Life & Faith

A tender conversation about the start of life, the end of life, and quality of life.  --- 1 in 10 babies in Australia are born premature, and 15% of all babies will need some form of extra care at birth.   Today on Life & Faith, we venture into a place that will be unfamiliar to many – but all too familiar to some: the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU. Dr Annie Janvier is a neonatologist (she takes care of sick babies); she’s also a researcher and ethicist, thinking about difficult decisions doctors have to make, and trying to understand the perspective and experience of parents in the NICU.   And 17 years ago, she also became the mother of an extremely premature daughter. Violette was born at 24 weeks – and her mother discovered that knowing how a respirator works did not help her to be the mum of a baby on a respirator.   Annie shares some of the emotions that arise from being a parent in NICU; and some of the questions that arise – about life, death, disability, and meaning – for people in this si

“The Pill is a bad metaphysic”: Mary Harrington on says the pill has changed everything – and not really for the better. ---- “Is there something to be said for all of these things which I’ve been busy trying to dismantle? Because I’d taken it at face value that they were all just bad by definition.”  As Mary Harrington writes in her book Feminism Against Progress, she’s someone who has “liberalled about as hard as it’s possible to liberal”. In her 20s, she pursued maximum sexual freedom, non-hierarchical relationships, and communal forms of living. By the end of that decade, she experienced a “personal crash” that coincided with the global financial crisis. And she found she no longer believed in “progress”.  These days, Mary calls herself a reactionary feminist, one who is against “progress”. She disbelieves that we are steadily moving into a better and brighter future of freedom and human perfection. Neither does she believe that self-determination and liberation from every constraint is the path to that u

You have probably mucked things up once or twice in your life. Congratulations, you’re human. There’s hope for all of us in the Easter story. ---  This week, Simon Smart and Justine Toh tiptoe through the minefield of ‘guilt’, ‘sin’, and ‘morality’: three words and ideas that are offensive to the modern ear – no doubt partly due to the perception that Christians and the church have been all too judgmental of others.  The weighty, Christian baggage of these words aside – is there not something good about acknowledging the times we’ve hurt people and gotten things wrong? Simon and Justine discuss how The Picture of Dorian Gray, directed by Kip Williams for the Sydney Theatre Company, confronts viewers with the darkness of the human heart. And in discussing parenting fails and climate inaction, they explore the mismatch between the people we want to be and the people we actually are.  This episode of Life & Faith grapples with our human tendency to ‘muck things up’ – a sanitised version of author Francis Spu

On March 25, it’s Tolkien Reading Day: a day to enjoy all things Tolkien – including what makes The Lord of the Rings so beloved.  --- “… above all shadows rides the Sun”.   That’s a line from a song that the hobbit Samwise Gamgee sings to give him hope at a critical moment in J R R Tolkien’s epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings. Sam is stranded in the dark land of Mordor and Frodo, his master, has been captured. Their quest to destroy the one ring of power looks hopeless. But hope is not lost.   Kaitlyn Facista, who runs the online fan community Tea with Tolkien, says that this belief is what draws people to The Lord of the Rings: the hope that helps people persist through dark times.  On Tolkien Reading Day, observed on March 25 every year, Kaitlyn enjoys reading Tolkien’s writings along with other similarly devoted fans. The poem quoted above – “In Western Lands Beneath the Sun” – is a particular favourite.  In this interview with Life & Faith, Kaitlyn explains the significance of March 25 within the wor

Bruce Robinson knows more than most about the impact of suffering on human beings. But he also knows about resilience and joy in the face of life’s biggest challenges.    --- As a doctor, Professor Bruce Robinson has been on the front line of Tsunami-ravaged or earthquake-devastated poor regions of Indonesia. And as a lung specialist and expert in asbestos-induced cancer, he has had decades of experience breaking bad news to patients.   His book, Behind the tears – understanding, surviving and growing from suffering, is a practical guide to dealing with suffering – either our own, or that of someone we care about – in a positive, life-affirming way.   Here he shares hard won wisdom about what helps and what doesn’t and ways we can all prepare for the inevitability of grief and pain.    ---  Explore:  https://www.brucerobinson.com.au/suffering/ 

Cynthia Banham barely survived a brutal plane crash. She speaks about trauma, suffering, and hope.  --- It was supposed to be a routine assignment. Back in 2007, journalist Cynthia Banham was sent to Indonesia by the Sydney Morning Herald to cover a visit by then Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. But tragedy struck. The Garuda flight she was on crashed on landing at Yogyakarta International Airport. 21 people were killed. Cynthia survived but with terrible injuries, including a broken back and life-threatening burns. She wound up losing both her legs. It’s been a very long and painful road to recovery, one Cynthia has written about in A Certain Light: A memoir of family, loss and hope.   In the years since, Cynthia has become an academic, pursuing doctoral studies and a Masters in International Affairs. She also became a mum.   In this raw interview with Life & Faith, Cynthia talks about rebuilding her life after trauma, her hard questions about God and suffering, and what has given her hope

What our love affair with food reveals about us; and navigating a modern no-no: judging others. --- Life & Faith is 450 episodes and counting, and we’re about to hit a million downloads. We’re excited to mark the milestone – even we’ve forgotten all the things we’ve ever talked about.  That’s why we’ll occasionally dip into the Life & Faith archives this year and bring you two conversations from the vault.   This time, we’re hearing from chef Alex Woolley, Simon Smart and Justine Toh on the pleasures of eating, our love affair with food, and what feasting can tell us about the spiritual life.  After the break, we tackle a modern taboo: do not judge others. It’s a notion that comes to us from Jesus but has taken on a new life in our times – especially online, where people condemn each other all the time. Steve Liggins joins Simon and Justine to talk about a very human dilemma – why we hate judgemental attitudes, and yet are often guilty of them ourselves. 

Christopher Watkin is an expert in cultural theory – and thinks the Bible yields the best one we've got.  ---  “If all we think of when we hear the term critical theory is something like critical race theory, then we tend to think of ourselves as some sort of SWAT team parachuting down into society to deal with one particular spot fire, and then airlifting ourselves out at the end of it – without realising that there are lots of different ideas in culture that are connected with each other and that rely on each other and that sort of form an ecosystem. And in order to understand any particular part of it, you've got to see where it fits in the whole.”  Does the term “critical theory” or “cultural theory” make you nervous – or make your eyes glaze over? Christopher Watkin, a lecturer at Monash University and author of the book Biblical Critical Theory (and a CPX Associate), argues that theory isn’t just for academics, nor merely a political hot potato. He says it's about reading the world and everything in it

Pilgrim Hill is an off-grid, family-run hostel in the beautiful Huon Valley, Tasmania.   ---  “We have these people coming into our community every single year, and they’re a huge part of our economy and they’re a huge part of our community, but they're not really seen by the Australian public.”  Christina Baehr was a professional harpist, and Peirce Baehr planned to be an academic. But after they fell in love and got married, they decided instead to pursue a different dream: to create a place together where travellers could come from all over the world, be cared for, and have a place to think through the deeper questions in life.   Pilgrim Hill is an off-grid, family-run hostel in the beautiful Huon Valley, Tasmania. The Baehrs – along with their nine (yes, nine!) children – love living close to the land, and they love showing hospitality to the fruit pickers and others who come to their valley. In this conversation, they tell Life & Faith what led them to choose this life, and why they find it so fulfil

Sheridan Voysey is very familiar with the pain of broken dreams – and the beauty of what can come next.   ---  “Life is not made of straight lines. Nothing in nature has straight lines – that’s a human-created invention, the perfectly straight line. All else in creation has a curve, it has a kink, it has a twist … and here I am expecting life to go from Point A to Point B in a nice straight line.”  After the last few years of curveballs and cancelled plans, you may well be wary about making new plans and dreaming new dreams for your life.   Writer and broadcaster Sheridan Voysey has learned the hard way the pain of a broken dream – and where to go from there. In this conversation about the highs and lows of life, he tells a story of childlessness, giving up a cherished career, and the flourishing that can be found in a life we didn’t plan – including the remarkable twist of his wife Merryn being in the right time and place to help save six million lives.   “There’s a wonderful proverb: Hope deferred makes the

What qualifies as a Christmas movie? And what version of Christmas do they offer?  ---  It’s the final episode of Life & Faith for 2022! And time for Simon Smart, Justine Toh, and Natasha Moore to talk Christmas movies past and present: the films that stand the test of time and those that don’t; the borderline cases that feature Christmas but may or may not count as Christmas movies; and some new contenders for the title of Christmas classic.  The team discuss Violent Night, a cinema release that sees Santa caught up in a Christmas Eve hostage situation – picking off mercenaries one by one in a Die Hard-type situation while also having his own faith in Christmas restored. They’ve also seen Spirited, Apple TV’s take on A Christmas Carol starring Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell, and have a … spirited discussion about the film’s preoccupation with redemption. Are people naughty or nice? Can they change? And how might Christmas come to the rescue?  ---  Discussed in this episode:  Violent Night (out in cinemas

The story of what happened when one family decided to live simply so that others could simply live.  --- The rising cost of living is forcing hard questions upon plenty of Australians: can we afford our lives? More to the point: is our way of life sustainable – for us and the planet?   Jonathan and Kim Cornford and their two daughters are an Australian family leading a fairly ordinary, middle-class existence in the suburbs of Bendigo, Victoria. But through a series of small changes over the past 20 years, this family of four has reined in their spending – and earning – in order to live more simply.   These days, Jonathan and Kim both work part-time, they volunteer and donate to good causes, and they have the time to be around their kids. They also only send one bag of rubbish to landfill each week and use less than half the electricity consumed by the average Australian family. They may live on ‘less’ but according to Jonathan, they’ve gained so much ‘more’ in the process.   The Cornfords live by a vision of

You don’t need to be a creative or an entrepreneur to share the human calling to make culture.    --- Here at CPX, we’ve been raving about Andy Crouch’s work on technology lately. But in this Life & Faith conversation, we revisit Andy’s earlier work – especially his influential first book Culture Making: Recovering our Creative Calling.   Andy tells us why he believes all humans are called to be culture makers: people who make culture or who are drawn to make something of the world. This creative calling is for everyone, he says, not just the creatives or the entrepreneurs among us.   We also sample Andy’s thoughts about Christianity in the United States and get into the weeds of why we’re so down on power these days, or why we suspect that an influential person or institution will be corrupted by power.   As Andy explains, the problem isn’t so much power, but the way powerful people and organisations refuse vulnerability.  “True power always involves an element of vulnerability – if I want to bring somet

It’s often said that religion is a cause of war – but can it also be a cause of peace?  --- “Part of what makes religion such a powerful motivator in support for peace, is also what makes it a powerful motivator in support for violence.”  An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.   This principle of retaliation, that a person who has injured another should be penalized in a similar way, and to a similar degree, forms the basis for many codes of justice around the world. But Jesus had a radically different approach.   Turn the other cheek, and go the extra mile.   In this episode of Life & Faith, we dive into the world of peace building with Dr Maria J Stephan and Susan Hayward from the US Institute of Peace. Discover whether non-violent movements actually work, and explore the role that religious faith plays in making and maintaining peace.   ---  Explore:  These interviews were for our documentary, For the Love of God: How the church is better and worse than you ever imagined.   Why Civil Resistance Works

An author and an abbess reflect on the solace of nature and the art of stillness in a noisy world.  --- “We need the tonic of wildness,” wrote American author and naturalist Henry David Thoreau in Walden, or A Life in the Woods.   What is that tonic – and why is the natural world something of a cure?   Dr Eleanor Limprecht discovered ocean swimming during lockdown. She’s also the author of The Coast, a work of historical fiction about Alice, a nine-year-old girl with leprosy who’s sent to live with her mother in a lazaret (leper colony) at the Coast Hospital in Sydney – today's Prince Henry Hospital, which was originally a hospital for infectious diseases.  The ocean becomes a source of solace for Alice – as it turned out to be for Eleanor. She tells us about her first ocean swim and the overlaps between Covid and The Coast, since she finished writing the novel during lockdown.    We also hear from Abbess Hilda Scott or Mother Hilda of Jamberoo Abbey on NSW’s South Coast. She tells us about the Desert Fathers

Journalist Greg Sheridan on why he can’t stop talking about his Christian faith  --- Greg Sheridan has been the Foreign Editor at the Australian newspaper for 30 years. He’s known for his vast knowledge of domestic and foreign affairs – analysing and writing about Australia’s relationship with Asia, and including the rise of China, the U.S.’s influence in the world, the changing geopolitical landscape that has shifted so substantially during his career.   Sheridan is a regular guest on Sky news but also the ABC.   Until recently he was less known for his Christian faith but has written two books about this now, “God is Good for You: a defence of Christianity in troubled times” and “Christians: the urgent case for Jesus in the world.”   Greg shares with Life & Faith his most recent thoughts on faith in public, and the religious landscape in Australia and around the world.   Never shy of controversy, Greg is happy to wade into topics others might rather avoid.  --- Explore Greg Sheridan's Books:  Good is Go

Can we possibly still trust each other across some of the bitterest divides of our time?   ---  “We’re not going to live in a theocracy, we’re not going to replace the governor-general or a president with an ayatollah, a chief rabbi, a pope, or a Dalai Lama. The state must consider itself both neutral in religion and incompetent to adjudicate on religious affairs.”  The Australian anthem may cheerfully assert that we are “one and free”, but periodic clashes show that we’re at a bit of an impasse when it comes to the question of religious freedom: is it legitimate, or just a cover for bigotry? Can we agree to disagree on fundamental things? What does it all mean for employers and employees?   This episode of Life & Faith offers some framework thinking for what it would look like to get out of the rut of the culture wars and trust one another again. Theologian Michael Bird vividly sketches what secularism should and shouldn’t look like, and law professor Nicholas Aroney pierces beneath the turbulence of the

Doing the right thing can have consequences or rewards that last a lifetime.  --- In this episode we consider the price we are willing (or not willing) to pay for holding on to our principles.  We speak with Max Jeganathan about our society’s apparent willingness to absorb higher costs of living in order to support Ukraine in its struggle against Russia. This dynamic is evidence that we are not only selfish consumers but rather moral agents sometimes willing to make sacrifices in order to do what’s right.   Suzanne McCourt, author of the novel The Tulip Tree reflects on the complexity and ambiguity in the courageous and costly acts of her characters and their moments of altruism.  And Mick Slatter tells the story from his youth of working on a building site and paying a heavy price for being honest when he was under huge pressure to fudge the truth for his boss. Was it worth it? Listen in to find out.    -----  Explore: Suzanne McCourt The Tulip Tree (Text Publishing) 2021. Max Jeganathan The Cost of Living

John Stackhouse explores evangelicalism’s contribution to the world.   --- In this conversation John Stackhouse explains who the evangelicals are in history and who they are today. What are they like? What do they believe? What makes them so busy and active in the world?  While lamenting some of the more regrettable failures of the tradition he belongs to, Stackhouse gives a convincing account of the contribution of evangelicalism in making the world a fairer, more compassionate and just place. --- Explore: John Stackhouse's new book with Oxford University Press, Evangelicalism: A very short introduction

Andy Crouch has some questions about your relationship with your devices  --- Are you ever troubled by the way technology impacts our lives? Andy Crouch loves technology, but he is concerned that we use it wisely. What are the ways modern technology might diminish our humanity and how might it help us to flourish? In this episode of Life & Faith Andy talks about the difference between devices and instruments and it’s a distinction that might help change your life in positive directions. There is some wisdom here to help us be more deliberate and intentional about how our technology might serve us rather than enslave us.   For many of us with a nagging sense of unease about our relationship with our phones and tablets, Crouch offers some hope and a way forward that is life-giving and uplifting.     “I think technology is not helping us be what we actually maybe are meant to be, which is people who live with fullness of heart, soul, mind and strength.”  “I love talking about this because it activates a sens