Being Human

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.

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/  

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.

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. 

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. 

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.   

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. 

Are all of our disagreements about justice in the world simply power struggles? Our global and neighborhood communities seem to constantly clash over imbalances and injustices. It seems as if we are watching a stage play where different actors constantly switch the roles of victim and oppressor.   The standard of true justice in the God story is not contingent upon the shifting sands of power struggles. Rather, we see that real justice is rooted in morality and defined by the character of God. In the Bible we see the improbable mingling of justice and mercy in the person and cross of Jesus Christ.   Join Peter and Jo in this week’s episode of Being Human, as we seek to understand an often-contested word.    Introduction (0:00)  00:15 Follow us on Twitter or check out our website http://beinghumanproject.co.uk  02:08 People in a society have to trust that there is a fair place to resolve disagreements, and yet we clash over our definitions of justice.    Act I (3:40)  03:50 Our conversations about justice today are inescapably shaped by Karl Marx’s understanding of power as a limited resource.   06:36 Perceived power imbalances of many different kinds drive our political involvement and clashes over justice.  08:56 The role of victim identity becomes a key strategy in our social power maneuvers and twists our capacity to realize true justice.    Act II (12:07)  12:18 Though our culture cannot seem to agree on a standard, the Bible always roots justice in morality.   14:30 The God story tells us that justice is defined by the character of God.  17:26 The two Biblical concepts of justice are beautifully joined in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  19:46 According to God’s design people must not treated differently according to class. But God incredibly moves beyond the reductionst vision of power justice to mercy and grace.    Act III (23:06)  23:18 Biblical justice invites us into lives of radical sharing and generosity.  25:16 Every human bears God’s image and deserves equal justice and human rights.  27:16 The God story links invests us with responsibility, both corporate and individual.   

What does it mean to live in relationship? Culture today governs our relationships through the ideas of choice, consent and contracts. As individuals, we relate to ours on our own terms and break relationships when they fail to meet our needs. We see these stories bubble up in marriages, international commitments and through the latest hashtag #cancelculture.  The God story invites us into covenant relationship with God and his people. The books of Joshua and Judges present a robust alternative to cancel culture and consumerist choice in managing our lives together.  Join the conversation as Jo and Peter explore another facet of what it means to be human in light of the God story.    Introduction (0:00)  00:15 Follow us on Twitter or check out our website http://beinghumanproject.co.uk  02:34 The post-modernity story tells us human freedom and autonomy from restrictions and oppression.  08:08 In all this deconstruction, have we lost something central to what it means to be human?     Act I (09:06)  09:17 The notion of marriage as commitment is losing traction in our culture.  13:39 Our consumer culture is driving our approach to relationships as choice.   15:53 Terminating relationships has become popularised as “cancel culture.”    Act II (19:17)  19:28 The books of Judges tell us how God’s people learned to live in community.  21:10 The Bible describes relationship with God and one another as “covenant.”  24:08 The idea of covenant offers an alternative to choice, contracts, and cancel culture.    Act III (26:23)  26:34 What it means to be humans in relationship is hotly contested in our day.  28:46 Followers of Jesus have an opportunity to live with integrity in our relationships. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has restricted so many of our personal liberties and limited our daily choices. Does that mean we are no longer free? Join hosts Peter and Jo in this week’s episode of Being Human as we look at a foundational God story of what it means to have freedom.  The great novelists always seem to worry human beings risk losing their freedom, but they don’t always agree what that will look like. Recent conversations about social media has have suggested we worry so much about losing our privacy, we don’t even notice when we lose our freedom.  God set his His people free in a costly display of power. Yet, this freedom came with responsibilities.  Join us as we discuss what it really means to be free in 2020, even in times when we can’t do everything we’d like.    Introduction (0:00)  00:20 Welcome back! Thank you for listening and check out our website.   02:22 The pandemic has once again raised the question: What is freedom?     Act I (03:43)  03:53 Novelists George Orwell and Aldous Huxley had different fears about the future.  07:01 We think the big issue of today is our privacy, but it’s really our freedom.    Act II (15:46)  15:57 True freedom isn’t about choice, but about being who you were meant to be.  16:56 God’s freedom and liberation is a foundational story for the people of God.  20:39 The 10 Commandments transform freedoms into responsibilities.     Act III (30:53)  31:03 When we don’t know what it means to be human, we are vulnerable to being enslaved.  34:02 The practice of examen is one way we can cultivate freedom.  35:10 We worship our way out of bondage and into freedom.