Richard Johnson Lectures

Rediscovering Hope: Q&A Session with Leisa Aitken

In this episode, you'll hear the Q&A session that followed Leisa Aitken's 2023 lecture titled,
Rediscovering Hope. How we lost it. How we get it back?
You can hear her lecture in an earlier episode of this podcast, but here is Leisa, with Simon Smart, digging deeper into the topic.
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Leisa is a clinical psychologist who's been counselling and teaching for more than 25 years in workplaces, hospitals, and private practice. She recently completed a PhD on the shifting grounds of hope through Western history and philosophy, theology, and psychology.
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Check out CPX’s other podcast, Life and Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century.

Rediscovering Hope. How we lost it. How we get it back?

In this episode, you'll hear Leisa Aitken's 2023 lecture,
Rediscovering Hope. How we lost it. How we get it back?
The future feels tenuous these days, uncertain … overwhelming, even. Hope might be scarce, but it's not lost. At least not with Leisa Aitken is our guide. Leisa is a clinical psychologist with 25 years’ experience in her field and she's just completed a PhD on Hope. For those feeling hopeful, and perhaps especially for those who are not, this is a great talk to hear – hope from the perspective of psychology, philosophy, and theology.
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Leisa is a clinical psychologist who's been counselling and teaching for more than 25 years in workplaces, hospitals, and private practice. She recently completed a PhD on the shifting grounds of hope through Western history and philosophy, theology, and psychology.
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Check out CPX’s other podcast, Life and Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century.

Out Of Sight: Q&A with Scott Stephens

In this episode you’ll hear the Q&A session that followed Scott Stephen’s 2021 lecture titled… 
Out Of Sight: Attentiveness in a Dismissive Age 
You can hear his lecture in an earlier episode of this podcast, but here is Scott, with Simon Smart, digging deeper into the topic. 
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Scott is the ABC’s Religion and Ethics online editor, and the co-host, with Waleed Aly, of The Minefield on ABC Radio National. His book On Contempt is published by Melbourne University Press. 
Read Scott Stephens’ Uncivil Wars, written with Waleed Aly for the Quarterly Essay 
 
Check out CPX's other podcast Life & Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century. 

Free To Be Me? Q&A with Sarah Irving-Stonebraker

In this episode you’ll hear the Q&A session that followed Sarah Irving-Stonebraker’s 2020 lecture titled… 
Free To Be Me? The Forgotten Story of Religious Liberty 
You can hear her lecture in an earlier episode of this podcast, but here is Sarah, with Simon Smart, digging deeper into the topic. 
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Sarah is Senior Lecturer in History at Western Sydney University. She was awarded her PhD from the University of Cambridge, after which she was a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford then Assistant Professor at Florida State University. Her book Natural Science and the Origins of the British Empire, published in 2008, was awarded The Royal Society of Literature and Jerwood Foundation Award for Non-Fiction. 
Sarah Irving-Stonebraker’s book, Natural Science and the Origins of the British Empire 
 
Check out CPX's other podcast Life & Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century. 

Crossing the Great Divide: Q&A with Tim Dixon

You can hear his lecture in an earlier episode of this podcast, but here is Tim, with Simon Smart, digging deeper into the topic. 
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Tim is co-founder of More in Common, an international initiative which has published some of the world's leading research on the drivers of polarisation and social division. He has worked as chief speechwriter and economic adviser for two Australian Prime Ministers and has helped start and grow social movement organisations around the world that have worked to protect civilians in Syria, address modern day slavery, promote gun control in the U.S., and engage faith communities in social justice. 
Tim Dixon’s organisation, More in Common  Check out CPX's other podcast Life & Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century. 

Where Did I Come From? Q&A with Nick Spencer

In this episode you’ll hear the Q&A session that followed Nick Spencer’s 2018 lecture titled… 
Where Did I Come From? Christianity, Secularism, and the Individual 
You can hear his lecture in an earlier episode of this podcast, but here is Nick Spencer, with Simon Smart, digging deeper into the topic. 
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Nick is Research Director of Theos Think Tank in London. He has written for The Guardian and The Telegraph and has been described by The Economist as “like a prophet crying in the post-modern wilderness”. Nick is the author of several books including Atheists: The Origin of the Species, and The Evolution of the West: How Christianity Has Shaped Our Values.  
Some of Nick Spencer’s books: 
Atheists: The Origin of the Species 
Darwin and God 
The Political Samaritan 
Check out CPX's other podcast Life & Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century. 

Is Christianity Bad News for Women? Q&A with Amy Orr-Ewing

In this episode you’ll hear the Q&A session that followed Amy Orr-Ewing’s 2017 lecture titled… 
Is Christianity Bad News for Women? 
You can hear her lecture in an earlier episode of this podcast, but here is Amy, with Simon Smart, digging deeper into the topic. 
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Amy is a Senior Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics and is a widely sought-after speaker who has addressed audiences at the White House and the UK Parliament. She regularly appears on TV and radio to comment on a variety of topics relating to the Christian faith. Her doctoral studies focused on the British novelist, essayist, and “Christian humanist” Dorothy L. Sayers, and she is the author of several books, including Where is God in all the Suffering, and Why Trust the Bible? 
Some of Amy Orr-Ewing’s books: 
Is the Bible Intolerant? 
Where is God in all the Suffering? 
Why Trust the Bible? 
 
Check out CPX's other podcast Life & Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century. 

The Myth of Religious Violence: Q&A with William Cavanaugh

In this episode you’ll hear the Q&A session that followed William Cavanaugh’s 2016 lecture titled… 
The Myth of Religious Violence 
You can hear his lecture in an earlier episode of this podcast, but here is William, with John Dickson, digging deeper into the topic. 
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WIlliam is Professor of Theology at DePaul University in Chicago. He holds degrees from Notre Dame, Cambridge, and Duke University, and has worked for the Center for Civil and Human Rights at the Notre Dame Law School. His areas of specialisation include political theology and economic ethics. He is the author of The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology, The Roots of Modern Conflict, and Field Hospital: The Church’s Engagement with a Wounded World. 
Some of William Cavanaugh’s books: 
The Myth of Religious Violence 
Field Hospital: The Church’s Engagement with a Wounded World 
 
Check out CPX's other podcast Life & Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century. 

The End of Faith: Q&A with Peter Harrison

In this episode you’ll hear the Q&A session that followed Peter Harrison’s 2015 lecture titled… 
The End of Faith: Has Science Made Religion Redundant? 
You can hear his lecture in an earlier episode of this podcast, but here is Peter, with John Dickson, digging deeper into the topic. 
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Peter is currently an Australian Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland. Before taking up that post he was the Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. He has published extensively in the area of intellectual history with a focus on the historical interactions between science and religion, and has authored or edited six books, including The Territories of Science and Religion. 
Some of Peter Harrison’s book: 
The Territories of Science and Religion 
The Fall of Man and the Foundations of Science 
 
Check out CPX's other podcast Life & Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century. 

A Public Faith: Q&A with Mirosav Volf

In this episode you’ll hear the Q&A session that followed the inaugural Richard Johnson Lecture, which was delivered in 2014 by Yale University’s Miroslav Volf. 
His topic was A Public Faith: Serving the Common Good, and you can hear the lecture in an earlier episode of this podcast, but here is Miroslav, with John Dickson, digging deeper into the topic. 
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Miroslav is Founding Director of the Yale Centre for Faith and Culture, and the Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School. He has written more than 15 books, including Exclusion and Embrace, A Public Faith, and most recently For the Life of the World. 
Some of Miroslav Volf’s books: 
A Public Faith 
Exclusion and Embrace 
For the Life of the World 
 
Check out CPX's other podcast Life & Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century.