Faith at the Frontiers

Barney interviews Pastor Alton Bell about his experiences persuading his church congregation to take the Covid vaccine. This episode digs into the history of black peoples' engagement with white medicine, and is not always easy listening. But its message is important: science is always communicated by someone, and if that someone is the government, there are political issues at play. Thanks to Jam...

How can scientists enrich and enliven their local church communities? We’ve invited Professor David Wilkinson , Petra Crofton, and Deb Fozzard to explore the impact of the ⁠Scientists in Congregations project that shows just how much scientists can do. If you want to learn more, check out these free science and faith resources for schools and (church) children’s workers: Wild and Wonderful UK . Al...

What do Charismatic/Pentecostal Christians think of science? Two of their number discuss the distinctives of their tradition on this question: Chris Done, Professor of astrophysics at Durham University Simo Frestadius, executive director of the institute for Pentecostal theology Among their many insights are that: Charismatics place a lot of emphasis on experience and experiment - not so different...

It may sound like a strange idea to teach science in seminaries. But after recording this episode, it made much more sense to the hosts! Lucas Mix (ECLAS) and Katy Hinman (AAAS) help run help run ECLAS’ ‘Science for Seminaries’ programme, in which future pastors, priests, and church leaders get to learn what it’s like to engage in science and with scientists. We discuss questions like: Why do peop...

What is really at stake in seeing faith & science as in conflict with each other? What are the origins of this conflict narrative and what were the theological motivations behind it? These questions and others are the driving force behind today's episode, the first in our ECLAS series. We interview David Hutchings and Dr Amanda Rees for their perspective - both practical and academic - on the...

News from Faith at the Frontiers: We’re at the end of the Faith & Economics series. What a thought-provoking series it was! Goodbye to Carmody! She has had to step down because she was too busy to keep it up. A new co-host will be joining us in the series after next. Introducing the next series: in partnership with Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science (ECLAS), we are running a s...

For our final episode on faith & economics, we’ve invited Prof. Paul Williams to share his vision for a Christian transformation of economics. Prof. Williams has studied economics and theology, and worked as both an economist and a theology professor for many years. He is uniquely qualified to give insight on our question and this episode is a powerful ending to an incredible series. Written b...

Carmody & Barney pause to reflect on our recent episodes and the opinions presented by our guests. We appear to have invited quite a few capitalists recently without intending to over-represent one viewpoint. So most of this discussion is our own reflections on the varieties of capitalism that we’ve encountered from our guests. We reflect on things like: What are the conditions for the possibi...

Carmody and Barney interview Pete Gladwell, who works for one of the largest investment companies in the UK. Pete explains how he views investment as a community service and tries to make investments that will benefit society rather than only making money for himself or his company. This episode is really interesting to compare to the previous one with Robert Netzly: two Christian investors with d...

Barney and Carmody interview Robert Netzly, founder and CEO of Inspire Investing . Robert recently made the decision to withdraw all ESG investment on the basis that it has been overtaken by a Marxist agenda . We ask Robert about his understanding of faithful Christian investment and the principles on which he founded his business. Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound editing!

Barney and Carmody interview Dylan Pahman on whether there is any such thing as ‘Christian economics’, or whether economics is a value-neutral space like mathematics. We discuss questions like: Is the free market the most natural and universal economic system? Should theologians stay out of economics? Should economists stay out of theology? What should our goals for society be in the first place?...

We interview Helen Alford, one of the leading voices in Christian economics. Helen offers an amazing array of insights. Helen had a transformative experience upon reading the following article: Howard Rosenbrock, 'Engineers and the Work People Do', in The Experience of Work , ed. Craig Littler. The key insight was that 'If engineers could think of people as if they were robots, they wo...

Barney and Carmody respond to feedback and reflect on the last two episodes (with Ondrej & Jared, and with Adeel Malik). Themes that appear include:  What role does freedom play in an economic system ? Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound editing!

Carmody & Barney invite Adeel Malik of Oxford University to discuss the Islamic view of economics and finance. We discuss questions like: Why is lending money at interest banned in traditional Islam, Judaism, and Christianity? Why can economics never be separated from morality and religion?  Why is community a neglected dimension of economic theory?  Hope you enjoy the episode! Thank...

In the middle of our faith & economics series, this episode features a debate between Carmody, Barney, Ondrej, and Jared about whether or not it's possible to think beyond the typical polarities of capitalism/socialism. We also discuss: What does it mean to ‘own’ something?  Can anyone own the climate, and is that a problem for the climate? What is the purpose of ownership? Who or what de...

This short episode is prompted by a listener who sent us a voice message. He questioned Carmody's point about veganism (made in this episode ), and in this episode Carmody responds to the point. Questions discussed in this episode: Is veganism too hard or too expensive for most people? How much can people be held responsible for their buying habits? Is there a difference between concern for animal...

Carmody & Barney interview Edward Hadas, research fellow in moral economics at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford . He tells us what he thinks is wrong with the current way of debating economics and offers a whole new paradigm to help us imagine our labour and consumption differently. Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound editing!

Barney and Carmody kick off a new series on ‘Christian Economics’, asking difficult questions about the limits of our financial freedom. Our present economic system is neither inevitable nor ethically neutral, but it does have a huge impact on how we spend our money. What might we be able to do about it?

Barney interviews Alex Faludy on the religious dimension of Hungarian politics. Alex argues that the Hungarian Prime Minister is not simply using religion as a tool, but has a genuine faith. If we accuse him of being selective about which aspects of Christianity he embraces, we must also look at ourselves to see whether we're not also being selective.  Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound engi...

In this final episode of the Science & Religion series, Barney & Emily discuss highlights, unanswered questions, and key takeaways about the whole debate. 

This episode combines themes from two series: climate change and science/religion. Our interviewee, Tim Middleton, looks at climate change through the lens of trauma. Is the earth traumatised? What would that mean? What sort of call to action does it lead to? Join us to find a powerful new way of looking at our relationship to the planet!  Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound engineering skill...

Heard of robot priests? Or robot rabbis who can answer any question about Judaic law? Do these things sound great or scary to you?  In this episode we interview Dr Beth Singler about AI, the effect of online space on religious communities, and other interactions between religion and the digital world.  This episode is produced in collaboration with The Tablet . Thanks to Jamie Maule for...

We interview Chris Bennett, who has researched the ‘evolutionary’ reasons for religious beliefs such as attributing personal agency to storms, trees, etc. What should religious people think of such arguments? How should they respond to them? What about evolutionary accounts of other mental functions, like mathematics, morality, or even the notion of causality that evolutionary explanations themsel...

What is ‘Christian Platonism’ and why is it the best theological position for engaging with science?  This episode is all about these two questions. Emily & Barney interview Prof. Andrew Davison , who was formerly the Starbridge Associate Professor in Theology and the Natural Sciences at Cambridge University. We ask him tough and challenging questions like: Isn’t it better to be just a Christi...

Barney and Bethany interview Emily on the ‘many worlds’ interpretation of quantum physics. If there are thousands or millions of versions of you and me in other worlds, each living ever-so-slightly different lives, what does that imply for theology? What does it mean about who God is?