Being Human

Sarah Williams

This pandemic has compounded the acceleration of change, disorientation, and in many ways, hopelessness. However, is there something rooted in our history that can give us hope for the possibility of change in the present day?

With a diverse and impressive career, historian, Sarah Williams, continues to grapple with the very heart of what it means to be human. As a teacher of the history of Christianity to international postgraduates at Regent College, Sarah’s research interests lie more recently in the relationship between Christianity and perceptions of gender, sexuality and the spirituality of time.

In this interview, hear Sarah share powerfully from her own story, as well as drawing on her work that are seeks to empower the church through history, language and prayer, that we may learn to wonderfully articulate the beautiful gospel to a culture that is suspicious of it.

Israel Olofinjana

In a time of fragility around us and within us, from the climate to our identity, how can we live a life with Christ that is both holistic and justice-focused?

In this episode, Jo and Peter chatted with theologian, former church leader, and director of the One People Commission, Rev Dr Israel Olofinjana.

Originally from Nigeria, Rev Israel moved to the UK to pursue a calling to be a reverse missionary and has since become a leading figure in the UK church on unity and ethnic diversity. In this interview, hear him draw powerfully from his own story and journey with cultural identity, as well as his current position on climate justice, mental health and creating intercultural safe spaces to tackle racial injustice.

How can we effectively care for each other and our planet as a unified church? Listen to this essential and timely interview today.

Want to discover more about Rev Israel, and the work of the Evangelical Alliance’s One People Commission? Visit the website today.

Carl Trueman

“Apologetics today is more about explaining to the church what is going on in the world than explaining to the world what the church teaches.”

This is a view held by author, theologian and ecclesiastical historian Carl Trueman. In his latest book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self (2020), he investigates the foundations and developments of the current secular age and sexual revolution as symptoms, rather than the causes, of the human search for identity.

In this latest interview, Peter and Jo peel back some of the underlying ideologies of the day, and ask Carl how the church can navigate the opportunities and challenges of this ‘cultural climate change’ in which we are immersed.

Interested in reading The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self? Purchase it from SPCK here.   

Hannah Thomas

Do we fully appreciate the power of art and creativity in reconciliation processes? When considering conflict, both global and local, how can understanding the imago dei (image of God) influence advocacy?

Peter and Jo chatted with artist and activist Hannah Thomas. Hannah was selected for Forbes 30 under 30 in 2019, and nominated for a UN Women UK Award in 2020, and her art projects have been exhibited in Buckingham Palace, the Scottish Parliament and the Saatchi Gallery. Through portrait painting and participant-led workshops, she seeks to bring the stories of those who have faced displacement and conflict-related sexual violence into places of influence in the Global North.

Particularly amid an ongoing pandemic, how can we learn from Hannah’s experiences in post-conflict settings and seek to engage in our own communities in need of restoration? Listen along to the conversation today.

You can also discover more about Hannah’s work, including examples of her art projects, on her website here.

David Bennett

In a culture that idolises desire, but lacks real intimacy, can we tell a better story? And is this possible when some mainstream theology has perpetuated unhelpful conceptions of desire, and its potential for knowing God?    

Originally from Sydney, Australia, David Bennett is an author, communicator, and scholar currently completing a doctorate in theology at Oxford university. His first book, A War of Loves (2018) describes his own story from atheistic gay activism to becoming a follower of Jesus. 

David chatted with Peter and Jo about the opportunity for our theology and conversations around faith, sexuality, and desire to be transformed for good. As someone who is passionate about the potential for people to live and flourish through Jesus’ teaching, listen to David uncover his thinking around the most fundamental part of what makes us human. 

Want to learn more about David Bennett and his work? Visit his website at https://www.dacbennett.com/  

Karen Swallow Prior

In an age characterised by information overload and difference of belief, it can be challenging to learn how to engage well in discourses swirling round in our headlines, Twitter feeds and churches. As followers of Jesus, our engagement can start with learning how to read well and listen attentively.

Nobody understands this better than reader, writer and academic Karen Swallow Prior. As a professor of English and Christianity at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina, she draws on her love of literature to transform our understanding of culture, the Bible and each other. With a history of activism within the pro-life movement, and more recent campaigns in the Southern Baptist Convention surrounding gender-based violence and anti-racism, her nuanced and compassionate voice speaks volumes into debates concerning the value of human life.

Join Peter and Jo in our first episode of this interview season as they cover a range of topics with a commentator who defies the boxes that society tries to place her in.

The end is nigh

How we think our story is going to end has massive implications on the lives we live today. Is the outcome certain or left contingent on the rises and falls of social opinions and actions? 

 

On the right and left we face stories of utopia and dystopia with no clear vision of a bright and beautiful destination. But advertisers are keenly aware that there is power in our telos stories to shape our behaviours, and we want to shape our work on the proper vision of the end. 

 

Join Peter and Jo as we wrap up season two’s march through the God story. We turn our attention to judgment and paradise, to the New Jerusalem and garden city, and to resurrected life with our King Jesus in the here and now and what’s still to come.  

 

Introduction (00:00) 

00:15 We’ve reached the end of season 2! Stay tuned to beinghumanproject.co.uk  

01:24 We close our journey through the God story by looking at where this is all heading and how the story ends. 

04:00 The advertising industry has built itself on the notion that if you change the story, you can change lives and behaviours. Stories shape us whether we realise it or not. 

 

Act I (09:03) 

09:13 Our culture tells telos stories that shape our lives based on how things will end. The most common scientific story ends in annihilation and destruction. 

11:44 Yet the common progressive story ends in utopia and has led many to trust in social reform and education to get us there. 

13:01 On both the right and left of the political spectrum, we’re presented with variations of utopia and dystopia at the end or telos of our story. Neither offers great hope or surety. 

 

Act II (14:56) 

15:06 We’re all looking for an arrival at home at the end of the story, and the God story offers us the certainty that cultural stories can’t offer. 

17:33 Despite some version of Christian end stories that leave us with doubts about the future, the overwhelming trajectory of the Bible points toward victory and beauty. 

20:47 Our trajectory toward the New Creation in the Kingdom of God gives us vision and purpose for our work here and now. 

 

Act III (25:31) 

25:41 The book of Revelation paints a vivid and dynamic picture of our eternity in the presence of God with resurrected bodies in a renewed creation. 

27:37 The end of the story also includes judgment on those who chose the love of self above all else and separate themselves from the beauty of life with God. 

 

Conclusion (29:42) 

29:52 We find great hope in the crescendo of the biblical story into the beauty of the King and His Kingdom. 

31:52 We have work to do to get our narrative right, because the story we believe shapes our lives today. Stay with us as the Being Human project develops, as we keep pressing in. 

Church versus Community

The pandemic has challenged how all of us think about community. Our assumptions have been exposed. We find ourselves rethinking what it means to be a human in community. 

The church has a long tradition of prophets and reformers who have challenged and deconstructed for the sake of rebuilding on a firm foundation. While not all deconstruction is constructive, some Christian leaders are using this moment to realign our church practices with our God-given mandate and mission.  

So what is the church when we gather? What about when we scatter? Join the conversation with Jo and Peter for another episode of Being Human. 

 

Introduction (0:00) 

00:15 Follow us on Twitter or check out our website beinghumanproject.co.uk 

02:44 This we’re looking at community and the church. The pandemic has shaped and exposed so much about how we think about our interconnection. 

08:50 The church is designed to be a model community for the world, but the pandemic has challenged even the church’s approach to community 

 

Act I (11:10) 

11:20 The biblical prophets, church reformers, and other thinkers have given us a long tradition of deconstructing to rethinking how  

13:40 Sometimes deconstructions are simply attempting to tear down without rebuilding on a Biblical foundation. 

17:34 The pandemic has given us an opportunity to rethink how the church forms community and has been an incredible challenge for pastors and church leaders.  

 

Act II (19:39) 

19:49 The gathering has always been an important component of the church and how we form and disciple Christians. 

23:26 Some churches are renewing an interest in our communal confessions of shared truths. 

27:27 What is encouraging about the way many churches are approaching the pandemic is that it shows they are thinking about God’s design afresh. 

 

Act III (28:56) 

29:06 The scattered church is essential to the mission Jesus gave the early church and has been carried on until now.  

31:50 Our worship is not simply about what happens when we gather to serve God but includes our work that serves our neighbor. 

 

Conclusion (35:44) 

35:54 The church, in all its brokenness and pain, is the hope for the future. Because it’s in the church, the body of Christ, where we can meet Jesus. 

Hope-

It’s in the backdrop of darkness that the light shines brightest. When God’s people felt abandoned in exile, the gospel changed everything. The marginalised were brought in and the powerful were humbled. 

The pinnacle of the God story is all about the beautiful paradox that sacrifice is the mechanism of hope. Our fears and doubts are no longer barriers to God, but become the occasion our Saviour draws us near.  

If you’re feeling at all like Peter and Jo, you’re ready for some good news in the midst of a long and exhausting lockdown. Tune in for this week’s episode of Being Human as we turn our attention to some good news: King Jesus brings us hope.

 

Introduction (0:00) 

00:15 Follow us on Twitter or check out our website beinghumanproject.co.uk 

03:05 This week we talk about the good news of King Jesus! 

 

Act I (07:15) 

07:25 Abandonment has been a major theme in politics recently as groups have backlashed out of feeling marginalised.  

09:52  The gospel comes in the God story right after exile. When the people of Israel were the most tempted to feel abandoned, good news breaks in. 

13:23 Subversion is this notion all around us that seeks to deconstruct and radically reinterpret norms and traditions. 

14:48 Yet the gospel has its own version of topsy-turvy, as the Kingdom of God uplifts the downtrodden and tears down the high places. 

 

Act II (17:42) 

17:52 Sacrifice is another word we hear in our current moment of global pandemic.  

19:30 The pinnacle of the God story is that sacrifice is the mechanism of hope. 

21:14 Doubt has become more than a skepticism of having the right answer into questioning whether an answer might even exist. 

24:26 Jesus’s response to Thomas reminds us that doubt does not mean the end of faith, but is the very opportunity to believe.  

 

Act III (27:25) 

27:35 The Gospel means good news, but we lose something core to the gospel when we don’t share it because we don’t believe it’s beautiful. 

33:23 Christians are invited back in to the mysterious and the supernatural. And we are meant to experience this together. 

 

Exile

The world is changing. It can feel like it’s changing so fast that it’s hard to keep up. Things we once thought were true or good or right are now either up for questioning or seen as downright wrong. Our culture has changed so much that it can feel like we’re living in exile even in our homeland. 

Our culture today tells a story of individual expression, where being human is fundamentally about living out of our internal identity, working out what’s true for ourselves and pursuing our 'best self'. If anyone tries to change me or tell me I’m wrong, they are harming me. 

In our rapidly changing world, Christians can find it increasingly hard to stand firm in our convictions, facing pressure to change our actions and attitudes to conform. It's tempting to totally isolate ourselves from the world around us. 

But the God story reminds us that living in exile is not about isolation but about mission. Together, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christian exiles make public claims about the kingdom of God. 

Join Peter and Jo as we discuss what exile teaches us about being human. 

 

Introduction (0:00) 

00:15 Follow us on Twitter or check out our website: beinghumanproject.co.uk 

02:33 This week we’re looking at the theme of exile and what it’s like to be cast out. 

 

Act I (3:38) 

04:48 People who identify with sexually marginalised communities often reference language about being trapped in the wrong body or a repressive system. 

09:02 Our culture’s story says that to be human is to live out and express our inner thoughts and feelings with complete authenticity. 

12:18 So we come to believe that institutions shouldn’t shape us, and that trying to change behaviour is an issue of personal safety and harm. 

 

Act II (17:04) 

17:14 When culture changes so fast around us, we can sometimes feel like exiles in a re-education programme, just like Daniel in Babylon. 

20:28 Not even Daniel, a prophet of God, tried to resist the cultural forces around him alone, but he resisted with his friends and engaged his captors relationally. 

23:13 Daniel is a precursor to Jesus, and both of them relied on the Holy Spirit’s power as they bore witness to the kingdom of God as a public reality. 

 

Act III (25:14) 

25:24 How do we live when we find ourselves in exile in our own culture? We have to know the God story deep in our bones and learn to read the story around us. 

27:39 We’ve learned how not to engage culture: fight, flight, and fold. Instead, we can pursue faithfulness, fruitfulness, and flourishing 

31:41 Exile isn’t an obstacle to mission, it is the basis for mission. Like Daniel and Jesus, we publicly bear witness in the power of the Holy Spirit.