Makerspace

This week I get to chat with Edward David, the director of associateship and lecturer of ethics and values at King’s College London, as well as a research fellow at Oxford. Edward has recently lead a research team in a pioneering study into the spirituality of generation Z. Instead of just asking questions, this study uses story completion—letting young people finish the narrative to reveal the hidden spiritual maps they’re actually using to navigate the world. They have identified 5 main ways people are understanding spirituality today and so in this conversation I chat with Edward about what these results mean for teachers, but also how they help us to understand the spiritual climate our young people are growing up in.

Our first guest this season is a returning guest, Chris Watkin, author of Biblical Critical Theory and more recently, The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity. Chris speaks into a variety of areas, one of them being AI. He’s launching a course on the underlying philosophy of this, so we jump on to talk through some of the contours of the content. We go big picture here, not so much about how to use AI, but asking the questions that need to be addressed before we do.

This week we welcome Dr Travis Stevick, a theologian, author, and ordained elder in the the Global Methodist Church. Travis earned his doctorate from the University of St. Andrews and has spent years bridge-building between the local church and systematic theology. He is the author of Encountering Reality,, a work that explores how we engage with truth at the intersection of theology and science.What Travis and I are trying to do in this technical conversation, is pinpoint what difference Jesus makes to knowledge and how we know things. We’re constantly coming back to the idea that language can only go so far, and that means we need humility with our ideas. We also keep coming back to the fact that the incarnation changes everything because it is God making truth known to us, not just giving us facts to believe. We’re drawing on Scottish Reformed theologian, TF Torrance for this stuff. I hope that if this sort of thinking is important to you, you’ll find thinking through this connective work helpful.https://travisstevick.substack.com

In this episode I speak with Dr Justin Ariel Bailey, a prominent voice in Christian ministry and theological writing, Justin is a professor of theology at Dordt University in Iowa, and published a book, Interpreting Your World in 2022.In this conversation we talk about the changing nature of worldview studies, and how to find the balance between an appreciative and critical approach when Christians engage with culture. We chat through the history of the term "worldview" and what it might mean to lead students in important conversations now.

This week I’m speaking to Diane Hockridge. Diane is an Australian educational designer and researcher, specialising in the design of online and distance-theological education, with a particular interest in spiritual and holistic formation of students. She is currently the Educational Designer at Ridley College in Melbourne and has a PhD in spiritual formation and online education.In this conversation we discuss the challenges and opportunities of online education, focusing on supporting students through diverse learning experiences and leveraging their existing contexts. We talk authentic learning, service-based assignments and reflective practices to foster student growth. We also explore the future of theological education, considering the role of new technology and AI.

This week I’m joined by Josh Taylor. Josh is an Anglican priest from the Diocese of Christchurch in New Zealand. He has experience in youth ministry, as a spiritual director, and several years as a Vicar in Timaru, New Zealand. He has just submitted a PhD through the University of Otago. His thesis is titled: “Speaking of Sin in 21st Century Aotearoa.”It’s his PhD that I’m talking to him about today. We explore why sin can feel like a foreign and awkward concept these days and then track other ways people have tried to express it. We talk about big ideas like total depravity and original sin and try to build a picture of thinking about the concept that’s actually hopeful, especially in light of cultural approaches to morality. This is a really helpful chat to help guide young people in a world that is pretty confused about what sin is and how we see God.

We kick off this new season with a return guest, the godfather of Christian education himself, David I. Smith. David is probably best known for his book, On Christian Teaching, and he’s just released a follow up to this, called Everyday Christian Teaching. This book is a more practical exploration of some of the concepts of the former book, and is full of suggestions for practices for the classroom, as well as powerful stories and reflection questions. CEN will be using his resources in a few different ways.https://calvin.edu/everyday-christian-teaching

This week I get to speak to Dr Chris Marshall, a pioneering scholar working in the intersection of biblical theology and restorative justice. Chris has worked as a New Testament lecturer and lecturer in religious studies. He’s also worked with those involved in the criminal justice system and is the author of 7 books.In this conversation we talk about restorative justice, shame, and atonement theology. A key point we hone in on, is that there is a variety of language and metaphors that get used in the New Testament to explain what was achieved on the cross, but often we can get stuck only using the judicial language of punishment, rather than all the other language like adoption or new birth. When we focus only on this language it can perpetuate cycles of shame.

In this episode, we speak with Dr Christa McKirland. Christa is the dean of faculty at Carey Baptist College in NZ, where she also lectures in systematic theology. She obtained her PHD at the University of St Andrews and she has a wide range of published academic work.In this quite dense conversation we talk through a theology of authority and power, tracking closely with the new testament's conviction that it's not about having power over others. We chat about what we mean by systematic theology, apostleship and take a close look at women in leadership and the key text in 2 timothy. This is a fascinating and challenging discussion.

In this episode I get to speak with Dr. Lynn Swaner. Lyn is the President of Cardus, a think tank in the states to dedicated to strengthening institutions for the common good. She is the editor or lead author of numerous books, including Future Ready, MindShift, and Flourishing Together. She holds a doctorate in organizational leadership and is a good friend of CEN, having spoken at a number of our conferences.We covered a lot of ground in this conversation, from a Christian understanding of flourishing to innovation and the place of research. We also talk about what it means for a Christian school to be distinctive and a core question that she talks about to help them stay on mission: what does love require?

In this episode I ask Kara Martin questions based on her book, "Keeping Faith: How Christian organizations can stay true to the way of Jesus." We talk about power, mission drift, leadership beyond niceness, risky faithfulness and how organisations can meaningfully enact grace, forgiveness and confession. There is a lot here for school leaders to mull over, so it could be a good one to share!Here's a link to the book:https://amzn.asia/d/3IUV5gz

In this first episode, we jump straight into the current tensions around difference in regard to immigration with Dr Matthew Kaemingk. Matthew is a Christian ethicist and public theologian lecturing at Fuller theological seminary. We’re actually going to be hosting him at our CEN executive conference in March, and in this conversation I ask a lot of questions based on his book “Christian hospitality and Muslim immigration.” He also hosts his own podcast, "Zealots at the Gate" linked below:https://open.spotify.com/show/5E9hQeCbLXoVp4wvjKHRNF?si=fdee682831d34d90

This week is a slightly bigger one as we tackle a particularly pertinent issue right now. In the online space, masculinity has been undergoing some new constructions or reconstructions. Some of the ideas are new, others are a reintroduction of very old, even stoic ideas, but much of it is confused and even dangerous. It would seem that over the last few years, a reduction in positive talk about masculinity has left a gap, and there are certain voices that have emerged to fill that gap. These voices have the ears of many of the young men in our schools.A few months ago I spoke to Dr Stephanie Wescott, a lecturer at Monash University in the faculty of education, also previously a school teacher. Towards the end of 2023, Stephanie and her research team made national headlines in Australia due to the research paper they produced. The study showed that there is growing visibility of online ‘manfluencers’ who espouse extreme masculine ideals and share them with their audiences of boys and young men. Link to Stephanie's study:https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/the-problem-of-anti-feminist-manfluencer-andrew-tate-in-australiaOur second conversation this week, I also had a chance to chat with Daniel Principe, a youth advocate an educator who has spoken to over 60,000 students across Australia. He’s passionate about telling a better story for our young men and offering a positive vision for what being a man could be. We talk a lot about the effects of porn, but also talking about what positive, respectful relationships could look like.Dan's website:https://www.danielprincipe.com.au