Soul Search

What does it mean to be fully alive? Elizabeth Oldfield has ditched the conventional script of what life can look like — instead choosing to live in what she calls a "micro-monastery".

The episode originally broadcast on 21 July 2024.

The nature of consciousness is a subject of enormous interest to both science and religion. Modern, secular mindfulness techniques have their foundation in ancient Buddhist thought, but it's only recently that neuroscientists have given serious attention to what actually happens in the brain when we meditate.

This episode originally broadcast on 5 May 2024.

How do you cultivate a lifetime of curiosity? When Amy-Jill Levine was a child, her parents would ask, "Did you ask any good questions today?" That mindset has propelled AJ through a lifetime of discovery, learning about all kinds of things, but especially sacred texts and the people who read them.

The world Christians live in is changing, so Christian theology is too. David Bentley Hart — one of the world’s most prominent and influential theologians — calls elements of mainstream Western Christian thought “a psychotic fantasy”. Wow! In Australia, theological colleges grapple with environmental and postcolonial questions, and it might just change the church here going forward.

This episode originally broadcast on 3 August 2023.

For the final episode of Soul Search in 2024, join Meredith Lake for a campfire discussion reflecting on the year that’s been. Meredith is joined by three returning guests, responding to listener questions and yearnings that have arisen from our present moment, pondering the theme of inner and outer peace.

Have you had enough? There are lots of ways you could interpret that question, and almost all of them are relevant to the end of the year! It's a time when many of us reassess our priorities and wonder, what does it look like to live "the good life"?

What does a future of freedom and justice look like? Recently-deceased Peruvian theologian Fr Gustavo Gutierrez spoke about liberation from all kinds of oppression and God's preferential option for the poor. It's a vision that began on the fringes, but has wound up influencing the very centres of power in the Christian world.

Is there a mantra that helps you meditate, or perhaps some music that helps you connect with your sense of the sacred? Music has a long and intimate relationship with spirituality, and has helped people throughout the ages and across faith traditions to access something of the divine.

The development of generative AI has opened a lot of questions about who we are as humans. What makes a human, human? What do we value? What does a flourishing future for us all even look like in this new technological age?

Embodying a character in games like Dungeons and Dragons "exercises the empathy muscle" and helps us expand our sense of self — at least according to the Dungeon Master Pastor. Even regular internet use provides ample opportunity to play with who we are and what might be possible.

Volunteers make the world go round! Most people undertake volunteer work at some point in their lives, but some religious traditions particularly emphasise the importance of service to others.

In the wake of the King's visit to Australia, we're once again debating questions that get to the heart of Australian government and identity. These aren't just political questions — they're spiritual too.

It's becoming rare to see a nun or Catholic sister out and about, but our continuing fascination with women religious is reflected in mass media. What's it really like to be a religious sister in the 21st Century?

There's an intangible sense of connection and interrelationship between things that's just as important as the things themselves. Depicting these relationships in art is a perennial challenge, and inspires us to new heights of creativity.

There can be a kind of grief and overwhelm at the violence happening in the world right now. Much of it is distressing — and often it feels like so little can be done on an everyday level. But in the day to day, are there ways we can practise peace, within ourselves, and in our communities?

It's a commonly held belief that play is just for children, but for many adults it's a path to self-awareness and creativity. Play is a joyous way of spending time, and more than that, a way of being fully human and connecting with the divine.

Food is a basic need, but also more than just a way of nourishing the body. The food on our plates and the drinks in our cups tell us all kinds of things about who we are and what we believe.

In post-apartheid South Africa, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela is asking, when is forgiveness possible, and where does that leave the search for justice? These questions have sent her on what she calls the "reparative quest", seeking answers from people on opposite sides of the atrocity.

What happens when your deepest convictions aren't reflected in the society around you — how do you navigate that gap? Academic Farjana Mahbuba and entrepreneur Mariam Mohammed have been living out this question in their pursuit for gender equality. 

Maps tell us all kinds of things about the places they describe. Growing up in Central Australia, Kim Mahood was fascinated by maps. Now map-making has become a collaborative project for her and a way of honouring the complexities of remote desert life.

Mindfulness has become a big deal in the West — after all, it's been shown to reduce stress. But some practitioners of colour are critiquing how mindfulness has become accommodated to systems of whiteness. Similarly, postcolonial theologians are challenging Christian conceptions of God as a white man, and the consequences that has for our society.

Do you remember the day, in 1990, when Nelson Mandela walked free from a South African prison? On Soul Search, we meet Rabbi Ralph Genende and Pearl Proud, both of whom grew up in apartheid South Africa. They've been in pursuit of healing, and reckoning with racial injustice.

There’s something mystical about the night sky. The field of astronomy can veer pretty close to the big question of the origins of the universe. Staring up at celestial bodies prompts us to wonder about the kind of universe we live in, and who we are in the midst of it.

Australia is often described as one of the most multicultural societies in the world — but as our many cultures and spiritualities slam together, how do we navigate those points of difference to tell a common story?

Join Meredith Lake and Brother Phap Hai on a mindful walk around Mountain Spring Buddhist monastery – a community of mostly Vietnamese monastics in the Plum Village tradition, founded by the late Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh in 2020.

What does it mean to be fully alive? Elizabeth Oldfield has ditched the conventional script of what life can look like — instead choosing to live in what she calls a "micro-monastery".

National NAIDOC Week has its roots in the public theology of William Cooper, but what does it mean to do Christian theology on Aboriginal land?

Over 600,000 Australians visited Japan in 2023, and most of them visited a temple or shrine — even though they wouldn’t normally do that back home. But what's the etiquette when visiting a sacred place, and what do Japanese people think? 

Christians often use the word "ministry" to describe the work of the clergy, but in Aboriginal contexts, its meaning is more expansive. There are hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples right across these lands now called Australia engaged in ministry work, but much of it is unpaid, and might not fit into non-Indigenous ideas of what ministry looks like.

How do we make and find meaning alongside one another, in community? 

We live in a society that's becoming increasingly atomised in all kinds of spheres. But what might it look like if we, instead, paid attention to the social — and spiritual — dimensions of life together?

Sharon Hollis and Charissa Suli each have unique life experiences that speak to this question, and they are both prominent leaders of one of Australia's largest faith communities.

What does it mean to live skilfully in a world that's constantly changing? And what wisdom can Chinese philosophy offer to this question? We meet a philosopher and a master calligrapher, who have a go at tackling these big questions.

Today, we're taking a break from all the noise and distraction –  to pay attention to the quality of silence. Why is so precious in so many of the world's spiritual traditions? And where, or how, do we find it?

An artist shares her encounter with a transforming silence in Antarctica, and a Quaker shares her habits around seeking silence. 

How do you cultivate curiosity? That mindset has propelled Amy-Jill Levine through a lifetime of discovery. She's learned about all kinds of things, but especially about sacred texts, and the people who read them.

Today, Amy-Jill is a distinguished professor of New Testament and Jewish studies. 

When Donna Mulhearn quit her job to go travelling, she found herself on an unusual path. First, to an Irish monastery, then to Baghdad during the Iraq War where she volunteered as a human shield. Later, she would break into a highly secure facility in Australia's Red Centre, all in the name of peace — and her pilgrimage isn't over yet.

Donna Mulhearn is a labyrinth facilitator, pilgrim and storyteller. A former journalist and political advisor, when she discovered a contemplative spirituality it changed her religious outlook and set her on a new journey. She is the author of Ordinary Courage, which tells the story of her time in Iraq as a human shield.

"It's not coming out, but inviting in." For Benjamin Oh, storytelling is an act of courage and hospitality, sharing his multilayered identity: gay, Chinese, Catholic. Benjamin has been an advocate for LGBTIQ+ people inside the Catholic Church and beyond for 20 years.

Benjamin Oh is co-Chair of Equal Voices, a national ecumenical alliance of LGBTIQA+ Christians and allies in Australia. He is also the Chair of Rainbow Catholics Interagency Australia and Convenor of the GLBTIQA+ Interfaith & Intercultural Network (GIIN) and national Convenor of the Asian Australian Alliance.

He is a contributor to Blessed Are Those Who Mourn, a collection of Chinese Tongzhi Catholic's tales and the Amplify Queer Faith portrait collection.

How much stuff is too much? It's a question rarely asked here in the 'Lucky Country', but it has become central to the life of Jonathan Cornford, a political economist and theologian exploring new ways of thinking about money and consumption.

Dr Jonathan Cornford is a political economist, historian and theologian. He's also the co-founder of Manna Gum, a ministry in 'good news economics' exploring alternative economic ethics. His most recent book is Ecology and Everyday Economics.

The nature of consciousness is a subject of enormous interest to both science and religion. Modern, secular mindfulness techniques have their foundation in ancient Buddhist thought, but it's only recently that neuroscientists have given serious attention to what actually happens in the brain when we meditate.

Dr Sara Lazar is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and leads the Lazar lab for Meditation Research at Massachusetts General hospital. She is one of the world's leading researchers into the impact of mindfulness techniques on the brain, and has been a yoga and meditation practitioner since 1994.

The Venerable Thubten Dondrub is resident teacher at Buddha House in Adelaide and has been an international teacher with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition for nearly 50 years.

Keerthik Sasidharan grew up with stories from the great Indian epics. They fired his imagination, and they've stayed with him through all kinds of changes — including moving from India to New York City. Now he is reimagining the Mahābhārata, one of the major Sanskrit epics of ancient India.

Keerthik Sasidharan is an author and essayist based in New York City. His first book is The Dharma Forest, published by Penguin India in 2019.

More info

• Read Keerthik Sasidharan's piece in Aeon magazine, The Way of Dharma
• Listen to the episode of Soul Search mentioned in this episode, The music of doubt, grief and transformation

Thirty years after the Rwandan genocide, Rwandans are working towards a better future for the country, and each other — including the perpetrators of the violence. Also, an Australian doctor works tirelessly all over Africa to heal women of fistulas — a medical condition related to childbirth that's almost unheard of in wealthy countries.

Emmanuel Kwizera is a Partnership Facilitator with Compassion International and a former sponsor child. He survived the Rwandan genocide at the age of five and has since become a leader of the Rwanda alumni association, with over 10,000 Compassion alumni who support children in poverty. He is also a children's pastor at his Pentecostal church.

Dr Andrew Browning AM is Medical Director at the Barbara May Foundation. His book is A Doctor in Africa: The Australian surgeon changing the lives of women in Africa. He has completed over 8000 free fistula operations all over Africa. He is the nephew of Valerie Browning, who appeared on Soul Search in 2022.

What role does faith play over the course of a lifetime? Three Christian women, each from a different generation, engage in an honest conversation about faith.

How can one nurture the soul? Or seek the divine in times of suffering and violence? These aren't new questions, but as 1.9 billion Muslims approach the peak of Ramadan, we meet a poet and a professor wrestling with these questions. 

Professor Mohamad Abdalla AM is the Founding Director of the Centre for Islamic Thought and Education (CITE) at UniSA. He has over 25 years of experience in the field of Islamic Studies.

Yahia Lababidi.is a writer, poet and aphorist. His forthcoming collection of poems Palestine Wail, is dedicated to his grandmother, who had to flee her home in Jerusalem nearly 80 years ago.

Further information:

"Love that makes devils weep", "Ramadan", "What Tragedy Teaches" ©️ Yahia Lababidi 

Jesus is a film star. He’s graced the big screen since the beginning of cinema — you can probably picture him: robed and long-haired, but that’s only one way to imagine Jesus. In fact, the conversation about the image of Christ goes back a whole lot further than the story of cinema — to the earliest Christian era. There are multiple depictions of Jesus in the Bible, and artists have been giving expression to the Christ figure in different ways across time.

Dr Adrian Rosenfeldt is a Lecturer and Head Tutor in Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University. He has a particular interest in sociology of spirituality expressed in film and music as well as New Atheist identities in a post 9-11 world. He is the author of The God Debaters: New Atheist Identity-Making and the Religious Self in the New Millennium and an upcoming article in the Human Studies journal titled, The “Spirit” of new Atheism and Religious Activism.

Dr Katharine Massam is Professor of History at the University of Divinity and the author of a new study of the Australian writer Kylie Tennant, whose depression-era novels offer a disruptive vision of Christ in the midst of the workers' movement.

Rituals mark moments moments throughout our lives, big and small. They are also used to draw attention to political injustice and social inequality, to express lament and to reorient the participants in the ritual toward wholeness. What role might rituals play in our lives and our politics, and who might we find participating beside us?

Cole Arthur Riley is a writer, poet and NYT bestselling author. She is also the creator of Black Liturgies, a project of The Center for Dignity and Contemplation, where she serves as Curator. Her books include This Here Flesh and Black Liturgies.

Dr Molly Farneth is Associate Professor in the Religion Department of Haverford College. Her research and teaching focus on American and European religious thought (19th century to the present), with particular attention to religion and politics, ethics, rituals, and feminist and gender studies in religion. She is the author of The Politics of Ritual.

Perhaps you've heard it said, "We are what we repeatedly do". The early Christian ascetics knew this, but you don't have to be a monk to cultivate good habits, replace bad ones, and — hopefully — become a better person.

Dr Jonathan Zecher is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at the Australian Catholic University. He is a historian of Late Antiquity and the Byzantine Empire with a special interest in monastic literature and early Christian culture.

Andrew Hill is the CEO of Steiner Education Australia and a member of the Anthroposophical Society.

Flamy Grant is a drag queen who made a splash in the Contemporary Christian Music industry, charting on Billboard and iTunes' Christian charts. Previously, powerful gatekeepers at Christian record labels and radio stations excluded queer artists from their lineups for decades. Now, digital distribution and social media are revolutionising the music industry and opening doors for LGBTI+ people to contribute their art to an industry that previously excluded them.

Flamy Grant (she/her, aka Matthew Blake, they/them) is a musician and drag queen originating from North Carolina. She is the first drag performer to reach #1 on the Christian iTunes charts, and in 2023 her debut record Bible Belt Baby was nominated for Best Pop Album at the San Diego Music Awards. Prior to adopting the Flamy Grant persona, Matthew Blake worked as a worship leader for 22 years and released folk music under their own name.

Mikali Anagnostis (they/them) is a singer/songwriter who has just released their first EP, Whole with the sacred arts collective, Marion St. They are a member of Leichhardt Uniting Church on Gadigal/Wangal land in Sydney.

Music in this episode

• 'What Did You Drag Me Into?' by Flamy Grant
• 'Good Day' by Flamy Grant
• 'Garden' by Mikali Anagnostis/Marion St
• 'God is Coming' by Mikali Anagnostis/Marion St

You might not know it, but there's a parallel Christian entertainment industry that's existed since the 1950s, and it's changed the music you listen to — and even the politicians you know about. The Contemporary Christian Music industry caters specifically to evangelical moral, cultural and political tastes, but far from being a world unto itself, it has affected the mainstream in ways that aren't always obvious to outside observers.

Dr Leah Payne is Associate Professor of American Religious History at George Fox University and Portland Seminary. She is the author of God Gave Rock and Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music and cohost of the Weird Religion and Rock That Doesn't Roll podcasts.

Even if you're not Buddhist, you might believe in karma. Taylor Swift's single 'Karma' reflects popular ideas about cosmic justice, and is just the latest Western pop hit to borrow concepts from Eastern religions.

Dr Hannah Gould is a cultural anthropologist studying death, Buddhism, and material culture in Australia and Asia. Along with Professor Anna Halafoff, she is presenting a paper at the 2024 Swiftposium titled Vibing with karma: Buddhist teachings on life and death in Western popular culture.

Dr Jeffrey W Cupchik is an ethnomusicologist specialising in Buddhist studies, ritual music and anthropology of religion. He is the author of "Buddhism and Popular Music", a chapter in The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Popular Music, first edition. His latest book is The Sound of Vultures' Wings: The Tibetan Buddhist Chöd Ritual Practice of the Female Buddha Machik Labdrön

Hundreds of people — including pastors, activists, ministry workers and theologians — have gathered from every corner of this land we now call Australia. They're on Wurundjeri country for a First Nations theology conference, to share their faith and vision for justice. Some are describing this event as a theological revolution.

It's a reckoning of sorts, addressing the role of the churches during the era of colonial missionary activity through to the recent constitutional referendum.

Professor Anne Pattel-Gray is the inaugural Head of the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Divinity. She is a descendant of the Bidjara and Kari Kari peoples of Queensland and a celebrated Aboriginal leader.

Mikenzie Ling is a Wiradjuri woman who recently completed her Masters of Theology, with her dissertation titled: Is Land My Mother? An Australian Aboriginal Christian Theology of Custodianship and Connection to Country.

Rhanee Lester, Adnyamathanha delegate from South Australia at the First Nations theology conference. 

Sandra King OAM, Quandamooka and Bundjalung woman, and Reconciliation Action Plan Coordinator for the Anglican Church in Southern Queensland.

Also in this episode, Julie Coombs, Joshua Lane, Travis Turner, Kyle Wicker, Ben Van Geldren, Dean Chisholm.

Further conference information: 

Further listening:

• Contemplating country with Garry Deverell - ABC listen
• Theology after Mabo – Dr Anne Pattel-Gray for Reconciliation Week - ABC listen
• Heal Country: NAIDOC week with Brooke Prentis and Aunty Rev Denise Champion - ABC listen
• Sovereignty is a spiritual notion: NAIDOC special - ABC listen
• Reconciliation as a pilgrimage to justice - ABC listen
• Indigenous theologian Garry Deverell on grounded spirituality - ABC listen

How do we live with care and attention on this beautiful, but warming planet? 

We meet leading Zen teacher Susan Murphy. She's re-thinking the wisdom stories of her tradition, after having to flee her home during the 2019 bushfires.

We also hear from Dr Alda Balthrop-Lewis, who recently found herself on the front lines of a climate protest, to the point of blockading coal exports.

Guests:

Dr Alda Balthrop-Lewis is a researcher of religion and environmental ethics at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne.

Roshi Susan Murphy is a leading Australian Zen teacher, and founder of the Zen Open Circle in Sydney. She's been writing about Buddhism and climate change for years, and her latest book is A Fire Runs through All Things: Zen Koans for Facing the Climate Crisis

Further Listening:

The Chinese dragon has long been associated with the Emperor of China, and by extension China itself. The coming Year of the Dragon this Lunar New Year is a reminder of how the dragon is a significant and auspicious symbol for people all over the world — from Bendigo to Shanghai.

Doug Lougoon is President of the Bendigo Chinese Association, which owns the world's longest processional dragon. Doug's grandfather migrated to Bendigo in the 1880s.

Dr Hongyan Chen is Associate Professor at the institute of International and Comparative Education at the East China Normal University in Shanghai. In 2018 she published the paper, The Metaphor of the Dragon in Chinese Culture

Special thanks to the Bendigo Easter Fair Society for permission to use audio from the 2019 Easter Fair, when the new dragon, Dai Gum Loong, was introduced to his predecessors, Loong, Yar Loong and Sun Loong. You can watch the parade on YouTube.

Further listeningRe-enchanting China: The resurgence of popular religion, on Soul Search.

What do Aboriginal spirituality and Christian theology have to say to each other? According to Garry Deverell there's plenty, but the conversation can only really begin when there's mutual respect and listening — something that is still missing 235 years after British colonisation.

Rev Dr Garry Deverell is a Trawloolway man from north-eastern Tasmania and Academic Dean, Lecturer, and Research Fellow in the new School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Divinity, which he helped to found. His latest book is Contemplating Country: More Gondwana Theology.

On SBS’s hit show Alone Australia, contestants had to spend weeks in the wilderness without any human contact. Isolation can be hard — many people fear it — but some embrace solitude as an opportunity to learn what makes us human.

Dr Kate Grarock was a contestant on the reality TV show Alone Australia. She’s also an ecologist, hiker and YouTube creator.

Hon Dr Joseph Randolph Bowers is a psychotherapist, spiritual director and lifelong meditation practitioner based in Armidale, NSW. He is the author of Solitude Awakens: The Heart Forest Mountain Way as well as various books exploring Mi’kmaw First Nations culture and spirituality.

This episode was first broadcast 6 August 2023

Julian of Norwich, the Medieval mystic and anchoress, continues to inspire though her writing even after 650 years. Her powerful prose about her religious revelations, was written in the midst of 14th Century plague-riven Europe.

Julian was the first woman to write in Middle English in the time of Chaucer, and her writings still exist today because of groups of dedicated women who smuggled, hid, translated and nurtured them across the centuries.

Professor Daniel Anlezark is McCaughey Professor of Early English Literature and Language at the University of Sydney. He was reading excerpts from The Shewings of Julian of Norwich - Revelations of Divine Love - (1675 manuscript)

Dr Janina Ramirez is Research Fellow in History of Art at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford. She’s the author of Julia of Norwich, a very brief history, and presenter of the documentary BBC The Search for the Lost Manuscript Julian of Norwich

The Reverend Dr Sally Douglas is lecturer in biblical studies at Pilgrim Theological college in Melbourne, and a minister of the word in the Uniting Church. Her new book is Jesus Sophia: Returning to Woman Wisdom in the Bible, Practice, and Prayer.

This episode was first broadcast Sunday June 25, 2023 

Ningaloo Reef – on the remote west coast of Australia – is the playground of whales, manta rays and black-flanked rock wallabies. The world-heritage site is one of the last wild places left on Earth, and has inspired author Tim Winton for decades, both in his written work and environmental activism.

Tim Winton is one of Australia’s most popular and prolific authors. A four-time Miles Franklin winner, he is the creator of iconic novels like Breath and Cloudstreet.

Ningaloo Nyinggulu is available to watch now on ABC iview.

This episode  was 21 May 2023

Why is rest such a challenge in our culture, in our time? Tricia Hersey has made it her life’s work to advocate for rest — developing a rest practice herself, and guiding others in the same direction.

Tricia’s work isn’t about self-care or individual wellness, and there’s no neat hack for recalibrating your work/life balance. Instead, she advocates for a radical, countercultural form of rest grounded in a theology of Black liberation.

Tricia Hersey is a performance artist, community organiser and founder of The Nap Ministry — an organisation devoted to the liberating power of rest. Her book is Rest is Resistance: Free yourself from grind culture and reclaim your life.

This episode of Soul Search originally aired on 29 January 2023.

Where are you going? Journeys take many forms: Moving away from your parents’ house, being a tourist in a foreign land, or going on a pilgrimage to a site of profound spiritual significance – and all have a transformative effect on our lives.

Dr Giselle Bader has a PhD in religious studies from Sydney University. Her research looked at fourth century pilgrimage to the holy land, including the pilgrimages of women like Egeria and Paula, and how accounts of their journeys have been received over the years.

Sarah Malik is an award-winning journalist and author of Safar, a new collection of Muslim women’s travel stories.

This episode of Soul Search originally aired on 13 November 2022.

As the year draws to a close, people from many traditions reflect on generosity, hope and grace. Where do you find grace in a world with so much grief? But according to Julia Baird, it’s worth looking for, because the gift of grace — given without demand or calculation — changes everything.

Dr Julia Baird is a journalist, broadcaster and author. Her books include Phosphorescence and Victoria: The Woman who Made the Modern World. Her latest book is Bright Shining: How Grace Changes Everything.

Dr Anna Halafoff is Associate Professor in Sociology at Deakin University and president of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion. She is the author of Freedoms faiths and futures: Teenage Australians on religion, sexuality and diversity.

More info

Artists have always been engaged in social and cultural change.  But how possible is art in a time of crisis? What kind of art do crises require and inspire?

is a multidisciplinary artist and vocalist who grew up in Tripoli, Lebanon and now lives in Sydney. She works across photography, video, sound design and live performance, exploring themes of displacement and migration as a chronic injury. She is a founding member and one of the creative producers of Western Sydney-based .

Dr Rod Pattenden is an artist, art historian, and educational facilitator interested in the connection between spirituality and the arts. He is co-editor of Imagination in an Age of Crisis: Soundings from the Arts and Theology

Rev Dr Jason Goroncy is Associate Professor of systematic theology at Whitley College in Victoria. He has served as a pastor in the Baptist and Uniting Churches in Australia and is co-editor of Imagination in an Age of Crisis: Soundings from the Arts and Theology

Injury of Migration  courtesy of  Maissa Alameddine, vocalist and producer

Act III: Love (or what if this is love)  courtesy of Maissa Alameddine,  vocalist/ concept.  Sound producer: Cam Nascon

Correction: Maissa Alameddine is not based in Western Sydney, but does work there.

In a world shaped by colonialism and climate change, Pasifika theologians are on the cutting edge of Christian thought about mission, ecology and indigenous knowledges. It's part of a broader renovation of the whole idea of the church taking place as the centre of global Christianity shifts away from Europe towards the Global South.

Rev Dr Cliff Bird is a scholar of Pacific theology and minister in the United Church of the Solomon Islands. He heads the World Council of Churches’ Council for World Mission in the Pacific and is co-author of Reweaving the Ecological Mat, a major work of Pacific theology leading an effort to resolve the ecological crisis facing Pacific Islanders.

Rev Dr Seforosa (Sef) Carroll is an Australian, Fiji-born Rotuman theologian. She is Lecturer in Cross Cultural Ministry and Theology at United Theological College at Charles Sturt University and was recently Programme Executive for Mission and Mission from the Margins for the World Council of Churches. She is the author of Climate change, faith and theology in the Pacific (Oceania): the role of faith in building resilient communities.

The Bible has been held sacred by Christians for centuries, and in the process has become one of the world’s most beguiling and disputed texts. Why do people still read it, nearly 2000 years after it was compiled?

Rev Dr Robyn Whitaker is Associate Professor of New Testament at Pilgrim Theological College, at the University of Divinity. She specialises in the Book of Revelation and the Synoptic Gospels and is the author of Even the Devil Quotes Scripture, a book about hermeneutics. Robyn is also the co-host of By the Well, a podcast for preachers which unpacks the lectionary readings each week.

Dr Christopher Watkin is Senior Lecturer in French Studies at Monash University. He is the author of Biblical Critical Theory: How The Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture which won Australian Christian Book of the Year in 2023.

Despite their many similarities, the colonial governments in Australia and New Zealand have taken very different approaches to relations with Indigenous peoples. After the referendum, what can Australia learn from Māori people in Aotearoa, and what role can churches play in working towards a post-colonial world?

Rev Dr Rangi Nicholson has spent five decades working in the area of Māori language revitalisation as an educator and sociolinguist, teaching at four universities and working across government, community and church to develop language policy. He’s also a contextual theologian and an ordained Anglican priest, and a member of Anglican General Synod’s Treaty, Church and Nation Commission.

More info:

• Hear more about Maori Christianity on Soul Search: Hirini Kaa – Māori and Christian ideas of the sacred, reciprocity, and spiritual flourishing
• Mentioned in this episode: Dr Christopher Watkin on reading the Bible

Did you know there were Muslims who fought on the side of the Anzacs in World War I, some even in Gallipoli? That ill-fated campaign has become a defining story of contemporary Australia, but we’re still learning new things about who was there and what that means for us. Also, meet the first ever Muslim to serve as a chaplain in the Australian Defence Force.

Dr Dzavid Haveric is an adjunct research fellow at the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation, Charles Sturt university. He is the author of ANZAC Muslims: An untold story, and the forthcoming book, A history of Muslims in the Australian military from 1885-1945: Loyalty, patriotism and contribution, which unearths the tales of Muslim Australians who’ve served in the defence forces.

Imam Majidih Essa is the first permanent Muslim chaplain to the Australian Defence Forces. He serves with the Royal Australian Navy.

More info:

• Dzavid's book, A History of Muslims in the Australian Military from 1885 to 1945: Loyalty, Patriotism, Contribution is now available from Cambridge Scholars Publishing
• Hear more about Muslims from early colonial Australia on Soul Search: The Muslim Cameleers: The lives and legacies of Australia's little-known outback pioneers
• Mentioned in this episode is The Minefield: Do we know what the result of the Voice referendum means?

What would it take for a wiser and more beautiful world to emerge, even in the midst of crisis? Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee says stories are like seeds, and when they are watered with our attention, they can grow into a landscape of awe, wonder, reverence and love.

Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee is the founder and executive editor of Emergence magazine, which connects ecology, culture and spirituality. He is also a filmmaker and Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, and grew up in an ashram overseen by the Russian-British mystic, Irina Tweedie.

More information

• Watch Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee’s film, Earthrise.
• Learn more about the Naqshbandi “silent Sufis” and how their order journeyed from India to Europe and America

What does community look like in this increasingly fractured world? Iona Community Leader Ruth Harvey sounds a note of optimism that, although sometimes dispersed, intentional communities working for justice and peace can create thin places that connect us with each other and the divine.

Rev Ruth Harvey is Leader of the Iona Community, an ecumenical Christian community working for justice and peace in Glasgow, the island of Iona, and across the world. She is ordained in the Church of Scotland and is a member of the Society of Friends, the Quakers.

Ruth was on Arrernte Country in Alice Springs as part of the Caring for Creation Wellspring and Iona Listening Pilgrimage across Australia, coordinated by the Wellspring Community.

More information:

• Hear poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama on Soul Search
• Hear writer and theologian Celia Kemp on living in Central Australia on Soul Search

Have you ever felt the impulse to just tear it all down? Iconoclasm — or image breaking — has real potency as a way of contesting the sacred and re-imagining the world, even in a post-religious society. From the Byzantines to Sinead O'Connor, iconoclasm remains an almost universal form of protest.

Philip Jenkins is Professor of history at Baylor University in the United States, and co-director for Baylor's Program on Historical Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion. He is the author of A Storm of Images: Iconoclasm and Religious Reformation in the Byzantine World.

Vrasidas Karalis is Professor of Byzantine and modern Greek Studies at the University of Sydney.

Frances Di Lauro is an interdisciplinary scholar and Associate Professor at the University of Sydney with a background in archaeology, religious studies and writing.

Further links:

• Listen to Soul Search, Icons and iconoclasts part 1.
• Soul Search: Philip Jenkins on how climate shocks drive religious change.

We live in a highly visual culture — the image is king, and image-breaking is a key form of protest. But this is hardly new; idols, icons and iconoclasts have been part of the human story for millennia. We’re all familiar with these words though, even if they carry slightly different meanings outside religious contexts. So what’s going on?

Vrasidas Karalis is Professor of Byzantine and modern Greek Studies at the University of Sydney.

Michael Galovic is an artist and iconographer who has spent at least five decades painting icons, mostly from his studio on the New South Wales Central Coast. A book of his work, called Icons + Art is available.

Sophie Matthiesson is Senior Curator of International Art, Auckland Art Gallery in Aotearoa New Zealand, and the initiating curator of Heavenly Beings: Icons of the Christian Orthodox World.

Jane Clark is Senior Research Curator at MONA — the Museum of Old and New Art — in Hobart Tasmania, where you can see the Heavenly Beings exhibition until Easter 2024.

James Alison says scapegoating is one of our oldest social behaviours. But casting someone out to maintain group cohesion has its obvious drawbacks — particularly for the person taking the fall! As a gay Catholic priest, Dr Alison was drawn to the work of French polymath René Girard, who proposed that scapegoating is not the only answer.

Dr James Alison is a Catholic priest, retreat leader, author and theological interpreter of the work of René Girard. His many books include, Jesus the Forgiving Victim. He was brought to Australia by Catholic Religious Australia, the peak body for Catholic Leaders of Religious Institutes and Societies of Apostolic Life.

• James Alison’s 2023 Australian tour dates.
• Hear more on René Girard and victimhood on the Philosopher’s Zone on ABC Listen. 

William Shakespeare's world was marked by social change, spiritual tumult, and cosmic disorientation. Elizabeth I was on the throne, defining and defending England's Protestant reformation, and Europe now knew the Earth wasn’t the centre of the universe. So how secular — or perhaps, enchanted — was Shakespeare himself?

Professor Kristen Poole from the University of Delaware is the author of The Bible on the Shakespearean Stage: Cultures of Interpretation in Reformation England and Supernatural Environments in Shakespeare's England: Spaces of Demonism, Divinity, and Drama.

Professor Helen Smith is one of the editors of The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Early Modern England, c. 1530-1700.

This program was originally broadcast on 21 November 2021.

It’s been 100 years since the publication of The Prophet by Khalil Gibran, a book beloved by everyone from Indira Ghandi to Elvis Presley. What is the story behind one of the most enduring spiritual texts of the Twentieth Century, and why did it strike such a chord?

Yahia Lababidi is an Egyptian American poet, essayist and aphorist. His most recent book is Quarantine notes: aphorisms on morality and mortality.

Glen Kalem is founder of the Kahlil Gibran Collective and a research historian of Khalil Gibran’s life and work for more than 25 years. He has curated a series of events in New York City and a pop-up exhibition in Melbourne. For more information, visit theprophet100.com

None of us are immune from the reality of a changing climate, or perhaps even from the local disasters that seem to accompany it. But what does a changing climate mean for the ways people live out their faith? How is religion tied up with the ways communities actually respond to climate shocks and challenges?

Dr Philip Jenkins is a professor of history at Baylor University in the United States, and co-director for Baylor's Program on Historical Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion. He is the author of Climate, Catastrophe, and Faith: How Changes in Climate Drive Religious Upheaval.

Dr Sureka Goringe is National Director of UnitingWorld, the international aid and partnerships agency of the Uniting Church in Australia.

“Sovereignty is a spiritual notion”. The Uluru Statement from the Heart makes clear that Indigenous cultures and spiritualities are key to the story of the future of religion in Australia.

As Australians head to the polls to decide on the question of a Voice to Parliament, Wagadagam elder Gabriel Bani continues to work towards healing and self-determination in the Torres Strait Islands, whatever the outcome of the referendum.

Gabriel Bani is a tribal elder from the Wagadagam tribe on Mabuiag Island in the Torres Strait. He was part of the 2017 National First Nations Constitutional Convention and is a signatory of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

More info

• Read more about the Masig Statement, or “Voice from the Deep”.
• Listen to the Minefield: “When is a referendum an unethical way of resolving a political question?”
• Hear Wiradjuri man Glenn Loughrey on Soul Search: “A Voice to Parliament, a voice to the church”.

The world Christians live in is changing, so Christian theology is too. David Bentley Hart — one of the world’s most prominent and influential theologians — calls elements of mainstream Western Christian thought “a psychotic fantasy”. Wow! In Australia, theological colleges grapple with environmental and postcolonial questions, and it might just change the church here going forward.

David Bentley Hart is a philosopher and theologian whose works focus on Christian metaphysics, philosophy of the mind, Indian and East Asian religion. He is the author of dozens of books and over 1000 essays, including That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation. Most recently, his second edition of his translation of the New Testament is published by Yale University Press. He also writes fiction and literary criticism, including Roland in Moonlight.

Rev Dr Dorothy Lee is an Anglican priest and Professor of New Testament at Trinity College at the University of Melbourne. Her most recent book is The Enduring Impact of the Gospel of John and The Ministry of Women in the New Testament: Reclaiming the Biblical Vision for Church Leadership.

More links

• David Bentley Hart is in Australia for the Gospel Conversations conference
• Read David Bentley Hart’s essay, “The Metaphysical Meaning of Baseball”
• Read David Bentley Hart’s essay, “The obscenity of belief in an eternal hell”
• Wesley Hill’s review of David Bentley Hart’s translation of the New Testament is on ABC Religion & Ethics

The year is 2087 and Istanbul is a glittering, technological metropolis — but is this digital utopia more, or less, religious than today? Religious affiliation and the category of “religion” itself is changing along with technology, politics and the environment. So in the middle of all this upheaval, what future do religious people imagine for themselves?

Dr Anna Halafoff is Associate Professor in Sociology at Deakin University and president of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion. She is the author of Freedoms faiths and futures: Teenage Australians on religion, sexuality and diversity.

Peter Gould is founder of Gould Studio and Creative Director of Tales of Khayaal, a webcomic set in an alternative future shaped by technology and spiritual imagination.

Meet two women who’ve tried to change the world — to give shape to a certain freedom, or liberation, for their community. From Catholic Liberation Theology in the Philippines to a hijabi mountaineer standing on top of the world, encouraging other Muslim women to do the same.

Dr Estela Padilla is a community organiser and a theologian from Las Pinas in the Philippines, working to develop Liberation Theology in an Asian context. She is the Executive Secretary of the Theological Commission of the Federation of Adian Bishops’ Conference and has been selected by Pope Francis to be the first Asian woman to be a voting member of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.

Manal Rostom is an athlete and the first Egyptian woman to summit Mount Everest. She is also the first hijabi to become a Nike brand ambassador and the founder of Surviving Hijab, a Facebook community of nearly 1 million Muslim women worldwide. Manal is in Australia to climb Mount Kosciuszko as part of the Seven Summits challenge and to raise money for Penny Appeal. Her Instagram is manirostom.

Religion isn’t always serious business. While the sacred is sometimes considered off-limits for comedy, religious people actually do use humour to bond with each other and teach the tenets of their faith. And in the wake of tragedy, laughter is a defence as well as a comfort.

Tami Sussman is an author with a background in theatre, comedy, spoken word poetry and copywriting. Her latest book is So That Happened...But Maybe You Already Knew That. She’s running a writing workshop for tweens at the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival.

Shoshana Gottlieb is a writer and Jewish educator based in Sydney. She also runs JewishMemesOnly, a popular Instagram meme account. She is appearing on the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival panel, the Tragedy of Jewish Comedy.

Rabbi Ralph Genende is one of Australia’s most senior Jewish community leaders. His many roles and responsibilities include Senior Rabbi and Manager at Jewish Care Victoria, and Principal Rabbi for the Australian Defence Force. He’s also the author of Living in an Upside-Down World, an anthology of over 20 years of writing examining the many crises and challenges of our times. He is appearing on several panels at the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival, including Laughter and Grief.

More info

Sydney Jewish Writers Festival runs 23 to 27 August 2023.

Read more about Shoshana Gottlieb on ABC Everyday.

Hear Tami Sussman on God Forbid.

On SBS’s hit show Alone Australia, contestants had to spend weeks in the wilderness without any human contact. Isolation can be hard — many people fear it — but some embrace solitude as an opportunity to learn what makes us human.

Dr Kate Grarock was a contestant on the reality TV show Alone Australia. She’s also an ecologist, hiker and YouTube creator.

Hon Dr Joseph Randolph Bowers is a psychotherapist, spiritual director and lifelong meditation practitioner based in Armidale, NSW. He is the author of Solitude Awakens: The Heart Forest Mountain Way as well as various books exploring Mi’kmaw First Nations culture and spirituality.

Everyone dies, but in the last 200 years or so, our beliefs about death have changed dramatically. From pandemic meditations on mortality to the history of euthanasia, attitudes about death are part of life.

Yahia Lababidi is an Egyptian American poet, essayist and aphorist. His most recent book is Quarantine notes: aphorisms on morality and mortality

Dr Caitlin Mahar researches cultural and medical histories of dying in Britain and Australia and the history of euthanasia activism. She is an Adjunct Research Fellow at Swinburne University of Technology, and the author of The Good Death Through Time.

The 14th Dalai Lama is arguably the most prominent Buddhist in the world. He has influenced the West considerably, including religious traditions other than his own. How did this come to be, and who will succeed him as the 15th spiritual leader of Tibet?

Professor Mario Aguilar is Professor of Religion and Politics in the School of Divinity, University of St Andrews, Scotland. His many books include The Way of the Hermit: Interfaith encounters in silence and prayer.

Dr John Powers is a Lecturer in Buddhism Studies at the University of Melbourne. Read his article on the politics of the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation on The Conversation.

Is it possible to really, actually, know yourself? Descartes said the self was the only thing we can know — I think therefore I am — but other philosophical traditions say the self doesn’t even exist.

Indian religion and philosophy has explored these questions from all angles for thousands of years, and new ideas continue to develop even today. From the ancient teachings of Vasubandhu, to the relatively modern tradition of the Brahma Kumaris: What, if anything, is the soul?

Sister Jayanti is Director of the Brahma Kumaris in Europe and the Middle East, and since 1982, the Brahma Kumaris’ main representative to the UN.

Associate Professor Monima Chadha is Associate Professor of Philosophy, and a member of the Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies, at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Her latest book is Selfless Minds: A Contemporary Perspective on Vasubandhu's Metaphysics (Oxford University Press, 2023)

For more on the soul, body and the self, explore Flesh Week by ABC Religion and Ethics.

Birth: we all go through it — according to some religions, at least twice! For Flesh Week, Soul Search looks at ideas and experiences of birth, including the Christian story of Mary as the mother of God, and being a Muslim 'milk mother'.

Guests:

Raidah Shah Idil is a multi-genre writer based in Malaysia who has studied Islamic Sciences with scholars in Jordan. She is milk mother to her nephew.

Jodie McIver is a registered midwife, a theology graduate and a mother of three. Her first book is Bringing Forth Life: God’s purposes in pregnancy and birth.

Under one of the last remaining scarred trees in Sydney, Pastor Ray Minniecon is imagining a reconciled community. 

In a plague-riven Medieval Europe, a woman wrote a book in English that has inspired 650 years of devoted readers.

The search for a language that can hold rage and heal pain.

The river is sacred to many cultures, including the Barkindji community of NSW. For them, the beloved Barka, also known as the Darling River, is a life source and Ancestor.

The Indigenous people of Papua have a philosophy of nature that’s helping them resist deforestation. And, we explore shinrin-yoku – the Japanese art of forest bathing. 

Around 84% of the world’s population affiliates with a religion, so how might that matter in the Anthropocene, for the ways our species interacts with the rest of environment? And can religious beliefs and practices add something to the pursuit of climate justice?

Professor Mary Evelyn Tucker is the co-founder and director of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, and a member of the global steering committee of the Interfaith Rainforest Alliance. 

Professor Guillermo Kerber is an expert on ecological thinking in Latin American theology, and former director of the World Council of Churches' program on care for creation and climate justice.

Laudato si', Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical letter on care of our common home.

Tim Winton is one of Australia’s most awarded and prolific authors. Ningaloo Reef has inspired him for decades, both in his written work and environmental activism.

The varieties of atheism in different times and cultures are the subject of a new book that aims to reveal just how diverse non-religious experience is. 

There’s already been a lot in the media about the upcoming referendum for a First Nations Voice to Parliament. Similar Indigenous bodies have existed in Australian churches for some time, such as the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council. Rev Canon Glenn Loughrey is an elected member of this council.

Rev Canon Glenn Loughrey is a Wiradjuri man, a member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council and artist in residence at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne. This year, he is the Diocese of Melbourne’s designated advocate for the recognition of First Nations people in the constitution, and an enshrined Voice to Parliament. His memoir is titled, On Being Blackfella’s Young Fella.

• Glenn Loughrey blogs at RedShoesWalking
• ABC News: A 'permanent acknowledgement of country' installed at Melbourne's St Paul's Cathedral

Everyone loves a ghost story. It’s a genre that exists across history and in nearly every society. In certain forms of Buddhism, accruing bad karma puts you at risk of coming back as a horrifying and pitiable hungry ghost — figures quite different to the spectres found in Western folklore.

Shehan Karunatilaka is the author of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, winner of the 2022 Booker Prize. He is appearing at the Melbourne Writers Festival on 5 May, the Brisbane Writers Festival on 10 and 11 May, and Sydney Writers Festival on 24, 25 and 26 May.

Andy Rotman is Professor of Religion, Buddhist Studies, and South Asian Studies at Smith College, Massachusetts, and the author of Hungry Ghosts.

Death is a core feature of most video games — for the player’s avatar at least. In fact, games might be one of the last, mainstream cultural spaces that regularly grapple with questions of mortality and the afterlife.

What questions and longings as human beings are explored in this burgeoning industry?

Dr Frank Bosman is a researcher in the School of Catholic Theology, Religion and Practice at Tilburg University, in the Netherlands. He is the author of Gaming and the Divine: a new systematic theology of video games.

Dr Heidi Campbell is Professor of Communication at Texas A&M University, and director of the Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies. Heidi’s many books include an edited collection on Playing with Religion in Digital Games.

More on digital religion on Soul Search:

• Islam and the internet
• Digital religion — an overview

It's been 100 years since Howard Carter opened Tutankhamun's burial chamber, focusing the world's attention on ancient Egypt and its preoccupation with what happens after death. But can we excavate the afterlife, or at least how past societies thought about it?

Dr Stan Florek is a Collection Officer at the Australian Museum in Sydney and the author of several articles about the museum's collection from ancient Egypt.

Dr Sven Ouzman is an archaeologist at the University of Western Australia.

Disability theologians are asking, what does resurrection and renewal mean if Jesus’ wounds remained after he rose from the dead? 

It’s a question that challenges our received notions about disability and identity – not just for Christians, but potentially for anyone affected by disability. That’s one in six people in Australia and, in the end, almost all of us at some point in our lives.

The Rev Professor John Swinton is founder of Centre for Spirituality, Health and Disability, and Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. His many books include Dementia: Living in the Memories of God.

Dr Louise Gosbell is a ministry leader with Our Place Christian Communities, and the author of The Poor, the Crippled, the Blind and the Lame.

More from Soul Search on Disability: The world’s largest minority.

Samson: a problematic hero from the Book of Judges, whose superhuman strength does nothing to protect him from his own flaws.

It’s a fraught story of liberation and redemption – in a manner of speaking – which are prominent themes during Passover and Easter. Samson isn’t usually associated with either festival, but Handel’s oratorio of the story will be performed on Holy Saturday at the Sydney Opera House by the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.

Rabbinat Ellyse Borghi is a Jewish Orthodox rabbi living in Melbourne.

Brett Weymark OAM is Music Director of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.

Every Ramadan, Muslims recite all 114 chapters of the Qur’an. That’s more than 6000 verses, all in classical Arabic. But some will not have to read it from the page – they will have it memorised. They’re known as Hafiz, and they commit years of their lives devoting their holy book to memory.

Professor Halim Rane teaches Islamic Studies in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science at Griffith University.

Imam Ensar Cutahija is imam of Rochdale Mosque in Brisbane and so far the only hafiz among Bosnian Muslims in Australia.

Amr Ahmed memorised the Qur’an at age 10. He is now in year 9 at an Islamic school in Melbourne.

ABC Religion and Ethics is running a special Ramadan series by Susan Carland and Saara Sabbagh. Read the first instalment.

Disney is one of the world’s most pervasive story telling corporations – the creator of iconic films, beloved characters, and the most popular theme parks in the world.

After 100 years of operation, Disney has become a cultural phenomenon. For its biggest fans – sometimes called “Disney adults” – it evokes something like devotion.

Dr Jodi Eichler-Levine is Professor of Religion Studies and Berman Professor of Jewish Civilization at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, USA. She also writes Faith in Disney, an online newsletter about the intersection of Disney and religion. She is writing a book on the same topic.

Joel Callen is a self-confessed ‘Disney nerd’, originally from the Central Coast of New South Wales, now living in Los Angeles. He says Disney is a significant part of his life, verging on the sacred.

Join Meredith Lake and Brother Phap Hai on a mindful walk around Mountain Spring Buddhist monastery – a community of mostly Vietnamese monastics in the Plum Village tradition, founded by the late Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh in 2020.

Brother Phap Hai is the senior teacher at Mountain Spring Buddhist monastery and author of The Eight Realisations of Great Beings. Originally from Australia, Brother Phap Hai has been a Buddhist monk since 1997.

Further listening: Remembering Thich Nhat Hanh: Founder of engaged Buddhism and father of mindfulness.

Dr Muneera Bano and Mariam Mohammed are two incredible leaders who’ve each embraced an unconventional education. Working in vastly different fields, they are both examples of women who have broken through the “concrete ceiling” and are making a world more hospitable to women.

Dr Muneera Bano is Principal Research Scientist within the Diversity and Inclusion in Artificial Intelligence Program at CSIRO’s digital data arm, Data61.

Mariam Mohammed is a speaker, facilitator, entrepreneur and coach. In 2019 she co-founded Moneygirl, a social enterprise fostering the financial literacy of young women.

The digital revolution has transformed our lives, including those of the world’s nearly two billion Muslims. How are Muslims using the internet to enrich their religious practise, and how can Islam help us develop more ethical ways of developing this technology further?

Hussein Kesvani is a media producer, podcast host and author of Follow Me, Akhi: The Online World of British Muslims.

Dr Junaid Qadir is Professor of Computer Engineering at the Qatar University in Doha.

In our cultural moment, the relationship between religion and sexuality is fraught for a lot of people. In public and political discourse, even the terms religion and sexuality suggest conflict, pain and difficulty. But is that the end of the road? Well not always, in lived experience.

Karl Hand is a community support worker, and the pastor of Crave MCC in Sydney – a congregation affiliated with perhaps the oldest international network of queer-affirming Christian churches.

AJ Jensen is cofounder of Queers Be With You, which helps Churches and Christian organisations to be more LGBTIQ inclusive.

It has to be said a lot of our public conversation about religion and sexuality assumes that faith and queerness are separate – even antagonistic aspects of human life. But where does that leave queer people of faith? Queer theology has been an active field of study for decades, but may not be well known outside divinity schools, and is only just now being taught formally in Australia.

Rev Penny Jones is an Anglican priest and currently serves at Pitt Street Uniting Church in Sydney. Together with her wife Josephine, they ran the first tertiary unit on queer theology in Australia at the University of Divinity.

Rev Dr Josephine Inkpin is an Anglican priest and minister at Pitt Street Uniting Church in Sydney. Together with her wife Penny, they ran the first tertiary unit on queer theology in Australia at the University of Divinity.

Dr Peter Kline is Academic Dean at St Francis Anglican college in Meanjin, Brisbane, where he teaches Contemporary Theology in a Global Context.

Benjamin Oh is co-Chair of Equal Voices, an alliance of LGBTIQA+ Christians and allies in Australia. He is also the convenor of the Queer Christian Roundtable for Sydney World Pride and Convenor of the GLBTIQA+ Interfaith & Intercultural Network (GIIN).

Further links:

• Sydney World Pride 2023
• World Pride Faith

Looking at the stars and imagining what’s out there – and our own place in it as humans – is a theme that’s preoccupied our species across time, across cultures, and across religious traditions.

Dr Mehmet Ozalp is director of the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation at Charles Sturt University.

Dr Jennifer Wiseman is an astrophysicist who studies the process of star and planet formation in our own galaxy using radio, optical and infrared telescopes. She is also past director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion.

Why is rest such a challenge in our culture, in our time? Tricia Hersey has made it her life’s work to advocate for rest – developing a rest practice herself, and guiding others in the same direction.

Tricia’s work isn’t about self-care or individual wellness, and there’s no neat hack for recalibrating your work/life balance. Instead, she advocates for a radical, countercultural form of rest grounded in a theology of Black liberation.

Tricia Hersey is a performance artist, community organiser and founder of The Nap Ministry – an organisation devoted to the liberating power of rest. Her book is Rest is Resistance: Free yourself from grind culture and reclaim your life.

The first interview in this episode with Anne Pattel-Gray first aired 29 May 2022.

The Mabo decision was a legal and cultural milestone in Australia, but thirty years on, how has it changed theology? For decades Dr Anne Pattel-Gray has been calling for racial justice in and through Christian churches. She says Mabo “shifts our whole perspective of how we interpret the Bible, of how we do theology.”

Aunty Dr Anne Pattel-Gray is a Bidjara activist and theologian who has been a key figure in the movement to decolonise Australian theology for decades. She is the author of The Great White Flood, which has become a landmark text in religious studies, and was recently appointed Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Divinity in Melbourne.

Rev Mark Kickett is interim National Chair of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.

This episode originally aired 22 May 2022.

Have you ever found yourself in a place where heaven and earth seem to meet? Sacred architecture and aesthetics can make a person experience the numinous, even in a building not set aside for a religious purpose. Also, Papua New Guinea’s Baha’i community, are about to open a new house of worship in Port Moresby.

Watch The Architect and the Mosque on Compass.

Read Ayla Lepine’s article about sacred architecture on The Architectural Review.

Ayla Lepine is the author of Gothic Legacies: Four Centuries of Tradition and Innovation in Art and Architecture and Modern Architecture and Religious Communities, 1850–1970.

Official Site of the PNG Baha'i Community

Rev Dr Ayla Lepine is an art historian and Ahmanson Fellow in Art and Religion at the National Gallery in London.

Zha Agabe-Granfar and Saeed Granfar are part of the Baha’i community in Papua New Guinea. Saeed is the consulting architect of the new Baha’i temple in Port Moresby.

This episode first aired 5 June 2022.

What does it take to re-green a desert? As it turns out, sometimes what you need is already in the ground right under your feet. Tony Rinaudo went to Niger as an agriculturalist and missionary and – almost by accident – began a regeneration practice now used across the world. Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration, or FMNR, cultivates the shoots of tree stumps that remain after land clearing.

Tony Rinaudo is an agronomist originally from Myrtleford in Victoria who developed Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) while on mission in Niger in the early 1980s. He is now the Principal Climate Action Advisor with World Vision Australia.

Ruth Jerotich is a farmer in the Baringo region of Kenya. She began practicing Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration on her family’s land five years ago and has become an FMNR ambassador in her community.

This episode originally aired 8 May 2022.

an literature somehow bridge the visible and invisible realms? Meredith Lake speaks with Egyptian-American poet and aphorist Yahia Lababidi, whose work ranges across cultures, traditions and genres.

Find Yahia Lababidi’s books here

Listen to the Philosophy in a Nutshell series on The Philosopher’s Zone with David Rutledge

Guests

Yahia Lababidi is a writer, poet and aphorist. Originally from Cairo, in Egypt, he now lives in Florida, US. His latest book of poetry is Learning to Pray.

The South Pacific – the liquid continent – is one of the most religious places on earth. The overwhelming majority of people identify as Christians of one kind or another – so what does that mean at Christmas?

Rev James Bhagwan is an ordained minister in the Methodist church of Fiji, and since 2018, General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches. The PCC is the peak ecumenical body in the Pacific - representing more than 40 different churches and national church councils, from across 19 different Pacific states and territories.

Maria Komboy is a descendant of the Biak people of West Papua. She is a theologian and human rights advocate based in Jayapura, where she works in church and civil spaces to educate others about the basic rights of her people, and to advocate for peace and justice.

For more on this topic, listen to God Forbid: Heaven on Earth: Religion in the Pacific.

As people around the world prepare to celebrate Christmas, Christians turn to the Gospels to read ancient accounts of Jesus.

The gospel of John is the fourth gospel contained in the New Testament – and in some ways it stands apart from the other three, Matthew, Mark and Luke. From its famous opening words, “In the beginning was the Word”, its enthralled everyone from Origen to Bach to Dostoyevsky. The Gospels continue to inspire creative expressions of faith.

Rev Professor Dorothy Lee is Stewart Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity College. She is co-editor of The Enduring Impact of the Gospel of John along with Bob Derrenbacker and Muriel Porter.

Rev Canon Dr Bob Derrenbacker is Dean of the theological school at Trinity College. He is co-editor of The Enduring Impact of the Gospel of John along with Dorothy Lee and Muriel Porter.

Anne Benjamin is a writer and poet who has spent decades reflecting on Jesus. She’s the author of After all this time: reflections on Jesus.

The Horn of Africa is one of the hottest and poorest regions on earth, and it’s home to a semi-nomadic community, the Afar. Valerie Browning is an Australian nurse who has given up her own way of life to live and work with Afar people for over 30 years.

War in the horn of Africa has had a devastating impact on the Afar. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes just in the last two years – a small number of Afar now live in Australia as refugees.

Valerie Browning AM is an Australian nurse who has lived and worked with Afar nomads in northern Ethiopia for more than 31 years. She is one of the founders of the Afar Pastoralists Development Association and was awarded an Order of Australia in 1999 for service to international humanitarian aid.

Mohammed Salih is president of the Afar Community of Queensland, a group of nearly 60 people living in the greater Brisbane region. He grew up in Eritrea before moving to Australia as a refugee.

Do you have an enemy? Even if you do, you might not want to admit it, or say who!

Melissa Florer-Bixler has thought a lot about enemies, especially in the political context of Donald Trump’s presidency. It gets complicated for her, because she is a pacifist Christian. How do you deal with enmity, when Jesus commands you to love your enemies?

The solution isn’t always understanding and reconciliation.

Melissa Florer-Bixler is pastor of Raleigh Mennonite Church in North Carolina. She is the author of Fire by Night and How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace.

At the beginning of 2022, flooding in South-East Queensland and the Northern Rivers of New South Wales upended the lives of thousands, including the area’s diverse religious communities. Hear how the area’s Sikhs provide aid even though their own gurdwara was inundated, and how the Jewish community practices hospitality as best they can in the lead-up to Pesach.

Watch Fire, Flood and Resilience on iView.

This episode originally aired on 10 April 2022.

Guests

Amar Singh is founder of Turbans 4 Australia, a Sikh charity that was among the first organisations to deliver outside help to flood victims.

Neville Singh is a retired banana grower in Murwillumbah and member of the local gurdwara which was flooded last month.

Daniel Harris is administrator of the Facebook group Shevet (Tribe)

With the latest round of UN climate talks wrapping up recently, it’s a good time to ask a fundamental question: Who are we, in relation to nature? What kinds of relationships bind us to other beings, like trees?

Maybe even amid climate change we can approach nature with celebration – even veneration?

Dr Mahesh White Radhakrishnan is a musician, an ethnomusicologist and anthropological linguist at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and a member of the group Hindus for Human Rights – Australia and New Zealand. They are also part of the ABC’s Top Five Arts media residency program. Their music can be found on YouTube.

Louise Fowler-Smith is the founder of the Tree Veneration Society in Australia and author of the book Sacred Trees of India: Adornment and Adoration as an Alternative to the Commodification of Nature.

Where are you going? Journeys take many forms: Moving away from your parents’ house, being a tourist in a foreign land, or going on a pilgrimage to a site of profound spiritual significance – and all have a transformative effect on our lives.

Dr Giselle Bader has a PhD in religious studies from Sydney University. Her research looked at fourth century pilgrimage to the holy land, including the pilgrimages of women like Egeria and Paula, and how accounts of their journeys have been received over the years.

Sarah Malik is an award-winning journalist and author of Safar, a new collection of Muslim women’s travel stories.

How important is music to you? Does it have a sacred quality in your life? From contemporary Catholic theology to the goth icon Nick Cave, music speaks to the soul in ways other media does not.

Dr Lyn McCredden is emeritus professor of literary studies at Deakin university in Melbourne. Read her essay about Nick Cave’s book Faith, Hope and Carnage in The Conversation.

Dr Greg Clarke is a former CEO of the Australian Institute of Music, and before that, of the Bible Society of Australia.

Dr Maeve Heaney is a consecrated missionary of the Verbum Dei community and director of the Xavier Centre of Theology at the Australian Catholic University in Brisbane. She’s also a singer songwriter and the author of a new book called Suspended God: Music and a Theology of Doubt.

Frank Wilczek is a Nobel Prize winner, and earlier this year he was named the 2022 Templeton laureate as well – a recognition of his spiritual as well as scientific curiosity.

He’s a scientist, renowned for theorising the strong force in atomic nuclei, but more basically he sees beauty as perhaps our best guide to truth.

Frank Wilczek is Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at MIT, the 2022 Templeton Laureate, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize and author of several popular books including A Beautiful Question and The Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality.

The Flinders Ranges in the semi-arid outback of South Australia is one of the oldest places on earth and the cradle of Adnyamathanha culture, ceremony and language.

In addition to being an ancient place of cultural and spiritual significance, it’s the site of a recent archaeological discovery that rewrites Western understandings of the history of human habitation of the area.

Terrence Coulthard is a senior custodian of Adnyamathanha culture and language who compiled the first Adnyamathanha dictionary, published in 2020. He is administrator of Iga Warta.

Dr Giles Hamm is one of the key researchers working on the Warratyi Rock Shelter, and the lead author of the Nature article Cultural innovation and megafauna interaction in the early settlement of arid Australia.

The ABC published a report when the Warratyi Rock Shelter was first rediscovered.Read more about the Warratyi Rock Shelter on the Flinders University website.

Women, where they speak and what they say, has been a hot topic for nearly 2000 years of Christian history. Modern moves to empower women to teach and preach in churches can seem opposed to ancient Christian texts, but the early church was far from unified about “a woman’s place”.

One-hundred years on from the landmark decision to licence Anglican women to preach, and 30 years on from the first ordination of Australian women as Anglican priests, how easily can women raise their voices in the church? And what happens when they’re prevented?

In this messy old world, we all find ourselves on the receiving end of harm. But then – sometimes it’s us, we’re the one in the wrong. How do we face it?

In the past it’s been a joke to put Jedi as your religion on the census, but there are people who practise Star Wars-inspired faiths quite seriously. It turns out, people really do take things from fiction and incorporate them into their spiritual lives, either as modern mythology, or even as full-blown religious systems.

The Satanic Panic was a time of incredible anxiety in the United States – and Australia. This special feature examines how games like Dungeons and Dragons and books like Harry Potter became unlikely villains in a war over religion, politics and imagination.

Funerals have been front and centre these past few weeks. The rituals we use to memorialise the dead are only one part of the story – what about the material things we use to mark the life of someone who has died?

How do deserts shape our sense of the sacred? For centuries people have found deserts spiritually transformative – not just for individuals but for whole communities.

Sidney Nolan is best known for his Ned Kelly series and Anzac portraits, but secretly, privately, he also painted around 200 works about the Holocaust. They’re now display in Australia for the first time at the Sydney Jewish Museum.

Is human life bound to planet earth? If so, what does that mean for our ambitions to colonise space? Even our fledgling space exploration has caused damage to the near-earth environment, so space ethicists are beginning to advocate for space conservation, too.

“Once upon a time” is a familiar beginning for tales of adventure and heroism. But if stories also capture and pass on to our kids what we know of the world, can a story help broach the reality of death – our own, and those of the people we love?

According to a 2021 study by Monash University, 99% of phone users experience ‘nomophobia’: the fear of being without our phones. But we’re also living in a loneliness crisis, according to the experts. So what are the spiritual costs to ourselves and our communities when we seek connection through our devices, rather than in each other?

Climate Change. One of the biggest global challenges of our time.

We all know trees are important for the environment – to clean the air and hold the soil together, but for many people they’re also important for spirituality and culture.

In today’s busy world it might feel difficult to connect with something deeper – or bigger – than ourselves. If you are religious, you might go to your clergy for advice, but increasingly spiritual directors are being trained to journey with religious and non-religious people alike.

Imagine leaving everything you know behind and going to a place that’s completely foreign to you. This is what Christian missionaries have done for nearly 2,000 years, sharing what they believe is good news for all of humanity. But given the history of Christian mission and colonialism, is this activity an expression of love, or religious and cultural coercion? Or perhaps… a bit of both?

In this special NAIDOC episode, guest host Brooke Prentis chats to singer Royston Sagigi-Baira about growing up in the remote community of Old Mapoon on Tjungundji Country in Western Cape York.

Religion, like the media, is changing fast in Australia. What does this mean for the national broadcaster as it reflects and informs Australian life? Plus, the war chaplain turned journalist who became the ABC's first head of religious programming.

Glaciers matter to the people who live near them – but how do these communities respond as more and more ice melts away? A priestess of the Icelandic religion of Ásatrú explains how ancient Norse mythology orients her towards nature, and a professor shares how her experiences on the Himalayan glaciers revealed a deep connection between spirituality and the lived reality of climate change.

What would you do if you knew you had an unconditional, permanent, adequate income that would cover all your basic expenses… no matter how much or how little work you did? It’s an idea that has the backing of the Pope and one of Australia’s largest religious charities – why do these Christians support it?

Joan Chittister found her community as a teenager, seventy years ago, when she joined the Benedictine sisters in Pennsylvania. For decades she has devoted herself to renewing community in and beyond the Catholic church. Her fierce advocacy for women has put her at odds with some within the hierarchy, but as a spiritual writer she had brought the insights of her tradition to a wider world.

What does it take to re-green a desert? As it turns out, sometimes what you need is already in the ground right under your feet. Tony Rinaudo went to Niger as an agriculturalist and missionary and – almost by accident – began a regeneration practice now used across the world. Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration, or FMNR, cultivates the shoots of tree stumps that remain after land clearing.

The Mabo decision was a legal and cultural milestone in Australia, but thirty years on, how has it changed theology? For decades Dr Anne Pattel-Gray has been calling for racial justice in and through Christian churches. She says Mabo “shifts our whole perspective of how we interpret the Bible, of how we do theology.”

Have you ever found yourself in a place where heaven and earth seem to meet? Sacred architecture and aesthetics can make a person experience the numinous, even in a building not set aside for a religious purpose. Also, Papua New Guinea’s Baha’i community, are about to open a new house of worship in Port Moresby.

What do we do with suffering – as we experience it ourselves, and in the world around us? Meredith Lake explores solidarity in the midst of violence, both through activism and poetry.

Can literature somehow bridge the visible and invisible realms? Meredith Lake speaks with Egyptian-American poet and aphorist Yahia Lababidi, whose work ranges across cultures, traditions and genres.

In what could be described as Korea’s ‘terracotta warrior’ moment, a farmer digging in a vacant field discovered scores of stone statues depicting arhats – or disciples of the Buddha. Unearthed from their hiding place, the Arhats now part of a luscious display touring around the world. In Sydney, a Bosnian refugee describes how she fled war in her home country and built a new life for herself after coming to Australia.

Claude AnShin Thomas enlisted in the US Army at 17, served as a helicopter gunner and crew chief in the Vietnam War, and was awarded numerous medals and a Purple Heart – all before becoming ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk. He carries the responsibility for much death and destruction, but has learned to live peacefully with unpeacefulness and is helping others do the same.

The crucifixion of Christ is perhaps the most painted subject in world history. From Medieval art, to the Renaissance masters to contemporary works, the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection pervades the Western imagination – even amid rapid secularisation.

Recent flooding in South-East Queensland and the Northern Rivers of New South Wales has upended the lives of thousands, including the area’s diverse religious communities. Hear how the area’s Sikhs provide aid even though their own gurdwara was inundated, and how the Jewish community practices hospitality as best they can in the lead-up to Pesach.

Is there a recipe that sums up your story or personal history? As Muslims around the world observe Ramadan, one family is observing the holy month in Australia for the first time. For them, their recipe for Bolani – a type of stuffed and fried flat bread – represents solidarity between women.

What did religious life look like in Ancient Greece? Find out how the gods played a role in everything from daily life to outcomes on the battlefield. Then, fast forward to just before federation in Australia and discover the untold story of Reverend Dr Charles Strong, the possibility of a national Church and progressive Christian activism.

Can the practice of artmaking be a religious ritual? A contemporary fresco painter, Sarah Tomasetti, and a philosopher, Dr Lexi Eikelboom, explore the ways in which art has big things in common with theology, and whether there's spiritual significance to art practice itself on its own terms – not reducible to religion, or such that it can replace religion.

“We can’t have a secular Māori culture. It just doesn’t work for us, it’s not how we view the world.” Third generation Anglican minister, Rev Dr Hirini Kaa, has written a book, Te Hāhi Mihinare: The Māori Anglican church, that opens up a whole new perspective on Māori spirituality and Christianity, the wisdom of reciprocity, and possible paths to spiritual flourishing.

To mark International Women's Day, we hear from two remarkable women – worlds apart – on their experiences of liberating religion and women from within their religious and cultural contexts.

How do we live well in times of crisis? Whether it's a global pandemic or a more personal dilemma, two of Australia's leading spiritual guides share their thoughts on how to make it through difficult times – and even find spiritual nourishment and growth.

He was the moral conscience of South Africa, a hero in the struggle against apartheid, and one of the spiritual giants of our time. The legacy of the late Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu lives on through people like Michael Battle, Director of the Desmond Tutu Centre in the US. Dr Battle lived with the renowned bishop and theologian as his student and personal chaplain during the dismantling of apartheid.

Dr Martin Luther King Jr called him an 'Apostle of Peace' when nominating Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. To many, he's known as the Buddhist monk who introduced the practice of mindfulness to the West and popularised it. Explore the life and legacy Thich Nhat Hanh –renowned Zen master, monk, poet, peace activist, teacher and global spiritual leader.

How secular, or not, is China today? As many of us celebrate Lunar New Year, Soul Search heads to China. Professor Mayfair Yang discusses the resurgence of popular religion in China – from local cults to lineage organisations, Protestant Christianity to modern Taoism. Then we chat to British-born, Australian-Chinese illustrator, Chrissy Lau, who is at the forefront of modern representations of Lunar New Year – reimagining her own heritage for a new generation.

Francis Spufford is a storyteller who sees grace and beauty in the grimiest and grittiest of places. He challenges us to look closely and catch a glimpse of something wildly precious and extraordinary, even holy and eternal. Also, Mehmet Ozalp previews the inaugural Sydney Muslim Writers' festival and explains the significance of the pen in the Islamic faith.

How Kate Bowler, a self-described incurable optimist and expert on the American prosperity gospel, faced the biggest challenge of her life – which upended everything she knew about health, wealth and what it means to live a good and successful life.

Many Indigenous languages have a word that means something like ‘deep listening’. In Ngan'gikurunggurr, a Northern Territory language, that word is dadirri. We hear from renowned Aboriginal elder and 2021 Senior Australian of the Year, Dr Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, who advocates for a kind of listening — a quiet awareness — that sums up a whole way of being. We also meet Wiradjuri and Wailwaan woman Fleur Magick Dennis on a different kind of meditation and ethical reflection.

Do you ever look around and think, there must be a better way to do life, here? We’re meeting people asking the big question of how to live well in the world as we find it. Hear from Dr Jonathan Cornford, a political economist on a mission to live more slowly, gently, and simply, and Asher Packman, the current President of Meditation Australia.

Muslim cameleers have a rich history in Australia – that you may not have heard much about. They're the men who transformed the economic, cultural and spiritual life of many outback communities at the turn of the 20th century.

Meredith Lake chats to podcaster and author Casper ter Kulie whose been thinking about a big question: How do we make meaning as communities, and deepen our sense of connection to one another?

Acclaimed ethologist and 2021 Templeton Prize winner, Jane Goodall, tells us about the many teachers who have gifted her with lessons on humanity and hope: from her childhood reading tree to her first dog, the Gombe forest and, of course, her beloved chimps.

It has been quite the year for many of us — but what's helped you through? What everyday wisdom and practices have nourished you and been good for your soul? Hear the answers to these questions and more from friends of the show: the always insightful academics and authors, Alda Balthrop-Lewis and David Newheiser, GP and Yamatji Badimaya woman, Dr Umber Rind, Adelaide-based Rabbi, Shoshanna Kaminsky, and Wakka Wakka woman and CEO of Common Grace, Brooke Prentis.

Join Dr Meredith Lake and Suvira Bhikkhuni as they trace the revival of the ordination of Theravada women — one of the most important recent reforms within global Buddhism.

At the turn of the 20th Century, a teenage military cadet and budding poet began a correspondence with Rainer Maria Rilke. The young man expected some guidance and criticism from the great German poet but received something far greater: instructions on love and solitude, beauty and art, spirituality and life. Almost 100 years on, two grand dames of literature – Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows – have delivered a new translation of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, unveiling new insights in the context of today's world.

Shakespeare's world was marked by social change, spiritual tumult and cosmic disorientation – Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne, Europeans were exploring the Americas, and a heliocentric model of our solar system was taking shape. Join us as we explore the religious landscape of Elizabethan-era England, and how the Bard grappled with emerging ideas about self, the supernatural, and humanity's place in the cosmos.

Claude AnShin Thomas enlisted in the US Army at 17, served as a helicopter gunner and crew chief in the Vietnam War, and was awarded numerous medals and a Purple Heart – all before becoming ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk. He carries the responsibility for much death and destruction, but has learned to live peacefully with unpeacefulness and is helping others do the same.

How do we navigate the mundane of the everyday, the ordinariness of life, without becoming dull to its depth, beauty and capacity to surprise? A poet presents his award-winning meditation on walking around Wagga, and an ex-priest takes us on a mental excursion through the history of philosophy to explore the wisdom of the stoics, epicurans, and many of the world's greatest thinkers.

What does forgiveness look like in the messiness and chaos that is real life? A filmmaker shares the intimate and courageous story of her own tumultuous relationship with her mother, and her journey towards love and acceptance. A professor describes forgiveness as a work of love, and explains the difference between the act of forgiveness and the virtue of forgivingness – and the importance of both.

Are suburbs spiritual deserts or sacred wellsprings? In the places where most of us live our day to day lives, where do we go to find joy and hope, beauty and grace – and how do we experience the transcendent and divine?

Glaciers matter to the people who live near them – but how do these communities respond as more and more ice melts away? A priestess of the Icelandic religion of Ásatrú explains how ancient Norse mythology orients her towards nature, and a professor shares how her experiences on the Himalayan glaciers revealed a deep connection between spirituality and the lived reality of climate change.

Soul Search returns to our Sacred Landscapes series that explores the connections between spirituality and place. We turn to the cool climates with our guides – Dr Jonica Newby and Professor Jakelin Troy – taking us into the coldest regions of Australia and deepening our understanding of the spiritual importance of snow.

Professor Elaine Pagels has spent decades seeking to understand religion and, as her latest book reveals, this isn’t a merely academic exercise but a quest bound up with her own experience of life and bereavement.

It's the end of the Merkel era in Germany. We take a look at the faith and politics of this remarkable leader who has been at the helm of Europe's largest economy for almost 16 years. Then, we step a little further back in German history to explore the life and work of Karl Barth, a prolific theologian who was one of the main authors of the Barmen Declaration – a document resisting the Nazification of the church.

What happens when a sceptical writer immerses herself in peak Christian belief at a creationist museum? What happens when a Christian minister confronts the past and present horrific failures of the church? Hear from authors Sarah Krasnostein and John Dickson about what they learned when they confronted belief and unbelief, how it moved and changed them.

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." To mark 700 years since Dante's death on 14 September 1321, we're taking a close look at his life and masterpiece, The Divine Comedy. Join Dr Meredith Lake and a host of Dante experts and enthusiasts as we journey from hell to purgatory to paradise.

Soulmates. Star-crossed lovers, couple goals, my other half. Or besties, brother-from-another-mother, my person. Whatever form they come in, they're the people we can't live without. So, what role do soulmates have in shaping our thoughts and ideas, emotions and behaviours, and all the significant and trivial aspects of our daily lives?

Strangers. We pass them in the street. We live next door to them. We have conversations with them online. What brings strangers together, and what keeps us apart? Why do our interactions with strangers matter? In this episode we explore interactions between strangers in our pandemic world, and in a community reeling from tragedy.

Siblings. Most of us have them, and they're the closest and longest relationships many of us will have in our lifetimes. So, how do sibling relationships shape us? And what can we learn from brothers and sisters in religious traditions, fairytales and folklore?

Acclaimed ethologist and 2021 Templeton Prize winner, Jane Goodall, tells us about the many teachers who have gifted her with lessons on humanity and hope: from her childhood reading tree to her first dog, the Gombe forest and, of course, her beloved chimps.

As the Tokyo Olympics draws to a close, we mark another significant date on the calendar: Hiroshima Day. Hear from two women about their work to spread peace around the world by planting Hiroshima A-bomb survivor trees in 36 countries so far – and counting.

A lapsed Catholic and a professor of theology on why there's a whole lot more to atheism than mere unbelief, and how atheists and theists may have more in common than you think.

Join Soul Search host Meredith Lake and curator Sue Cramer as they take you on an audio tour of Hilma af Klint's works of incredible vibrancy and power that demonstrate her spiritual adventurousness and bravery – incredible, massive paintings that were kept secret for decades after her death.

Muslim cameleers have a rich history in Australia – that you may not have heard much about. They're the men who transformed the economic, cultural and spiritual life of many outback communities at the turn of the 20th century.

What are the possibilities for a grounded spirituality, in the aftermath of colonisation? Indigenous theologian Garry Deverell has lived the search for a spirituality that connects land and body. He joins Meredith Lake to discuss ritual, reconnection and reconciliation.

This NAIDOC week Meredith Lake hands over the mic to guest presenter Brooke Prentis. Brooke is a Wakka Wakka woman who was born on Yidinji country, grew up mainly in Gubbi Gubbi country, but now lives on Gadigal land in Sydney. She's also an Aboriginal Christian leader and she shares about her journey of faith, the Aboriginal Christian leaders that inspire her, and what she's up to in her current role as CEO of Common Grace, a Christian movement in Australia.

In the lead up to the Olympic Games in Tokyo we look at the relationship between religion and sport. We speak to young Christian athlete Nicola McDermott, Olympian and Shia Muslim Hayder Shkara, and Japanese writer Shotaro Honda Moore.

Mountains have often been the location for spiritual experiences, or breakthroughs. On Soul Search today, we're turning to the mountains in our third — and final — episode on Sacred Landscapes. We meet Dr Thomas Michael, an expert on the religious significance of mountains in Eastern and Western thought, and Gary Khor, Grandmaster of tai chi, who goes on regular journeys to sacred mountains in China.

Trees have a special place in the human imagination and they feature in many of the world’s cultural and religious traditions. The ancient Hebrew poets even imagined trees themselves shouting for joy in praise of a divine creator. Today we explore the forest as a sacred landscape in Northern Ethiopia, and at the Wat Buddha Dhamma Monastery nestled within the Dharug National Park in New South Wales.

How do the places we love shape our sense of the sacred? And how are our spiritual lives nurtured by the bush, the mountains — or even the sea? In the first episode of our 3-part series Sacred Landscapes, we hear from Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-founder and director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University, who tells us why religion and spiritual matter in the Anthropocene. Then we hear from Rev Dr Jione Havea, a pastor from Tonga, on what it means to him to belong to the islands and to their seas.

Many Indigenous languages have a word that means something like ‘deep listening’. In Ngan'gikurunggurr, a Northern Territory language, that word is dadirri. We hear from renowned Aboriginal elder and Senior Australian of the Year, Dr Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, who advocates for a kind of listening — a quiet awareness — that sums up a whole way of being. We also meet Wiradjuri and Wailwaan woman Fleur Magick Dennis on a different kind of meditation and ethical reflection this Reconciliation week.

Do you ever look around and think, there must be a better way to do life, here? On Soul Search, we’re meeting people asking the big question of how to live well in the world as we find it. We hear from Dr Jonathan Cornford, a political economist on a mission to live more slowly, gently, and simply, and Asher Packman, the current President of Meditation Australia.

Today, an exclusive interview with Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. He’s a Ducati-riding yogi and spiritual teacher, who has caught the attention of millions worldwide, and there's a lot to discuss — from karma to COVID-19 and politics in India. We also hear from Associate Professor Monima Chadha, an expert on classical Indian thought, to talk about the origins of the concept of karma, and the misconceptions surrounding karma today.

Irrespective of whether or not you are a fan of Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical, Hamilton, it’s a fascinating and provocative take on the early American republic. So what are some of the questions the Musical opens up about religion and the American Revolution?

Once upon a time, Australia was described as 'a workingman’s paradise.' But does that ring true – either in the past, or now? On Soul Search we’re looking at work, and at one of the world’s most influential discussions of it. 130 years ago this month, Pope Leo XIII, put out a statement on capital and labour known as Rerum Novarum, a controversial document, even in 1891, and it had a big influence here in Australia.

How can we live in proper relationships with other species? We often consider environmental questions in terms of science, or perhaps economics or even politics. But what can religious perspectives - like Buddhism - add to the conversation? As the world marks Earth Day on April 22, on Soul Search we're revisiting a conversation with Professor Stephanie Kaza.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the most famous Buddhist text in the West, selling more than a million copies since the first English version was published in the 1920s. But why does the book of the dead resonate so deeply with the living? And, in our diverse and often divided world, can different faiths seek peace together? Catholic priest, writer and theologian, Hans Kung passed away recently. We revisit his ideas.

American poet W.H. Auden said that 'poetry, might be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings.' On Soul Search today, we meet two religious poets. Sara Saleh is an award-winning Arab-Australian Mulsim poet whose attuned to the messiness of life and the ambiguities of faith, and contemporary Sufi master Cemalnur Sargut, who is one of Turkey's leading spiritual teachers.

On this Easter Sunday as Christians remember the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are joined by internationally renowned artist Makoto Fujimura as he reflects on suffering, humanity, time, and creativity. And we travel to the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in Western Sydney, to take a look at the 66th Blake Prize exhibition — one of Australia’s longest running and most prestigious prizes for religious and spiritual art.

What kind of memory do we need to face an uncertain future? Jewish communities are asking that right now, as they recall the ancient exodus out of slavery in Egypt. Professor Danielle Celermajer reflects on how we might face up to the climate crisis, and African-American and Jewish culinary historian, Michael Twitty, explains how food and memory are inextricably linked.

What does it mean to face up to slavery today? What exactly does slavery look like in the modern world? Were the convicts slaves? And what about Indigenous Australians? Jacob Sarkodee, Chief Impact Officer for the International Justice Mission and Jane Lydon, author of Anti-slavery and Australia: No slavery in a free land? join the program.

Today, we’re heading into the woods for a fresh look at nineteenth century philosopher-poet, Henry David Thoreau. What was Thoreau’s vision of the good life, and of the just society? Alda Balthrop-Lewis's new book is being hailed as a once-in-a-generation interpretation of Thoreau, and she joins Meredith Lake to discuss the man who wrote one of the great classics of American literature: Walden.

Is it women who need to change, or the society and the institutions we live with? That’s our question as the world marks International Women’s Day this week. We are joined by an icon of the feminist movement, Eva Cox and Paralympic swimming champion, medical doctor, and ordained Anglican deacon, Gemma Dashwood.

What does it mean to believe? To say 'this is what I believe the truth to be'? Today on the show, theologian Ben Myers joins Meredith Lake in discussing the ancient Christian statement of belief, known as the Apostles' Creed. And, our mini-series on faith and sex concludes with a look at the role of intimacy in Hinduism.

Today on Soul Search we saunter through the world of words. Two Australian lexicographers Sue Butler and Amanda Laugesen explore how words come about in a dictionary – and how religious words like karma, temple, and Zen entered popular use. Then part two of our series on faith & sex continues with a look at the role of intimacy in Islam.

Is it possible to be traditional and unconventional at the same time? To be steeped in a culture — but also open to change? Today on Soul Search we have a variety of stories that explore just that - from Lunar New Year, to the Indian subcontinental festival of Basant Panchami, and a new series on faith and sex.

Today on Soul Search we head to New Norcia in WA — the only monastic town in Australia. Founded by Spanish Benedictine monks over 170 years ago, New Norcia is a place with no smooth or easy stories; a place that stays with you - for better or for worse.

On Soul Search today, Meredith Lake chats to podcaster and author Casper ter Kulie whose been thinking about a big question: How do we make meaning as communities, and deepen our sense of connection to one another?

Today, we meet two visionary people on the long pilgrimage towards justice. Dr Anne Pattel Gray is a globally recognized expert on Black theology, and the first Indigenous Australian to be awarded a doctorate in theology in the 1990s. We also speak to Uncle Alf 'Boydie' Turner, the grandson of the legendary Yorta Yorta leader William Cooper whose lifelong pursuit of justice remains remarkably relevant today.

As Brexit reshapes the Irish border, poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama reflects on the role of storytelling in fractured societies.

An in-depth discussion about the radical, spiritual movement - theosophy. What made theosophy so compelling to an influential minority of Australian society?

Join Meredith Lake as she meets two remarkable women who beat the odds. Lisa Jackson Pulver was once a runaway teen. Today, she is a leading figure in the field of Indigenous health and education; and Kamala Sharma Wing was once the only female - and Hindu - in her trainee cohort. Today, she is a Lieutenant in the Navy.

The medieval mystic Meister Eckhart once said, “If the only prayer you said in life was ‘thank you’, that would be enough.” It sounds simple, doesn’t it? But there’s more to gratitude than it seems. In this episode, Professor Mona Siddiqui – one of Britain's most influential public intellectuals – tells RN’s Meredith Lake about her project on Christian and Muslim approaches to gratitude. 

What monks knew about the emotions of isolation.

Today on the show we’ll take a look back on the year that was with writer and storyteller, Julie Perrin, whose journey of faith and doubt infuses the way she writes about the world around her. And, former chef-turned-Christian pastor, Simon Holt, on the way Collins Street Baptist Church will celebrate Christmas this year.

Have you got a holiday reading list already on the make? Or perhaps, in light of Hanukkah or Christmas, it’s a time to dwell with profound stories of faith? Literary critic Tali Lavi and award-winning biographer Jacqueline Kent join Meredith Lake to discuss the stories at the heart of Hanukkah, and the story of suffragist and feminist, Vida Goldstein.

On Soul Search today, we're marking the International Day of People with Disability. According to the UN, about one billion people around the world live with a disability — that includes 1 in 5 people in Australia. In this episode, we'll hear from Abdulah Hamimi, a young Muslim man from Melbourne who suffered a spinal injury when he was only eighteen, and Dr Louise Gosbell, a scholar at the forefront of a new area of Biblical Studies - reading the Christian gospels from a disability perspective.

Today on Soul Search, we encounter meditation and stillness in unexpected places. From the streets in the U.S. at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, to the third floor of Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art. We meet U.S. activist and Dharma practitioner Dr Rima Vesely-Flad and Lindy Lee, one of Australia’s most significant contemporary artists whose work is saturated in Zen philosophy.

One of the biggest religious trends of the century thus far has been the rise of Pentecostalism around the globe — and our Prime Minister Scott Morrison is just one of its 650 million adherents. So what is Pentecostalism, who represents it, and what's its story here in Australia?

Ursula Rakova's home in the Carteret Islands of Papua New Guinea is in danger of being washed away. The Catholic community organizer reflects on the challenges of relocating the Islanders, and the role faith plays in her life. And, Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad on Europe's first eco-mosque, combining Islamic ideas of nature with green technologies.

Dr Rose Elu, an elder from Saibai Island, reflects on the impact of climate change on the Torres Strait, and the role faith plays in fostering her connection to the land. And, what does the recovery of Aboriginal place names for Dyarubbin (the Hawkesbury River) mean about how we remember the past, and think about the future?

She’s graced pop’s biggest stage, but for Dami Im it all began with singing gospel songs in South Korean churches. She joins Meredith Lake to talk about the role faith plays in her life and music, and how she makes sense of it all. And, the Christian and pre-Christian roots of Halloween.

We're all familiar with the idea of a film festival — but what about a festival devoted to a particular faith? On Soul Search today, Meredith Lake chats with Chris Vlahonasios, curator of the world's only online Orthodox Christian film festival called 'Byzanfest,' and Andrew Smith, Priest at the Holy Annunciation Orthodox Church in Brisbane.

This week marks ten years since Mary MacKillop — Australia’s first and so far only Catholic saint — was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI. But how much do you know about Mary? And why is she informally remembered as the 'patron saint of trouble makers'? On Soul Search today, Meredith Lake finds out with the help of Sister Mary Ellen O’Donoghue and Carole Cusack, Professor of Religious Studies.

2020 marks 100 years since the introduction of the Baha'i Faith to Australia. As they mark their centenary, we take a look at the beginnings of the faith and find out more about the local community. And, a Buddhist psychotherapist on how mindfulness can help couples under pressure.