Life & Faith

For centuries, all kinds of people have testified that Dante and his epic poem changed their life.  ---  Midway along the journey of our life I woke to find myself in a dark wood, for I had wandered off from the straight path. A 700-year-old epic poem may not be the first place you’d think to turn when life gets messy, painful, or confusing. But across times, cultures, and different walk...

Sexuality, consent and pornography might not be the first topic of conversation we’d raise at a dinner party. But perhaps we should!  --- Issues around consent, pornography and sexuality are a minefield to navigate for young people today and sometimes it’s hard to find helpful places to go to find help. Daniel Principe, Youth Advocate and Educator at Collective Shout, is one source of informa...

Steph Judd was a healthy, sporty and musical teenager when, unexpectedly, things that she could, up until then, do naturally and easily, suddenly became physically difficult, and then, eventually, impossible. Steph has now had about 15 years to process a significant physical change and adjust to living with a disability. But she has learned plenty of things about herself and picked up some wisdom...

Tim Dixon illuminates the forces across the Western World that are driving us apart and the challenge this presents for how we live together in pluralistic societies. --- Tim Dixon gave CPX’s Richard Johnson Lecture in 2019, and in this extended podcast we revisit the timely insights we gained from Tim that night. This speech turned out to be eerily prescient given all that came to pass in the yea...

On May 21, Australians won’t simply elect a Prime Minister but the nation’s “comforter-in-chief”.  --- Bushfires, floods, and pandemic: Australians have weathered plenty of crises over the last few years. Who do they look to in times of trouble – and what do they want from those who lead them? In this Life & Faith, we explore an unofficial but significant part of any political leader’s jo...

To sacrifice for Queen and country is one thing, but would you lay down your life for an enemy? --- This week we are repeating an episode that first aired in 2017 when, like this year, Easter and Anzac Day were very close together. “Australian service men and women serve for their Queen, their country and their comrades. They do that willingly, and they do that well. But Christ laid down his life...

The Enneagram helps us ask questions like: who am I, and is who I am good? --- I strive for perfection. I am prepared for any disaster. I seek out experiences that I know will make me feel happy or excited. Have you heard people say “I’m a seven” or “oh, that’s because you’re a five” … if you’re not familiar with the Enneagram, a model which describes people in terms of nine interrelated personali...

A plumber, a pastor, and a pilgrim forge poems out of what’s right in front of them. --- She will keep you like she keeps the Sabbath.     Did you know that 21 March is World Poetry Day? Do you … care? In this episode of Life & Faith, we speak to three poets about why they write poetry, and find out how intimately linked to real life their words actually are. Sit back and enjoy...

From Roman emperors to modern PMs, Life & Faith tackles the fraught relationship between church and state. --- “At the end of the day I am quite happy that the throne-and-altar accommodation was shattered, and that the church does not wield that kind of power.” Dust-ups between religion and government are rarely out of the news for long. Sometimes church and state seem too cosy, sometimes they...

Feel exhausted, cynical, and utterly ineffective at work? There’s a cure for what ails you.  --- Jonathan Malesic had always dreamed of being a college professor. The reality, however, didn’t match up to his expectations. It got to the point where he found it difficult to drag himself out of bed to teach a class. Nothing seemed to help: therapy, medication, even extended leave.  So he qu...

Buildings and public spaces tell a story about what our culture values and who belongs. --- This week, Life & Faith channels popular TV program Grand Designs through its focus on the built environment and how our public spaces express ideals and aspirations for our life together.  Our guest is Kamila Soh, who is pursuing a Masters in architectural history at the University of New South Wa...

The story of the Hilton Bombing, Evan Pederick, and the Ananda Marga.  ---- On Feb 13 1978 a bomb exploded at the front of the Hilton Hotel in Sydney. It had been planted in a garbage bin and as a truck emptied the bin it exploded, killing two garbage collectors and a police officer guarding the entrance to the hotel lounge. Ten years later, Evan Pederick turned up to a Brisbane Police statio...

Young, married, and living in community housing with 28 men. --- When the pandemic hit, plenty of us reassessed our lives: changing jobs, leaving relationships, taking up a new hobby.  Jayden and Mikyla Battey, a married couple in their 20s, did their own soul-searching and, as a result, decided to move into community housing with 28 men who are at risk of homelessness and face mental health...

New York Times Australian Bureau Chief Damien Cave on learning to live like an Australian. --- Damien Cave has been the New York Times Australian Bureau chief in Australia since 2017. In that time he has thrown himself into life here, embracing (and being embraced by) the Surf Life Saving community and all the vulnerability and humility required to do that. He says he has learnt extremely importan...

Leila and Danny Abdallah explain how they found a way to forgive the driver who killed their three children.   --- For i4give week, we bring you a conversation with Danny and Leila Abdallah. On Feb 1st 2020 the Abdullahs experienced an unspeakable tragedy when three of their children, Antony (13), Angelina (12), and Sienna (8), along with their cousin Veronique Sakr (11), were killed whe...

People have very different ideas of what Christmas is “really about”. Life & Faith weighs the options. --- “This is pure joy … but this is infused with truffle.” What makes this time of year so magical for so many?  In this final episode of Life & Faith for 2021, the team talk about the food, the gifts, the traditions, the family time … and what any of it has to do with the original s...

Theologian Sarah Coakley interrogates our relationship to sex, food, money, the body, and God. --- “I see desire as a central human phenomenon … We see desire in the newborn baby, for physical and psychological needs. We see desire in the dying person, even if they’ve lost the capacity for speech. We see desire in people who are very severely brain damaged or physically damaged. Desire is always t...

Tim Costello on the spiritual hold gambling exerts over Australian politics, culture, and identity. --- Tim Costello knows a thing or two about how to fight social justice battles on multiple fronts simultaneously. The ex-World Vision CEO, lawyer, Baptist preacher, spokesperson for the End Covid For All campaign, and Senior Fellow of CPX has also campaigned against gambling and the pervasiveness o...

We talk Ted Lasso, Sally Rooney’s latest novel, and get sentimental about our stuff with Unpacking. ---  Simon, Natasha, and Justine download on Apple TV’s Ted Lasso , celebrating the infectious kindness of its hero, the power of pastoral care in general, and the ways the hit show brightened the days of many Australian viewers in lockdown this year. Justine introduces the team to the surprisi...

Christine Caine explores how her own challenges ignited a passion for justice for the voiceless and exploited. ------ Author, speaker, and advocate Christine Cain tells Life & Faith about her personal journey that led her to co-found anti-slavery organisation--A21. She explains her shock when she discovered not only the scale of human trafficking in the world today, but that it existed at all....

Clinical psychologist Jonathan Andrews explains how, in the right circumstances, relationships can heal our broken hearts, and salve our growing loneliness.  ------ Jonathan Andrews’ book The Reconnected Heart: How Relationships Can Help Us Heal is born out of his experience as a clinical psychologist where he has witnessed the powerful healing potential in connection with ourselves, other pe...

The award-winning novelist talks about navigating cultural diversity, representation, and Buddhism.  ------ “Books don’t change people. I think people change people.” Alice Pung’s novels are beloved by readers, but she has a bone to pick with those who mostly encounter people with various backgrounds through fiction. “Why don’t you have any Asian friends or black friends or poor friends or fr...

Tony Rinaudo has uncovered some surprising sources of hope for a warming planet. ------ “In that moment, for me, everything changed. I wasn't fighting the Sahara desert … Everything that I needed was literally at my feet. And the real battle was, if people had reduced the environment to this point – it's on its knees, it’s struggling to provide for anybody, nature or humankind – if it was people’s...

Benjamin Gilmour reflects on 26 years as a paramedic, a poet, and a filmmaker - including in Afghanistan. ------ Benjamin Gilmour’s book The Gap recounts a very intense summer working as a paramedic out of Bondi Ambulance station in Sydney. He comes face to face with violence, drugs, domestic disputes, brawls, heart attacks, emergency births. There’s even a kidnapping!   The trauma, death and...

Scott Stephens, editor of ABC’s Religion & Ethics website, shares his own fascinating backstory. ------ As editor of the ABC’s Religion & Ethics website, Scott Stephens spends his days trawling through the best of contemporary theological and ethical thinking. But the story of his life proves just as intriguing as the material he daily immerses himself in. In this episode of Life & Fai...