Life & Faith

Miroslav Volf is Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and Director of the Yale Centre for Faith and Culture. He is also the author of a number of books including A Public Faith: How followers of Christ should serve the common good. He joined Simon Smart on Life and Faith to discuss why religion cannot just be a private affair and what Christianity has to offer society generally.

Between 1940 and 1944 an isolated plateau in France became the scene of a remarkable rescue mission. The village of Le Chambon Sur Lignon and surrounding communities, sheltered refugees from all across Europe. Their local pastor, Andre Trocme, led a secret campaign to defy the Nazis, which ultimately protected the lives of around 3,500 Jewish people. Peter Grose has written a book about Le Chambon called A Good Place to Hide and he joined Life and Faith to discuss the what drove the villagers in their rescue efforts.

Post-apocalyptic fiction is all the rage in young adult fiction at the moment from Divergent to The Hunger Games. Claire Zorn is the author of The Sky so Heavy an Australian novel about living in a nuclear winter. She joined Simon Smart and Natasha Moore on Life and Faith to discuss her book.

Simon Smart and Natasha Moore reflected on what two recent films - a Hollywood blockbuster and a new Australian film - have to say about the human condition and what it is we think we need most.

Prof. Miroslav Volf, Director of the Yale Centre for Faith and Culture, delivered four lectures at the ReThinking: A Public Faith conference held in Sydney, Australia, in March 2014. The conference was a joint project of the Centre for Public Christianity, Arrow Leadership, and World Vision Australia. This is the Q and A session that followed the fourth, and final, lecture of Prof. Volf's series, in which he discusses the essential elements of reconciliation.

Prof. Miroslav Volf, Director of the Yale Centre for Faith and Culture, delivered four lectures at the ReThinking: A Public Faith conference held in Sydney, Australia, in March 2014. The conference was a joint project of the Centre for Public Christianity, Arrow Leadership, and World Vision Australia This is the Q and A session that followed third lecture from Prof. Volf. It was a Public Lecture delivered at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and filmed by ABC TV for their program, Big Ideas. The topic was Religious Exclusivism and Political Pluralism.

Prof. Miroslav Volf, Director of the Yale Centre for Faith and Culture, delivered four lectures at the ReThinking: A Public Faith conference held in Sydney, Australia, in March 2014. The conference was a joint project of the Centre for Public Christianity, Arrow Leadership, and World Vision Australia The third lecture from Prof. Volf was a Public Lecture delivered at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. It was filmed by ABC TV for their program, Big Ideas. His topic for the lecture was Religious Exclusivism and Political Pluralism.

Prof. Miroslav Volf, Director of the Yale Centre for Faith and Culture, delivered four lectures at the ReThinking: A Public Faith conference held in Sydney, Australia, in March 2014. The conference was a joint project of the Centre for Public Christianity, Arrow Leadership, and World Vision Australia. This is the second lecture, in which Prof. Volf looks at how a faith with exclusive truth claims can engage a pluralistic world.

Prof. Miroslav Volf, Director of the Yale Centre for Faith and Culture, delivered four lectures at the ReThinking: A Public Faith conference held in Sydney, Australia, in March 2014. The conference was a joint project of the Centre for Public Christianity, Arrow Leadership, and World Vision Australia. In this, his opening lecture, Prof. Volf addressed the issue of whether or not faith inevitably leads to violence.

British writer Francis Spufford surprised many when he outed himself as a Christian in his latest book Unapologetic: why, despite everything, Christianity makes surprising emotional sense. He joined Life and Faith to discuss his book and why he is a Christian.

Katherine Leary Alsdorf is the Founder & Executive Director of Redeemer's Center for Faith & Work. She came to Redeemer in 2002, after 20 years in the hi-tech industry, to establish the Center and help nurture a meaningful integration between people's faith and their professional work. She is the co-author of Every Good Endeavour: Connecting your work to God's work. She joined Life and Faith to discuss the connections between work and faith. 

Pastor Ray Minniecon is a descendant of the Kabi Kabi nation and the Gurang Gurang nation of South East Queensland, the South Sea Islander people, with connections to the people of Ambrym Island, Vanuatu. Ray has worked with World Vision Australia, the Sydney Anglican Diocese, survivors of the Stolen Generations who were institutionalised at Kinchela Boys home as we as other Aboriginal ministries. He came on Life and Faith to discuss relationship between Christianity and Aboriginal people, the commonalities and differences between Aboriginal Spirituality and Christianity, and his work with former inmates of the Kinchela Boys Home.

In 1945 Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazis. He is the subject of a recent play called Lies, Love and Hitler. The playwright Elizabeth Avery Scott joined Simon Smart and Natasha Moore on Life and Faith to discuss the life of Bonhoeffer and her play.

The latest science-fiction blockbuster to hit cinemas is Divergent. Larissa Aldridge, who has read the books and seen the film, joins Simon Smart and Natasha Moore on Life and Faith to discuss the film and its themes.

The blockbuster film Noah is one that people may find both familiar and unfamiliar when they compare it to the Bible story. Justine Toh saw the film and sat down with Simon Smart to discuss it.

Greg Lake is a former Immigration Department leader who managed a number of immigration detention centres, including Nauru, Christmas Island and Curtin. He also worked in policy and management roles in Canberra under the Rudd/Gillard governments. Greg resigned from Immigration in April 2013 after examining whether his role in managing detention centres was something that aligned with his Christian faith. He spoke Life and Faith about his experiences working in detention centres.

The new documentary The Armstrong Lie is a fascinating character study, a cautionary tale and a mildly disturbing piece of social commentary. Simon Smart and Justine Toh discuss the film and the questions it raises about truth and moral relativism.

The Immigration Department has a slogan on its website that declares "No Way. They will not make Australia home." The slogan is aimed at deterring asylum-seekers from fleeing to Australia to establish a new life for themselves. Life and Faith spoke to Jarrod McKenna who is co-founder of First Home Project, which welcomes refugees and new arrivals to the country to live with Jarrod and his wife for a year so they can get established. Simon Smart also discusses the appeal that home holds for us.

Life and Faith reflects on our relationship with technology. Justine Toh and Simon Smart consider whether technology is ours to use as we will or whether our tools shape us? They also spoke to Mark Stephens about the new film Her and what it has to say about our humanity and technology.

Do we need more or less religion in schools? Life and Faith spoke to Zosia Ericksson the School Chaplaincy Executive Office for Genr8 Ministries and Greg Clarke the CEO of Bible Society Australia about whether there is a place for God in schools.