With All Due Respect

Creative acts - and creative people - have sometimes been given short shrift within evangelicalism. Creative work can be seen as less significant than the work of a pastor or evangelist.

But on the other hand, the Bible begins with an act of creation - the first and greatest of all creative acts. So Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen ask, 'Is creativity a waste of Christian time, or is it an essential vocation of the Christian?'

In pursuit of an answer, the WADR team talk to the artist and cultural thinker Makoto Fujimura, who has written extensively about the intersection between the creative and theology.

Then they finish with a look at a beautifully creative piece about a creative person - Oscar best picture winner CODA.

LINKS

Makoto Fujimura's new book, Art and Faith: A Theology of Making.

If you'd like to help Michael and Megan continue to deliver With All Due Respect each fortnight, why not make a donation?

With All Due Respect is the podcast for The WADR Project.

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In the run-up to this weekend's federal election, Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen get all economical.

Jesus famously said, "You cannot serve both God and money," or wealth, depending on the translation. While Christian scandals often involve abuse of sex or power, love of money seems to be the sin we often tolerate. Is that because Christians in the west have been living under capitalism for some time now?

Capitalism gets quite a bad rap these days, so the WADR team asks, Is it the root of all evil? How should Christians relate to issues of money and ownership?

Megan and Michael then talk to capitalism expert Professor Gordon Menzies from the University of Technology, Sydney, about how economics and faith might interrelate. And we finish the show with the television series that has been called a satire of late capitalism - Apple TV’s Severance.

LINKS

Here's where you can get a copy of Gordon Menzies book, Western Fundamentalism: Democracy, Sex and the Liberation of Mankind

If you'd like to help Michael and Megan continue to deliver With All Due Respect each fortnight, why not make a donation?

With All Due Respect is the podcast for The WADR Project.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now that the Prime Minister has called for an election, Christians will be bombarded by people wanting to win or influence their vote.

Some of that campaigning will be based on what people THINK influences a Christian vote. But despite the rhetoric, the Christian vote is more diverse than is often realised. What issues are on Christian minds and hearts this election?

Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen put that question out there and receive significant responses from Christian leaders as well as WADR listeners. Then the WADR team then discusses how you might sort through all this as you cast your vote.

And to finish off, our resident 'Marg and Dave' review of a series that will make for good election viewing.

LINKS

If you'd like to help Michael and Megan continue to deliver With All Due Respect each fortnight, why not make a donation?

With All Due Respect is the podcast for The WADR Project.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Several books have recently been released on the problem of narcissism in the church. When we mix this with some high-profile examples of pastors gone wrong, the ego-centric leader becomes an important issue to consider.

While we may not have evidence of legions of diagnosed clinical narcissists in the church, we can all point to church leaders with ego problems - not that surprising when church leadership can come with attached power and status.

So, Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen ask how do we deal with the potential ego problem of leadership? Step one: interview Professor David Starling about his research into New Testament approaches to leadership.

Then the WADR team follow this up with a discussion on whether our whole approach to leadership is wrong, before finishing with a surprising movie on leadership, Disney's Encanto.

If you'd like to help Michael and Megan continue to deliver With All Due Respect each fortnight then why not make a donation?

With All Due Respect is the podcast for The WADR Project, and a proud member of the Undeceptions Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Black Sabbath - old-school heavy metal band or day in the Christian calendar? The Saturday just before Easter Sunday has been called various names but that hasn't kept it top of mind in religious circles.

It tends to be ignored by many Protestants, stuck awkwardly between the mourning of Good Friday and the joy of Easter Sunday.

So Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit ask what was going on in that gap? And what spiritual significance does it have to people of faith today?

Then the WADR team reviews the TV series The Chosen, which tells the stories of the gospels, as well as filling in some other gaps.

If you'd like to help Michael and Megan continue to deliver With All Due Respect each fortnight then why not make a donation?

With All Due Respect is the podcast for The WADR Project, and a proud member of the Undeceptions Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 Soul. It's a word that continues to have a lot of resonance. We look for a soul mate, we say something is good for the soul, we engage in some soul searching and we bare our souls to each other. None of us wants to be soulless. But what is a soul?

Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit discover that this is one subject even Christians, who are in the business of 'saving souls', are less clear on.

The WADR team ask some searching questions - do we have a soul and what is it? - in For Argument's Sake. Then they look at Swansong, a recent movie that is perhaps, soulless. Finally, it's time to take a look at a book that Megan reckons is good for the soul - Anne of Green Gables.

If you'd like to help Michael and Megan continue to deliver With All Due Respect each fortnight then why not make a donation?

With All Due Respect is the podcast for The WADR Project, and a proud member of the Undeceptions Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the return of season 6, Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen plunge listeners into the heart of a two-thousand-year-old tradition in their efforts to understand what it might have to contribute to spiritual growth today.

Lent is a period of prayer and fasting in preparation for Easter that has been practiced since apostolic times.

Until recently it wasn't that popular among Evangelicals, but more believers are beginning to observe this 40 days of reflection - including guest Dr. Ros Clarke who has just released a devotional for Lent.

Forty Women : Unseen women of the Bible from Eden to Easter considers the historical truth that the first witnesses to the resurrection were not men, but women - and without women, the Easter story would not have happened at all.

The WADR duo then discusses whether Bible-believing Christians should be doing something that doesn’t appear in The Bible, and finish with a five-star film often watched at this time.

If you'd like to help Michael and Megan continue to deliver With All Due Respect each fortnight then why not make a donation?

With All Due Respect is the podcast for The WADR Project, and a proud member of the Undeceptions Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen ask about the cost of conscience. 

Conscience has been at the forefront in public discussions, as a new phase of the pandemic requires measures that have created an urgent set of ethical dilemmas. This has come at the same time as our politicians are debating bills about freedom of religion.

The WADR team tease out the Biblical approach to freedom of conscience before taking a more personal look at it with Alison Preston, a Christian living with the consequences of a decision of consequence. 

Then Michael and Megan finish up with a well-known movie about conscience, Les Misérables.

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With All Due Respect's Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen are joined by The Centre for Public Christianity's Justine Toh to usher out the old year. 

Like 2020, 2021 has had its social highs and COVID lows but, on balance, what did WADR think of the year that was? First up, the team give each other what they think was the theme of the year. 

Then it's time for Megan, Michael, and Justine to share their favourite watch, read, and listens for 2021 in a bumper edition of Marg and Dave - or should it be called Marg, Dave, and Bill? A reference to the king of movie reviews that young Justine just doesn't get... 

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As Australians have striven to get vaccination rates up and covid spread under control, one carrot held out to the long-suffering population has been the promise of a normal Christmas.

Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit think we often associate Christmas with homecoming and family. For a start, it's a classic trope of Christmas movies - Christmas Homecoming, I'll Be Home For Christmas, Home For The Holidays, even Home Alone. But the very first Christmas, Mary and Joseph leave their home on a journey. So, is Christmas a story of home or away?

The WADR team talk it all out, look at a Christmas movie about a family - Little Women - and then bring back a segment everyone has been asking for as an excuse to exchange gifts. 

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