Soul Search - ABC RN

In this special NAIDOC episode, guest host Brooke Prentis chats to singer Royston Sagigi-Baira about growing up in the remote community of Old Mapoon on Tjungundji Country in Western Cape York.

Religion, like the media, is changing fast in Australia. What does this mean for the national broadcaster as it reflects and informs Australian life? Plus, the war chaplain turned journalist who became the ABC's first head of religious programming.

Glaciers matter to the people who live near them – but how do these communities respond as more and more ice melts away? A priestess of the Icelandic religion of Ásatrú explains how ancient Norse mythology orients her towards nature, and a professor shares how her experiences on the Himalayan glaciers revealed a deep connection between spirituality and the lived reality of climate change.

What would you do if you knew you had an unconditional, permanent, adequate income that would cover all your basic expenses… no matter how much or how little work you did? It's an idea that has the backing of the Pope and one of Australia's largest religious charities – why do these Christians support it?

Joan Chittister found her community as a teenager, seventy years ago, when she joined the Benedictine sisters in Pennsylvania. For decades she has devoted herself to renewing community in and beyond the Catholic church. Her fierce advocacy for women has put her at odds with some within the hierarchy, but as a spiritual writer she had brought the insights of her tradition to a wider world.

What does it take to re-green a desert? As it turns out, sometimes what you need is already in the ground right under your feet. Tony Rinaudo went to Niger as an agriculturalist and missionary and – almost by accident – began a regeneration practice now used across the world. Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration, or FMNR, cultivates the shoots of tree stumps that remain after land clearing.

The Mabo decision was a legal and cultural milestone in Australia, but thirty years on, how has it changed theology? For decades Dr Anne Pattel-Gray has been calling for racial justice in and through Christian churches. She says Mabo “shifts our whole perspective of how we interpret the Bible, of how we do theology.”

Have you ever found yourself in a place where heaven and earth seem to meet? Sacred architecture and aesthetics can make a person experience the numinous, even in a building not set aside for a religious purpose. Also, Papua New Guinea's Baha'i community, are about to open a new house of worship in Port Moresby.

What do we do with suffering – as we experience it ourselves, and in the world around us? Meredith Lake explores solidarity in the midst of violence, both through activism and poetry.

Can literature somehow bridge the visible and invisible realms? Meredith Lake speaks with Egyptian-American poet and aphorist Yahia Lababidi, whose work ranges across cultures, traditions and genres.

In what could be described as Korea's ‘terracotta warrior' moment, a farmer digging in a vacant field discovered scores of stone statues depicting arhats – or disciples of the Buddha. Unearthed from their hiding place, the Arhats now part of a luscious display touring around the world. In Sydney, a Bosnian refugee describes how she fled war in her home country and built a new life for herself after coming to Australia.

Claude AnShin Thomas enlisted in the US Army at 17, served as a helicopter gunner and crew chief in the Vietnam War, and was awarded numerous medals and a Purple Heart – all before becoming ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk. He carries the responsibility for much death and destruction, but has learned to live peacefully with unpeacefulness and is helping others do the same.

The crucifixion of Christ is perhaps the most painted subject in world history. From Medieval art, to the Renaissance masters to contemporary works, the story of Jesus' death and resurrection pervades the Western imagination – even amid rapid secularisation.

Recent flooding in South-East Queensland and the Northern Rivers of New South Wales has upended the lives of thousands, including the area's diverse religious communities. Hear how the area's Sikhs provide aid even though their own gurdwara was inundated, and how the Jewish community practices hospitality as best they can in the lead-up to Pesach.

Is there a recipe that sums up your story or personal history? As Muslims around the world observe Ramadan, one family is observing the holy month in Australia for the first time. For them, their recipe for Bolani – a type of stuffed and fried flat bread – represents solidarity between women.

What did religious life look like in Ancient Greece? Find out how the gods played a role in everything from daily life to outcomes on the battlefield. Then, fast forward to just before federation in Australia and discover the untold story of Reverend Dr Charles Strong, the possibility of a national Church and progressive Christian activism.

Can the practice of artmaking be a religious ritual? A contemporary fresco painter, Sarah Tomasetti, and a philosopher, Dr Lexi Eikelboom, explore the ways in which art has big things in common with theology, and whether there's spiritual significance to art practice itself on its own terms – not reducible to religion, or such that it can replace religion.

“We can't have a secular Māori culture. It just doesn't work for us, it's not how we view the world.” Third generation Anglican minister, Rev Dr Hirini Kaa, has written a book, Te Hāhi Mihinare: The Māori Anglican church, that opens up a whole new perspective on Māori spirituality and Christianity, the wisdom of reciprocity, and possible paths to spiritual flourishing.

To mark International Women's Day, we hear from two remarkable women – worlds apart – on their experiences of liberating religion and women from within their religious and cultural contexts.

How do we live well in times of crisis? Whether it's a global pandemic or a more personal dilemma, two of Australia's leading spiritual guides share their thoughts on how to make it through difficult times – and even find spiritual nourishment and growth.

He was the moral conscience of South Africa, a hero in the struggle against apartheid, and one of the spiritual giants of our time. The legacy of the late Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu lives on through people like Michael Battle, Director of the Desmond Tutu Centre in the US. Dr Battle lived with the renowned bishop and theologian as his student and personal chaplain during the dismantling of apartheid.

Dr Martin Luther King Jr called him an 'Apostle of Peace' when nominating Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. To many, he's known as the Buddhist monk who introduced the practice of mindfulness to the West and popularised it. Explore the life and legacy Thich Nhat Hanh –renowned Zen master, monk, poet, peace activist, teacher and global spiritual leader.

How secular, or not, is China today? As many of us celebrate Lunar New Year, Soul Search heads to China. Professor Mayfair Yang discusses the resurgence of popular religion in China – from local cults to lineage organisations, Protestant Christianity to modern Taoism. Then we chat to British-born, Australian-Chinese illustrator, Chrissy Lau, who is at the forefront of modern representations of Lunar New Year – reimagining her own heritage for a new generation.

Francis Spufford is a storyteller who sees grace and beauty in the grimiest and grittiest of places. He challenges us to look closely and catch a glimpse of something wildly precious and extraordinary, even holy and eternal. Also, Mehmet Ozalp previews the inaugural Sydney Muslim Writers' festival and explains the significance of the pen in the Islamic faith.

How Kate Bowler, a self-described incurable optimist and expert on the American prosperity gospel, faced the biggest challenge of her life – which upended everything she knew about health, wealth and what it means to live a good and successful life.

Many Indigenous languages have a word that means something like ‘deep listening'. In Ngan'gikurunggurr, a Northern Territory language, that word is dadirri. We hear from renowned Aboriginal elder and 2021 Senior Australian of the Year, Dr Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, who advocates for a kind of listening — a quiet awareness — that sums up a whole way of being. We also meet Wiradjuri and Wailwaan woman Fleur Magick Dennis on a different kind of meditation and ethical reflection.

Do you ever look around and think, there must be a better way to do life, here? We're meeting people asking the big question of how to live well in the world as we find it. Hear from Dr Jonathan Cornford, a political economist on a mission to live more slowly, gently, and simply, and Asher Packman, the current President of Meditation Australia.

Muslim cameleers have a rich history in Australia – that you may not have heard much about. They're the men who transformed the economic, cultural and spiritual life of many outback communities at the turn of the 20th century.

Meredith Lake chats to podcaster and author Casper ter Kulie whose been thinking about a big question: How do we make meaning as communities, and deepen our sense of connection to one another?

Acclaimed ethologist and 2021 Templeton Prize winner, Jane Goodall, tells us about the many teachers who have gifted her with lessons on humanity and hope: from her childhood reading tree to her first dog, the Gombe forest and, of course, her beloved chimps.

It has been quite the year for many of us — but what's helped you through? What everyday wisdom and practices have nourished you and been good for your soul? Hear the answers to these questions and more from friends of the show: the always insightful academics and authors, Alda Balthrop-Lewis and David Newheiser, GP and Yamatji Badimaya woman, Dr Umber Rind, Adelaide-based Rabbi, Shoshanna Kaminsky, and Wakka Wakka woman and CEO of Common Grace, Brooke Prentis.

Join Dr Meredith Lake and Suvira Bhikkhuni as they trace the revival of the ordination of Theravada women — one of the most important recent reforms within global Buddhism.

At the turn of the 20th Century, a teenage military cadet and budding poet began a correspondence with Rainer Maria Rilke. The young man expected some guidance and criticism from the great German poet but received something far greater: instructions on love and solitude, beauty and art, spirituality and life. Almost 100 years on, two grand dames of literature – Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows – have delivered a new translation of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, unveiling new insights in the context of today's world.

Shakespeare's world was marked by social change, spiritual tumult and cosmic disorientation – Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne, Europeans were exploring the Americas, and a heliocentric model of our solar system was taking shape. Join us as we explore the religious landscape of Elizabethan-era England, and how the Bard grappled with emerging ideas about self, the supernatural, and humanity's place in the cosmos.

Claude AnShin Thomas enlisted in the US Army at 17, served as a helicopter gunner and crew chief in the Vietnam War, and was awarded numerous medals and a Purple Heart – all before becoming ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk. He carries the responsibility for much death and destruction, but has learned to live peacefully with unpeacefulness and is helping others do the same.

How do we navigate the mundane of the everyday, the ordinariness of life, without becoming dull to its depth, beauty and capacity to surprise? A poet presents his award-winning meditation on walking around Wagga, and an ex-priest takes us on a mental excursion through the history of philosophy to explore the wisdom of the stoics, epicurans, and many of the world's greatest thinkers.

What does forgiveness look like in the messiness and chaos that is real life? A filmmaker shares the intimate and courageous story of her own tumultuous relationship with her mother, and her journey towards love and acceptance. A professor describes forgiveness as a work of love, and explains the difference between the act of forgiveness and the virtue of forgivingness – and the importance of both.

Are suburbs spiritual deserts or sacred wellsprings? In the places where most of us live our day to day lives, where do we go to find joy and hope, beauty and grace – and how do we experience the transcendent and divine?

Glaciers matter to the people who live near them – but how do these communities respond as more and more ice melts away? A priestess of the Icelandic religion of Ásatrú explains how ancient Norse mythology orients her towards nature, and a professor shares how her experiences on the Himalayan glaciers revealed a deep connection between spirituality and the lived reality of climate change.

Soul Search returns to our Sacred Landscapes series that explores the connections between spirituality and place. We turn to the cool climates with our guides – Dr Jonica Newby and Professor Jakelin Troy – taking us into the coldest regions of Australia and deepening our understanding of the spiritual importance of snow.

Professor Elaine Pagels has spent decades seeking to understand religion and, as her latest book reveals, this isn't a merely academic exercise but a quest bound up with her own experience of life and bereavement.

It's the end of the Merkel era in Germany. We take a look at the faith and politics of this remarkable leader who has been at the helm of Europe's largest economy for almost 16 years. Then, we step a little further back in German history to explore the life and work of Karl Barth, a prolific theologian who was one of the main authors of the Barmen Declaration – a document resisting the Nazification of the church.