All Matters of Life and Death articles – Page 3
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Covid reconsidered 1: Pandemic amnesia, ‘Stay at home, Protect the NHS, Save lives’, lingering Long Covid, and 13.47 billion vaccine doses
This podcast happened to launch a week or two into the first lockdown in spring 2020, and so for the first year almost all we could talk about on the show was coronavirus. But since normality finally returned last year, it feels like nobody wants to talk about the pandemic again.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Dementia: Listening to our bodies, 72 unique behaviours, multi-dimensional personhood, and the sacramental ministry of touch
In this episode we speak with trainee vicar and theologian Jess Wyatt about her research into embodiment, personhood and dementia, and think through different ways to care for and attend to those suffering from this increasingly prevalent disease.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Surrogacy: The intended parents, altruistic versus commercial, ancient Christians saving abandoned babies, and a post-genetic community
In this episode we discuss why surrogacy is gaining in popularity, the pros and cons of the proposed reforms, and whether Christians should endorse surrogacy as a good way to start families.
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ShowsMatter of Life & Life: Digital church: Worship on Zoom, pandemic revival, time-shifting and Gnosticism (Replay)
We are both on holiday this week so we’re bringing you an episode we first recorded in 2021 during the covid pandemic. It explores one of the most significant and potentially long-lasting ways the covid pandemic has affected church life – the shift to digital.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Trans children: Gender dysphoria, diagnostic overshadowing, boy Lego versus girl Lego, and the non-replicated Dutch Protocol
Perhaps the most contentious political, medical and social issue of the day is how to treat and care for young people who are questioning or experiencing distress around their sex and gender.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Q&A: Christian pacifism in times of war and the Tower of Babel reconsidered
In this episode we tackle two questions from listeners.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Digital persecution: Deadly rumours on WhatsApp, a ‘Panopticon’ of censorship, the corrosion of trust, and China’s spreading surveillance state
The persecuted church today lives as it always has under the threat of arrest, imprisonment, physical attack, verbal threats and harassment, and even death. But today these traditional methods are supplemented by the technological revolution.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Q&A: Helping unmarried couples have children and court-ordered blood transfusions
Today’s episode was recorded as part of the New Zealand Christian Medical Fellowship’s annual conference. Doctors there sent over two bioethical conundrums for us to chew over as part of a special episode of Matters of Life and Death.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Generative AI: Second Contact, avoiding the fate of Nokia, hacking the human operating system, and the resilience of Western democracy
New artificial intelligence software has swept through the internet over the last year. Many are thrilled by the potential and power of AI which can generate brand new text, images, sound and video. But others are sounding the alarm.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Q&A: Introverts versus extroverts, faith in the consultation room, and a moratorium on AI research
More quickfire initial thoughts in response to questions from listeners. This week we discuss whether introverts are marginalised in the church, or actually disproportionately likely in the pulpit?
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Contemporary spiritualities: Nominal atheism, New Age prayers for £25, moving on from Empty Tomb evangelism, and the church of social justice
The non-religious are an ever-increasing segment of the population, in the UK, the United States and across the Western world
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Effective altruism 2: Tithing, second-hand stuffed toys in Turkey, the Parable of the Lost Sheep, and one-hundredth of a guide dog
In this second part of our effective altruism conversation, we explore the Christian sub-community within EA and ask whether the movement’s fundamental ideas are compatible with Christian tradition on giving.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Effective altruism 1: QALYs, longtermism, Jeremy Bentham’s embalmed corpse, and ethical elitism
Explore effective altruism, a data-driven utilitarian approach to philanthropy. Discover its rapid growth, potential deviations from original intentions, and the challenges of turning ethics into an algorithm.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Webinar 2: Totalitarian regimes, the tobacco regulation lag, eternal life for materialists, and ‘Don’t be afraid’
In the second part of John’s webinar with Premier Unbelievable, he takes questions from listeners on everything from whether AI tech is inching us towards the end times to how families can stave off the destructive influence of smartphone addiction.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Webinar 1: Redefining human-ness, testing for consciousness, hoodwinked by ChatGPT, and a black box
Part one of John’s ‘How to live faithfully in a technologically confusing world’ webinar explores the staggering sophistication of the latest generation of AI chatbots and what ethical questions these might throw up for Christians.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Friendship 2: Walks in the Garden of Eden, David and Jonathan, covenantal clarity, and red flags
In this episode we take a lightning-quick tour through the Bible to consider what we can learn about friendship there – with God, between God’s people, and fundamentally lived out in the life of Jesus.
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ShowsMatters Of Life & Death Friendship 1: The hermeneutic of suspicion, Classical ideals, scandalising middle-class Vienna, and the ‘mysticism of materialism’
Somebody once said that in contemporary society we all want to ‘have sex with our friends, and be friends with our sexual partners’. There is a broad suspicion of intimate but non-sexual friendships, especially those which are intergenerational or cross the sexes.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Listener questions: Polarised culture wars, the challenge of elder care, and childlike sexbots
To mark one year since Matters of Life and Death joined the Premier Unbelievable network, we have a special one-off episode answering some questions emailed in by listeners.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Public sector strikes 2: Taking patients hostage, employment as service, slaves and masters, and Christian peacemaking
There are two strong Christian traditions when it comes to robust political or industrial action such as strikes.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Public sector strikes 1: The Winter of Discontent, austerity-era pay freezes, Christian socialist solidarity, and continuity of patient care
The UK is currently gripped by a wave of strikes from public sector employees – nurses, teachers, postal workers, train drivers, paramedics, and soon junior doctors too.
