Makerspace

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.

This week I got to have a conversation with Mark Barnard, an Anglican priest and educator from Auckland, New Zealand. Alongside his church leadership role, Mark is also employed by the Karuwhā Trust, an educational organisation focusing on telling New Zealand's bicultural story.This is an important conversation that explores engaging in indigenous thought well, addressing different ways of seeing the world and approaching spirituality. This is a conversation about thinking this through in a New Zealand context, but perhaps that allows for more scope of thought rather than feeling like we're being prescriptive. There are a couple of words that Mark uses quite a bit that might be helpful to know for the conversation- "Te Reo" refers to the Māori language, "tangata whenua" means “people of the land” and refers to Māori people, and "Pākehā" is the Māori word for those of European descent.

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 got to speak with Grafton Tanner. Grafton is an American author and academic. His work focuses on Big Tech, nostalgia, neo-liberalism, and education. He is the author of books, Babbling Corpse, The Circle of the Snake, The Hours Have lost their clock, and more recently, Foreverism. In this conversation we chat about our culture's current obsession with nostalgia in media, politics and literature. We talk about how our current cultural mood is one that doesn't want to look a the future and so plunders the past and tries to expand the present. We touch on the internet, "retrobaiting", time and a concept at the heart of his new book, Foreverism.

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?

Michael is an Australian biblical scholar, Anglican priest, and the Deputy Principal of Ridley College in Melbourne. He is the author of over thirty books including his latest one, Jesus and the Powers, cowritten with N.T. Wright. In this conversation, we continue in our discussion around difference by unpacking his new book, exploring nationalism, current cultural tensions, power, and veggie tales ethics.

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

This week we have some time with Chris Watkin, lecturer and researcher at Monash University. He is also the author of the award winning book, Biblical Critical Theory. This book explores how the bible shapes our imaginations and cuts across many of the binaries that exist in our culture today. In this conversation we talk about what we usually mean by critical theory, what it means to have a prophetic imagination and what it might mean that ultimate reality is personal. We're looking forward to hosting Chris at our AGM in March, but for now, here's my conversation with him as an appetiser.

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

For this final episode of the season, I got to have a special conversation with a friend and colleague of mine, Julia Verdouw. Julia is a senior lecturer at the National Institute for Christian Education and has extensive experience in research and policy development. In this episode, however, we're actually here to discuss her new book of poetry, writings collected from her journal following her husband's sudden death 3 years ago. Her book, “Valley of the Shadow” is well worth picking up as an exploration of death, faith, grief and hopeJulia's website: https://www.juliaverdouw.com

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

This week I speak to Dan Anderson, Director and CEO of the Lachlan Macquarie Institute. LMI trains men and women for wise leadership in politics and culture through internship programs and conferences. Dan is very well connected to a wide variety of thinkers and decision makers and it was the perfect opportunity for me to ask some spicy questions around some topics that often be fairly polarising.In this conversation, we talk about temptations and risks with political engagement in Australia, we touch on his PhD that explored forgiveness, and delve into some conversation around what responsible engagement with indigenous communities might look like.

In this episode I sit down with another ITEC presenter, Dr Roshan Allpress. Roshan is the principal of Laidlaw College in Auckland, New Zealand, the country's largest theological tertiary institute. Roshan is an historian, earning a PHD at Oxford. His book, based on his research is called “British Philanthropy in the Globalising World” exploring how social change occurred at a pivotal time in history.In this conversation, we really dig into the question, “How does social change actually happen?” We talk about the hand waving concept around Christian influence and talk about what it actually takes to make a difference. We also talk about succession, hope, current leadership challenges and taking a long view on making an impact.Roshan's book can be found here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/british-philanthropy-in-the-globalizing-world-9780198887195?cc=au&lang=en&

This week I get to chat with another very special guest, Professor Nigel Tubbs. Nigel initially began as a teacher before moving into tertiary roles and specialises in the relation between philosophy and education. His publications have explored how their relationship affects the concept of 'the teacher', the concept of 'education,' the definition of what counts as 'philosophy', and the shape of the history of western philosophy more generally.In this conversation we talk about how a deep education is one that goes backstage and asks what's really going on, how education is being instrumentalised by politics, and then discuss some challenging ideas about sitting in difficulties and not requiring conclusive viewpoints - letting tensions teach us. It's a challenging conversation but a goodie!https://thinklearning.org/about/

This week we welcome Dr Ruth McConnell on to the show. Ruth is an expert on Neuropsychotherapy, trauma and attachment and the focus of her PhD studies was the counselling of children of divorce and keeping children healthily attached to their parents. She is also a Professional Associate of the Neufeld Institute and offers training on attachment related topics.I met Ruth a number of years ago and have followed her work ever since, and in this discussion we talk about how attachment informs classroom practice. We explore theological ideas, how this impacts relationships and how learning needs to take place in spaces of emotional flourishing. I've also linked relevant information in the episode notes. Let's get into it!https://ruthmcconnell.com

This week's guest will be well known to many of you if you've been thinking about christian education for a while. At CEN's ITEC conference last month I got to sit down with one of our keynote speakers, David I Smith. David is a Professor of Education at Calvin University; Director of the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning, and is an internationally recognised voice on Christian education as an author and speaker. He's probably best known for his 2018 book, “On Christian Teaching.”He's known for his intentionally practical approach, so in this discussion I really wanted to look under the hood, to hear what theology drives his thinking and approach in general, which was fun! We talk through his main theological sources, we discuss power and how we might understand hospitality theologically, a key theme of his writing.

This episode was a pretty exciting one for me because I got to chat to one of my intellectual heroes, the globally acclaimed Esther Meek. Esther is an American philosopher and a Professor of Philosophy at Geneva College in Western Pennsylvania, and one of today's most influential thinkers around the intersection of faith and knowledge.In this conversation you'll hear Philosophical terms like “the real” and “subsidiary focal awareness”, which may require a little bit of extra digging. You'll hear her pushing against overly spiritual theology, as she affirms the goodness of creation, honouring the reality that God loves. She reminds us that real knowing is loving reality and being personally involved every step of the way. At times this is quite a complicated conversation but a good introduction to these ideas. Enjoy!

This conversation was recorded during the CEN Executive conference earlier this year and in the course of it we talked through our current cultural mood, some of the ways teachers can speak into these challenges, vocation and what helps to build resilient, lasting faith. Enjoy the conversation!

Welcome to MakerSpace! Hosted by Sam Burrows on behalf of Christian Education National, we will be looking at the intersections of theology, culture and pedagogy.In this first episode we are joined by Professor Noreen Herzfeld, a professor of theology and computer science in Minnesota. Noreen has been a leading theological voice on AI and related issues for the last 2 decades or so. In this conversation we talked about what it means to really know, what it means to be human and what education actually is and how we might protect it.