Podcasts about national assessments

In this episode of "Catching Up!", hosts Mason and Nate dive into a lively discussion on the future of education, exploring how learning spaces, AI readiness, and global innovations are reshaping the landscape. From the creative redevelopment of community hubs in former malls to the pressing need for media literacy amidst a wave of information overload, this conversation covers a range of critical topics. They touch on the potential impacts of a new executive order on AI in education and the challenges facing early education systems. With insights from recent trips and conferences, including a poetic cultural journey through Ireland, this episode is packed with thoughtful reflections and forward-thinking ideas on how to best prepare students for an AI-driven world. Join Mason and Nate as they catch up on these exciting developments and share their vision for fostering collaborative and innovative learning environments. Outline (00:00) Introduction and Catching Up (01:18) Discussion on Music and Education (03:43) Mall Redevelopment and Community Hubs (06:43) Super Bloom and Media Theorist (10:06) Media Literacy and Info Obesity (12:47) America's Promise Alliance Research (14:48) Executive Order on AI and Education (19:57) Enrollment Issues in Public Schools (25:15) Exploring Expanded Learning Ecosystems (28:12) The Future of National Assessments (32:12) Challenges in Early Education (39:06) Cultural Insights from Ireland (46:15) What's That Song? Links Watch the full video here Read the full blog here Mall redevelopment - OKC America's Abandoned Malls Drop The Slop AI Executive Order America's Promise How can we reimagine where learning happens?  Montana Assements  The Limitations of Through-Year Assessments States try to tackle child care shortages — by lowering standards Is universal early childhood education and care an equalizer? A systematic review and meta-analysis of evidence  

While the calling of a federal election has been delayed by Tropical Cyclone Alfred, it must still happen in May, and so this episode the podcast offers its third “incoming government brief”: a document presented to the new (or returning) minister for each department, for the purpose of providing a descriptive overview of what the department does, and highlighting the most important issues facing that particular portfolio. The Australia in the World Incoming Government Brief has four chapters:(1) A changed external environment, (2) Plausible futures and policy dilemmas, (3) Key commitments by political party, and (4) Miscellaneous. Above all, the central challenge for this document at this moment is simply how to describe the world Australia now finds itself in, and to frame the challenges the government will face, regardless of its partisan perspective. No wonder this is probably the longest episode in the podcast's history! Darren is joined by Richard Maude, who has appeared multiple times before, most recently in February 2024. Richard had a long career in government including serving as Director-General of the (then) Office of National Assessments, and Deputy Secretary in DFAT where, amongst other roles, he headed the whole-of-government taskforce supporting the preparation of the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper. He was the inaugural Executive Director, Policy, the Asia Society Australia and is now a distinguished policy fellow at there. Australia in the World is written, hosted, and produced by Darren Lim, with research and editing this episode by Hannah Nelson and theme music composed by Rory Stenning. Relevant links Richard Maude (bio): https://asiasociety.org/policy-institute/richard-maude Incoming government brief for Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs, May 2022: https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/dfat-foi-lex5624.pdf Penny Wong, “National Press Club Address, Australian interests in a regional balance of power”, 17 April 2023: https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/speech/national-press-club-address-australian-interests-regional-balance-power Richard Maude, “Australia's Indo-Pacific destiny up for grabs in a new world order”, Australian Financial Review, 11 March 2025: https://www.afr.com/world/asia/australia-s-indo-pacific-destiny-up-for-grabs-in-a-new-world-order-20250304-p5lgru Anna Del Conte, Gastronomy of Italy [Revised Edition], 2013: https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781862059580/gastronomy-of-italy-revised-edition/ Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy (tv series): https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/stanley-tucci-searching-for-italy Black Doves (tv series): https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81682935

Ian Parmeter returns to discuss increasing tensions in the Middle East with Professor Mark Kenny. How can peace talks take place after the assassination of Hamas leader and chief negotiator Ismail Haniyeh? The assassination, dubbed a “grave escalation” by Hamas officials, has been perceived as Israeli action. Has this demonstration of Israeli power changed the strategic calculus in the region? And what can other nations, including Australia, do to reduce tensions? On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Professor Mark Kenny speaks to Ian Parmeter about recent developments in the Middle East following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Ian Parmeter is a Research Scholar at the ANU Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies. Previously, he was Australia's ambassador to Lebanon and former Assistant Director-General at the Office of National Assessments. Mark Kenny is the Director of the ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the University after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au. This podcast is produced by The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

***This lecture is sponsored by the IAFIE Washington DC Chapter and the IWP IAFIE Alpha Student Chapter*** About the Lecture: For a long time, the Australian Signals intelligence (or Sigint) story has been kept secret. Until now… Why does Australia have a national signals intelligence agency? What does it do and why is it controversial? And how significant are its ties with key partners, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand, to this arrangement? Revealing Secrets is a compelling account of Australian Signals intelligence, its efforts at revealing the secrets of other nations, and keeping ours safe. It brings to light those clever Australians whose efforts were for so long entirely unknown or overlooked. Blaxland and Birgin traverse the royal commissions and reviews that shaped Australia's intelligence community in the 20th century and consider the advent and the impact of cyber. In unearthing this integral, if hidden and little understood, part of Australian statecraft, this book increases our understanding of the past, present and what lies ahead. About the Speakers: John Blaxland is Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre (SDSC), Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University (ANU). He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales. He was also formerly a military intelligence officer, Head of SDSC and Director of the ANU Southeast Asia Institute. He is the author and editor of several publications on military history, intelligence and international security affairs. Clare Birgin's career in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) spanned 30 years, with a focus on national security and intelligence. She had postings in Warsaw, Moscow, Geneva, and Washington DC as the Liaison Officer of the Office of National Assessments, followed by postings as Ambassador in Hungary, Serbia, Kosovo, Romania, North Macedonia and Montenegro. Subsequently she was a Visiting Fellow at the ANU before joining John Blaxland's history writing team. She has been awarded the Polish Government's Knight's Cross Medal and the Bene Merito Medal by the former Polish Foreign Minister.

Middle East expert Ian Parmeter joins Mark Kenny to explain what is going on in Gaza – including the context for the current conflict and where to next? In light of the recent Israeli declaration of a 10 March deadline for the return of all hostages, how can negotiations looking to de-escalate the violence in Gaza move forward? What would a strategic victory look like for any of the actors? And what happens next? On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Middle East expert Ian Parmeter, from the ANU Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, and Professor Mark Kenny discuss the complex, contested, polarising and - in some cases for the West - compromising crisis in the Middle East. Ian Parmeter is a Research Scholar at the ANU Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies. Previously, he was Australia's ambassador to Lebanon and former Assistant Director-General at the Office of National Assessments. Mark Kenny is a Professor at the ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the University after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au. This podcast is produced by The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Intellectual historian Prof Wayne Hudson returns to the show for a discussion about his latest research project: Australian political thought. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr ⁠Jonathan Cole⁠, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of ⁠The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority⁠ and ⁠Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality⁠.

Simon Kennedy joins Jonathan for a conversation about twentieth century American conservative intellectual Peter Viereck and his critique of so-called new conservatism in America. Simon Kennedy has a PhD in history from the University of Queensland (UQ). He is currently Associate Editor of ⁠Quadrant Magazine⁠ and a Research Fellow in the Law School at UQ. His academic research is in the area of law and politics and their interaction with Christianity. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jonathan Cole⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement.  You can contact Jonathan at polanimalspod@gmail.com.

Simon Kennedy joins Jonathan for a conversation about conservative philosophy Eric Voegelin's essay Politics, Science, and Gnosticism, and in particular his thesis that major 20th century political and intellectual movements are modern manifestations of gnosticism. Simon Kennedy has a PhD in history from the University of Queensland (UQ). He is currently Associate Editor of Quadrant Magazine and a Research Fellow in the Law School at UQ. His academic research is in the area of law and politics and their interaction with Christianity. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr ⁠⁠⁠⁠Jonathan Cole⁠⁠⁠⁠, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement.  You can contact Jonathan at polanimalspod@gmail.com.

Ian Tregenza joins Jonathan for a conversation about the history of Quadrant Magazine and its cultural impact in Australia, and particularly on the nature of conservatism in Australia. Ian is an Associate Professor at the School of Social Sciences at Macquarie University. He works in the areas of political theory, the history of political thought and religion and politics. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr ⁠⁠⁠Jonathan Cole⁠⁠⁠, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. You can contact Jonathan at polanimalspod@gmail.com.

Jonathan talks to Libertarian Party member Pietro Angeli about the anarcho-capitalist alternative to the state. Pietro Angeli is a member of the Libertarian Party State Executive in Victoria. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr ⁠⁠Jonathan Cole⁠⁠, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of ⁠⁠The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority⁠⁠and ⁠⁠Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality⁠⁠. You can contact Jonathan at polanimalspod@gmail.com.

Jonathan is joined by Tim Wilson, Executive Director of NZ think tank Maxim Institute, for a conversation about faith and politics across the ditch (detch). Tim Wilson is currently Executive Director of Maxim Institute. Prior to this role, Tim was an award-winning journalist working in print, radio and television. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian and Newsweek.com. He was TVNZ's first US Correspondent and has been a business development manager and an English teacher. Tim has written three novels, one of which—Their Faces Were Shining—was a finalist in the New Zealand Post Book Awards. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr ⁠Jonathan Cole⁠, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of ⁠The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority⁠and ⁠Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality⁠. You can follow Jonathan and the show on ⁠Facebook⁠ and ⁠Twitter⁠, and you can email Jonathan at polanimalspod@gmail.com.

This is part 2 of Jonathan's conversation with Josh Lewis of the Saving Elephants podcast on the topic of political theology. Check out the Saving Elephants podcast here: "Millennials defending and expressing conservative values." The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authorityand Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email Jonathan at polanimalspod@gmail.com.

This is the first of Jonathan's two-part conversation with Josh Lewis of the Saving Elephants podcast on the topic of political theology. Check out the Saving Elephants podcast here: "Millennials defending and expressing conservative values." The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authorityand Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email Jonathan at polanimalspod@gmail.com.

Be sure to visit the Irregular Warfare Initiative website to see all of the new articles, podcast episodes, and other content the IWI team is producing! What are the fundamental tenets of China's political warfare? What does it look like when Beijing employs political warfare in the real world? And how is it different, in both theory and practice, from traditional Western conceptualizations of warfare and its political component? This episode explores those questions and more. It features a conversation with two guests whose deep expertise gives them important perspectives on the subject. Dr. Ross Babbage is a nonresident senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, served as the head of strategic analysis in Australia's Office of National Assessments, and is the author of the book The Next Major War: Can the US and its Allies Win against China? David Stilwell is the assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, a retired US Air Force officer, and former director of the China Strategic Focus Group at US Indo-Pacific Command. Together, they examine China's practice of political warfare and how other states can counter it. Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Constitutional scholar Nicholas Aroney joins Jonathan for an examination of the legal meaning and implications of the proposed new s129 in the Australia Constitution that establishes the Voice, and which is the subject of a referendum on 14 October. Nicholas Aroney is Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Queensland. He has published over 100 journal articles, book chapters and books in the fields of constitutional law, comparative constitutional law and legal theory. He has held visiting positions at Oxford, Cambridge, Paris II, Edinburgh, Durham, Sydney, Emory and Tilburg universities. You can read Nick's co-authored submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice here and something he has written on First Peoples and the People of Australia here. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authorityand Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email Jonathan at polanimalspod@gmail.com.

In this episode of the Defence Connect podcast, senior analyst Steve Kuper is joined by Sam Roggeveen, director of the Lowy Institute's International Security Program, to discuss the Echidna Strategy in the context of great power competition.  The pair begin the podcast discussing Roggeveen's career working across Australia's defence and foreign policy apparatus, including with the Office of National Assessments, Defence Intelligence Organisation, and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs.  The pair then discuss the politics of Roggeveen's first book – Our Very Own Brexit: Australia's Hollow Politics and Where it Could Lead Us – and the implications domestic political polarisation and collapsing support for the major parties will have on Australia's future position and security in the Indo-Pacific. The pair then discuss the historic basis of Australia's defence policy and doctrine, beginning with the Forward Defence doctrine, then moving through the Defence of Australia-era to the current incarnation, as identified through the Defence Strategic Review, and the implications of major decisions like the AUKUS submarines. Finally, the pair discuss Roggeveen's latest book, The Echidna Strategy: Australia's Search for Power and Peace, the basis for its central thesis, the implications for Australia's defence posture and force structure as the nation seeks power and peace in the era of great power competition. Enjoy the podcast The Defence Connect team

Jonathan is joined by Iain Benson for a conversation about values and virtues. They discuss the triumph of technique over purpose in our contemporary culture, the problems with adopting "values" as our primary moral language and the need to recover the ancient moral language of virtue. Iain Benson is Professor of Law at Notre Dame University, Sydney, Australia. He is an academic, lecturer and practicing lawyer in constitutional law and human rights, with a particular focus on freedoms of association and religion, the nature of pluralism, multiculturalism and the relationships between laws, religion and human rigths. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authorityand Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email Jonathan at polanimalspod@gmail.com.

Clive Hamilton joins the show to discuss his left-wing critique of wokeness published in the Sydney Morning Herald. Clive Hamilton is Professor of Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University. He is the found of The Australia Institute and the author of many books, including Defiant Earth: The Fate of Humans in the Anthropocene, Silent Invasion: China's Influence in Australia and Provocateur: A Life of Ideas in Action. The article discussed in the show is "Wake up, lefties, and reject wokeness." The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authorityand Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Christian or not, it's undeniable that Western civilization, and the United States in particular, has deep historical roots in Judeo-Christian teachings.  Scripture has shaped much of our culture, thought, values, and politics.  But while plenty of Biblical passages appear to have political implications, there's little consensus among the general population—to say nothing of the religiously devoted—what a political worldview based on the Bible should look like.   Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis continues his conversation with Jonathan Cole on the topic of political theology.  But this time they turn their attention to more practical applications of how specific Scriptures might inform our politics and how we might avoid the pitfalls of making our politics too religious or our religion too political.   About Jonathan Cole From Jonathan Cole's website: Dr Jonathan Cole is a scholar, writer, translator and lecturer specializing in political theology—the intersection between religion and politics.   He is currently Assistant Director of Research at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture at Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia, and host of The Political Animals Podcast: "Honest conversations about the political, theological and cultural ideas that shape who we are in the 21st century."   He has a PhD in political theology from CSU, an MA in Islamic theology and Middle Eastern politics from the Australian National University and a BA Hons in Modern Greek language and history from La Trobe University.  He speaks Greek.   He spent 13 years working in a number of Australian federal government departments and agencies in Canberra, including seven years in intelligence, most recently as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at the Office of National Assessments (2010–2014).   Follow Jonathan on Facebook, Twitter, or Academia for his latest content.  

“I never discuss anything else except politics and religion,” English writer, philosopher, and Christian apologist G. K. Chesterton once quipped.  “There is nothing else to discuss.”  For some sensible, genteel Americans, politics and religion are precisely what you don't discuss in public and—perhaps even—in private company.  Others discuss both with ease yet may have trouble thinking through what their politics might say about their religion, or how their religion ought to inform their politics.   The discipline of political theology specializes in studying the intersect between politics and religion.  Joining Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is returning guest from the land Down Under, Jonathan Cole.  Jonathan briefly discusses the history of political theology before turning to how we might understand political theology and how Christianity in particular has shaped the governments of Western civilization.  This is the first of a two-part conversation.  Catch part 2 in the next episode.   About Jonathan Cole From Jonathan Cole's website: Dr Jonathan Cole is a scholar, writer, translator and lecturer specializing in political theology—the intersection between religion and politics.   He is currently Assistant Director of Research at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture at Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia, and host of The Political Animals Podcast: "Honest conversations about the political, theological and cultural ideas that shape who we are in the 21st century."   He has a PhD in political theology from CSU, an MA in Islamic theology and Middle Eastern politics from the Australian National University and a BA Hons in Modern Greek language and history from La Trobe University.  He speaks Greek.   He spent 13 years working in a number of Australian federal government departments and agencies in Canberra, including seven years in intelligence, most recently as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at the Office of National Assessments (2010–2014).   Follow Jonathan on Facebook, Twitter, or Academia for his latest content.  

In this episode, Jonathan engages in a conversation about conservatism with political philosopher and radical feminist Holly Lawford-Smith. They do so by discussing Burke's classic text, Reflections on The Revolution in France, which they both read (Holly for the first time) in preparation for the podcast. The conversation ranges across reform versus revolution, the strengths and weaknesses of liberalism, the role and function of religion in society, social hierarchy and more. Dr Holly Lawford-Smith is an Associate Professor in political philosophy in the school of historical and philosophical studies at the University of Melbourne. Her latest book is (with Angie Pepper): Is it Wrong to Buy Sex? A Debate (Routledge, 2023). She is also the author of Gender-Critical Feminism (OUP, 2022). The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authorityand Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Free speech warrior Brendan O'Neill joins Jonathan for a discussion about free speech, cancel culture, linguistic tyranny and the Orwellian assault on reality afflicting contemporary Western societies. Brendan is a journalist who has written columns for the Australian, the Spectator and the Big Issue. He is best know for his work at Spiked, where he is Chief Political Writer and formerly Editor. He has published several collections of essays, including Anti-Woke, Duty to Offend and most recently A Heretic's Manifesto: Essays on the Unsayable. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Jonathan is joined by Russian-Australian scholar Andreas Berg for a deep dive on contemporary Russia. They cover the anarchic chaos of the 1990s transition from communism, the rise of Vladimir Putin, the nature and operation of Putin's regime, the complex and fraught relationship between Russia and Ukraine, the current war in Ukraine, the would-be rebellion of Evgeny Prigozhin's Wagner PMC and the fate of Russia post-Putin. Dr Andreas Berg is an intellectual historian with a PhD from Griffith University on the interplay between the Enlightenment and mystical discourses in eighteen century Russia. For over a decade, he taught the humanities at Griffith and Bond Universities and he is currently pursuing post-graduate study in international relations at the Australian National University. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Jonathan is joined by Pieter Valk for a conversation about how churches that adhere to traditional Christian teaching on sexuality and sexual ethics can care for and support gay and trans Christians. Pieter Valk is the founder and director of Equip, a consulting ministry aimed at helping churches to be places where gay and LGBT Christians can thrive in line with the church's traditional and historic sexual ethic. Valk is also the founder of the Family of Brothers, an organisation aimed at fostering family and community among men called to vocational singleness. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Jonathan is joined by conservative commentator Gray Connolly for an examination of the good, the bad and the ugly of contemporary conservatism. They cover the traditional conservative understanding of government, authority, society, family, duty, inheritance and culture and the many libertarian (and populist) heresies perverting this understanding amongst so-called "conservatives." Gray Connolly is a Barrister in Sydney, Australia. He has a broad public law and commercial law practice, including constitutional law, energy and resources law, and admiralty/shipping law. In particular, Gray has advised the Australian Government on national security law and public law matters. Gray also lectures in constitutional law and he also serves part-time as a Senior Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of the Commonwealth of Australia.  Gray served previously as a Naval Intelligence officer in the Royal Australian Navy in the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, East Timor, and the Middle East, including service in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Gray writes on what interests him at his blog “Strategy Counsel” and in various publications. Gray's Twitter is @GrayConnolly. Please note that all of Gray's opinions are his opinions only and not those of any Australian Government entity. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

What challenges does China pose to Australia's security? And have the recent policy responses from Australian Governments been effective? In this episode of the National Security Podcast, Dr Euan Graham, IISS Shangri-La Dialogue Senior Fellow, discusses his new book, Australia's Security in China's Shadow, with Professor Rory Medcalf in front of a live audience.The conversation follows insightful opening remarks delivered by Richard Maude, Senior Fellow at Asia Society Australia, and former Director-General of the Office of National Assessments.Dr Carolyn Bull is Deputy Head of the ANU National Security College, seconded from the Office of National Intelligence, Australia's peak intelligence agency.Richard Maude is Senior Fellow at Asia Society Australia, and former Director-General of the Office of National Assessments.Dr Euan Graham is a Shangri-La Dialogue Senior Fellow for Indo-Pacific Defence and Strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).Professor Rory Medcalf AM is Head of the ANU National Security College. His professional experience spans more than three decades across diplomacy, intelligence analysis, think tanks, journalism and academia. Show notes: Opening remarks delivered by Richard MaudeBook: Australia's Security in China's Shadow by Euan GrahamANU National Security College academic programs: find out more We'd love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Milbank joins Jonathan for wide-ranging tour of political theology, contemporary secular politics, contemporary political problems, cultural decadence and the opportunities and challenges for a Christian contribution to our contemporary political malaise. John Milbank is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham. He is a co-founder of the radical orthodox movement and author of the seminal book, Theology & Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason. His work traverses systematic theology, social theory, ethics, aesthetics, philosophy, political theory and political theology. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Join The Voices Of War exclusive community by subscribing today. Connect our private feed with your favourite pod-catcher at https://thevoicesofwar.supercast.com/ As a former refugee and migrant, I can appreciate that even a few dollars per month might be too much to spare on a podcast. If you are in this situation and cannot afford a subscription, please email me as I have an alternate solution for you. Any universities or other educational establishments need only email me and I will share the full file with them of any episodes they wish to use. -----   My guest today is Dr Robert ‘Bob' Bowker whose career in the politics and analysis of the Middle East spans five decades. He spent 37 years as an Australian diplomat in the region, firstly on postings to Saudi Arabia (74-06), and Syria (79-81) and later as the Australian ambassador to Jordan (89-92), Egypt (05-08) as well as non-resident ambassador to Syria, Libya, Tunisia, and Sudan. Bob also held senior roles at the United Nations Relief and Works Program for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (1997-1998,) based in Gaza and Jerusalem.    Following his diplomatic career, Bob spent more than a decade as an academic, firstly as an Adjunct Professor and later as an Honorary Fellow at the ANU Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies. For a period of that time, Bob also served as an intelligence analyst with the Office of National Assessments.    Bob recently published a memoir about his extensive career and personal attachment to the Middle East titled, ‘Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots: an Australian Diplomat in the Arab World'. Bob joins me today to discuss his book as well as his views on the state of the Middle East, its predominant and enduring fault lines, as well as the role of the West in the region.    Some of the topics we covered are: ·      Bob's introduction to Islam and the Arab World ·      Misrepresentation of the Arab World's relationship with the West ·      Meaning of the book's title and why it captures the sentiment of the Middle East ·      Importance of cross-cultural engagement for diplomatic success and understanding of power structures ·      Memorable cultural exchanges and their impact  ·      The importance of history to societies of the Middle East ·      Western politicians' failure to consider culture and history when dealing with the Middle East ·      Analysis of the 2003 Iraq Invasion, its background, and failures ·      Australia's involvement in the Iraq War  ·      Whether Australia should debate a decision to go to war in the Parliament ·      Reconciling the tensions between national interests and promoting certain values ·      Bob's work in Palestine with United Nations Relief and Works Program for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA) ·      Analysis of the Palestine and Israel conflict and why peace remains untenable  ·      Why the ‘Two State Solution' is dead ·      The unwavering US support for Israel and the possibility of change ·      The future of Iran's relationship with the West and the US ·      Prospects of Chinese success in mediating between Iran and Saudi Arabia

Knox Peden returns to the show to discuss his interesting, and by today's standard unusual, journey from secular intellectual influenced by Spinoza and Marx to practicing Catholic. Dr Knox Peden is an intellectual historian who has taught philosophy and history at the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University and the University of Queensland. He has published widely on French philosophy and on a variety of topics in intellectual history, including Spinozism and Marxism. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow the show on Twitter and Instagram.

Constantine Campbell joins Jonathan for a discussion of his provocative book Jesus v. Evangelicals: A Biblical Critique of a Wayward Movement. They discuss Penal Substitutionary Atonement, the hierarchy of evangelical sins, megachurch culture, Evangelical social and political engagement and more. Constantine Campbell is a New Testament scholar who has taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Chicago, and Moore Theological College, Sydney, Australia. He is currently professor and associate director at the Sydney College of Divinity. He is the author of Jesus v. Evangelicals: A Biblical Critique of a Wayward Movement. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow the show on Twitter and Instagram.

Jonathan is joined by sociologist Kristina Stoeckl for a deep dive on the Russian Orthodox Church, tracing its complex journey from repression under Soviet communism to support for Vladimir Putin and source of an orthodox nationalist state ideology. Kristina Stoeckl is Professor of Sociology at LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome, as well as an adjunct professor at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. Her main areas of research are sociology of religion, political sociology and social and political theory. She is a leading specialist on Russian Orthodoxy and religion-state relations in Russia. Her most recent book, co-authored with Drmitry Uzlaner, is The Moralist International: Russia in the Global Culture Wars. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow the show on Twitter and Instagram.

Sociologist John Carroll joins Jonathan for an examination of the decline of Western culture. They discuss the failure of humanism to find meaning on the big metaphysical questions in a post-Christian world, the importance of archetypes and their transmission through a canon of great literature, the way that popular culture has replaced high culture, and why that might be a good thing (it's more conservative than people realise), the role of universities in the decline of Western culture and what is wrong with young people today, plus more! John Carroll is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at La Trobe University, Melbourne. He is the author of many books, including On Guilt: The Force Shaping Character, History, and Culture, The Existential Jesus and The Wreck of Western Culture: Humanism Revisited. He also writes for The Australian. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow the show on Twitter and Instagram.

Mario Baghos joins Jonathan for a conversation about the symbolic and sacred function of ancient cities and the decline and mutation of this function in modern cities. Dr Mario Baghos is an Academic Sessional in the Department of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, as well as Adjunct Lecturer in Theology in the Faculty of Arts and Education at Charles Sturt University. From 2010 to 2022 he taught patristics and church history at St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College, Sydney. He has also lectured in the discipline of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney. His most recent book is From the Ancient Near East to Christian Byzantium: Kings, Symbols, and Cities. Use promo code PROMO25 at checkout for a 25% discount! The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow the show on Twitter and Instagram.

Michael Bird returns to the show for a discussion about secularism. Jonathan and Michael cover the Christian origins of secularism, why it is in the interests of religious people to have a secular government, the threat to the secular compact by militant secularism and the inimical impact of the contemporary perversion of genuine secularism. Dr Michael Bird is Academic Dean and Lecturer in New Testament at Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia. He is the author and editor of more than thirty books, including Religious Freedom in a Secular Age: A Christian Case for Liberty, Equality, and Secular Government. He writes at michaelbird.substack.com. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow the show on Twitter and Instagram.

Michael Jensen joins Jonathan for an exploration of the ins and outs of Sydney's unique, and influential, brand of Anglicanism. The conversation covers the historical origins of the Sydney diocese and its distinct character, controversies surrounding the chasuble, lay presidency (administration) and women in ministry, as well as Sydney Anglican politics (ecclesial and secular), and whether Sydney Anglicans (and other Evangelical Anglicans) can, and should, remain part of the Anglican Church of Australia. Rev Dr Michael Jensen is the Rector at St Mark's, Darling Point, Sydney, a former lecturer in theology at Moore Theological College, and the author of many books, including Sydney Anglicanism: An Apology. He is also the co-host of the With All Due Respect Podcast. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter.

Katherine Mangu-Ward joins Jonathan for a conversation about libertarianism. They explore the role of reason and free markets in the libertarian philosophy, the role and legitimate scope of government, progress towards libertarian goals over the 20th century, the tension between libertarianism's future-oriented optimism and conservatism's past-oriented pessimism about the future, the libertarian perspective on the contemporary Left and Right in America, the culture wars and why Christians are finding libertarianism increasingly attractive. Katherine Mangu-Ward is editor in chief of Reason, the magazine of "free minds and free markets." She has worked at The Weekly Standard and the New York Times. Her writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post and she is a frequent commentator on radio and television, including Fox, MSNBC, C-SPAN and HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. She is also a co-host on The Reason Roundtable podcast. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter.

Jonathan is joined by historian Judith Brett for a conversation about the history of liberalism in Australia. They explore the impact of 19th century liberalism on Australian politics and identity, the political struggle between liberalism and the Labor movement in the 20th century, the idea of the 'moral middle class' and its support for the Liberal Party in the early and mid-20th century, the changing demographics and economy of Australia and their impact on liberalism and the fortunes of the Liberal Party. Judith Brett is Emeritus Professor at La Trobe University, where she taught Australian politics, political biography and political history. She is the author of Robert Menzies' Forgotten People, Australian Liberals and the Moral Middle Class and The Enigmatic Mr Deakin. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. Jonathan posts regularly about political theology, political philosophy and conservatism on Facebook and Twitter.

Intellectual historian Wayne Hudson returns to the show for a discussion of his recently published book, Beyond Religion and the Secular: Creative Spiritual Movements and Their Relevance to Political, Social and Cultural Reform (Bloomsbury, 2023). Wayne and Jonathan ponder what religion has to offer humanity in advanced technological societies (a question posed in the book), and along the way explore Wayne's critique of the concept "religion," the role of the Enlightenment in the problematic category of "religion," false ontological and epistemological assumptions underpinning contemporary critiques of "religion," problematic dualistic notions of "religion" and the "secular," problems with the new concepts of "post-religion" and "post-secular" and the positive and essential role of spirituality to the processes of human evolution and our future as a species. Wayne Hudson is an Adjunct Professor at Charles Sturt University, the Australian National University and the University of Tasmania. His most recent book is Beyond Religion and the Secular: Creative Spiritual Movements and Their Relevance to Political, Social and Cultural Reform. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. Jonathan posts regularly about political theology, political philosophy and conservatism on Facebook and Twitter. Help the show thrive and survive by making a financial donation here.

Jonathan is joined by Simon Kennedy for a discussion of Yoram Hazony's celebrated 2022 book, Conservatism: A Rediscovery. They focus on the the contrast Hazony draws between conservatism and liberalism, with particular emphasis on conservative and liberal epistemologies, the role of public religion, the failure of liberalism and the the influence of neo-Marxist ideas in contemporary Western culture and institutions. Dr Simon Kennedy is a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, both in the Law School and at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, where he works on the intersections between law, political thought and religion. He is the author of Reforming the Law of Nature: The Secularisation of Political Thought, 1532–1689. In 2023, he will be a Visiting Fellow at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium in Budapest, Hungary. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. Jonathan posts regularly about political theology, political philosophy and conservatism on Facebook and Twitter. Help the show thrive and survive by making a financial donation here.

Late last year Jonathan Cole had Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis on his podcast, The Political Animals, to talk about the quirkiness of American conservatism, the rise of the NatCons, and whether there's any hope for Josh's brand of fusionist conservatism in the future.  The conversation was simply too good not to share, so here is a re-podcast of Jonathan's original episode.   About Jonathan Cole From Jonathan Cole's website: Dr Jonathan Cole is a scholar, writer, translator and lecturer specializing in political theology—the intersection between religion and politics.   He is currently Assistant Director of Research at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture at Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia, and host of The Political Animals Podcast: "Honest conversations about the political, theological and cultural ideas that shape who we are in the 21st century."   He has a PhD in political theology from CSU, an MA in Islamic theology and Middle Eastern politics from the Australian National University and a BA Hons in Modern Greek language and history from La Trobe University.  He speaks Greek.   He spent 13 years working in a number of Australian federal government departments and agencies in Canberra, including seven years in intelligence, most recently as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at the Office of National Assessments (2010–2014).   Follow Jonathan on Facebook, Twitter, or Academia for his latest content. CenterClip Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is honored to share he's joined the small but growing team of contributors at CenterClip, an exciting, new audio content platform featuring elevated political discourse.  CenterClip is a free app with short audio clips from established political pundits, journalists, commentators, and politicians from across the political spectrum.  All content is created and heard within the CenterClip app, including contributors interacting with each other's posts covering political commentary in real time.  Download the app today and enjoy its elevated discourse.  

Jonathan is joined by fellow conservative podcaster Josh Lewis for a discussion about the evolving realignments on the American Right in the wake of the political earthquake that was (still is) Donald Trump. They explore conservative philosophy, fusionism, the rise of nationalist populism, the state of American culture, the place and role of America on the global stage, the Right's loss of faith in the American project and finding hope amidst a profound and pervasive sense of conservative failure in the US. Josh Lewis is the host of the Saving Elephants podcast: "Re-igniting Conservatism for Millennials." The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. Jonathan posts regularly about political theology, political philosophy and conservatism on Facebook and Twitter. Help the show thrive and survive by making a financial donation here.

The pandemic had a devastating effect on everyone involved in Minnesota education. Teachers are burned out, staff shortages abound, and students are years behind where they should be in crucial subjects. How do we support the education system and catch kids up? Test scores are dismal, but educators, families and communities are working to fill in the gaps. A group of education professionals shared what they are seeing at school with MPR News host Angela Davis. Together they explored what to do to confront the challenges. Guests: Josh Crosson is the executive director of Ed Allies, an organization that works to ensure that all Minnesota students, especially those most underserved, have access to a great education. Rachel Pearson is a parent advocate and trainer at the PACER Center, a nonprofit that champions youth with disabilities and their families. Brenda Cassellius has spent three decades as an educator – most recently as the superintendent of Boston Public Schools, and before that, as Minnesota's Commissioner of Education. Here are five key moments from the conversation. The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity. Click the audio player or video above to listen to the full conversation. What exactly are we facing with COVID learning loss? To what extent can we quantify it? Josh Crosson: We have the data that is coming from the National Assessments and the State Assessments. There is a steady reduction in math and reading even before the pandemic happened. And when you look at fourth grade reading, especially in Minnesota, we have for the first time dropped below the national average for all students in reading. We have seen that COVID has exacerbated those disparities and students of color, students with disabilities, low income learners, and English language learners were hit particularly hard. Brenda Cassellius: Even though the numbers are not exact, the difficulties are very real. Our children are asking for help with their own sense of agency around advocating for their peers and for themselves as well. What I think is most striking is the intersectionality of the data of our students who are in special education, students of color, students in poverty, students who are EO (English only), and all of those barriers in front of them in terms of getting a great education. We should be looking at all the ways in which they are struggling, particularly our most vulnerable kids. Rachel Pearson: We hear parents tell us every day about the loss that their students with disabilities experienced during the pandemic, and parents that had a bird's eye view because education moved into the home setting. The loss is tangible and palpable, we do not have hardcore numbers yet to describe it, though. Was remote learning and not having the tools a big part of why we saw the slide backwards? Brenda Cassellius: It absolutely was. There were teachers who really did not know how to use computers even, and then there were communication problems with families who spoke a language other than English at home. So we purchased a program that helped through text so that when you speak in English, it goes over in the other language, and then they could understand and they could speak that language back, and then the teachers could read it in English. I want to thank our families, because being in a remote environment was brand new and we could not have done it without them. Josh Crosson: At the start of the pandemic, about 17 percent of Minnesotans did not have access to a computer or internet, and that was a huge slide especially in great and rural Minnesota where the service is choppy in certain areas. Poverty and express needs based on income, is absolutely something that we need to be addressing. Rachel Pearson: One of the biggest issues for students with disabilities is getting a one-on-one personal device into the hands of students and getting any IT literacy available to the parents and the family. Moreover, access was a matter of just instruction losing all meaning when it was communicated and provided to them remotely. They could not access it because it did not work for them. Help us understand the impact on students with disabilities. Rachel Pearson: There are students with learning disabilities who use particular forms of assistive technology in the classroom. Getting them access to that assistive technology to connect to their classroom was difficult. Another sample of students with behavioral disabilities are the ones who rely on the support of a paraprofessional to participate successfully in a classroom. Well, school districts did not have the capacity to send one-to-one paraprofessionals or shared paraprofessionals home. So parents were attempting to fulfill that role if they were available. In Minnesota, there is a law that mandates schools help families of students with an existing IEP (individualized education plan) come up with a path forward. Despite being an important law, parents had to learn all of the vocabulary around eligibility determination process and to present evidence. It was not enough to say, yes, my child was harmed by distance learning. Brenda Cassellius: It was heart wrenching as a superintendent to not be able to serve our special needs students, particularly our students with complex needs, like PT (physical therapy). I would be in zoom calls with parents who were sobbing, because they were watching their children regress. And we could not deploy enough services because the complex needs were so great that they had multiple service providers in the school for their individual education plans. So we designed a committee with parents, union teacher leaders, administrators and students, to try to figure out how can we get our highest need priority kids back to school as soon as possible. Josh Crosson: I think what we are seeing is a mental health crisis in our schools as well. Talking to parents, to educators, to students, mental health needs and concerns are being highlighted, which are not necessarily being captured by our IEPs, or our special education services. It is bringing up new issues around COVID recovery that we need to address immediately. What are the impacts of the teacher shortage? Brenda Cassellius: We cannot get good test scores or student achievement if we do not have a caring and competent teacher in every single classroom. Unfortunately, teachers are not coming into the field because of the perceptions that it is a very difficult and low payed job. Several years ago, Minnesota passed the tiered licensing that allows teachers to have a tiered system to get into entry level positions, and then grow and become a master teacher. We need more innovation around that. And then we need more diverse teachers who understand the cultural competence of the students and are able to work with students with multiple disabilities Josh Crosson: In the state of Minnesota we define a shortage as any teacher currently in the classroom, that has an entry level teaching position. We are calling a teachers who are in front of our students, who are doing well by many measures, a shortage, a deficit. Twenty five percent of them are our teachers of color. Minnesota invested $400,000 in a program called “Come teach in Minnesota” since we are the fifth widest Teaching Cohort in the nation. We got six people to move to the state but they did not qualify because they were coming in at that entry level license, as a tier two license teacher. Rachel Pearson: There is also a massive paraprofessional shortage in school districts across the state. When the number of paraprofessionals goes down, the students with disabilities who rely on them to be successful, could lose their inclusion opportunity. That is just tremendously hurtful for students with disabilities. There are also bus driver shortages across the state. And means that school districts have to send bus drivers out on early routes and late routes. As a consequence, students with disabilities are going home early and missing part of their last class at school, which is a violation of their right to free and appropriate public education. What role does tutoring play moving forward? Josh Crosson: We know high dosage tutoring works very well. What we are still trying to figure out is how to get that tutoring in an equitable way. How are we providing transportation services? How are we educating parents and students about these opportunities?, and incentivizing these opportunities as well. Unfortunately, when we do not have substitutes, or bus drivers, those roles are being filled by reading specialists and by tutors. In rural Minnesota, we have seen the principal being a bus driver and the principal. Rachel Pearson: A tutor brings an extra injection of services across the board, specially from the perspective of students with disabilities. Whether that is mental health support, getting out into the community for employment, reading skills, and independent living skills, whether that is an extra heavy dose of of learning Braille, learning sign language, assistive technology literacy, social skills… all of these things are needed to be poured into our students now. Brenda Cassellius: It is going to take along time to dig ourselves out of the hole. I would say 10 years of effort. It will have to be intentional, even with tutoring. People think that getting tutors is a quick fix and all of a sudden students are going to know these concepts and be able to thrive. This is a much more complex situation and it will be down to the individual student family level to see progress. Story Circle highlights Last week, MPR's Community Engagement team hosted a Story Circle for educators, students and parents in Minnesota to share their experience with COVID learning loss.  Suki Mozenter, education teacher at the University of Minnesota Duluth:  What did kids learn during the pandemic? They learned that everything can completely fall apart. They learned that they can lose the people who care for them. They learned that being together can be unsafe, to the point where we had to stay away from each other. That being alone can be awful and really lonely. When we talk about learning loss, it shifts away from what our kids have learned and what we need to then teach them so they can cope with this new learning. Kija Deer, Jacob Stanoch and E. Meier, who were in school when COVID broke out: Kija Deer: I was a junior going into the COVID era. I was not really doing much of my schoolwork, I was just letting it build up because I was like, it is online. I can do it whenever. So I did not graduate the year I was supposed to.    Jacob Stanoch: Especially during the pandemic, there was a lack of motivation to get things done. They are not doing as much so they are not learning as much. Since they are not learning as much, they do not care as much. We wanted to go back into the classroom and go back to the traditional way of learning because of the social aspects that came with being in a classroom. We did not want to adapt to this new learning style and be online only talking through social media.  E. Meier: I like the idea of being able to learn more independently. I consider myself a strong writer, so it had been nice to not be babysat through papers and assignments that I knew how to do. Hopping on and getting your assignment and hopping off Zoom was kinda nice.   Ayan Omar, former language arts teacher and current equity director for St. Cloud public schools:   I am seeing more and more classroom teachers where the kid has 53 missing assignments. They are just trying to find a way to equip this student with the skills necessary to do better. Not necessarily to get caught up. If you are a couple of grade levels behind in reading, what skills do you need to face tomorrow? So that gives me hope that, not only are parents really evaluating their own approach to their own children, but we have teachers willing to say: this kid is not going to understand Shakespeare, but I am going to teach him how to make friends.  To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above. Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

The pandemic had a devastating effect on everyone involved in Minnesota education. Teachers are burned out, staff shortages abound, and students are years behind where they should be in crucial subjects. How do we support the education system and catch kids up? Test scores are dismal, but educators, families and communities are working to fill in the gaps. A group of education professionals shared what they are seeing at school with MPR News host Angela Davis. Together they explored what to do to confront the challenges. Guests: Josh Crosson is the executive director of Ed Allies, an organization that works to ensure that all Minnesota students, especially those most underserved, have access to a great education. Rachel Pearson is a parent advocate and trainer at the PACER Center, a nonprofit that champions youth with disabilities and their families. Brenda Cassellius has spent three decades as an educator – most recently as the superintendent of Boston Public Schools, and before that, as Minnesota's Commissioner of Education. Here are five key moments from the conversation. The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity. Click the audio player or video above to listen to the full conversation. What exactly are we facing with COVID learning loss? To what extent can we quantify it? Josh Crosson: We have the data that is coming from the National Assessments and the State Assessments. There is a steady reduction in math and reading even before the pandemic happened. And when you look at fourth grade reading, especially in Minnesota, we have for the first time dropped below the national average for all students in reading. We have seen that COVID has exacerbated those disparities and students of color, students with disabilities, low income learners, and English language learners were hit particularly hard. Brenda Cassellius: Even though the numbers are not exact, the difficulties are very real. Our children are asking for help with their own sense of agency around advocating for their peers and for themselves as well. What I think is most striking is the intersectionality of the data of our students who are in special education, students of color, students in poverty, students who are EO (English only), and all of those barriers in front of them in terms of getting a great education. We should be looking at all the ways in which they are struggling, particularly our most vulnerable kids. Rachel Pearson: We hear parents tell us every day about the loss that their students with disabilities experienced during the pandemic, and parents that had a bird's eye view because education moved into the home setting. The loss is tangible and palpable, we do not have hardcore numbers yet to describe it, though. Was remote learning and not having the tools a big part of why we saw the slide backwards? Brenda Cassellius: It absolutely was. There were teachers who really did not know how to use computers even, and then there were communication problems with families who spoke a language other than English at home. So we purchased a program that helped through text so that when you speak in English, it goes over in the other language, and then they could understand and they could speak that language back, and then the teachers could read it in English. I want to thank our families, because being in a remote environment was brand new and we could not have done it without them. Josh Crosson: At the start of the pandemic, about 17 percent of Minnesotans did not have access to a computer or internet, and that was a huge slide especially in great and rural Minnesota where the service is choppy in certain areas. Poverty and express needs based on income, is absolutely something that we need to be addressing. Rachel Pearson: One of the biggest issues for students with disabilities is getting a one-on-one personal device into the hands of students and getting any IT literacy available to the parents and the family. Moreover, access was a matter of just instruction losing all meaning when it was communicated and provided to them remotely. They could not access it because it did not work for them. Help us understand the impact on students with disabilities. Rachel Pearson: There are students with learning disabilities who use particular forms of assistive technology in the classroom. Getting them access to that assistive technology to connect to their classroom was difficult. Another sample of students with behavioral disabilities are the ones who rely on the support of a paraprofessional to participate successfully in a classroom. Well, school districts did not have the capacity to send one-to-one paraprofessionals or shared paraprofessionals home. So parents were attempting to fulfill that role if they were available. In Minnesota, there is a law that mandates schools help families of students with an existing IEP (individualized education plan) come up with a path forward. Despite being an important law, parents had to learn all of the vocabulary around eligibility determination process and to present evidence. It was not enough to say, yes, my child was harmed by distance learning. Brenda Cassellius: It was heart wrenching as a superintendent to not be able to serve our special needs students, particularly our students with complex needs, like PT (physical therapy). I would be in zoom calls with parents who were sobbing, because they were watching their children regress. And we could not deploy enough services because the complex needs were so great that they had multiple service providers in the school for their individual education plans. So we designed a committee with parents, union teacher leaders, administrators and students, to try to figure out how can we get our highest need priority kids back to school as soon as possible. Josh Crosson: I think what we are seeing is a mental health crisis in our schools as well. Talking to parents, to educators, to students, mental health needs and concerns are being highlighted, which are not necessarily being captured by our IEPs, or our special education services. It is bringing up new issues around COVID recovery that we need to address immediately. What are the impacts of the teacher shortage? Brenda Cassellius: We cannot get good test scores or student achievement if we do not have a caring and competent teacher in every single classroom. Unfortunately, teachers are not coming into the field because of the perceptions that it is a very difficult and low payed job. Several years ago, Minnesota passed the tiered licensing that allows teachers to have a tiered system to get into entry level positions, and then grow and become a master teacher. We need more innovation around that. And then we need more diverse teachers who understand the cultural competence of the students and are able to work with students with multiple disabilities Josh Crosson: In the state of Minnesota we define a shortage as any teacher currently in the classroom, that has an entry level teaching position. We are calling a teachers who are in front of our students, who are doing well by many measures, a shortage, a deficit. Twenty five percent of them are our teachers of color. Minnesota invested $400,000 in a program called “Come teach in Minnesota” since we are the fifth widest Teaching Cohort in the nation. We got six people to move to the state but they did not qualify because they were coming in at that entry level license, as a tier two license teacher. Rachel Pearson: There is also a massive paraprofessional shortage in school districts across the state. When the number of paraprofessionals goes down, the students with disabilities who rely on them to be successful, could lose their inclusion opportunity. That is just tremendously hurtful for students with disabilities. There are also bus driver shortages across the state. And means that school districts have to send bus drivers out on early routes and late routes. As a consequence, students with disabilities are going home early and missing part of their last class at school, which is a violation of their right to free and appropriate public education. What role does tutoring play moving forward? Josh Crosson: We know high dosage tutoring works very well. What we are still trying to figure out is how to get that tutoring in an equitable way. How are we providing transportation services? How are we educating parents and students about these opportunities?, and incentivizing these opportunities as well. Unfortunately, when we do not have substitutes, or bus drivers, those roles are being filled by reading specialists and by tutors. In rural Minnesota, we have seen the principal being a bus driver and the principal. Rachel Pearson: A tutor brings an extra injection of services across the board, specially from the perspective of students with disabilities. Whether that is mental health support, getting out into the community for employment, reading skills, and independent living skills, whether that is an extra heavy dose of of learning Braille, learning sign language, assistive technology literacy, social skills… all of these things are needed to be poured into our students now. Brenda Cassellius: It is going to take along time to dig ourselves out of the hole. I would say 10 years of effort. It will have to be intentional, even with tutoring. People think that getting tutors is a quick fix and all of a sudden students are going to know these concepts and be able to thrive. This is a much more complex situation and it will be down to the individual student family level to see progress. Story Circle highlights Last week, MPR's Community Engagement team hosted a Story Circle for educators, students and parents in Minnesota to share their experience with COVID learning loss.  Suki Mozenter, education teacher at the University of Minnesota Duluth:  What did kids learn during the pandemic? They learned that everything can completely fall apart. They learned that they can lose the people who care for them. They learned that being together can be unsafe, to the point where we had to stay away from each other. That being alone can be awful and really lonely. When we talk about learning loss, it shifts away from what our kids have learned and what we need to then teach them so they can cope with this new learning. Kija Deer, Jacob Stanoch and E. Meier, who were in school when COVID broke out: Kija Deer: I was a junior going into the COVID era. I was not really doing much of my schoolwork, I was just letting it build up because I was like, it is online. I can do it whenever. So I did not graduate the year I was supposed to.    Jacob Stanoch: Especially during the pandemic, there was a lack of motivation to get things done. They are not doing as much so they are not learning as much. Since they are not learning as much, they do not care as much. We wanted to go back into the classroom and go back to the traditional way of learning because of the social aspects that came with being in a classroom. We did not want to adapt to this new learning style and be online only talking through social media.  E. Meier: I like the idea of being able to learn more independently. I consider myself a strong writer, so it had been nice to not be babysat through papers and assignments that I knew how to do. Hopping on and getting your assignment and hopping off Zoom was kinda nice.   Ayan Omar, former language arts teacher and current equity director for St. Cloud public schools:   I am seeing more and more classroom teachers where the kid has 53 missing assignments. They are just trying to find a way to equip this student with the skills necessary to do better. Not necessarily to get caught up. If you are a couple of grade levels behind in reading, what skills do you need to face tomorrow? So that gives me hope that, not only are parents really evaluating their own approach to their own children, but we have teachers willing to say: this kid is not going to understand Shakespeare, but I am going to teach him how to make friends.  To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above. Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Host Jonathan is joined by Dan Paterson, a pastor, apologist and evangelist, for an exploration of the challenges and opportunities to introduce young people to the Christian good news in a culture now characterised by widespread ignorance of Christianity and growing hostility towards the faith, yet crying out for meaning. Dan Patterson is the founder of Questioning Christianity, a ministry helping people to connect the Christian story to life's deepest questions. He has been a pastor, lecturer and public speaker and has studied theology and apologetics in Australia and at Oxford. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. Jonathan posts regularly about political theology, political philosophy and conservatism on Facebook and Twitter. Help the show thrive and survive by making a financial donation here.

Martyn Iles joins Jonathan for a wide-ranging conversation about the wisdom of Donald Trump making another presidential bid, the moral equivocation among sections of the Right over Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the need to move on from the trauma of Covid, but also to learn lessons from mistakes in the response, and why Christians need to adjust to living in a modern version of Babylon. Martyn Iles is Managing-Director of the Australian Christian Lobby and host of The Truth of It. You can watch The Truth of it Live 'Babylon' trilogy here. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality.

Author and political commentator Gerard Henderson joins Jonathan for a conversation about B.A. Santamaria and the seminal political moments in Australia history that he was involved in. Drawing on his personal recollections of knowing and working with Santamaria, as well as the three books he has written on this "most unusual man," Gerard tells the story of communist influence in the trade union movement and Santamaria's efforts to combat it through "The Movement," the Labor Party split and Labor Party leader Bert Evatt's efforts to lay the blame at the feet of Santamaria and Victoria's catholics, the creation of the Democratic Labor Party, as well as the role of Archbishop Daniel Mannix and Santamaria as tribal Catholic leaders in an age of anti-Catholic sectarianism. Gerard Henderson is an author, columnist and political commentator. He is Executive Director of The Sydney Institute, a privately funded Australian current affairs forum, and author of Santamaria: A Most Unusual Man. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. Jonathan posts regularly about political theology, political philosophy and conservatism on Facebook and Twitter.

Jonathan is joined by Gary Chartier for a critical dialogue about his forthcoming book, Christianity and the Nation-State: A Study in Political Theology. The book provocatively contends that states are fundamentally illegitimate and dangerous, notwithstanding many Christian attempts at justifying their existence, and that they can be replaced with a stateless world constituted by multiple forces of independent, self-organising, overlapping associations. Gary Chartier is Distinguished Professor of Law and Business Ethics and Associate Dean of the Tom and Vi Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University, Riverside, California. He is a theologian, philosopher, legal scholar and political theorist. You can find out more about Gary and his writing here. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. Jonathan posts regularly about political theology, political philosophy and conservatism on Facebook and Twitter.

Jonathan is joined by Anna White-Atkins for a deep-dive on the Uniting Church from the perspective of its Evangelical pastors and congregations. They explore the good, the bad and the ugly of the Uniting Church and the commitment of its Evangelical members to work for its renewal. Anna White-Atkins is a project officer at Propel Network, a new national network of evangelical leaders, congregations and agencies in the Uniting Church in Australia. Prior to joining Propel, she was pastor of a Uniting Church congregation in Melbourne for ten years. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and the accession to the throne of King Charles III, Jonathan engages in a friendly debate with legal philosopher Joshua Neoh about Australia's constitutional monarchy and its republican alternatives. Joshua outlines his case for monarchy per se, and the British monarchy specifically, followed by Jonathan outlining his case for a minimalist republic. The conversation covers the role of the British monarchy in the Australian constitution, its symbolic force, the changing nature of Australian culture and its evolving relationship to the United Kingdom, the dangers of a popularly elected head of state and the way that different political theologies might lead to the embrace of monarchism or republicanism. Dr Joshua Neoh is an Associate Professor of Law at the Australian National University. He teaches courses in legal theory and law and the humanities. His research interest is in the philosophy of law, including political theology. He is the author of Law, Love and Freedom: From the Sacred to the Secular (Cambridge University Press, 2019). He has a Bachelor of Laws from the ANU, a Master of Laws from Yale, and a PhD in Law from Cambridge. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

American conservatism has long struggled to reconcile the American Revolution with a worldview that defers to the slow accretion of cultural and historical development over generations.  Yet some nations followed this more “conservative” path.  How might American conservatism appear to them?  Joining Josh in this episode is bona fide conservative and Australian Jonathan Cole to discuss how Australian conservatism differs from both the American and British models and what each of us might learn from the other.  Also discussed are how Jonathan defines conservatism, whether it's an ideology or the negation of ideology, why conservatives are over-focused on power dynamics and have lost sight of the whole-life perspective of conservatism, how Australians view the politics of America, how American political culture impacts Australia, and the implications of the rise of China.   About Jonathan Cole From Jonathan Cole's website: Dr Jonathan Cole is a scholar, writer, translator and lecturer specializing in political theology—the intersection between religion and politics.   He is currently Assistant Director of Research at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture at Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia, and host of The Political Animals Podcast: "Honest conversations about the political, theological and cultural ideas that shape who we are in the 21st century."   He has a PhD in political theology from CSU, an MA in Islamic theology and Middle Eastern politics from the Australian National University and a BA Hons in Modern Greek language and history from La Trobe University.  He speaks Greek.   He spent 13 years working in a number of Australian federal government departments and agencies in Canberra, including seven years in intelligence, most recently as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at the Office of National Assessments (2010–2014).   Follow Jonathan on Facebook, Twitter, or Academia for his latest content.  

Jonathan is joined by economist Dr Gordon Menzies for a deep dive on neoliberalism. They discuss the concept of free markets and the logic of extending free market thinking to aspects of human life that are not obviously economic. They examine and evaluate the neoliberal economic reforms of the 1980s, including floating the dollar, trade liberalisation and privatisation. They explore the causes of the global financial crisis and the role of neoliberalism in the near collapse of the financial system and the policies employed to deal with it. They discuss poverty and the purported role of neoliberal economic policies in generating, or failing to ameliorate, poverty. And they close with a discussion about the likely moral and economic consequences of a libertarian utopia based on a society organised primarily by market forces. Dr Gordon Menzies is an award-winning Associate Professor in economics at the University of Technology Sydney. In the 1980s, he worked as an economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia. His recent book, Western Fundamentalisms: Democracy, Sex and the Liberation of Mankind, was shortlisted for the 2021 Australian Christian book of the year award. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

John Steenhof, Principal Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Alliance, joined Jonathan for another conversation about the kinds of cases he works in the religious freedom/discrimination space. The conversation was scheduled prior to, but coinciding with, the the eruption of the Andrew Thorburn case—the CEO of the Essendon Football club forced to resign his position just 24 hours after being appointed because of his affiliation with a church. So while the pair do still discuss a number of recent freedom of religion/discrimination cases in Australia at the beginning of the conversation, they naturally end up focusing on the Thorburn episode and its implications for pluralism, religious freedom and the place of Christianity in contemporary Australian culture. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Holly Lawford-Smith returns to the show for a discussion about her new book, Gender-Critical Feminism (OUP). Following a quick tour of significant developments in the transgender space since Holly and Jonathan last spoke (December, 2021), the pair delve into gender norms, including their connection to sex, distinction from identity, cultural and political significance, the balance of nature versus nurture in gender differences, whether women can genuinely enjoy and embrace gender norms of femininity, the gender-critical feminist critique of liberal feminism, the problem with intersectionality and woke feminism and the place and role of men in the feminist movement. Dr Holly Lawford-Smith is an Associate Professor in political philosophy in the school of historical and philosophical studies at the University of Melbourne. She works in social, moral and political philosophy with a particular interest in feminism, climate ethics and collective action. She is the author of Gender-Critical Feminism (OUP, 2022). The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

In this episode, Jonathan is joined by Prof Greg Melleuish for a conversation about conservatism in Australia. They explore the dominant liberal tradition in Australian history and the place of conservatism in that tradition, the reasons why the language of conservatism emerges late in Australian political history, the general conservative nature of Australian settler culture, the evolution of the Liberal Party of Australia into a party with liberal and conservative wings and the recent influence of American conservatism on the developing conservative movement in Australia. Greg Melleuish is Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Inquiry at the University of Wollongong, where he teaches Australian politics. He has written widely on Australian political thought and is the author of Cultural Liberalism in Australia, Despotic State or Free Individual and (with Dr Stephen Chavura) The Forgotten Menzies. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

How did "Almighty God" come to be mentioned in the preamble to the Australian Constitution? Why and how did a whole provision (s116) find its way into the constitution setting out the Commonwealth's legislative powers in relation to religion? And what are the states' powers to establish religion and pass other laws relating to religion? Jonathan discusses these questions and much more with constitutional scholar Dr Ben Saunders in this episode of The Political Animals. Ben Saunders is an Associate Professor at Deakin Law School. His principal areas of research interest are constitutional law, the history of federation, and law and religion. Ben also has over ten years of professional experience working in private practice and advising the Victorian and Commonwealth governments on constitutional law and human rights. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Sociologist Ruth Powell joins Jonathan for a conversation about religion and spirituality in contemporary Australia. They discuss the recent historic census which saw those identifying as religious drop below 50%, demographic trends within different Christian denominations, the growth of non-Christian minority religions, the surprising and growing interest in Christianity among younger generations and what surveys are telling us about spirituality and its connection (or disconnection) with religion. Dr Ruth Powell is Director of NCLS Research and an Associate Professor and Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture at Charles Sturt University. She studies the sociology and psychology of religion, with a special focus on Christianity and Christian churches in Australia. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

In a first for the show, Jonathan hosts two guests. The topic? Woke theology. The trio explores the definition of woke theology before embarking on a critical engagement of three articles characterisable as woke theology: one on queering Jesus, one in feminist Christology and one on whiteness and Jesus. The three conclude with a discussion of how best to respond to woke theology. Dr Jacqueline Service is Lecturer in Systematic Theology in the School of Theology, Charles Sturt University. Her research focuses on Trinitarian theology, divine ontology and human well-being. She is on the editorial board of the journal Religion and Development and is a board member of Micah Australia. Dr Amy Erickson is Lecturer in Theology and Ethics in the School of Theology, Charles Sturt University. Her research interests include figural hermeneutics, ecclesiology, Sabbath and church discipline. She has a PhD in Theology from the University of Aberdeen and is a native of Texas. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Dani Treweek joins Jonathan for a conversation about the place and role of sex and sexuality in contemporary Western cutlure. They examine Carl Trueman's work on the rise and triumph of the modern self, including expressive individualism, the psychologised self and the politicisation of sex. They then pivot to the place of marriage and singleness in the church, particularly against the backdrop of a culture so intent on defining humans by their sexual desires and encouraging their actualisation. Dr Dani Treweek is the founding director of Single Minded, a parachurch ministry which seeks to resource the Christian church with faithful biblical teaching about singleness. Her book, The Meaning of Singleness, is being published by IVP in 2023. She is ordained as a deacon and serves as the Research Officer and a member of the Archbishop's Doctrine Commission within the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, Australia The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Jonathan is joined by economist and theologian Paul Oslington for a wide-ranging discussion on the intersection of economics and theology. The conversation begins with Adam Smith, the great father of economics, with a particular focus on his idea of the invisible hand and its allusions to providence. The conversation covers the reception, misreception and new (theological) reading of Smith, plus the virtues and limitations of free markets, the idea of capitalism, wealth and the theological roots of economics. Professor Paul Oslington has PhDs in economics (University of Sydney) and theology (University of Divinity). He currently works at Alphacrucis College, is a visiting fellow at the Australian National University and a Research Professor at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Charles Sturt University. He was previously a Professor of Economics at the Australian Catholic University and an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of New South Wales. He is currently working on a book for Harvard University Press on the history of economic thinking in the Christian tradition. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show onFacebook and Twitter.

Indigenous commentator Anthony Dillon returns to The Political Animals for a conversation about the mooted Indigenous voice to parliament and other aspects of the evolving culture around the place of Aboriginal people in contemporary Australia, including welcome to and acknowledgement of country, the idea of cultural safety, reconciliation, cancel culture in relation to Indigenous issues and the evolving language used to describe Aboriginal, now First Nations, Australians. Dr Anthony Dillon is an indigenous commentator and behavioural scientist and researcher at The Australian Catholic University. He blogs at www.anthonydillon.com.au and tweets at @Athonywodillon. You can read Anthony's article, discussed in the show, here. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Intellectual historian Sarah Irving-Stonebraker joins the show for a conversation about the history of religious liberty, exploring the emergence and development of the concept from its first explicit usage by the third century church father Tertullian to its more recent secular evolution towards the present. Key moments in the history of religious liberty are covered, including the medieval period, the Reformation, colonisation, the American constitution and the French Revolution, conscientious objection and the Australian context. Dr Sarah Irving-Stonebraker is Senior Lecturer in History at Western Sydney University and co-editor of the Journal of Religious History. She was awarded her PhD in History from Cambridge University (2007) and has been an Assistant Professor at Florida State University and a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford University. Her first book, Natural Science and the Origins of the British Empire (Cambridge), was awarded The Royal Society of Literature and Jerwood Foundation Award for Non-fiction. She has two current book projects: Forgotten Histories of Religious Liberty in Australia, 1788- Present and The Death of History and the Hope of Christianity. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Jonathan is joined by historian David Furse-Roberts for an exploration of the faith, political philosophy and political career of Australia's longest serving prime minister, Robert Menzies (over 18 years). They explore the Christian theological influences that shaped the faith of Menzies and his worldview, the way his Christian faith shaped his understanding of and approach to politics, society and civilisation, significant moments in Menzies' political career, particularly in the area of education, Menzies' liberal philosophy and the founding of The Liberal Party of Australia, and the contemporary fight over Menzies' legacy on the centre right in Australia today. Dr David Furse-Roberts is a Research Fellow at the Menzies Research Centre and works for a member of the NSW parliament. He is the author of God & Menzies: The Faith that Shaped a Prime Minister and His Nation, The Making of a Tory Evangelical: Lord Shaftesbury and the Evolving Character of Victorian Evangelicalism and the editor of several collections of political speeches by Australian prime ministers, including Menzies, John Howard and Tony Abbot. He has a PhD in history from the University of New South Wales. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Aus-PNG Network Leadership Series: Music in PNG In this episode, Mihai Sora is joined by Allen Kedea, also known by his stage name AKay47, to discuss the music scene in Papua New Guinea, and the role that music can play in empowering young people and building stronger connections between Papua New Guinea and Australia. Papua New Guinea has lot of natural resources, but there is growing recognition from government leaders and in the community that the creative economy also needs to be developed. “I think music is at the forefront of that,” says Allen. In Papua New Guinea, “everything we do incorporates music culturally, traditionally, it's a part of a person from the moment you're born, to when you attend funerals, marriages, when someone's out gardening or fishing, it's just a natural part of us…music is an extension of Papua New Guineans.” Allen says, “I would just encourage our young people to use what's there, the technology is there…Appreciate where you come from, tell the story that you that you can tell from your own little village, from your own island, because I believe that the world is looking for those unique stories. Now.” Allen Kedea, also known by his stage name AKay47, is a DJ, artist, producer, record label owner, music judge, creative in the advertising realm, crypto enthusiast and emerging leader. With over 20 years experience in the music industry Allen has helped setup the Central Music Association in Papua New Guinea as the Interim President and is about to launch a new music streaming service in PNG. Mihai Sora is the Project Director of the Australia-Papua New Guinea Network at the Lowy Institute. Mihai's research focuses on Australian foreign policy in the Pacific, Australia-PNG relations, and geopolitics in the region. Mihai has more than a decade's experience as an Australian diplomat with postings to Solomon Islands and Indonesia, and was a Pacific Analyst at the Office of National Assessments.

In this episode, Jonathan talks to bioethicist Ben Mitchell about transhumanism. They discuss the origins, philosophy and goals of the transhumanist movement, the movement's desire for a post human future, the impact of technology on the human being, including the possibility of uploading consciousness to a computer, or merging the human brain with technology, and finally what it actually means to be human. Prof Ben Mitchell recently retired after serving ten years as the Graves Chair of Moral Philosophy at Union University, Jackson, Tennessee. He taught ethics at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, where he also served for a time as director of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. He has served on the NIH Human Fetal Tissue Research Ethics Advisory Committee, been a consultant with the Center for Genetics & Public Policy at Johns Hopkins University and currently serves as Distinguished Fellow of the Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

In this episode, Jonathan tackles Anglicanism with recently retired Anglican bishop and theologian Stephen Pickard. They explore Anglicanism's long struggle with unity, through the prism of history, ecclesiology, theology, Scripture and the pressures, tumult and anxieties of contemporary secular culture, in relation to both the national church in Australia and the Anglican communion globally. The Rt Rev Prof Stephen Pickard has served as an Assistant Bishop in the Anglican dioceses of Adelaide and Canberra-Goulburn and held many positions in the church and academy, including director of St Mark's National Theological Centre and Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture at Charles Sturt University. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Political campaigner James Flynn joins Jonathan for a conversation about the techniques, tactics and strategies of contemporary political campaigning, followed by analysis of the recently concluded federal election in Australia. James Flynn has run 19 campaigns across federal, state and local levels, including House and Senate races in the most recent federal election. He has served as an advisor to ministers and MPs across all levels of government and has worked in business (tech sector). The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Pacific countries often say they do not want to be drawn into geopolitics. All have adopted a “friends to all and enemies to none” foreign policy. However, the proposed security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands shows that geopolitics is well and truly thriving. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has said the Solomon Islands, a nation of about 700,000 people, was not taking sides. But the agreement has an immediate effect on every country in the region and it is very much connected, at least on the Chinese side, to geostrategic ambitions. In Australia, security analysts watched the story unfold with a mixture of dread because of the potential blow to Canberra's strategic interests, and vindication that years of assessments about China's military intent in the Pacific had seemingly been confirmed overnight. In the political arena, accusations came thick and fast that the federal government had “dropped the ball” in the Pacific and that diplomacy in the region had failed. This week's guest Mihai Sora joins us to discuss China's expending presence in the pacific and what effect it has on Australia. From trade, to new security measures and aid given to the Solomon Islands. Mihai Sora is a Research Fellow in the Pacific Islands Program and Project Director of the Aus-PNG Network. Mihai has more than a decade's experience as an Australian diplomat with postings to Solomon Islands and Indonesia, and was a Pacific Analyst at the Office of National Assessments.

In this episode Jonathan talks to Dr Mark Durie, author of The Qur'an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion. They explore the theological relationship between Christianity (and Judaism) and Islam, with a particular focus on explaining the large presence of Biblical material in the Qur'an and whether this constitutes theological continuity or discontinuity. The pair also discuss the implication's of Mark's thesis that Islam constitutes a theological innovation rather than a continuous development from Christianity for inter-faith dialogue and pluralism in Western liberal democracies. Dr Mark Durie is a Senior Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at the Melbourne School of Theology. He has earned two PhDs, in Linguistics and Islamic Theology, and has held visiting academic positions in linguistics at MIT, UCLA, UC Santa Cruz, and Stanford. In 1992, while head of the Department of Linguistics and Language Studies at Melbourne University, he became the youngest person elected to the Australian Academy of Humanities. Mark speaks and writes on relations between monotheistic faiths, Christian missions, and religious freedom. He is the author of The Qur'an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion. The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator specialising in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Welcome to the fifth episode in our leadership series of Good Will Hunters. Today's guest is Peter Varghese AO. Peter would be familiar to many of us who have been working in development and foreign affairs for the better part of the last decade, or longer. Peter has had an extensive career in the public service spanning 38 years. From 2012-2013 he was the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (or DFAT), during the period where AusAID was integrated into DFAT. He was also the High Commissioner to India from 2009 to 2012 and authored the India Economic Strategy to 2035, commissioned by the Australian Prime Minister. I have included Peter's full bio in the show notes. I actually first met Peter a few years ago in Melbourne during the Australia-India Youth Dialogue where he have a talk alongside the now Australian High Commissioner to India, Barry O'Farrell. In this episode, we discuss what it was like to lead DFAT during the AusAID Integration, including Peter's thoughts on why the decision remains controversial. We discuss Australia's development leadership, including our development policy. And we also look at public sector versus private sector leadership styles during periods of change or crisis. Peter is always insightful and a privilege to learn from. I hope you enjoy the episode. Full bio: Peter Varghese began as Chancellor of The University of Queensland on 11 July 2016. Prior to this appointment, Mr Varghese's extensive career in public service and diplomacy spanned 38 years and included senior positions in foreign affairs, trade policy and intelligence. Most recently, he served as Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2012-2016). Previous senior appointments included High Commissioner to India (2009-2012), High Commissioner to Malaysia (2000-2002), Director-General of the Office of National Assessments (2004-2009), and Senior Advisor (International) to the Prime Minister of Australia (2003-2004). Mr Varghese was the author of a comprehensive India Economic Strategy to 2035 commissioned by the Australian Prime Minister and submitted in July 2018. Mr Varghese was educated at The University of Queensland, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours and a University Medal in history in 1978. He was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in 2010 and received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from The University of Queensland in 2013. Mr Varghese sits on the boards of CARE Australia and North Queensland Airports and chairs Asialink's advisory council and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Editorial Advisory Board. He is also on the international governing board of the Rajaratnum School of International Studies in Singapore. He was awarded the Sir Edward “Weary” Dunlop Asialink Medal in 2019 in recognition of outstanding contributions to improving Australia-Asia relations.

This episode covers all things euthanasia, from the origins and drivers of the pro-euthanasia movement, to the medical, social, cultural, economic, political, legislative and ethical circumstances surrounding it. The episode, however, is much more than merely a deep dive on euthanasia; it is an exploration of death, existential crisis and the way Western liberal democracies handle (and mishandle) the important role and function of death in the lives of its citizens. Megan Best is an Associate Professor with the Institute for Ethics and Society at the University of Notre Dame Australia. She has a clinical background in palliative medicine and her research interests include spirituality in healthcare, existential suffering, psycho-oncology, and whole person care and ethics at the beginning and end of life. The Political Animals is hosted by Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Jonathan talks to strategist, author and former Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan about the war in Ukraine and the future of warfare. They discuss the current strategic, operational and tactical situation in Ukraine, failures of the Russian military, the role and future of the tank, the role of human will and cognitive ability in warfare, the role of technology, the significance of time management and exploitation in warfare, the critical role of failure and adaptation in the outcome of war, the multi-domain nature of modern warfare and the prospect of militaries enhanced by AI and robotic technology in the future. Mick Ryan, AM is a strategist, former Australian Army Major General, who served in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, and author of War Transformed: The Future of Twenty-First-Century Great Power Competition and Conflict. The Political Animals is hosted by Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

The fourteenth issue of Australian Foreign Affairs examines the rising tensions over the future of Taiwan, as China's pursuit of “unification” pits it against the United States and US allies such as Australia. The Taiwan Choice looks at the growing risk of a catastrophic war and the outlook for Australia as it faces a strategic choice that could reshape its future in Asia. Published on 21 February, Issue 14 examines the rising tensions over the future of Taiwan and Hugh White discusses why war over Taiwan is the gravest danger Australia has faced. Hugh White AO is Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Australian National University. His work focuses primarily on Australian strategic and defence policy, Asia-Pacific security issues, and global strategic affairs especially as they influence Australia and the Asia-Pacific. Hugh has served as an intelligence analyst with the Office of National Assessments, as a journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald, as a senior adviser on the staffs of Defence Minister Kim Beazley and Prime Minister Bob Hawke, and as a senior official in the Department of Defence, where from 1995 to 2000 he was Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Intelligence, and as the first Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). In the 1970s he studied philosophy at Melbourne and Oxford Universities. He was the principal author of Australia's 2000 Defence White Paper. His major publications include Power Shift: Australia's future between Washington and Beijing, [2010], The China Choice: Why America should share power, [2012], Without America: Australia's future in the New Asia [2017], and How to defend Australia [2019] For a copy visit https://www.australianforeignaffairs.com/essay/2022/02/the-taiwan-choiceDiscount Code for your copy of the Australian Foreign Affairs - 14th Ed - AFA3OFF #taiwan #china #uschina #indopacific #asia #quad #anu #hughwhite

Terrorism scholar Kristy Campion joins the show for a deep dive on right wing extremism. Kristy and Jonathan cover the definition of right wing extremism, its history and its diverse ideologies, including white supremacism, ethnonationalism, Christian Identity, Odinism, Satanism, the sovereign citizen movement, Qanon and ecofascism. They also examine the anti-Islam ideologies of right wing terrorists Brenton Tarrant and Anders Breivik. Dr Kristy Campion is a lecturer in Terrorism Studies with the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security at Charles Sturt University. She is the author of Chasing Shadows: The Untold and Deadly Story of Terrorism in Australia. Her current research focuses on right wing extremism. The Political Animals is hosted by Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

The Lowy Institute's Sam Roggeveen joins Jonathan to discuss the rise of Chinese military power, its implications for American power, the prospects of great power conflict in the Asia Pacific, scenarios regarding Taiwan, the American response to China's rise and the defence strategy and military configuration Australia should be pursuing in light of changed strategic circumstances in the region. Sam Roggeveen is Director of the Lowy Institute's International Security Program. He specialises in China's military, American defence and foreign policy, Australian defence and foreign policy, and military technology. He has worked at Australian intelligence agencies the Office of National Assessments and the Defence Intelligence Agency, and also Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs, where he worked on arms control. The Political Animals is hosted by Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

On the occasion of Australia's two year anniversary of its first confirmed case of Covid, Jonathan sits down with vocal government critic Kurt Mahlburg to review Australia's response. Kurt Mahlburg is a writer and editor with The Canberra Declaration and author of Cross and Culture: Can Jesus Save the West? The Political Animals is hosted by Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Jonathan is joined by medical doctor and psychotherapist Carlos Raimundo for an exploration of the human capacity for violence in the name of political ideology. Carlos recounts his personal experiences of political violence during the "dirty war" in Argentina and the life long study of psychology, philosophy, theology and neuroscience it prompted in him in aid of trying to understand the human condition. Dr Carlos Raimundo trained and worked as a doctor and surgeon in Argentina before moving to Australia in 1986 to work as a Baptist Pastor to the Spanish-speaking community of Western Sydney. He has practiced as a psychotherapist in both Argentina and Australia, studied theology under Francis Schaefffer, is the developer of the award winning psychodrama technology Play for LIfe, currently works as a leadership coach and trainer for the corporate sector and is researching the neuroscience of emotions, behavioural modification and relationships. The Political Animals is hosted by Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

In this episode, intellectual historian Knox Peden joins Jonathan for a deep dive on cultural marxism. Along the way, they explore the intellectual history of marxism, including Western marxism, the political history of marxist revolutionaries, the Frankfurt School, critical theory, cultural studies, right-wing polemical uses of the term "cultural marxism" and the relationship (and tension) between today's progressive identitarian politics and marxist theories of class conflict. Dr Knox Peden is a senior lecturer in European enlightenment studies at the University of Queensland, where he teaches in the program on Western civilisation. He specialises in European intellectual history, including the intellectual history of marxism. He is the co-author of French Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction with Oxford University Press. The Political Animals is hosted by Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

In this throwback episode, Simon Kennedy joins Jonathan for a discussion of Roger Scruton's classic work The Meaning of Conservatism. In particular, they hone in on Scruton's conception of freedom and authority and its potential illumination in the current political turbulence of the covid era. Dr Simon Kennedy is Director of the Millis Institute at Christian Heritage College, a research fellow at the University of Queensland, host of The Millis Podcast and author of the forthcoming Reforming the Law of Nature: The Secularisation of Political Thought, 1532–1689. The Political Animals is hosted by Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

In this episode, political philosopher and gender critical feminist Holly Lawford-Smith talks to Jonathan about sex, gender and the conflict between the radical feminist movement and transgender activists. They cover gender critical feminism, the conflation of sex and gender, the impact of subjective gender identity on women and the law, biology versus identity, non-binary gender identity, the relationship between LGB and T in LGBT, the transgender movement and why our culture has proved so receptive to gender identity at the expense of sex. Holly also talks about how she came to be banned (for life) on Twitter and efforts to get her fired from her academic job at the University of Melbourne. Holly Lawford-Smith is an Associate Professor in Political Philosophy in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne. She works in social, moral, and political philosophy, with a particular interest in feminism, climate ethics, and collective action. Most of her current research is centered on the conflict of interests between gender identity activism, on the one hand, and both women's rights, and lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) rights, on the other hand. Her research can be accessed at https://hollylawford-smith.org. The Political Animals is hosted by Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. He is currently Assistant Director of the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Alex Naraniecki joins Jonathan for a conversation about multiculturalism. Among other things, they discuss the origins of Australia's bipartisan policy of multiculturalism, how that policy morphed from a strategy for managing migrant integration to a celebration of cultural diversity, the Cronulla riot and its fall out, the role of law in successful multiculturalism, the reasons why multiculturalism has fallen out of public discussion, Australia's "thick" and "thin" culture, the intersection of multiculturalism and political liberalism and the potential threat of civilisational states on Australia's cultural cohesion and security. Dr Alex Naraniecki is a researcher from the Institute for Ethics, Law and Governance at Griffith University's Law Futures Centre. He did a post-doc at Deakin University on multiculturalism and is also a scholar of Karl Popper. The Political Animals is hosted by Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. He is currently Assistant Director of the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.

In this episode, Jonathan chats to Kevin Donnelly about the degeneration of education. They focus on when, how and why education went into decline in Australia in both schools and universities, covering changes in pedagogy, the role of teachers, the purpose of education, the ideology of educators and academics, the corporatisation of the university and more. Dr Kevin Donnelly is a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Catholic University and a regular commentator on education in the Australian media. He is the author of A Politically Correct Dictionary and Guide and the editor of Cancel Culture and the Left's Long March. In 2014, he co-authored a review into the national curriculum. You can read his articles and find out more about Kevin at his website: https://kevindonnelly.com.au/. The Political Animals is hosted by Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. He is currently Assistant Director of the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan on Twitter and Facebook.

Anglican minister and ethicist Andrew Errington joins the show for a discussion about vaccine mandates, vaccine hesitancy, freedom of conscience and churches. The discussion also covers the issues of vaccine mandates per se, the nature and function of contemporary liberal democracies, managing moral disagreements, the nature and purpose of Christian churches, the grounds upon which individuals can be excluded from church and safety considerations in the context of churches. Rev Dr Andrew Errington is the rector of an Anglican parish in Sydney and a researcher in ethics. He previously lectured in systematic theology at St Mark's National Theological Centre, Charles Sturt University, and is the author of Every Good Path: Wisdom and Practical Reason in Christian Ethics and the Book of Proverbs (T&T Clark). He also writes for ABC Religion & Ethics, including a recent article called: "A fellowship of the unvaccinated? How churches should—and should not—respond to the state government's COVID-19 restrictions." The Political Animals is hosted by Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. He is currently Assistant Director of the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University. He is the author of Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Joanthan on Twitter and Facebook.

Indigenous commentator Anthony Dillon joins the show for a discussion about indigenous affairs. Anthony provides a fresh perspective that is critical of what he calls "blacktivism," the grievance industry and the view that Australia is a racist country. Issues covered in the conversation include poverty, child abuse, incarceration, Aboriginal deaths in custody, indigenous incarceration rates, the infamous Bill Leak cartoon, Bruce Pascoe's Dark Emu and the fraught issue of Aboriginal identity. Dr Anthony Dillon is an indigenous commentator and behavioural scientist and researcher at The Australian Catholic University. Check out his website: www.anthonydillon.com.au. Host of The Political Animals, Jonathan Cole, is an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. He is currently Assistant Director of the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan on Twitter and Facebook.

In this intellectual snack, Jonathan reflects on Edmund Burke's conservative understanding of politics as the pragmatic art of managing human necessities within the constraints of human nature, and why we ought to be sceptical of abstract political thinking in that endeavour. Host of The Political Animals, Jonathan Cole, is an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. He is currently Assistant Director of the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University. He is the author of Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan on Twitter and Facebook.

The Centre for Public Christianity's (CPX) Natasha Moore joins host Jonathan for a conversation about public Christianity. They begin with an overview of the work of CPX, before moving on to the question of how to define and understand public Christianity more broadly, particularly in light of Christian division, denominational particularity and an often uninterested or hostile secular public. They then take a close and considered look at Marilynne Robinsons's Pulitzer Prize wining novel Gilead as an example of public Christianity. This sparks an unexpected and interesting detour into gender before the pair return to the question of public Christianity to close out the show. Dr Natasha Moore is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity. She has a PhD in English Literature from the University of Cambridge and is the author of For the Love of God: How the church is better and worse than you ever imagined and, most recently, The Pleasures of Pessimism. She has worked for CPX since 2014 and written on topics that include books, movies, politics,
 food, domestic violence, Scripture in schools, war, Thanksgiving, and freedom of speech. Host of The Political Animals, Jonathan Cole, is an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. He is currently Assistant Director of the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University. He is the author of Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan on Twitter and Facebook.

Ben Myers joins host Jonathan in this episode for a deep dive on the fascinating life, times and thought of John Milton (1608–1674). They cover everything from the English Civil War, regicide, political authority, republicanism, the Protestant Reformation, tyranny, censorship, theology, exegesis, the individual conscience, freedom, marriage and divorce, poetry and more. Dr Ben Myers is Director of Graduate Research at Alphacrucis College and writes on the intersection of literature and theology. His international appointments have included visiting fellow at Fuller Theological Seminary and member in residence at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton. He is a Research Fellow of the Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre at Charles Sturt University and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland. He is the author of The Apostles' Creed: A Guide to the Ancient Catechism, Christ the Stranger: The Theology of Rowan Williams and Milton's Theology of Freedom. Host of The Political Animals, Jonathan Cole, is an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. He is currently Assistant Director of the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan on Twitter and Facebook.

In this, the second episode in the show's two-part series on European philosophy, polymath guest Wayne Hudson and host Jonathan Cole discuss the contribution and legacy of French philosophy. The enigmatic, controversial and influential thought of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze serves as a springboard for a wide-ranging diagnostic conversation about contemporary politics, culture and education. Wayne Hudson is a Research Professor at Charles Sturt University. He is an intellectual historian and a social philosopher who works across the areas of philosophy, history, politics and religion. His research covers religious thought, utopianism and social reform, the Enlightenment and the postsecular. He is recognised as the English language expert on the Jewish German Philosopher Ernst Bloch and is also a leading historian of English deism. He delivered the first lectures on postmodernism at Oxford and taught philosophical anthropology for seven years at the University of Utrecht. Host of The Political Animals, Jonathan Cole, is an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. He is currently Assistant Director of the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan on Twitter and Facebook.

飛碟聯播網《飛碟早餐 唐湘龍時間》2021.09.13 週一閱讀單元 台北醫學大學通識教育中心教授 張國城 《印太競逐：美中衝突的前線，全球戰略競爭新熱點》 ※主題：《印太競逐：美中衝突的前線，全球戰略競爭新熱點》/ 羅里‧梅卡爾夫 / 商周出版 ※來賓：台北醫學大學通識教育中心教授 張國城 ◎節目介紹： 臺海會不會有戰事？美國與中國是否終將一戰？「印太」這場國際賽局的諸多參與者，如何能在衝突與屈服之外，走出第三條路？臺灣身為印太區域的一員，又扮演著什麼角色？ 我們對全世界不同區域的名稱——亞洲、歐洲、中東——看似無害，但其實名稱就是圖騰，或者說，名稱就是心智上的地圖，會影響人們看地圖的方式、改變人們看待世界的角度，進一步影響了國家領袖的決策、國際秩序、戰爭與和平。近年來，「印太」（Indo-Pacific）一詞已廣為流傳，美國、印度、日本、澳洲、印尼與法國等國的領導者都在使用這個稱呼，但它究竟有什麼深意？ 本書作者為澳洲國立大學國家安全學院院長，曾任外交官，也是區域政策的知名專家、澳洲頂尖情報機構的資深戰略分析師，他信手將歷史、地緣政治、地理、軍事戰略、經濟、政治賽局及大外宣等素材予以巧妙編織，寫就一冊了解印太局勢的必讀權威指南。 「印太」位居全球發展與安全的要地，也是一個關於集體行動的隱喻。一旦外交行動失敗，第三次世界大戰很可能就在此地上演，但若能確保此處未來的和平，那麼印太區域可以是一個共享的空間、連結全世界的重要中心，同時因此而繁榮。 ◎作者介紹：羅里•梅卡爾夫（Rory Medcalf） 澳洲國立大學（Australian National University）教授與國家安全學院院長，曾任澳洲外交官，奉派前往新德里、東京和巴布亞紐幾內亞。他是澳洲頂尖情報機構「國家評估辦公室」（Office of National Assessments）的資深戰略分析師，直接對澳洲總理負責，也是洛伊研究所（Lowy Institute）國際安全專案的創辦主任。 ◎來賓介紹：張國城 國立臺灣大學政治系、會計系雙學位，會計師國考通過，美國芝加哥大學國際關係碩士、澳洲新南威爾斯大學社會科學與國際關係博士。就讀大學時即創辦「臺大蘇聯與東歐事務學會」並籌備「中國大陸事務學會」兩學術性社團。曾任高雄市政府顧問、國防部副部長機要秘書；現為台北醫學大學通識教育中心教授。擅長國際關係理論、東亞區域政治、國家安全與軍事戰略、兩岸關係與中國研究。 ▶ 《飛碟早餐》FB粉絲團 https://www.facebook.com/ufobreakfast/ ▶ 飛碟聯播網FB粉絲團 https://www.facebook.com/ufonetwork921/ ▶ 網路線上收聽 http://www.uforadio.com.tw/stream/stream.html ▶ 飛碟APP，讓你收聽零距離 Android：https://reurl.cc/j78ZKm iOS：https://reurl.cc/ZOG3LA ▶ 飛碟Podcast SoundOn : https://bit.ly/30Ia8Ti Apple Podcasts : https://apple.co/3jFpP6x Spotify : https://spoti.fi/2CPzneD Google 播客：https://bit.ly/3gCTb3G KKBOX：https://reurl.cc/MZR0K4

In this episode, the first in a two-part series on European philosophy, returning guest Prof Wayne Hudson examines the legacy of German philosophy. He explores the contribution of German giants Kant, Hegel and Schelling and explains the ways in which their thought has been misunderstood in the English-speaking world. He and host Jonathan then embark on a discussion about contemporary science and culture, civilisational decline, the cognitive evolution of the human being and the fate of humanity. Wayne Hudson is a Research Professor at Charles Sturt University. He is an intellectual historian and a social philosopher who works across the areas of philosophy, history, politics and religion. His research covers religious thought, utopianism and social reform, the Enlightenment and the postsecular. He is recognised as the English language expert on the Jewish German Philosopher Ernst Bloch and is also a leading historian of English deism. He delivered the first lectures on postmodernism at Oxford and taught philosophical anthropology for seven years at the University of Utrecht. Host of The Political Animals, Jonathan Cole, is an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. He is currently Assistant Director of the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan on Twitter and Facebook.