Life & Faith

The 2015 Sydney Writers’ Festival ran from 18-24 May and offered over 300 events, with writers and speakers from all over the world. The theme was: How to Live? In this Life and Faith, Justine Toh and Natasha Moore discuss some of the festival highlights - including Anne Manne on narcissism, Paul Dolan and Hugh Mackay on happiness, and American mortician and death acceptance activist Caitlin Doughty, whose book Smoke Gets in Your Eyes recounts her motley experiences working in a crematorium. 

The end of faith: has science made religion redundant?Peter Harrison is an Australian Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland. Before taking up his post at UQ he was the Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. He has published extensively in the area of intellectual history with a focus on the historical interactions between science and religion. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, he was the Gifford Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in 2011. He is author or editor of six books, the most recent of which is The Territories of Science and Religion (Chicago, 2015).

The end of faith: has science made religion redundant?Peter Harrison is an Australian Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland. Before taking up his post at UQ he was the Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. He has published extensively in the area of intellectual history with a focus on the historical interactions between science and religion. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, he was the Gifford Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in 2011. He is author or editor of six books, the most recent of which is The Territories of Science and Religion (Chicago, 2015).

The end of faith: has science made religion redundant?Prof. Peter Harrison is an Australian Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland. Before taking up his post at UQ he was the Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. He has published extensively in the area of intellectual history with a focus on the historical interactions between science and religion. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, he was the Gifford Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in 2011. He is author or editor of six books, the most recent of which is The Territories of Science and Religion (Chicago, 2015).

The end of faith: has science made religion redundant?Prof. Peter Harrison is an Australian Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland. Before taking up his post at UQ he was the Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. He has published extensively in the area of intellectual history with a focus on the historical interactions between science and religion. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, he was the Gifford Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in 2011. He is author or editor of six books, the most recent of which is The Territories of Science and Religion (Chicago, 2015).

In Australia in the 1901 census, 96% of people identified as Christian and half of all adults regularly attended church. Little more than a century later, 61% of the population describe themselves as Christian, but only about 8% of people regularly attend worship services. Does this make Australia a “post-Christian” nation? And if so, what are the consequences of that shift? Roy Williams’ talks to Life and Faith about his latest book, Post-God Nation: How religion fell off the radar in Australia - and what might be done to get it back on, and explains why religion is no longer socially significant, why losing sight of the contributions Christianity has made to Australian society matters, and what the future of faith - both public and private - might look like. 

In Australia in the 1901 census, 96% of people identified as Christian and half of all adults regularly attended church. Little more than a century later, 61% of the population describe themselves as Christian, but only about 8% of people regularly attend worship services. Does this make Australia a “post-Christian” nation? And if so, what are the consequences of that shift? Roy Williams’ talks to Life and Faith about his latest book, Post-God Nation: How religion fell off the radar in Australia - and what might be done to get it back on, and explains why religion is no longer socially significant, why losing sight of the contributions Christianity has made to Australian society matters, and what the future of faith - both public and private - might look like. 

It’s been 7 years since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made an historic apology to members of the Stolen Generation - but how much has changed? Rudd himself has said that the apology has achieved little. Justine Toh speaks to Brooke Prentis of the Waka Waka people - an activist for indigenous rights, Christian pastor, and accountant - about the deep injustices of the past and her hopes for the future.

So many of the most obsessively followed TV series these days - Breaking Bad, House of Cards, True Detective, Game of Thrones - hold up a truly bleak mirror to human nature. What is the appeal of the antihero? And what does this trend tell us about our attitude to ourselves, the society we live in, and our hopes for the future? 

So many of the most obsessively followed TV series these days - Breaking Bad, House of Cards, True Detective, Game of Thrones - hold up a truly bleak mirror to human nature. What is the appeal of the antihero? And what does this trend tell us about our attitude to ourselves, the society we live in, and our hopes for the future? 

Jesus and motorsports might seem an unlikely pairing - but one man has been openly bringing his Christian faith to the racetrack since 2007, and attracting quite a bit of attention in the process. Andrew “Fishtail” Fisher once worked in the corporate world, but is now part of the Jesus Racing team, which races in the Yokohama V8 Ute Series. He came in to talk about why his ute has the name “Jesus” plastered all over it; what it means to race “for Jesus”; and the “Life Choices” program, which encourages teenagers to think carefully about important decisions and what living life to the full really looks like.

Jesus and motorsports might seem an unlikely pairing - but one man has been openly bringing his Christian faith to the racetrack since 2007, and attracting quite a bit of attention in the process. Andrew “Fishtail” Fisher once worked in the corporate world, but is now part of the Jesus Racing team, which races in the Yokohama V8 Ute Series. He came in to talk about why his ute has the name “Jesus” plastered all over it; what it means to race “for Jesus”; and the “Life Choices” program, which encourages teenagers to think carefully about important decisions and what living life to the full really looks like.

Some aspects of being a mum are timeless: loss of sleep, for example, but also an experience of profound, self-sacrificial love. Other aspects, however, are heavily influenced by our own time and place, and the ways that our culture has decided to “do” parenthood. Life and Faith welcomes back Justine Toh from maternity leave just in time for this Mother’s Day program, which considers the contemporary obsession with kids on the one hand and with autonomy on the other, and asks the question: what does the Bible have to say about the mother-love of God? 

Some aspects of being a mum are timeless: loss of sleep, for example, but also an experience of profound, self-sacrificial love. Other aspects, however, are heavily influenced by our own time and place, and the ways that our culture has decided to “do” parenthood. Life and Faith welcomes back Justine Toh from maternity leave just in time for this Mother’s Day program, which considers the contemporary obsession with kids on the one hand and with autonomy on the other, and asks the question: what does the Bible have to say about the mother-love of God? 

This year marks the 100th time Australians have commemorated Anzac Day. Simon Smart and Natasha Moore speak to the Rev Dr Colin Bale, Vice Principal, Academic Dean, and Head of the Department of Church History at Moore Theological College, about his interest in WWI war graves and what the inscriptions soldiers’ families chose for them tell us about the spirituality of the time. Moving from commemoration of soldiers by their contemporaries to the reimagining of WWI today, Life and Faith also reviews a new film version of Vera Brittain’s war memoir, Testament of Youth.