Life & Faith

Centre for Public Christianity

Growing up as the son of a diamond smuggler. The leaps of faith required for scientific discovery. An actress who hated Christians, then became one. Join us as we discover the surprising ways Christian faith interrogates and illuminates the world we live in.

  1. Red Frogs to the Rescue

    29 OCT

    Red Frogs to the Rescue

    Youth worker and founder of the Red Frogs, Andy Gourley, tells Life & Faith how a trip to the Gold Coast to look after his skateboarding crew changed his life. The group known as Red Frogs have become a legendary presence at schoolies weeks, at music festivals and wherever large groups of young party-goers congregate. Offering food, assistance, a listening ear, protection and of course, the famous red jelly frogs, this movement of young volunteers has become a household name in Australia and overseas.  Andy Gourley, the founder of Red Frogs, tells us the origins of this remarkable movement. Twenty seven years ago Andy, who was a youth worker at the time, turned up at “schoolies” on the Gold Coast with a small team of people to try to lend a hand and help keep things under control. And keep people safe from life changing mistakes and consequences. Andy could not have imagined that the steps he took that week would lead to a movement in nine countries that has assisted tens of thousands of young people to  party safely, and to make better decisions at a crucial stage of their lives. This year 24 tons of red frogs will be delivered to sites around the country as around 1500 volunteers assist 70,000 school leavers. Andy says he never gets tired of helping out when people most need it. For him it’s an honour. Find out why on this episode of Life & Faith. --- Explore: The Red Frogs website

    33 min
  2. The Art of Persuasion

    15 OCT

    The Art of Persuasion

    With outrage and division at an all-time high, the need for intelligent and respectful persuasion has never been more urgent. Michael McQueen is an author, speaker and social commentator. In an age of intense polarisation and tribalism, he hasn’t given up on the possibility of changing people’s minds. In this interview with Life & Faith, Michael talks about the psychology of stubbornness and how – even on tricky and controversial debates - we can build trust, strengthen relationships and move minds. --- Explore Michael McQueen’s website: https://michaelmcqueen.net/ Check out Michael’s latest book Mindstuck: https://www.mindstuck.michaelmcqueen.net/ Take a look at this Google Talk by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, on his book as referenced in this episode: Thinking, Fast and Slow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjVQJdIrDJ0

    34 min
  3. Stroke of Luck

    1 OCT

    Stroke of Luck

    That’s what disability advocate Emily Korir OAM calls one of the worst things that ever happened to her. In June 2012, Emily Korir suffered a massive stroke. She was just 37 years old, with two young children. It was unclear whether she would survive; and then, whether she would ever walk or speak again. Her road to recovery was long and gruelling – and surprisingly life-giving, both for her and for others. This was far from the first challenge Emily had faced in her life. Born of rape and raised in the slums of Kenya, her journey has been an unlikely one; as the title of her memoir attests, it has been Against All Odds: A Journey of Resilience, Identity & Success. Emily was recently awarded an OAM (Order of Australia) for her service to people with a disability and to multicultural communities. In this conversation, she tells Life & Faith about how she ended up in Australia, why she calls what happened to her a “stroke of luck”, and how she is trying to change the narrative for people living with a disability. “She [my grandmother] made me believe that nothing was impossible. She was a Christian woman and she made me believe that: never, ever to let anybody else’s perception of you become a reality.”  ---  EXPLORE Check out Emily Korir’s memoir Against All Odds  Learn more about the work of BET Group Global

    38 min
  4. Which Dystopia Won

    17 SEPT

    Which Dystopia Won

    How Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Huxley’s Brave New World, and Lewis’ That Hideous Strength predicted our current world disorder.  --- Which vision – of a world gone sour – has proved prophetic?  Is it George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, which introduced terms like “Big Brother”, “doublethink”, “thoughtcrime” to our vocabulary?    Or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, where people exchange freedom for pleasure ... and everyone is too busy having a good time to worry about being manipulated?   Or is it C. S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength: the third book of Lewis’ “Ransom trilogy” or “Space Trilogy”, published 80 years ago this year?  In this episode of Life & Faith, we hear from three expert fans about how each book anticipated our times.   Peter Marks, Emeritus Professor in the Discipline of English and Writing at the University of Sydney, walks us through why Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is “news that has stayed news”, and how Apple, once the upstart defender of individuality, has become a Big Brother-type figure. Peter has written the books Imagining Surveillance: Eutopian and Dystopian Literature and Film and George Orwell the Essayist: Literature, Politics and the Periodical Culture.  Scott Stephens, Editor of ABC Religion & Ethics, and co-host with Waleed Aly of the podcast The Minefield, talks about the endless entertainment of Huxley’s Brave New World, and why he thinks Huxley could have invented the recommendation algorithm.   And Susannah Black Roberts, an essayist and editor of Plough Magazine in the United States, explores how C. S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength anticipated the transhuman ambitions of Silicon Valley, and why “staying human” is a way to survive the looming age of AI.  Explore Why Peter Marks believes Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is “news that has stayed news”.  Matthew Purdy, in The New York Times, arguing: “We are all living in George Orwell’s world now”.   Episode of The Minefield podcast where Scott Stephens and Waleed Aly discuss Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and being on the brink of a world without books.  Susannah Black Roberts contributed an essay to this collection of writings on the Ransom Trilogy – Life on the Silent Planet: Essays on Christian Living from C. S. Lewis’ Ransom Trilogy   George Orwell’s review of Lewis’ That Hideous Strength   The Rolling Stone article by Miles Klee arguing “People are losing loved ones to AI-fuelled spiritual fantasies”  “They asked an AI a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/technology/chatgpt-ai-chatbots-conspiracies.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ik8.i3RW.c-5DjHWESt-Q&smid=url-share" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

    1h 8m
  5. Purpose Beyond Prison

    3 SEPT

    Purpose Beyond Prison

    For 80 years Prison Network has helped women find hope, dignity and purpose in and beyond prison. In 1946, a young woman by the name of Myrtle Breen knocked on the door of Pentridge Prison in Melbourne to ask if she could visit the women inside. She was allowed in to spend time with the prisoners, listening to their stories and showing them kindness. She was invited back to do the same and it became her mission in life, becoming the founder of Prison Network, that has been going into prisons ever since. Today, the organisation is working with women in prison, running programs for them and wraparound services, like finding accommodation and employment, assisting them to break cycles of social disadvantage and other factors that land them back in gaol. Today we speak with CEO of prison network Amelia Pickering, and also Pattie Phillips who is someone who received support from Prison Network when she was incarcerated and now participates herself in the work of the organisation striving for dignity, hope, and purpose for women in and beyond prison.  Explore: Prison Network website

    33 min
  6. Why journalist Peter Hartcher won’t surrender to despair

    20 AUG

    Why journalist Peter Hartcher won’t surrender to despair

    Peter Hartcher joins Life & Faith to discuss his life in journalism and the precarious state of the world. Peter Hartcher is a leading Australian political and foreign affairs journalist. He has had a long career in the media, beginning with a cadetship at the Sydney Morning Herald fresh out of school in 1982. He is now the Political and International editor for the Herald and for The Age. He had a couple of stints in Tokyo and Washington and at the Australian Financial Review. He is the author of several books, the latest being, Red Zone: China’s Challenge and Australia’s Future. He’s won a number of awards for journalism including a Gold Walkley. Hartcher is known for his incisive commentary, his lively and engaging writing and his careful, sober but hard-hitting style. He hasn’t always been loved by politicians, which is no doubt part of the job description. In this conversation he talks about his career, the future of journalism, the perilous state of the world and why he won’t give in to despair.  Explore: Books by Peter Hartcher To The Bitter End: The Dramatic Story of the Fall of John Howard and the Rise of Kevin Rudd (Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin), 2009. The Sweet Spot: How Australia Made Its Own Luck – And Could Now Throw It All Away (Black Inc.), 2011. Red Zone: China’s Challenge and Australia’s Future (Black Inc.), 2021

    37 min
  7. The Art of Friendship

    6 AUG

    The Art of Friendship

    Sheridan Voysey, from Friendship Lab, explains why, in an age of increasing loneliness, the art of cultivating friendship is needed as much as ever before. When Sheridan Voysey was confronted with the question, “Who can you call at 2am when everything goes wrong?”, he realised that friendship was a facet of his life he had neglected for too long. This set him on a path to consider how we cultivate good friendships, how we can learn the skills required to be a good friend and maintain deep, rich friendships. He now runs the Friendship Lab, a movement and a course to help adults build the skills to create and sustain healthy friendships. Reflecting on ever-increasing loneliness, Sheridan recognised the need to help people develop skills in collecting more “2am friends”. This is an art you can get better at with the right help. Sheridan says that even those who enjoy great friendships can get better at them. What are the factors that help grow close friendships? What things get in the way of healthy, long-lasting friendships. How can we be better friends to those we are close to? Life & Faith delves into all of this with writer, speaker and broadcaster, Sheridan Voysey, along with a couple of groups of people with enduring and interesting friendships.  --- EXPOLRE Friendship Lab Sheridan Voysey's website

    1 hr
  8. Four Letters of Love: Niall Williams

    23 JULY

    Four Letters of Love: Niall Williams

    Niall Williams discusses the conversion of his treasured novel into a major film starring Pierce Brosnan, Helena Bonham Carter and Gabriel Byrne. Four Letters of Love is the 1997 novel by Irish writer Niall Williams, and has just been adapted, by Williams, into a movie starring Pierce Brosnan, Helena Bonham Carter and Gabriel Byrne. Life & Faith speaks with Niall Williams about the film and the book. It’s a love story that offers up intriguing and provocative portraits of faith, loss, tragedy, meaning and God. The story itself engages with human longing, the notion of fate and calling and whether our lives have any pattern or purpose. How do we make sense of the vicissitudes of life? Is there a God behind it all? Can we still believe in miracles? Niall Williams is an Irish writer of novels, plays and works of non-fiction. Four letters of love was an international best-seller. The film is released July 2025. Explore Four Letters of Love trailer Four Letters of Love novel Nill Williams website

    30 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Growing up as the son of a diamond smuggler. The leaps of faith required for scientific discovery. An actress who hated Christians, then became one. Join us as we discover the surprising ways Christian faith interrogates and illuminates the world we live in.

Information

  • Creator
    Centre for Public Christianity
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    567
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 Centre for Public Christianity
  • Show Website
    Life & Faith

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