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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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? Maissa Alameddine 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...

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...

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...

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...