Soul Search

ABC Australia
  • 4.5 (26)
  • Religion & Spirituality
  • Weekly

Soul Search explores contemporary religion and spirituality from the inside out — what we believe, how we express it, and the difference it makes in our lives

  1. 3d ago

    Greta Gerwig's Narnia and how metaphors shape faith

    Greta Gerwig is one of Hollywood’s buzziest directors today. After her smash-hit Barbie, audiences are hotly anticipating her next movie, Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew. But some fans of CS Lewis’ original book are upset that the lion Aslan – a Christ-figure – is being voiced by Meryl Streep. Critics say associating the Christian God with the feminine is a modern ‘woke’ innovation... but what if it’s not? How do the metaphors we use to talk about God, shape our spiritual beliefs and practices? Guests Adrian Drayton is a writer and critic interested in religion on screen, and in the connections between faith and popular culture. Formerly of the Uniting Church magazine Insights, now you can find him on Substack at The Long Conversation. Rev Dr Sally Douglas is Lecturer of New Testament Studies at Pilgrim Theological College at the University of Divinity and the author of Early Church Understandings of Jesus as the Female Divine. Her latest book is Rewilding Prayer: God Beyond Gender, Faith Beyond Formulas. More information Narnia: Magician’s Nephew official trailerInsights Magazine: Greta Gerwig Opens the Door to a Very Different Narnia | Insights MagazineThe Long Conversation: Greta Gerwig’s Narnia and What Happens When You Try to Film Wonder?More from Soul Search Zeus' Law — Hospitality in Homer's Odyssey - ABC listenBig questions in books — Sacredness, enchantment and the apocalypse, from Narnia to Harry Potter - ABC listenImagining Jesus on screen and in literature - ABC listenMore from Radio National Greta Gerwig and critics discuss Barbie and Oppenheimer - ABC listen

  2. Oct 22

    How ancient scrolls unlock lost worlds of the past

    Across the Middle East, desert caves and ancient monasteries hid troves of ancient manuscripts. Now, advances in machine learning are helping scholars to unlock these ancient texts and the lost religious worlds that produced them.

  3. Oct 15

    Hildegard — The visionary music of medieval Europe's most remarkable woman

    Saint Hildegard of Bingen is perhaps Medieval Europe's most remarkable woman. She was a prolific writer, a theologian, a mystic, and Europe's first known female composer. It been about 1000 years since she lived, but why is the music she wrote so popular today? Guests:  Jennifer Bain is a professor from Dalhousie University in Canada. Jennifer edited the Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen, and she's also the author of several works on Hildegard's music and its reception. Sylvia MacRitchie-Hook did postgraduate research about Hildegard as a Ramsay Scholar at the Australian Catholic University. Her thesis is Art as Revelation: A Theological Aesthetic Reading of Hildegard of Bingen's Scivias. More info:  The isolation and imagination of the first female English author (Soul Search)Hilda-thon! Eight hours of music by Hildegard von Bingen (ABC Classic)

  4. Oct 8

    Costa Georgiadis on trust and attention in the garden

    Stories about gardening run deep in many cultures – from the garden of the gods in the epic of Gilgamesh, to the garden of Eden in the biblical book of Genesis. Gardening is also a practice that, for some people, connects the body, soil and soul. On Soul Search Costa Georgiadis shares about the life lessons he's learnt from gardening.  Guest:  Costa Georgiadis, presenter of Gardening Australia and the author of Costa’s World: Gardening for the soil, the soul and the suburbs. More info:  How gardening is a conversation (ABC Listen)The science and spirituality of soil (ABC Listen)Costa Georgiadis visits remote NT communities to teach kids about gardening and healthy foods (ABC News)

  5. Oct 1

    Wendell Berry's guide to a fulfilling low-tech life

    In today's fast-paced, tech-saturated society, is it possible to live a life of fulfilment? Until his recent death, the writer, farmer and sustainability activist Wendell Berry believed that life's meaning came from cultivating the land and building meaningful relationships with one another.

  6. Sep 24

    The science and spirituality of compassion

    In a world that prizes self-interest, is compassion a weakness? In 1992 the Dalai Lama asked a psychologist, instead of focusing only on negative emotions, why don't we study happiness and compassion? Now, the psychology of compassion has become an established field, and a place for rich conversation between science and religion.

  7. Sep 17

    The untold stories of Buddhism in Australia

    When you imagine an Australian Buddhist, who do you think of? Buddhism in this country has a multicultural history which reaches back before federation and the White Australia Policy.

  8. Sep 10

    Christian Wiman and Miroslav Volf on friendship, walking and the sacred spark in language

    Yale professors Christian Wiman and Miroslav Volf have been friends for years, through serious ups and downs. Together they discuss poetry, suffering and the divine — helping one another express the big things we encounter throughout our lives. Guests Miroslav Volf is a theologian and the founder and director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. He is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School. He has written or edited over twenty books, including his most recent co-authored book Glimmerings: Letters on Faith Between a Poet and a Theologian.  Christian Wiman is a poet and the Clement-Muehl Professor of Communication Arts at Yale Divinity School and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. He is also an author, editor, or translator of fourteen books, including his most recent co-authored book Glimmerings: Letters on Faith Between a Poet and a Theologian. Read an extract of Glimmerings on ABC Religion and Ethics: ‘Glimmerings are what the soul’s composed of’: Letters between a poet and a theologian - ABC Religion & Ethics More from Soul Search The Zen masters of haiku - ABC listenPoetry that soars — from Rumi to Australia - ABC listenBig questions in books — Ancient Chinese poetry and the nature of existence - ABC listenVote now for your favourite Australian books of all time! https://www.abc.net.au/listen/radionational/countdown/top100books Toby Davidson recommends Holocaust Island, by Graeme DixonEmma Beattie recommends In Their Branches, by Gretchen MillerSteve Biddulph recommends Night Train to Varanasi, by Sean Doyle

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Hosts & Guests

4.5
out of 5
26 Ratings

About

Soul Search explores contemporary religion and spirituality from the inside out — what we believe, how we express it, and the difference it makes in our lives

Information

  • Creator
    ABC Australia
  • Years Active
    2005 - 2026
  • Episodes
    885
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All right reserved.
  • Show Website
    Soul Search

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