PODCAST · religion
Life & Faith
by Centre for Public Christianity
Join us as we uncover surprising ways that Christian faith interrogates and illuminates the world we live in.
Episodes
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Louise Perry on why the Sexual Revolution let us down
The Sexual Revolution freed us from oppressive tradition right? Wrong, says Louise Perry. Louise Perry is a journalist who has written for many publications, including the New Statesman, the Daily Mail and is now a columnist at the Wall Street Journal. She is the host of the podcast Maiden…
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Those scars are my ministry: Suffering changes us. Even, perhaps, for good.
Loss forces us into barren places. But even there, something new can be born. When life takes a turn – when you’re diagnosed with a chronic illness, when things spiral out of our control – we're forced into some uncomfortable places. Liminal places. The word ‘liminal’ comes from the Latin word...
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Evil? Or Just Wrong? John Inazu’s vision for navigating difference
John Inazu joins Life & Faith to help us think about how we might live peacefully and productively alongside people with whom deep disagreement is inevitable. In increasingly, polarised times, the art of disagreeing well is one more of us are going to have to learn. And that is a skill that is…
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Meat, marriage, music: modern ways into weird old books
A butcher, a wife, and a harpist walk into a Life & Faith episode. --- Distant from us in time, place, and culture, is there any way for a 21st-century person to truly access the world of ancient texts? Leviticus, Psalms, and Song of Songs are among the oldest books we have as humans. They’re...
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City on a Hill? America’s 250 Year Experiment
As Americans celebrate 250 years since the birth of the USA, we ask what the American project has delivered and what its future might be? Life & Faith examines the 250th anniversary of the USA. What were the founding ideals? How much have those ideals been realised? What might the future of the...
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Schooled. Ralph Jackman’s Lessons from Youth Detention
Ralph Jackman left a successful career in sports broadcasting to become a teacher. He didn’t expect that choice to land him behind bars. Ralph had been a sports reporter for 25 years but felt he needed a change and in his early 50s trained to become a teacher. That might be tough enough of a...
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Wine is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy
Meet winemakers and brothers(-in-law) Daniel and Theo, who make good wine and have thought deeply about why. What’s it like to win best in the world at the ‘wine Olympics’? Do you need a degree to make great wine, or will Google get you through? Is wine only for snobs? And what do grapes suggest...
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Richard Glover spent 26 years listening. Here's what he heard
Author, radio host and columnist Richard Glover talks to Life & Faith about his career, the joys of radio and why ordinary life is so special. Richard Glover was the host of ABC Radio Sydney’s drive program for 26 years, retiring from that role at the end of 2024. He is the author of 18 books...
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How to choose well – and to live well – when we’re overwhelmed by choice, with Alan Noble
In a world where we are inundated with options, it feels as though everything rides on making the right choice. Enter decision paralysis. LONG From TikTok influencers to productivity bros, there’s no shortage of people today doling out lifehacks. But there’s a difference between generalised…
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The Last Dirty Word: ‘Dependence’
We think we’re fully human when we’re independent of other people. We couldn’t be more wrong, says Leah Libresco Sargeant. Is dependence taboo? We may be happy to lend a hand to others, but we probably squirm at the idea of asking for help ourselves. In a world that prizes autonomy and...
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The Second Act: the risk and reward of changing careers
Changing careers can be tough. Is it worth the risk? Shifting careers into something completely new, especially if you have been doing a job for a long time, can be a daunting prospect. But it can also be immensely rewarding. In this episode of Life & Faith we speak to three people who made…
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The AI Revolution and the Human Future
Philosopher Meghan Sullivan on why Christianity has a vital role to play in helping us maintain our humanity in the face of AI. With the AI revolution upon us we all face great uncertainty about the future and what this technology will mean for our lives. There will be plenty that we can be...
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Why do we love being scared to death? Kutter Callaway explains
Kutter Callaway on Comedy, Horror and human imagination. Since he first encountered Star Wars as a young boy, Kutter Callaway has been fascinated by film, television and the stories that capture our collective imaginations. With PhDs in theology and also psycho-social science, he applies his…
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The man who measures Australia: What Mark McCrindle has learned over 20 years.
Social researcher and demographer Mark McCrindle tells us how Australia is changing (and sometimes staying the same). What are the likely impacts of generational shifts and trends? Mark McCrindle is a social researcher and demographer who has been studying Australian life for twenty years. He and...
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Mary Magdalene was present at the crucial moments of Jesus’ story. Why do we get her so wrong?
Jennifer Powell McNutt has spent years studying Mary Magdalene. She wants us to know who she really is. Mary Magdelene is both well-known and yet not known at all. She has appeared prominently in art and popular culture in things like the musical Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) or in the film The...
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The times are chaotic. Is being Stoic the answer?
Brigid Delaney, Australia’s resident expert on Stoicism, draws on ancient wisdom to survive the storm of modern life. --- How do you cope when things seem to be spinning out of control? In recent years, the ancient Greek philosophy of Stoicism has made a comeback. It’s especially big in Silicon...
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David French fought for the US. He’s worried about it now.
New York Times columnist and ex-soldier David French on his surprising career trajectory, faith and politics, and what Jesus has to say about power. --- David French has a fascinating life story that has seen him work as a constitutional lawyer for 20 years, a journalist and writer for places…
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The Year of Getting Off Your Phone
Some principles, some practices, and a bit of inspiration for the digitally exhausted. We pick up our phones 150 times per day on average. Three out of four Australians check social media as soon as they wake up. Four out of five check it before they go to bed. These ‘micromoments’ add up – the...
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The Many Careers of Colin Buchanan
Life & Faith brings you a conversation with an Aussie icon. “Write the song and just let the song be a mirror on life, and then see if people see themselves in the picture.” You might know Colin Buchanan as an Australian country music star, as a much-loved writer and performer of kids’ music, as…
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Embracing the Weird
Greg Sheridan on why the early Christians were able to change the world. Greg’s third in a trilogy of books on Christianity examines the “success” of the early Christians in upending the ancient world, and how this story speaks to contemporary life. Greg Sheridan has been the foreign editor at…
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The World’s Most Popular Book
Getting inside the Bible, the most published book of all time. The Bible is the most published book of all time, and not just historically. It continues to be the case today. In fact, in 2024 Bible sales were up by 22%. In Western Countries the Bible is easily accessible but increasingly there…
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Red Frogs to the Rescue
Youth worker and founder of the Red Frogs, Andy Gourley, tells Life & Faith how a trip to the Gold Coast to look after his skateboarding crew changed his life. The group known as Red Frogs have become a legendary presence at schoolies weeks, at music festivals and wherever large groups of young...
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The Art of Persuasion
With outrage and division at an all-time high, the need for intelligent and respectful persuasion has never been more urgent. Michael McQueen is an author, speaker and social commentator. In an age of intense polarisation and tribalism, he hasn’t given up on the possibility of changing people’s...
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Stroke of Luck
That’s what disability advocate Emily Korir OAM calls one of the worst things that ever happened to her. In June 2012, Emily Korir suffered a massive stroke. She was just 37 years old, with two young children. It was unclear whether she would survive; and then, whether she would ever walk or…
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Which Dystopia Won
How Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Huxley’s Brave New World, and Lewis’ That Hideous Strength predicted our current world disorder. --- Which vision – of a world gone sour – has proved prophetic? Is it George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, which introduced terms like “Big Brother”, “doublethink”,...
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Purpose Beyond Prison
For 80 years Prison Network has helped women find hope, dignity and purpose in and beyond prison. In 1946, a young woman by the name of Myrtle Breen knocked on the door of Pentridge Prison in Melbourne to ask if she could visit the women inside. She was allowed in to spend time with the…
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Why journalist Peter Hartcher won’t surrender to despair
Peter Hartcher joins Life & Faith to discuss his life in journalism and the precarious state of the world. Peter Hartcher is a leading Australian political and foreign affairs journalist. He has had a long career in the media, beginning with a cadetship at the Sydney Morning Herald fresh out of...
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The Art of Friendship
Sheridan Voysey, from Friendship Lab, explains why, in an age of increasing loneliness, the art of cultivating friendship is needed as much as ever before. When Sheridan Voysey was confronted with the question, “Who can you call at 2am when everything goes wrong?”, he realised that friendship was…
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Four Letters of Love: Niall Williams
Niall Williams discusses the conversion of his treasured novel into a major film starring Pierce Brosnan, Helena Bonham Carter and Gabriel Byrne. Four Letters of Love is the 1997 novel by Irish writer Niall Williams, and has just been adapted, by Williams, into a movie starring Pierce Brosnan,...
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Life shocks and how to survive them
Julia Verdouw used silence, faith and writing poetry to survive the sudden death of her husband. Julia is an accomplished academic and policy expert, but her book In the Valley of the Shadow may be her most important work. Through reflection, poetry and prayers, the book documents her journey of...
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Sean Kelly on the Australian soul
A columnist’s job is to process deeper currents in news, politics, and culture – all in 800 words. Who are we as a nation and a people, and what’s going on for us beneath the daily headlines of the 24/7 media cycle? Few of us stop long enough to wonder – but if we ever wanted to find out, a good...
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Losing My Irreligion
Stories and stats from the UK suggest that something has shifted, spiritually, over the past few years. -- Since 2018, two million more people in England and Wales have started regularly attending church – an increase fuelled largely by Gen Z, and by young men especially. So say the results from…
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Time management for mortals with Oliver Burkeman
Got a burning creative project? Face your finitude, says this productivity expert, by learning to number your days. Everyone is pressed for time, and in a never-ending quest to conquer their schedules. It’s why productivity tips and hacks are big business these days. But underneath our…
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Stan Grant’s Spiritual Re-Awakening
Journalist, author and theologian, Stan Grant on responding to injustice with grace and love. In a decades-long career as a journalist and foreign correspondent, Stan Grant saw some of the worst that humanity is capable of. It took its toll on him. And as a Wiradjuri man he has had to wrestle…
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Talkin' 'bout your generation
There are currently 7 living generations. That makes for plenty of crossed-wires, misunderstandings and confusion about each other, and the future. In this episode of Life & Faith, we speak to futurist, speaker and author Ashley Fell from McCrindle, a social research and advisory firm that uses...
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Dust, Desert, Death: Easter in three parts
An Anglican priest on Ash Wednesday, a Benedictine nun on Lent, and a Lutheran minister on Bonhoeffer’s last words. In this episode of Life & Faith, we go beyond the chocolates and hot cross buns to sit with the darkness of the Easter story that unfolds in three acts: dust, desert, and death. Our...
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The White Rose’s lessons on how to live (and die)
In the 1940s a group of German students saw it as their duty to oppose the tyranny of Nazism. The members of The White Rose, young students and some lecturers, became convinced that they had to take action against their own government and its crimes. They began a campaign writing and…
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Faith and Politics in a age of outrage
In an age of outrage, how can we rise above cynicism and work towards a healthier and more vibrant form of political debate and engagement? With a Federal election campaign looming and cynicism about politics at an all-time high, Life & Faith interviews eminent Political Scientist Professor John...
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Living in Wonder with Rod Dreher
Increasing interest in psychedelics, the occult, and the supernatural all point to one thing: enchantment is back. “The thing is you can't have enchantment that's only selective. You can't only have the bright side. You also need to acknowledge the dark side. That's one of the things I really...
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Peace on Earth
What does the Christmas promise of “peace on earth” mean in the face of human suffering, natural disasters, and other heartbreaks that are part of all our lives? Twenty years ago, the Indian Ocean tsunami claimed the lives of some 225,000 people, after battering the coastlines of India…
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The role Christian housewives played in gaining women the vote.
In 1894, South Australia was the fourth place in the world to grant universal female suffrage. Christian housewives were key to the cause. History was made on Dec 18, 1894, when a bill passed in the South Australian parliament granting women the right to vote and the right to stand for public...
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Breaking up the world’s most influential book
Journalist Michael Visontay uncovers intriguing stories from the fragments of a 1450s Gutenberg Bible, including an amazing link to his own family. In 1921 when rare book collector Gabriel Wells broke up his Gutenberg Bible and began to sell off individual pages, it caused a scandal, and a rush…
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Fighting the dark world of child exploitation
International Justice Mission wants tech companies to step up efforts to protect vulnerable children. Warning: distressing content. The Philippines is the global epicentre of the online sexual exploitation of children, where children are abused by parents and other relatives in their own homes…
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Doughnut Economics
Erinch Sahan believes that the key to building safer, healthier and stronger communities can be found in a doughnut. Doughnut Economics is a visual framework and growing movement that seeks to tackle humanity’s biggest problems through a fresh new understanding of our world. Erinch shares how his...
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Tim Winton’s refusal to submit to despair
Tim Winton talks to Life & Faith about his new novel Juice. Tim Winton is one of Australia’s most loved writers. He is also well-known as an environmental activist and defender of landscapes and fragile ecosystems. And now, as a grandfather to 6 children, he is clearly deeply concerned about what...
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Getting political with Michael Jensen
Living out one’s commitments and beliefs is the most political thing we can do, says theologian and public commentator Michael Jensen. Politics, both here in Australia and around the world, feels increasingly existential as we angst over whether our political tribe, or the other side, will gain...
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The Republican party is no longer conservative
The US will soon choose its 47th president. Peter Wehner, former Republican insider, explains the national mood. In the week before the 2024 US presidential election, perhaps the most consequential election in this year of elections, we hear from former Republican speechwriter and evangelical…
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Why history still matters
Sarah Irving-Stonebraker makes a case for history as a key part of understanding who we are and where our lives find meaning. Sarah Irving-Stonebraker says we are living in an ahistoric age – where we are increasingly ignorant of the past and therefore less equipped to understand ourselves and...
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Nick McKenzie: The cost and reward of doing the right thing
Investigative journalist Nick McKenzie explains what drives him to risk huge amounts to expose injustice and corruption. Nick Mackenzie is a 14 x Walkley Award-winning investigative journalist who has uncovered some of the highest profile cases of corruption in recent Australian history. Nick has...
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It's Chai Time!
Author Shankari Chandran believes storytelling may be our most powerful weapon in the search for hope, truth, empathy and justice. Shankari is a Sri Lankan Thamil Australian author. Her third novel Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens won Australia’s most prestigious literary award, the Miles Franklin,...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Join us as we uncover surprising ways that Christian faith interrogates and illuminates the world we live in.
HOSTED BY
Centre for Public Christianity
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Life & Faith have?
Life & Faith currently has 588 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Life & Faith about?
Join us as we uncover surprising ways that Christian faith interrogates and illuminates the world we live in.
How often does Life & Faith release new episodes?
Life & Faith releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 588 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to Life & Faith?
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Who hosts Life & Faith?
Life & Faith is created and hosted by Centre for Public Christianity.
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