The Political Animals

Constitutional scholar Nicholas Aroney joins Jonathan for an examination of the legal meaning and implications of the proposed new s129 in the Australia Constitution that establishes the Voice, and which is the subject of a referendum on 14 October. Nicholas Aroney  is Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Queensland. He has published over 100 journal articles, book chapters and boo...

Jonathan is joined by Iain Benson for a conversation about values and virtues. They discuss the triumph of technique over purpose in our contemporary culture, the problems with adopting "values" as our primary moral language and the need to recover the ancient moral language of virtue. Iain Benson is Professor of Law at Notre Dame University, Sydney, Australia. He is an academic, lecture...

Clive Hamilton joins the show to discuss his left-wing critique of wokeness published in the Sydney Morning Herald. Clive Hamilton is Professor of Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University. He is the found of The Australia Institute and the author of many books, including Defiant Earth: The Fate of Humans in the Anthropocene , Silent Invasion: China's Influence in Australia and Provocateur: A...

In this episode, Jonathan engages in a conversation about conservatism with political philosopher and radical feminist Holly Lawford-Smith. They do so by discussing Burke's classic text, Reflections on The Revolution in France , which they both read (Holly for the first time) in preparation for the podcast. The conversation ranges across reform versus revolution, the strengths and weaknesses o...

Free speech warrior Brendan O'Neill joins Jonathan for a discussion about free speech, cancel culture, linguistic tyranny and the Orwellian assault on reality afflicting contemporary Western societies. Brendan is a journalist who has written columns for the Australian, the Spectator and the Big Issue. He is best know for his work at Spiked, where he is Chief Political Writer and formerly Edito...

Jonathan is joined by Russian-Australian scholar Andreas Berg for a deep dive on contemporary Russia. They cover the anarchic chaos of the 1990s transition from communism, the rise of Vladimir Putin, the nature and operation of Putin's regime, the complex and fraught relationship between Russia and Ukraine, the current war in Ukraine, the would-be rebellion of Evgeny Prigozhin's Wagner PMC...

Jonathan is joined by Pieter Valk for a conversation about how churches that adhere to traditional Christian teaching on sexuality and sexual ethics can care for and support gay and trans Christians. Pieter Valk is the founder and director of Equip , a consulting ministry aimed at helping churches to be places where gay and LGBT Christians can thrive in line with the church's traditional and h...

Jonathan is joined by conservative commentator Gray Connolly for an examination of the good, the bad and the ugly of contemporary conservatism. They cover the traditional conservative understanding of government, authority, society, family, duty, inheritance and culture and the many libertarian (and populist) heresies perverting this understanding amongst so-called "conservatives." Gray...

John Milbank joins Jonathan for wide-ranging tour of political theology, contemporary secular politics, contemporary political problems, cultural decadence and the opportunities and challenges for a Christian contribution to our contemporary political malaise. John Milbank is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham. He is a co-found...

Knox Peden returns to the show to discuss his interesting, and by today's standard unusual, journey from secular intellectual influenced by Spinoza and Marx to practicing Catholic. Dr Knox Peden is an intellectual historian who has taught philosophy and history at the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University and the University of Queensland. He has published widely on French...

Constantine Campbell joins Jonathan for a discussion of his provocative book Jesus v. Evangelicals: A Biblical Critique of a Wayward Movement. They discuss Penal Substitutionary Atonement, the hierarchy of evangelical sins, megachurch culture, Evangelical social and political engagement and more. Constantine Campbell is a New Testament scholar who has taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School,...

Jonathan is joined by sociologist Kristina Stoeckl for a deep dive on the Russian Orthodox Church, tracing its complex journey from repression under Soviet communism to support for Vladimir Putin and source of an orthodox nationalist state ideology. Kristina Stoeckl is Professor of Sociology at LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome, as well as an adjunct professor at the University of Innsbruck in...

Sociologist John Carroll joins Jonathan for an examination of the decline of Western culture. They discuss the failure of humanism to find meaning on the big metaphysical questions in a post-Christian world, the importance of archetypes and their transmission through a canon of great literature, the way that popular culture has replaced high culture, and why that might be a good thing (it's mo...

Mario Baghos joins Jonathan for a conversation about the symbolic and sacred function of ancient cities and the decline and mutation of this function in modern cities. Dr Mario Baghos is an Academic Sessional in the Department of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, as well as Adjunct Lecturer in Theology in the Faculty of Arts and Education at Charles Sturt University....

Michael Bird returns to the show for a discussion about secularism. Jonathan and Michael cover the Christian origins of secularism, why it is in the interests of religious people to have a secular government, the threat to the secular compact by militant secularism and the inimical impact of the contemporary perversion of genuine secularism. Dr Michael Bird is Academic Dean and Lecturer in New Tes...

Michael Jensen joins Jonathan for an exploration of the ins and outs of Sydney's unique, and influential, brand of Anglicanism. The conversation covers the historical origins of the Sydney diocese and its distinct character, controversies surrounding the chasuble, lay presidency (administration) and women in ministry, as well as Sydney Anglican politics (ecclesial and secular), and whether Sydney...

Katherine Mangu-Ward joins Jonathan for a conversation about libertarianism. They explore the role of reason and free markets in the libertarian philosophy, the role and legitimate scope of government, progress towards libertarian goals over the 20th century, the tension between libertarianism's future-oriented optimism and conservatism's past-oriented pessimism about the future, the libertarian p...

Jonathan is joined by historian Judith Brett for a conversation about the history of liberalism in Australia. They explore the impact of 19th century liberalism on Australian politics and identity, the political struggle between liberalism and the Labor movement in the 20th century, the idea of the 'moral middle class' and its support for the Liberal Party in the early and mid-20th century, the ch...

Journalist Bernard Lane joins the show for a conversation about gender clinics and the way that political ideology, activism, social phenomena, medicine and mental health intersect in the treatment of children and adolescents with gender dysphoria. Bernard Lane is a journalist covering the international debate about medicalised gender change for young people. He writes the newsletter Gender Clinic...

Intellectual historian Wayne Hudson returns to the show for a discussion of his recently published book, Beyond Religion and the Secular: Creative Spiritual Movements and Their Relevance to Political, Social and Cultural Reform (Bloomsbury, 2023). Wayne and Jonathan ponder what religion has to offer humanity in advanced technological societies (a question posed in the book), and along the way expl...

Jonathan is joined by Simon Kennedy for a discussion of Yoram Hazony's celebrated 2022 book, Conservatism: A Rediscovery. They focus on the the contrast Hazony draws between conservatism and liberalism, with particular emphasis on conservative and liberal epistemologies, the role of public religion, the failure of liberalism and the the influence of neo-Marxist ideas in contemporary Western cultur...

Jonathan is joined by fellow conservative podcaster Josh Lewis for a discussion about the evolving realignments on the American Right in the wake of the political earthquake that was (still is) Donald Trump. They explore conservative philosophy, fusionism, the rise of nationalist populism, the state of American culture, the place and role of America on the global stage, the Right's loss of faith i...

Host Jonathan  is joined by Dan Paterson, a pastor, apologist and evangelist, for an exploration of the challenges and opportunities to introduce young people to the Christian good news in a culture now characterised by widespread ignorance of Christianity and growing hostility towards the faith, yet crying out for meaning. Dan Patterson is the founder of Questioning Christianity , a ministry...

Martyn Iles joins Jonathan for a wide-ranging conversation about the wisdom of Donald Trump making another presidential bid, the moral equivocation among sections of the Right over Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the need to move on from the trauma of Covid, but also to learn lessons from mistakes in the response, and why Christians need to adjust to living in a modern version of Babylon. Martyn Iles...

Author and political commentator Gerard Henderson joins Jonathan for a conversation about B.A. Santamaria and the seminal political moments in Australia history that he was involved in. Drawing on his personal recollections of knowing and working with Santamaria, as well as the three books he has written on this "most unusual man," Gerard tells the story of communist influence in the trade union m...