Every week on Undeceptions we’ll explore some aspect of life, faith, history, culture, or ethics that is either much misunderstood or mostly forgotten. With the...
There's just something about the Virgin Mary. She stirs up big feelings - she has for millennia. Some have perhaps given her more prominence than she would feel comfortable with.Others have hacked down her statues in reforming zeal. Others never think about her, except when they come across a nativity scene in a shopping mall (and even that’s becoming a rarity).So, it’s time we met Mary properly this Christmas. (06:10) - - Mary in the New Testament
(08:50) - - Daily life for Mary
(13:46) - - The conception of Jesus
(18:42) - - Science vs. the Virgin Birth
(24:54) - - The Incarnation
(32:24) - - Was Mary always a virgin?
(42:14) - - Mary as mother
(44:43) - - The Magnificat
(50:41) - - Mary the prophet
(53:15) - - Mary, after the Bible
(54:26) - - The Assumption
(59:53) - - Can Mary hear our prayers?
(01:06:50) - - Have we sidelined Mary?
(01:10:35) - - Mary for the modern church
(01:13:23) - - Christianity and sexism
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1:18:07
First Hymn
In the 3rd century, in the Ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, a group of Christians composed a song of praise set to the pagan music of the time. Now, 1800 years later, John Dickson is working with two of the world's best songwriters to bring this lost song - this First Hymn - back to life. Along the way, they make some incredible discoveries about early church music, shedding light on what the earliest Christians believed. This is the first in a three-part podcast series on The First Hymn Project - taking its name from the forthcoming Undeceptions documentary, to be released at Easter 2025. (00:10) - - Singing the First Hymn
(06:31) - - How the project began
(09:10) - - Music in the ancient world
(16:20) - - Christian music in the ancient world
(20:22) - - Egyptian Christianity
(24:02) - - The Oxyrhynchus discovery
(29:24) - - The music of the First Hymn
(36:53) - - The message of the First Hymn
(45:03) - - Hymns throughout the New Testament
(51:28) - - 5 Minute Jesus
(57:28) - - The purpose of hymns
(59:25) - - The First Hymn performed by the Wheaton Choir
(01:00:59) - - Connecting Christians through history
(01:02:17) - - Chris Tomlin, Ben Fielding, and the First Hymn
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1:06:21
Bible Genres
With 66 different books composed across literally thousands of years, it's fair to say the Bible is a complex read. But it doesn't have to be. The key to understanding the Bible is understanding the different literary genres.
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1:02:10
Disenchanted Age
The great project of the Enlightenment was to bring reason to the forefront. No more would humans be held back by superstitions: the power of the mind was all that was needed for advancement. Three centuries on though, and some people are beginning to think the pendulum has swung too far.Celebrated journalist and public intellectual Stan Grant joined John onstage in Sydney for a live recording of Undeceptions to discuss this new disenchanted age.(02:19) - - Introduction: Everything we wished for is here, and that's a problem
(07:55) - - Stan Grant arrives
(08:56) - - The Voice to Parliament
(14:38) - - Stan on St Augustine
(16:43) - - Stan's early life
(19:48) - - Beginning a career in journalism
(32:40) - - What makes you 'Australian'?
(35:59) - - Deconstructing the Enlightenment
(42:47) - - Truth-telling
(44:30) - - Stan's theological journey
(52:53) - - Reflections of suffering
(59:11) - - 5 Minute Jesus
(01:03:12) - - Hasn't Christianity done terrible damage to Indigenous cultures?
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1:12:42
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
A new movie has been released this week about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was killed by the Nazis for his involvement in a plot to kill Hitler. Bonhoeffer's fame has ballooned into a kind of mythology that has seen people of all stripes "claim" him as their own. But our guest for this episode says that if we only think of him as a “hero” for our cause, we may miss important pieces of Bonhoeffer’s complex life and thinking. So, who was Dietrich Bonhoeffer and why does he still matter?(04:47) - - Bonhoeffer's Germany
(13:13) - - The Nazi Church
(22:59) - - Bonhoeffer's career begins
(31:38) - - Bonhoeffer begins to speak out
(41:22) - - Bonhoeffer joins a resistence
(47:57) - - The plot to kill Hitler
(54:01) - - Bonhoeffer's ethical theory: how he might have justified killing Hitler
(01:01:19) - - Imprisoned by the Nazis
(01:03:31) - - Bonhoeffer is executed
(01:08:09) - - What we get wrong about Bonhoeffer
(01:11:21) - - Jesus: the man for others
Every week on Undeceptions we’ll explore some aspect of life, faith, history, culture, or ethics that is either much misunderstood or mostly forgotten. With the help of people who know what they’re talking about, we’ll be trying to ‘undeceive ourselves’ and let the truth ‘out’.
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