princeton University.

She has written so many significant books that I will not mention them all here. But here are some of her books, which you can find links to by clicking on this link:

Augustine on Romans (1982);

From Jesus to Christ  (1988; 2000);

Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews (1999);  winner of the 1999 National Jewish Book Award;

Augustine and the Jews  (2010);

SIN: The Early History of an Idea (2012);

Paul: The Pagans’ Apostle (2017), winner of the 2018 Prose Award from the American Publishers’ Association;

When Christians Were Jews (2018).

You can find the link to the book we focus on in this episode, Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years, by clicking on the title. 

At the beginning of the podcast I called Paula Fredriksen “one of the premier scholars and historians of the New Testament and early Christianity.” If you have listened to the podcast, I rest my case. Her knowledge of Christianity and Christianities rests deeply not on facts, but on knowledge, even wisdom. It's this deep knowledge, wisdom, that gets you to phrases that roll off her tongue like “high frequency combat theology,” or that describes early Christianity as a “family of movements,”  and theologians as “policy wonks.”  These phrases come from a deep understanding of history, theology, doctrine, of Judaism, Christianity, and Roman pagan religions. We learn about martyrdom, politics, Origen, Augustine, Manichaeism, apocalyptic thought, celibacy, and more. I hope you learned a lot in this episode, and I hope you pass it on. The episode that is. And then go ahead and read one of her excellent books.

This podcast emerges from the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC, a centre that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, other religious traditions, and those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. 

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Our goal, then, is to talk to a lot of people, to learn from them, to listen to them, and to find out what motivates them, what gives them hope, what gives them peace, and what allows them to go out into the world to love their neighbors.

A few thanks are in order. To Martin Strong, to Kevin Eng, and to Fang Fang Chandra, the team who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly. 

I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please let your friends know. It’s the free gift that you can give to all of your friends! And also let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. And subscribe to the podcast. If you are listening, please subscribe. It’s free!

Thanks again for listening and remember what matters most.   

John W. Martens

Director, Centre for Christian Engagement

Welcome to Episode 3 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with Dr. Paul Spilsbury, recently appointed President of Regent College in July 2025. Paul came to Canada from South Africa in 1984 to attend Prairie Bible College in Alberta. As you will hear, he also graduated from Regent College and then completed a PhD at the University of Cambridge (Queens’ College) before returning to Canada to teach. 

Paul’s teaching is centered on the New Testament, with a particular focus on the Apostle Paul and the Book of Revelation, as seen in his book The Throne, the Lamb and the Dragon: A Reader’s Guide to the Book of Revelation (IVP, 2002),  but much of his research is on Second Temple or Hellenistic Judaism, such as  The Image of the Jew in Flavius Josephus’ Paraphrase of the Bible (Mohr Siebeck, 1998),  Flavius Josephus, Judean Antiquities 8–10: Translation and Commentary (Brill, 2005—with C. Begg), and Flavius Josephus, Judean Antiquities 11: Translation and Commentary (Brill, 2017—with C. Seeman).

He is modest about his painting, but he is a juried member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, working primarily in watercolours. Check out some of his paintings at https://www.schindellgallery.ca/artists/paul-spilsbury, or follow him on Instagram. I loved what Paul had to see about the physicality of painting. The life of the mind is a delight, but we are embodied people and we need to pick up a paintbrush, or a shovel, or a hammer, whatever it is, and connect to our bodies.

You must have gotten a sense of Paul Spilsbury’s joy as he takes on a significant role in the life of a significant theological college, a joy that springs from his falling in love with the Bible many years ago. But he also expressed his happiness that Regent is a community in which there is genuine shared governance and his role is as a faithful steward, a shepherd.   He is not on his own in this work. He also spoke of Regent College as a community connected and dedicated to the arts, to literature, to the world around them, but that all emerges from its grounding in Scripture and the biblical world,  as Paul’s own research is too.

This podcast emerges from the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC, a centre that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, other religious traditions, and those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. 

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Our goal, then, is to talk to a lot of people, to learn from them, to listen to them, and to find out what motivates them, what gives them hope, what gives them peace, and what allows them to go out into the world to love their neighbors.

A few thanks are in order. To Martin Strong, to Kevin Eng, and to Fang Fang Chandra, the team who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly. 

I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please let your friends know. It’s the free gift that you can give to all of your friends! And also let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. And subscribe to the podcast. If you are listening, please subscribe. It’s free!

Thanks again for listening and remember what matters most.   

John W. Martens

Director, Centre for Christian Engagement

Welcome to Episode 2 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with Dr.  Joan E. Taylor, Professor Emerita of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism at King's College, London and Honorary Professor at Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, Australia.  She is a remarkable scholar with wide-ranging expertise of the historical  Jesus, the Bible, early Christianity, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Second Temple Judaism, with special expertise in archaeology, and women's and gender studies. 

I’m only going to give you a few of the titles of her many books:

Christians and the Holy Places: The Myth of Jewish Christian Origins (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993; rev. ed. 2003).

The Immerser: John the Baptist within Second Temple Judaism (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1997; also published as John the Baptist: A Historical Study (London: SPCK, 1997).

Jewish Women Philosophers of First-Century Alexandria - Philo’s ‘Therapeutae’ Reconsidered (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003; paperback edition 2006).

The Essenes, the Scrolls and the Dead Sea (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).

What Did Jesus Look Like? (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2018).

with David Hay, Philo of Alexandria: On the Contemplative Life (Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series, Leiden: Brill, 2021).

with Helen Bond, Women Remembered: Jesus' Female Disciples (Hodder & Stoughton, 2022).

And most recently, and the book we will discuss today: Boy Jesus: Growing Up Judean in Turbulent Times (Zonderban Academic, 2025).

I've utilized Dr. Taylor’s research on a regular basis, especially her material on the Dead Sea Scrolls and on Philo of Alexandria and the Therapeutae. Today however we are going to be focused on her new book Boy Jesus. I found the book fascinating and challenging and I think you'll hear that as we discuss it. It’s fascinating and challenging because it asks us to use our imaginations and to take seriously the infancy narratives as containing historical memory and to ask ourselves what if these events described in the infancy narratives were based in historical events.  

This podcast emerges from the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC, a centre that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, other religious traditions, and those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. 

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Our goal, then, is to talk to a lot of people, to learn from them, to listen to them, and to find out what motivates them, what gives them hope, what gives them peace, and what allows them to go out into the world to love their neighbors.

A few thanks are in order. To Martin Strong, to Kevin Eng, and to Fang Fang Chandra, the team who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly. 

I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please let your friends know. It’s the free gift that you can give to all of your friends! And also let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. And subscribe to the podcast. If you are listening, please subscribe. It’s free!

Thanks again for listening and remember what matters most.   

John W. Martens

Director, Centre for Christian Engagement

Welcome to Episode 1of Season 4! It is amazing and wonderful to begin our 4th season! Today I speak with Dr. Fiona Li, an assistant professor and inaugural holder of the Archbishop J. Michael Miller Chair in Catholic Studies at Corpus Christi-St Mark's College. She is originally from Toronto and received her PhD in Theological Studies from Regis College and U of T. Her primary research interests lie at the intersection of feminist theology, Chinese Canadian Catholic women's experiences, and Mariology. 

In today’s podcast, Dr. Li talks about her journey into the Catholic Church through RCIA and the Catholic school system in Ontario when she was a young teenager.  We discuss what does it mean to be a Catholic theologian today?  What does it mean to be a feminist Catholic theologian today?  What does it mean to be a Chinese Canadian feminist Catholic theologian today? My conversation with Fiona centred not just on these specific questions, but on the whole notion of contextual theology, such as liberation theology. Each of us has intersectional identities from which we share our experience of the universal church. As Fiona Li says, “we are here…this group of Chinese Canadian Catholic are here.” This sort of representation, done from a feminist perspective, is not intended to minimize other’s experiences, but to create representation for this particular group of women. For Dr. Li, this means using the person of Mary as Pontifex, Mary as bridge builder for Chinese women, but this does not mean Mary is simply a bridge builder for Chinese women, but that she serves as a bridge builder for all of us, as Catholics, as Mother of God, as a bridge also to Islam. It is exciting to think about Dr. Li’s further research and how she can help continue to bridge  gaps between cultures and groups and people within the Church and outside the Church. Mary, Bridging heaven and earth, and bridging in the Magnificat the word of God for us. One who, along with God, can help us bridge division and bridge relationships. And Fiona helps us see Mary as a bridge builder between Judaism, Islam, and even Buddhism in China with Kwan Yin or Guanyin Boddhisattva as Mary.  And Fiona Li, in Vancouver, the city of bridges, drawing our attention to this exciting new theological project, grounded in the long tradition of Mary, Mother of God.

This podcast emerges from the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC, a centre that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, other religious traditions, and those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. 

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Our goal, then, is to talk to a lot of people, to learn from them, to listen to them, and to find out what motivates them, what gives them hope, what gives them peace, and what allows them to go out into the world to love their neighbors.

A few thanks are in order. To Martin Strong, to Kevin Eng, and to Fang Fang Chandra, the team who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly. 

I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please let your friends know. It’s the free gift that you can give to all of your friends! And also let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. And subscribe to the podcast. If you are listening, please subscribe. It’s free!

Thanks again for listening and remember what matters most.   

John W. Martens

Director, Centre for Christian Engagement

Welcome to Episode 23 of Season 3 with the Reverend Dr. Stan Chu Ilo. Stan Chu Ilo is a Catholic priest from Awgu diocese, Nigeria; and Research Professor of World Christianity, African Studies and Global Health at the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois (USA). He is also an Honorary Professor of Religion and Theology at Durham University, Durham, England, and Visiting Research Scholar at the Institute of African Studies of the University of Nigeria. He is the Coordinating Servant of the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN). He is the winner of the 2017 Afro-Global Award for Global Leadership Impact in recognition of his work as the founder of the Canadian Samaritans for Africa that implemented more than 42 women empowerment and community support projects in 6 African countries. He is one of the editors and Board Member of Concilium, International Journal of Theology and serves on the editorial boards of numerous other journals including, the Journal of Global Catholicism, and the Journal of African Christian Biography and Journal Christian Ethics.

 He currently serves on the senior advisory board of Templeton Religious Trust grant project on global spiritual formation for religious leaders. He is the principal convener of the Pan-African Catholic Congress, the third edition of which is taking place in Abidjan from August 4-10, 2025. He is the author or editor of 17 books including the forthcoming, Where is God in Africa? A Theology of Suffering and Smiling (with Orbis Books, 2025), Journeying Together in Hope for a Synodal Church in Africa (2024), Daily Walk with Jesus: African Biblical Reflections 365 for a Good Christian Life (2023) Someone Beautiful to God (2020), Wealth, Health and Hope in African Christian Religion (2018), Pentecostalism, Catholicism, and the Spirit in the World (2019)Handbook of African Catholicism (Orbis, 2022), Ecological Ethics for Cosmic Flourishing (Cascade, 2022); Under the Palaver Tree: Post-Vatican II African Ecclesiology (2023);  A Poor and Merciful Church (2019), Church and Development in Africa (2014); The Church as Salt and Light (2011).

In today’s podcast, we are bringing you Stan Chu Ilo’s keynote lecture from May 3, 2025 at the CCE Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present, and Future conference in Vancouver. His lecture is called, The Promise and Praxis of Catholic Education: Hope for a Wounded and Divided World?

Please enjoy Stan Chu Ilo's lecture! 

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Our goal, then, is to talk to a lot of people, to learn from them, to listen to them, and to find out what motivates them, what gives them hope, what gives them peace, and what allows them to go out into the world to love their neighbors.

A few thanks are in order. To Martin Strong, to Kevin Eng, and to Fang Fang Chandra, the team who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly. 

I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please let your friends know. It’s the free gift that you can give to all of your friends! And also let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. And subscribe to the podcast. If you are listening, please subscribe. It’s free!

Thanks again for listening and remember what matters most.   

John W. Martens

Director, Centre for Christian Engagement

Welcome to Episode 22 of Season 3 with Samuel Rocha on "Dilexit Mundum: A Christian Education and the Love of the World"  the keynote Lecture of Samuel Rocha given on May 2, 2025 in Vancouver, B.C. at the CCE Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present, and Future conference in Vancouver. 

Dr. Sam Rocha is Professor of philosophy of education at UBC where he was awarded the Killam Teaching Prize at UBC in 2019.  Sam is the author of a number of books, including A Primer for Philosophy and Education with Cascade Books, which won the American Educational Studies Association Critics Choice Book Award in 2015. His newest book, The Syllabus as Curriculum: A Reconceptualist Approach, was published in 2020 and received the same year's Outstanding Book Award from AERA: Division B, Curriculum Studies.

Please enjoy Sam's lecture! 

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Our goal, then, is to talk to a lot of people, to learn from them, to listen to them, and to find out what motivates them, what gives them hope, what gives them peace, and what allows them to go out into the world to love their neighbors.

A few thanks are in order. To Martin Strong, to Kevin Eng, and to Fang Fang Chandra, the team who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly. 

I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please let your friends know. It’s the free gift that you can give to all of your friends! And also let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. And subscribe to the podcast. If you are listening, please subscribe. It’s free!

Thanks again for listening and remember what matters most.   

John W. Martens

Director, Centre for Christian Engagement

Welcome to Episode 21 of Season 3 with Margaret MacDonald on "Educating the Children of God, Infants to Elders," a keynote Lecture of Margaret MacDonald from May 1, 2025 at the CCE Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present, and Future conference in Vancouver. 

Margaret Y. MacDonald is Professor of Religious Studies at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. She was Dean of Arts at Saint Mary’s University from 2014 to 2020 and previously taught at St. Francis Xavier University (Nova Scotia) and the University of Ottawa. In the winter of 2018, she held the McCarthy Chair in Biblical Studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute (the Biblicum) in Rome.She received her doctorate from the University of Oxford where she held a Commonwealth Scholarship.

Please enjoy Margaret's lecture! 

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Our goal, then, is to talk to a lot of people, to learn from them, to listen to them, and to find out what motivates them, what gives them hope, what gives them peace, and what allows them to go out into the world to love their neighbors.

A few thanks are in order. To Martin Strong, to Kevin Eng, and to Fang Fang Chandra, the team who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly. 

I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

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Thanks again for listening and remember what matters most.   

John W. Martens

Director, Centre for Christian Engagement