Faith at the Frontiers

Emily and Barney interview Bethany, who has researched the problem of death and suffering from an evolutionary point of view and how that affects our understanding of creation and fall in the book of Genesis. Did God create death? Is death necessary for life? Does this idea conflict with the biblical picture? Did God guide evolution or did animals have a certain freedom in how they evolved? Join u...

Carmody questions whether there is any stable meaning to our definitions of science and religion. Barney & Emily offer various definitions of science and religion, and Carmody knocks them all down! This episode produced in collaboration with The Tablet . Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound editing! 

Emily Qureshi-Hurst & Barney interview Professor Alister McGrath on the whole area of science & religion. We discuss questions like: Why do many people think that science has disproved religion? Why do many religious people distrust science? Is science a body of knowledge, or a method of inquiry? Can we trust experts? A fascinating and illuminating episode with one of its greatest practiti...

Introducing a new series on science & religion, hosted by Barney and Emily Qureshi-Hurst. Science & religion is one of the greatest frontier challenges in today's world. Are they compatible? Do they overlap? What happens when they come into conflict, as with the most famous example of evolution and Genesis 1? What does science reveal about ourselves and our world that Christianity needs to...

Barney interviews Rev Ryan Cook about his experiences transporting refugees from the Ukraine border to south Germany. We discuss questions like: What’s it like to befriend people when you don’t speak a common language? What are the practical nitty-gritty difficulties of integrating refugees into a new country? What are some of the unexpected challenges? Why does Ryan call love a ‘painful word’? Th...

We (Barney, Carmody, & Bethany) interview Dr Ondrej Dyck (material science PhD) on whether climate change is really happening and, if so, whether we should care. This episode goes to the heart of questions about how far we should trust science in a world saturated with political agendas and hidden motivations. And even if we agree on the facts, what ought we to do in light of them? That, we al...

How do we stop living in echo chambers that only repeat what we already agree with? How do we ensure everyone's opinion is taken seriously and represented in positions of power? This is Part 2 of the double episode with Dr Tobias Cremer of Oxford University. After some more discussion of Christianity and right-wing populism, the conversation turns to questions of what we do about populism and the...

Right-wing populism is growing in the West and its members talk a lot about recovering Christian values. But how Christian are they really, what do they mean by Christian values, and does the media tell the truth about who they are? This is part one of a double episode with Dr Tobias Cremer of Oxford University. He surprised us all with his insights about ‘cultural evangelicalism’, the tension wit...

Is Western culture relativistic? Has it ever been relativistic? We were raised with the answer ‘yes’, but now Carmody, Bethany, and I are doubting this claim. The Ukraine War seems to have evoked a strong reaction from everyone that points in the direction of universal moral principles, whether one agrees with them or not.  What do you think? Share your views using the Spotify poll, or tweeti...

Barney, Carmody, and Bethany are back for an episode on the Ukraine War. We discuss questions like: What are Putin's real reasons for attacking Ukraine? Are they religious or political?  Why is the media not discussing these reasons? Why does Bethany know how to do Ukrainian dancing? Why does Barney have an icon in his house that came from Putin's confessor? The article from The Tablet that w...

Barney, Carmody, and Bethany are back for a third episode on how we conceptualize climate change. We address questions like:  Why is there so much resistance to welcoming migrants? Why do we feel that things are getting worse all the time? Do we expect more comfort and security than we ought? Is climate change a punishment for greed and negligence? Join us for a rollicking ride through these...

Why is it so hard to believe that our daily actions cause changes to the climate? Why is it so hard to act in ways that are environmentally responsible? How much responsibility do we have as individuals to make ecological choices?  These questions and others are discussed by Carmody, Bethany, and Barney in a follow-up to the previous episode.  This episode is produced in collaboration wi...

We tend to think about climate change in terms of crisis, apocalypse, and personal responsibility. But is this the best way to understand what is going on? Barney chats with Drs Carmody Grey and Bethany Sollereder about how we conceptualise the changes that are going on in our world, and how there are other surprising ways to interpret them. The article Carmody mentioned, 'Losing Earth', is availa...

Seeing refugees as a ‘global phenomenon’ is dangerous because it may cause us to lose focus on the needs of particular refugees in our locality, says Cardinal Michael Czerny, under-secretary for the Migrants & Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development at the Vatican. The first step in cultivating a welcoming attitude is to open our eyes to the vulnerable people in our mi...

What evidence is there that the Bible is pro-foreigners? What about the xenophobic parts of scripture? Should we only care for ‘legal’ immigrants? How do we live out the biblical vision of the stranger as kindred? Barney puts these questions & others to Professor Mark Glanville of Regent College in a powerful and moving episode that unfolds the beauty of God’s compassion and love for every par...

Following the Liverpool bombing on November 14th by Emad Al Swealmeen, newspapers like the Telegraph and Express have accused the church of helping potential terrorists to remain in the UK by allowing them to convert to Christianity and helping them ‘game the system’. In this episode, Barney interviews Professor Anna Rowlands  and Dave Smith (who we also interviewed in episode 4) to...

What does the Bible really say about loving the stranger? How can Old Testament law guide our national immigration policy? What criteria should governments use to decide who to admit into their territory? In this episode we put these questions and more to James Hoffmeier, professor of Old Testament and author of The Immigration Crisis: Immigrants, Aliens, and the Bible (2008), a popular and influe...

The most political episode so far. Should nations have an ‘open borders’ policy? Or do they have the right to restrict entry to whom they choose? Should the secular state be expected to enact Christian principles? In this episode, Barney puts these hard-hitting questions and others to Luke Glanville, Professor of International Relations at Australia National University. It’s a no-nonsense episode...

This is an unusual episode because Barney is not interview ing , but interview ed for a course on 'contemplative well-being' by Nadya Pohran. Nadya asks Barney lots of questions about the Sermon on the Mount and its relation to social action and contemplation. Only the first 30 minutes are about refugees, but the rest is there in case you find it interesting.  First we discuss refugees as tho...

Barney interviews Emily Holden, co-founder of Welcome Churches , a charity that equips churches to welcome refugees of all kinds. In the face of an often hostile and unwelcoming host country, how can churches offer a different experience, helping refugees to find community and friendship? What about refugees of other faiths or no faith? Can they be welcomed without feeling the pressure to convert?...

Barney interviews Dave Smith, founder of The Boaz Trust and author of The Book of Boaz and Refugee Stories . We talk about what it means to be a failed/refused asylum seeker, the urgent need for accommodation and the poor options currently available, and Dave gives his frank opinion of the upcoming Nationality & Borders Bill in Parliament.  This podcast is produced in collaboration with T...

Barney chats with two representatives of Refugee Education UK: Cat Gladwell, Chief Executive, and Shna Olesczcuk, a trustee and also formerly a refugee herself.  We talk about the importance of hope for refugees, the Afghanistan crisis, problems with the ‘savior mentality’, and the challenges of being a young refugee.  Visit the REUK website here . This podcast is produced in collaborati...

Barney interviews Professor Peter Rona, a Hungarian refugee from 1956.  It's easy to talk * about* refugees without taking time to listen * to* refugees. In this episode, Peter Rona describes his experiences of being a refugee in the 1950s. We talk about the identity crisis that comes from being forced to be part of a new culture, the kindness of the native population in Austria and America,...

Why are refugees a Christian and biblical issue? Are they a drain on the economy? Should we get involved politically, personally, or both? If so, how? These questions and more are discussed by Barney Aspray and Matthew Soerens.  Relevant links:  - Learn more about World Relief , the organization Matthew works for.  - Learn about the Evangelical Immigration Table of which Matthew is...