Life & Faith

John Lennox on where science came from, religious violence, and God talk in post-Soviet Russia. --- "You probably believe in gravity - are you aware that nobody knows what it is? You believe in consciousness; no one knows what it is. You believe in energy; no one knows what it is. You believe in time; no one knows what it is. And yet they believe in these things." John Lennox is a Professor of Mathematics at Oxford, a scientist, a Christian, and - as he finds reason to point out in this interview - not John Lennon. We interviewed the good professor for our documentary, For the Love of God: How the church is better and worse than you ever imagined. In this episode of Life & Faith, we play an extended version of our in-depth discussion on topics ranging from the old chestnut that Christianity has opposed science, to visiting Russia in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War. Here are some highlights. On the rise of modern science from the 15th and 16th centuries onwards: "They came to the conclusion aptly expressed by CS Lewis: men became scientific because they expected law in nature, and they expected law in nature because they believed in a law-giver," John Lennox says. "So we owe Christianity a great deal - which is precisely what you’d expect, of course, if Christianity were true." On the worst of religion, and no religion: "I think that using a religious message for political purposes often loses the whole spiritual dimension that’s supposed to reside at the heart of it, so it simply becomes another kind of political attempt to overthrow the power structures that exist. This has happened all through history, sadly," says John Lennox, before adding: "As a Christian I’m ashamed of it, but we’ve got to face it." However, Professor Lennox observes, "those who criticise most loudly Christianity are often totally silent on the bloody history of the 20th century. There comes to mind what Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said … he was asked to give account for 100 million deaths in the former Soviet Union. He said, 'If you want the short answer it is we have forgotten God.'" On Russia, and how efforts to get rid of God and religion entirely didn’t quite work out as planned: "Communism never completely crushed belief in God, just as no other ideology has ever overcome belief in God," John Lennox says. "I believe that is true because when people come to trust Christ and are genuine, they are not proceeding simply unaided under their own steam - and God gives them, sometimes, absolutely remarkable stickability, endurance, even under the heaviest of persecution." --- For The Love of God: How the church is better and worse than you ever imagined, is in cinemas from May 9. Buy tickets, or host your own screening: www.betterandworse.film --- SUBSCRIBE to ‘Life & Faith’ on Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/cpxpodcast FIND US on Facebook: www.facebook.com/publicchristianity FOLLOW US on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cpx_tweet 

Master storyteller Tim Winton on unlikely friendships, masculinity, and grace. --- “Hope deranges us. Hope breaks things and breaks things down. In order to change, things must be broken.” Tim Winton’s latest novel, The Shepherd’s Hut, opens with a quote from American poet Liam Rector’s “Song Years”: “Change is hard and hope is violent”. Continuing the Winton tradition of celebrating the lives of outcasts (or, the “people with bad teeth”), the story focuses on the life of a neglected, abused teenage boy on the run. He finds himself in the unforgiving Australian wilderness, where he strikes up an unlikely and awkward friendship – with an exiled priest. “They’re at each other, but they’re dancing around each other, they’re trying to figure each other out … they’re teaching each other, they’re educating each other, they’re unconsciously nurturing one another … they’re stuck out there together, and they realise that they need one another to stay alive.” In this episode, we speak with Tim Winton about what draws him to these “outcast” characters, his understanding of faith, and the antidote to toxic masculinity. “I’m interested in the way that men are blind to how rotten patriarchy and misogyny is for them as well. … You watch these lovely, tender, vulnerable, graceful boys, having all those lovely qualities – which are natural qualities in boys as much as in girls – having it shamed or beaten out of them. So they cleave to one very narrow view of masculinity, which is hard, narrow, silent, angry, and taking never giving. It impoverishes kids, it impoverishes boys, it impoverishes their manhood, and it impoverishes and endangers everybody around them – and it’s not necessary. And I think the church has quite a bit to answer for in this regard.” --- SUBSCRIBE to ‘Life & Faith’ on Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/cpxpodcast FIND US on Facebook: www.facebook.com/publicchristianity FOLLOW US on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cpx_tweet 

The story of one of the most elusive, controversial, and misinterpreted figures in ancient history. --- "The film does navigate a very intimate relationship that Mary has with Jesus, and an immense love she has for him both as a human being and as a divine person. Ultimately, what these two do together is far more profound than a marriage, or a relationship - it’s something far greater." Mary of Magdala is one of the most elusive, and often misinterpreted, figures in Christian history. The Catholic Church mistakenly deemed her a prostitute for several centuries, and it has been suggested in some popular fiction that she was Jesus’ wife. But Garth Davis’ film Mary Magdalene represents a deliberate attempt to rehabilitate her image. "Jesus was the first person who actually saw Mary for who she was and acknowledged it," Garth says. "Everyone else around Mary, even though they loved her and supported her, thought there was something wrong with her. Jesus was the person who gave her the courage to follow her calling." Garth says he didn’t set out to make a Christian film, or a film for Christians – instead he believes Mary’s story is one that we can all relate to. "With Mary, I can completely relate to her, the battle between flesh and spirit. How do you find a language between those two things? I think she really felt a spiritual connection to God - or whatever you want to call it - and found she couldn’t express it. I think a lot of people can relate to that. They go through their lives not even having any time to inquire about their own spirituality." --- For more information, film resources, and to book tickets, visit: www.marymagdalene.com.au --- SUBSCRIBE to ‘Life & Faith’ on Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/cpxpodcast FIND US on Facebook: www.facebook.com/publicchristianity FOLLOW US on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cpx_tweet 

What is an artist doing working for NASA? Dan Goods on the beauty and vastness of the universe. --- "I had one grain of sand, and that represented our galaxy. What was cool was that I could have someone at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory drill a hole a tenth of the size of the grain of sand into it - and that little, tiny hole is where we live." The universe is a vast and beautiful thing. We know more about it than ever before, but there’s still so much to discover. Dan Goods is a Visual Strategist for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and his job is to make the universe just that bit more comprehensible through art – like drilling a hole in a grain of sand, or creating retro travel posters for other planets. For example, the tagline for the planet Kepler-16b? "The land of two suns … where your shadow always has company." In this episode, Dan shares his enthusiasm for the mystery and wonders of the universe, and why he can never stop being in awe of the world around us – and beyond. "Awe has to do with vastness and things that are much bigger than yourself – there’s a sense of reverence involved in it. That feeling draws you to something that starts a spiritual conversation. You may call it God, or the universe, or whatever … but I think it starts asking these questions." --- More from Dan Goods: www.directedplay.com Find out more about the Museum of Awe: www.museumofawe.org --- SUBSCRIBE to 'Life & Faith' on Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/cpxpodcast FIND US on Facebook: www.facebook.com/publicchristianity FOLLOW US on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cpx_tweet 

How Florence Nightingale, Hannah Marshman, and Harriet Beecher Stowe changed the world. --- March 8, 1917. As the world is in the throes of a brutal war, tens of thousands of people gather in the centre of the Russian capital, Petrograd. They’re on strike, for "bread and peace". This day marked the beginning of the Russian Revolution. Four days later, the Czar abdicated, and women were given the right to vote - because the protesters that started the Russian Revolution weren’t male workers, they were mostly women. The Governor of the city said the crowd consisted of "ladies from society, lots more peasant women, student girls and, compared with earlier demonstrations, not many workers." We now use this date every year to celebrate International Women’s Day. In this episode, we remember and celebrate the achievement of women in all areas of life. Meet the woman who professionalised nursing, revolutionised health and sanitation, and wrote a book protesting the oppression of women in her time: "To have no food for our heads, no food for our hearts, no food for our activity, is that nothing? … One would think we had no heads nor hearts, by the total indifference of the public towards them. Our bodies are the only things of any consequence. … Jesus Christ raised women above the condition of mere slaves, mere ministers to the passions of the man, raised them by his sympathy, to be ministers of God. He gave them moral activity. But the Age, the World, Humanity, must give them the means to exercise this moral activity, must give them intellectual cultivation, spheres of action." And the woman who was a missionary’s wife in India, and a missionary in her own right, driving educational and social reform in India: "It’s almost impossible to persuade people that the missionary movement was a women’s movement. Not just in the late 19th century when they began sending unmarried women, but from the first. I really haven’t found an example of a married missionary couple where the woman and the many daughters they had (when they came of age) didn’t start teaching women, giving informal medical care, having classes … This happened all around the world." And the woman who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin and supposedly started the American Civil War: "Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the bestselling book in America before the Civil War, with the exception of the Bible. Part of the reason for that is that in some ways it’s a very revolutionary book. Uncle Tom is a Christ figure - and to say that a slave is a representation of Christ is a very radical thing. Harriet Beecher Stowe did not believe that Christianity was about the power that ministers or that elites had, but that the power of Christianity lay in the lowly people." --- FIND OUT MORE about our documentary, For the Love of God: How the church is better and worse than you ever imagined: www.fortheloveofgodproject.com SUBSCRIBE to ‘Life & Faith’ on Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/cpxpodcast  FIND US on Facebook: www.facebook.com/publicchristianity  FOLLOW US on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cpx_tweet 

An exploration of one of the most central questions of our culture: who am I? --- "All of our lives have unscripted moments, things that don’t go according to plan." You do you. It’s one of the more recent variations on an old motivational theme. Follow your heart. To thine own self be true. Write your own story. But how well do we really know ourselves? How much control do we have over the script of our lives? "The odd thing is that even though there’s such a weight of importance put on knowing who you are and acting accordingly, a lot of people don’t know who they are anymore," says Brian Rosner, author of Known by God: A Biblical Theology of Personal Identity. In this episode, Brian tests the limits of the solitary journey to "find yourself", and explores the idea that we need others to define ourselves – including God. "There was a sense in which knowing God had been something that removed, from my point of view, futility,” Brian says. “It gave me a sense of purpose and direction." --- Brian Rosner’s book Known by God: A Biblical Theology of Personal Identity is available here: www.amzn.to/2HR1U13 Subscribe to ‘Life & Faith’ on Apple Podcasts: www.bit.ly/cpxpodcast  Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/publicchristianity  Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cpx_tweet 

An atheist, a Taliban leader, and a teenager fighting cancer respond to the Bible. --- "At the heart of one of the most violent regimes the world has known, there was someone who was wanting to read the Bible but had never had the opportunity." The Bible first made its mark on Amy Orr-Ewing’s life through her then-atheist father. He was told that the only reason he should become a Christian is because it’s true. "But my dad thought religion is about superstition and wish fulfilment - truth and God are opposite categories." He eventually came to change his mind, but he taught Amy that she would have to make up her own. "Growing up in Britain as a Christian, I was always the only churchgoer in my class at school," Amy says, "there was a tremendous amount of peer pressure to disbelieve." At 15 years of age, Amy was diagnosed with cancer - an experience that clarified some of her questions about faith, Jesus, and the Bible.  "Here was an opportunity to vocalize what I was feeling. Frustration with God, questions, fear – and then to experience God meeting me in that place", she says. "The God that I was questioning and had an intellectual path to, that overlapped and intersected my own experience … God met me in the pain and suffering of this world." She would go on to dedicate her life to promoting and defending the Christian faith as an apologist, in some of the most dangerous places on earth. In 1996, for example, she came face to face with a Taliban leader, and handed him a Bible - he took it and said, "I know exactly what this book is. I’ve been praying to God for years that I could read it. Thank you for bringing me this book; I’ll read it every day." In this episode, Amy Orr-Ewing graciously defends the Christian faith as one of joy, compassion, and hope. Because for her, the Bible is truth for everyone – her atheist father, herself as a teenager fighting cancer, and even for a leader of the Taliban. "The Bible describes the real world, as we know it, it has this ring of truth. It’s not this religious, mythical bubble that we need to jump into that only makes sense internally if we just close our minds to the real world that we experience." --- Amy Orr-Ewing delivered the 2017 Richard Johnson Lecture in Sydney, ‘Is Christianity Bad News for Women?’ Listen here: http://bit.ly/2nN1UFz  The second part of our conversation with Amy - about the illustrious life of Dorothy L. Sayers, novelist, woman of letters, and public Christian - is available here: http://bit.ly/2qxUyHy  --- This episode of Life & Faith was first broadcast on 11 May 2017.

Why the world needs refugee organisations - both secular and religious - to work together for good. --- "There’s also this implicit assumption [in Western societies] that religion is somehow the source of all conflict. What that forgets is that religion is often also a source of peace - it’s an inspiration for people to engage in peace-building activities." According to the UN, an unprecedented 65.6 million people around the world have been displaced, of them 22.5 million have official refugee status, and of those, half are under the age of 18. The numbers are staggering - and the work of nations and organisations that help and support refugees all around the world is monumental. Erin Wilson is Associate Professor of Religion and Politics at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, and one of the editors of The Refugee Crisis and Religion: Secularism, Security and Hospitality in Question. The book details the ways in which the current global refugee crisis intersects with important but largely neglected questions of religion. In this episode, we talk refugee policy, the role faith-based organisations have to play, and the problem with a narrative that dominates the refugee space - the Muslim refugee as a threat to the secular/Christian West. "I think at the heart of the matter there’s a very simple question: are we prepared to see these people as the same as us - as deserving of the same kinds of quality of life and wellbeing as we are? If we are, we need to take responsibility for that." --- To get a copy of The Refugee Crisis and Religion: Secularism, Security and Hospitality in Question, go to: http://bit.ly/2mMpa7F SUBSCRIBE to Life & Faith on Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/cpxpodcast MORE from Erin Wilson: http://bit.ly/2DD5F8B 

On any given Sunday in America, you may find more people in football stadiums than in churches. --- "If you had a kid right now, you would put them on the waiting list to be able to purchase season tickets for the Green Bay Packers by the time they were 49 years old." It has been said that football in America is more than a game – it’s a religion. For example, in the city of Green Bay, which has a population of just over 105,000 people, their 80,000-seat stadium is always at full capacity for home games. "There are more people in stadiums on Sunday than in churches," says Troy Murphy who serves as a chaplain to the Green Bay Packers. In this episode, Troy discusses just how big football is in America, the challenges that players face, and his role in the team – which stretches far beyond running chapel services and Bible studies. --- SUBSCRIBE to Life & Faith on Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/cpxpodcast

An exploration of the discomfort, disagreements and disasters of Christmases past and present. --- "When you’ve spent three months researching and preparing the perfect Christmas lunch, something on trend with rustic table ornaments made from old jars, salad with kale, some socially responsible bonbons, and perfectly placed jugs filled with Christmas cheer … and Aunty Vera arrives with her three-day old potato salad that gives everyone the squirts and plonks it with pride in the middle of the table. And you want to punch her in the face." This is just one way Christmas get-togethers can go awry, according to Bec Oates. But there are lots of reasons people might not find the Christmas season so merry and bright. In fact, the first Christmas was a particularly brutal for the holy family. Unlike the picturesque nativity scenes in shopping malls and on Christmas cards, the biblical account of Jesus’ birth and early years is one of discomfort, poverty, and even genocide. In this episode, we take a closer look at the fraught first Christmas, and how this merry and bright season is also one that offers solace and hope for people who are struggling to find Christmas cheer. Also, don’t miss a special performance by beatboxer, Jeffrey Liu, with the CPX crew. Jeffrey was a semi-finalist on Australia’s Got Talent a few years back, and he shares his incredible gift of sounds and beats with us. --- Read more from Bec Oates: www.bit.ly/CelebratingChristmasBecOates Read more from the CPX Crew on Christmas: www.bit.ly/CPXChristmas

The story of Arthur Stace and the message of hope he wrote on the footpaths of Sydney. --- "As a child, I played in the streets a lot and I did see him quite occasionally, walking around in a steady way, always dressed in a navy blue suit, always very neat, but I have no memory of seeing his face smiling," Joan Riley recalls. "So I try not to be sad about that. But he did certainly make an impression on many people." Every day for more than 30 years, between the 1930s and 1960s, Arthur Stace would walk the streets of Sydney for hours, and write the word 'Eternity' on the city’s footpaths. Many, like Joan Riley, had no idea who was writing it, or why it was written, because Arthur Stace’s identity was a secret for almost 20 years. "He was very humble and very shy, and he just felt this was his mission for God, and he didn’t feel that he needed to share it with anyone," says Elizabeth Meyers, co-author with Roy Williams of Mr Eternity: The Story of Arthur Stace. Her father was one of Arthur Stace’s closest friends, and even though he knew the identity of 'Mr Eternity', he kept it to himself until Arthur was ready and willing to share his story. "My father never even shared it with us as a family." In this episode, we trace the remarkable life of Arthur Stace, from his troubled childhood, alcoholism, and his time on the Western Front, through to the moment he turned his life around, and why he started writing Eternity everywhere he walked. You’ll also hear from a few people who saw this mysterious man chalking his one-word message of hope all around Sydney, and the lasting impression it made on their lives. --- Purchase a copy of Mr Eternity: The Story of Arthur Stace: www.mreternity.com.au 

Scott Stephens, editor of ABC’s Religion & Ethics website, has his own fascinating backstory. --- “You want to be able to stand before God with as clear a conscience and as pure a soul as one can.” 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 & Faith, Scott talks about being the son of a staunchly Republican father and a peacenik mother who instilled in him a love of art and literature, and an upbringing that set Scott on his current course in life. It’s a fascinating tale told in two parts, and you can listen to the second part of this conversation here: www.bit.ly/2Ba0RGc --- ABC’s Religion & Ethics website: www.abc.net.au/religion/ Subscribe to Life & Faith: www.publicchristianity.org/podcast  --- This episode was first broadcast on 1 October 2015.

One man’s commitment to free vulnerable people from oppression and restore their dignity. --- They asked us to bring education with a different worldview - one that tells them that we’re all created equal, and we’re all created in the image of God - and bring worth to the child.” The Dignity Freedom Network, as their name suggests, is an organisation in India that works with local communities to free vulnerable people - known as dalits - from all kinds of oppression, and restore their dignity. This includes providing shelter, education, and vocational training for women and children. It all started when key dalit leaders approached Dr Joseph D’Souza, a bishop in India, in the late 1990s, during major caste upheaval in Northern India. They told him they would “find their freedom one way or another” and asked if “the church would be interested in solidarity in their struggle for human dignity and freedom”. Joseph D’Souza said, “yes”. Though these dalit leaders weren’t themselves Christian, and even though the church in India had often failed to address caste issues, they turned to these pastors for help. They specifically asked for an education for their children that would have a Christian ethos, because they thought it would have the capacity to break the slave mentality of caste. The Dignity Freedom Network now runs more than 100 schools across India, and they’re opening more all the time. Joseph D’Souza still remembers one of the first girls that graduated from their school program – she’ll finish her PhD in Pharmacology next year. “I have asked her many times, ‘Tell me, do you think you’re a dalit?’ She says, ‘No, I have no concept of being an untouchable because ever since you got engaged in our lives, you have told us we are equal, made in the image of God, and I can stand up in front of any upper caste person and compete and stand for myself and work.’” In this episode, hear from International President of the Dignity Freedom Network, Dr Joseph D’Souza, as well as Kate, who’s CEO of the Australia and New Zealand chapter, about the work they’re doing in India. Plus Joseph D’Souza shares his personal connection with dalits and other groups outside the caste system, one that begins way before his work with the Dignity Freedom Network. Though he was born into the upper ranks of the caste system, he married a woman outside of it. “They don’t trust us upper caste men because we exploit them, we fool them, we tell them we’ll marry their women, we marry and we dump them. So winning their trust, and going to their villages, and meeting with them, and assuring them that I was sincere, was a huge part of it.” --- Dignity Freedom Network: www.dfn.org.au  Subscribe to Life & Faith: www.publicchristianity.org/podcast 

Film and TV critic Alissa Wilkinson on the end of the world - as pop culture imagines it. --- "Dystopia is like the more woke version of utopia. It’s where we’re working out our biggest anxieties as a culture. For instance, does the human race deserve to continue? Or would it be better if we just went away?" Alissa Wilkinson fell into film and television criticism after completing a degree in computer science – which she says actually helps her analyse culture well. "I think my job is to watch a movie as well as I can, and then be able to look at my reaction to it as a good watcher and articulate why that reaction happened, and then also to make space for the reader to have their own experience with the work of art," Alissa says. "Sometimes [my job is] to just say 'this is bad' or 'this is a masterpiece', but if I don’t add the 'why?' then I’m not doing my job at all as a critic." She’s particularly fascinated by 'end of the world' narratives and is the co-author of How to Survive the Apocalypse: Zombies, Cylons, Faith, and Politics at the End of the World. In this episode, Alissa talks The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games, Strangers Things and The Handmaid’s Tale - and how the dystopian futures we imagine more often than not tell us more about the society we live in today. "The bigger question is, what would it take for us, as an enlightened and progressive society, to end up back in that kind of a place. The answer The Handmaid’s Tale gives is really sobering - if we take our eye off the ball, if we get too distracted by our own comfortable lives, little by little our rights and freedoms that we enjoy can be chipped away." But it’s not all about death and destruction. Alissa also recognizes that in the doomsday narratives, there’s often something more going on. "We’re brought into the story to recognise ourselves in it, and then this sort of mysterious, transcendent thing pops up, and it adds a new dimension to the story, but it also shows us that it’s something we’re really longing for." --- READ Alissa Wilkinson's articles for Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/alissa-wilkinson Get a copy of How to Survive the Apocalypse: Zombies, Cylons, Faith, and Politics at the End of the World: http://www.alissawilkinson.com/book/

The world’s best-selling book has its own museum - of biblical proportions - in Washington. --- "One of the items that we’re especially proud of is a slab of the Gilgamesh-Epos, among the oldest literature of humankind that is known - about 5,000 years old. It’s a story of Gilgamesh, and that includes the story of the ark and a big flood." The Bible is the best-selling book of all time: today, over 100 million copies a year are either sold or given away around the world. It’s also had an immeasurable impact on the world – for better and for worse. In 2017, the Bible is getting its own museum. The Museum of the Bible is due to open in the middle of Washington DC, just a few blocks from the US Capitol and the Smithsonian, with a collection of more than 40,000 objects. What is the museum for? What will be in it? Why is it a good idea? Who should visit it and why? In this episode of Life & Faith, Simon Smart and Natasha Moore interview two of the key players in this process: Allen Quine, Vice President of International Relations for the Museum of the Bible, and David Trobisch, director of the collections, to get an idea of what the Museum of the Bible will look like. "Law, medicine, science, art, music, literature … you name it and you can see the Bible has had an underpinning in so much of what we do, and say, and talk about - and we don’t even realise it," says Allen Quine. He’s talking about his favourite floor in the museum that shows the impact of the Bible on culture around the world. "Our goal is that people will walk through that floor and say, oh wow, I never knew that, I never thought about that coming from the Bible before." --- Visit the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC: www.museumofthebible.org  --- This episode was first broadcast on 7 April 2016.