Life & Faith

Tim Winton talks to Life & Faith about his new novel Juice.Tim Winton is one of Australia’s most loved writers. He is also well-known as an environmental activist and defender of landscapes and fragile ecosystems. And now, as a grandfather to 6 children, he is clearly deeply concerned about what we might be leaving behind to them and those who come after them.His lates novel, Juice, is set in the distant future, a time when climate catastrophe has wreaked havoc on the globe. Civilisation has crumbled. Huge parts of the earth, in a band emanating from the equator, are completely uninhabitable. It's all about the global unravelling that could accompany climate devastation. It’s frightening and sobering. And yet somehow determinedly hopeful.Tim came into the CPX studio to talk about Juice and what inspired this challenging piece of art. Explore:Tim Winton’s novel Juice Ningaloo NyingguluSimon Smart’s review of Juice at ABC Religion & EthicsTell us what you think of Life & Faith in this 5-minute survey

Living out one’s commitments and beliefs is the most political thing we can do, says theologian and public commentator Michael Jensen.Politics, both here in Australia and around the world, feels increasingly existential as we angst over whether our political tribe, or the other side, will gain office.In this episode of Life & Faith, we get public commentator Michael Jensen to set us straight: how do we solve a problem like the ultimacy of our politics – the fact that it feels as though the fate of the country rests on whoever gets elected to lead it?We cover the way Christianity is often identified with one side of politics and why “sin”, though an unpopular idea, acts as a helpful check on anyone who wields political power. Michael also offers us “a litmus test for whether a political position is Christian” and challenges everyone to be more realistic, and less idealistic, about what earthly politics can achieve.--Explore:Michael Jensen’s book Subjects and Citizens: The Politics of the Gospel Tell us what you think of Life & Faith in this 5-minute survey

The US will soon choose its 47th president. Peter Wehner, former Republican insider, explains the national mood. In the week before the 2024 US presidential election, perhaps the most consequential election in this year of elections, we hear from former Republican speechwriter and evangelical Peter Wehner on what has happened to the party he used to call his own.Wehner served in three Republican administrations. He explains how President Ronald Reagan’s vision of America as a “shining city on a hill” drew him to conservatism in the first place and contrasts that aspirational national myth with the current mood in the Republican party.Now a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum based in Washington D.C., Wehner’s public commentary on politics, faith, and the politicisation of faith regularly appears in The New York Times and The Atlantic.We delve into the role of self-described evangelicals in American politics, and Wehner’s grave concerns for the future of not only the Republican party, but his country.ExplorePeter Wehner’s profile on X (Twitter)Peter Wehner’s article in The Atlantic: This Election is DifferentSimon’s interview with Michael Wear, Cultivating Better Politics.Simon’s interview with Darrell Bock, The US Election and the Politicisation of Faith. Tell us what you think of Life & Faith in this 5-minute survey

Sarah Irving-Stonebraker makes a case for history as a key part of understanding who we are and where our lives find meaning.Sarah Irving-Stonebraker says we are living in an ahistoric age – where we are increasingly ignorant of the past and therefore less equipped to understand ourselves and those around us. In her latest book Priests of History: Stewarding the past in an ahistoric age, Sarah urges her readers to attend to history; to seek to understand the past – it's people and events. She promises that if we do, we’ll find out “that it's far stranger and far more fascinating than you realise.”In an age underpinned by the idea that life is about self-invention and fulfilment, Sarah believes that paying careful attention to history we will find ourselves more connected, more embedded in stories larger than ourselves. This is something deeply needed in our rootless and disconnected age.Explore:Sarah's book: Priests Of History: Stewarding The Past In An Ahistoric AgeTell us what you think of Life & Faith in this 5-minute survey