MannaCastOur monthly podcast

We live in a world shaped by the Industrial Revolution, but what do we make of it out the other side? Modern life would not be possible without this transition, but does that just cloud our judgement? Are the immense benefits, on balance, worth the costs? Can we even imagine an alternative? The way we answer these questions has much to do with how we evaluate the moral meaning of history as well as our daily lives.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.

The Industrial Revolution is one of the biggest shifts in human history, but what did it involve, and what does it mean for us today? In part one of this two-part series, Jonathan and Jacob survey what actually changed, how things changed, and what it looked liked for the people who lived through it. It's a story which spans much of the globe, and one we need to understand if we're to live well in the modern world.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.

Additional credits: Mezhdunami, 2017; Rage Against the Machine, Epic Records, 1992 & 1996.

Which foodstuffs are most at risk of slavery? How does slavery get into—and out of—supply chains? On this episode, Jacob talks to Heather Roberts from Just Kai, an organisation which promotes slave-free choices in food. Food made with slave labour is hidden in plain sight in every supermarket – Heather’s here to tell us how we can be part of the change to a more just food system.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.

To celebrate the launch of Manna Gum's new website and a new logo, Jacob and Jonathan take the opportunity to discuss the what, how, and why of Manna Gum. What is it all about and where is it going? There is no doubt that some things about Manna Gum are a bit unconventional - this episode will help make a little more sense of the method behind the madness.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.

From Constantine to Scott Morrison… that’s a lot of water under the bridge. We live now on the other side of Christendom, but we still live in its shadow. How does all that’s come and gone since the days of “the Christian West” mean Christians should approach politics, power, and active citizenship in Australia today? What might we need to un-learn—and re-learn—in order to gain a clearer view of the good and how to do it in this century?

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.

It’s an understatement to say that the legacy of Constantine is a divisive issue! In this episode, Jonathan and Jacob canvas a range of perspectives from scholars of the Constantinian Shift: does the entry of Christianity into the halls of power constitute a failure of the church or does it represent a triumph of the gospel?

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.

For the first three hundred years, Christianity was a minority religion on the margins of ancient Roman society. Only half a century later, it was the state religion for a quarter of the world's population. How did this happen, and how should Christians understand this profound shift?

In part one of this series, Jonathan and Jacob try to straighten out the history of the first Christian Emperor—Constantine—and lay the foundations for a debate about Christendom, Church, and state which continues to today. 

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.

The first five books of the Hebrew Bible present a rich vision of God's gift of abundant life for all, but our view can sometimes be obscured by our distance from its ancient setting. Taking their lead from various Old Testament scholars, Jacob and Jonathan trace the economy of God from Creation to the Promised Land to see how receiving and sharing the gift always means observing limits.   Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.  

In part one of this double episode, we suggested contemporary concepts of Christian vocation often suffer from being too thin or too narrow. In part two, Jacob and Jonathan get stuck into what the “counter-cultural ethical content of the gospel” might mean for thinking about vocation in a variety of Aussie circumstances. How might a richer understanding of the call of Christ on our lives play out in the everyday?

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.

If we’ve heard and believed the good news of Jesus, what are we then supposed to do? If Christian faith is a call, what are we called to? These are the questions of Christian vocation, but if we’ve never heard a voice from God, does this mean we can simply do what we like? Are there things Christian should not do? Are there things we should all be doing?

In part one on this topic, Jacob and Jonathan dig into the history and meaning of the Christian call and sketch a bigger vision.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.

How do Christians go from the economic ethics of Jesus to endorsing the competitive pursuit of wealth? How does 'Christian Europe' end up being driven by an economic paradigm of endless accumulation, and what role did the Reformation play? Are Protestants responsible for global capitalism?

Jonathan and Jacob dive into the history to discover how we got here and some implications for Christians today.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.

Australians are amongst the wealthiest people on the planet, but very few people feel that way. Not only have high levels of consumption failed to translate into  a sense of wellbeing, we are increasingly confronted with the fact that they cannot be sustained. This podcast is an exercise in new political imagination, arguing that downshifting the Australian economy to a lower consumption, higher wellbeing model is not only desirable but also well within reach.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions. 

'Technology' doesn’t have to mean just ‘tech’! Hammers, money, writing… all these things are technologies. How do we use them well? If we don’t get our relationship to our tools right, they might just use us instead.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions. 

What role can churches play in tackling climate change? Where have we fallen short? What unique opportunities are there? What can we do when we're overwhelmed? Is it all about sacrifice, or do we gain by the changes? What needs to happen next?

These are just some of questions we ask Jane Kelly of Common Grace and Jessica Morthorpe from Five Leaf Eco-Awards.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions. 

The same year Marx and Engels published their Communist Manifesto, three Christians met together seeking to improve the lot of industrial workers in Britain—without wholesale revolution. Their work sparked a multi-generational movement whose political and economic legacy can still be felt. These were the Christian Socialists. What can we learn from them? And how might their ideas find expression today?

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions. 

The Catholic Church has a rich history of deep thinking and diverse social action toward a bold, Christian economic vision. On this episode, we dip our toes into this amazing resource. From the Middle Ages to Pope Francis, Jacob and Jonathan discuss some of the ways Catholics have sought to apply the gospel to life in society and how all Christians can continue to do the same.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions. 

On this episode we hear from Claire Harvey, a councillor on Frankston City Council, about how and why she got involved in local politics, the challenges involved, some insights gained so far, and how her Christian faith intersects with public service and the task of practically working for the good of the community and place in which she lives. She also articulates a hopeful vision for the future of Australian politics and gives us a taste of how this could take shape at the neighbourhood level.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions. 

What is ‘ethical consumption’? What are the practical challenges and spiritual risks involved? Is it something Christians should engage with or would we do well to stay clear? What difference does it make anyway? 

Jacob and Jonathan take aim at the heart of the matter to find out if what is good for the world is also truly good for us.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions. 

Don't do a Bible word search for 'economics': you won't find anything! Yet the church takes up and extends Israel's calling to communicate God to the rest of the world, primarily by the way it worships God. This worship is embodied in the way God's people are to live, meaning how the community works, rests, uses money, gives and shares, contributes skills, distributes property, etc. In short, economics!

What kind of economic vision does the Bible commend to us? What potential lies dormant in our churches for experiments in life-giving economic community?

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions. 

The first Christian communities existed before the New Testament was written, and their word for their meetings is normally translated into English as 'church'. But what do we mean when we talk about The Church? The meaning and story of the Christian community from those first beginnings is a complex one, and often not well understood. Truly, there is much to criticise and repent of, and sometimes it can feel marred beyond recovery. But there is also unique and indispensable hope to be found in the New Testament's vision of The Church, and many exciting ways we can participate in its reality here and now.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions. 

The way we relate to the material world has always had a profound relationship with the life of faith, while the dramatic implications for the health of all on the planet have never been clearer. In this episode Jacob and Jonathan unpack what it might mean to 'live with less': the biblical calling, ecological necessity, and evangelical opportunity it presents, as well as a number of the difficulties and pitfalls it can involve.

In the economy of God, what is good for others is also good for us.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions. 

We are often told there is no alternative to our current economic structure and that we have never had it so good.  But the cracks in this claim are clearly evident -  overlapping ecological, financial, social and mental health crises now demand our urgent attention. In this podcast Jacob Garrett joins Jonathan Cornford to consider many of the forgotten alterative forms of economy from history and take a look at some the new economic alternatives that are already in our midst.

Beginning to form a new economic imagination is the first step to change.

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.  

Jonathan and Matt explore some of the thornier questions that arise from Jonathan's final article in the series on the moral ecology of judgement.

Read the article: https://www.mannagum.org.au/manna_matters/december-2020/faith_and_economy1

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.  

This is the second of a two-part talk that Jonathan Cornford gave to the TEAR NSW Conference in 2016. Over the course of these talks Jonathan suggests that central to the task of living faithfully in the 21st century, is the task of allowing the gospel to speak re-shape our material lives. In this talk he begins to sketch out what that might look like in practice.

 

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.  

This is the first of a two-part talk that Jonathan Cornford gave to the TEAR NSW Conference in 2016. Over the course of these talks Jonathan suggests that central to the task of living faithfully in the 21st century, is the task of allowing the gospel to speak re-shape our material lives, and that this is a necessary pre-condition to proclaiming good news. But before we can proclaim good news, we first need to come to grips with the bad news of our times ...

 

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.  

Jonathan and Matt discuss being overwhelmed by ecological and other crises and how we deal with it, the scope of salvation in Christian theology, why some Christians are unconcerned by animal extinctions, how overseas travel has become an expected part of life for many folks, whether we'd walk from Melbourne to Sydney, the place of imagination in the Christian life, and individual vs. collective action.

This is our last episode for the year, so Merry Christmas everyone!

Read more: https://mannagum.org.au/manna_matters/october-2020/understanding_the_times2

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.

Jonathan and Matt discuss the topic of co-housing. What is co-housing? Why might it be important in an age of environmental disaster and social isolation? Why do Christians need "scaffolding" in their lives to make it easier to live according to the gospel?

Read more: https://www.mannagum.org.au/manna_matters/october-2020/everyday_people1

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.

Jonathan and Matt discuss Matt's recent article, 'Consuming Desire: Self-Mastery as Alternative to Consumer Culture'. Consumerism is widely thought to be destructive, but what's at the heart of consumer culture? Why does consumerism leave us feeling so dissatisfied? And what can we do to resist it?

Read the article: https://www.mannagum.org.au/manna_matters/october-2020/understanding_the_times1

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.

In the maiden episode of the MannaCast, Jonathan Cornford and Matthew Anslow explain what the podcast is all about. Then they discuss Jonathan's recent article on The Moral Ecology of Judgement. What do we mean by 'judgement', why do we dislike it so much, and why is it so important in an age of environmental catastrophe and global pandemic?

Read the article: https://www.mannagum.org.au/manna_matters/october-2020/bible_and_economy1

Theme music: © Don Stewart, Recorded/Mixed by Unmuzzled Music Productions.