Jennifer Powell McNutt has spent years studying Mary Magdalene. She wants us to know who she really is.

Mary Magdelene is both well-known and yet not known at all. She has appeared prominently in art and popular culture in things like the musical Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) or in the film The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) or Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (2003).

She has often been inaccurately portrayed as a penitent prostitute and is sometimes presented as a romantic partner of Jesus. She was present at all the crucial moments of Jesus’ story, but history has frequently failed to recognise her remarkable contribution.

Jennifer Powell McNutt wants to correct that error. She is a Professor of Theology and History at Wheaton College in Illinois and the author of The Mary We Forgot. She thinks we are right to remember Mary Magdelene, but not for the reasons that many people think.

Explore:

The Mary We Forgot: What the Apostle to the Apostles Teaches the Church Today

Brigid Delaney, Australia’s resident expert on Stoicism, draws on ancient wisdom to survive the storm of modern life.

---

How do you cope when things seem to be spinning out of control?

In recent years, the ancient Greek philosophy of Stoicism has made a comeback. It’s especially big in Silicon Valley, where modern Stoics pore over the writings of the ancient Stoics – Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Roman statesman and philosopher Seneca, and Greek slave-turned-philosopher Epictetus – to work out how to thrive in challenging times.

The philosophy has a reputation for being dour and stiff-upper-lipped. But if this world is all there is and there is no one coming to save us, then for Stoics it makes sense to face reality and get on with life.

Brigid Delaney is enormously prolific. She has worked as a political speechwriter, lawyer, journalist, travel writer and screenwriter. She’s also written two books on Stoicism: The Seeker and the Sage: A Stoic Conversation to Hold You Together in a Fractured World, published late in 2025, and Reasons Not to Worry: How to Be Stoic in Chaotic Times, published in 2022.

Brigid explains how Stoicism has made her less angry and reactive, and changed how she thinks about the world. Also how, in places, it overlaps with Christian thought and practice – to the degree that someone even forged a correspondence between Seneca and the Apostle Paul, who were contemporaries of each other.

In this episode, we also talk to Louis Markos, the Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities at Houston Christian University, and a passionate devotee of ancient Greek thought, to get a sense of how Christianity differs from Stoicism. Stoicism assumes an impersonal, yet ordered universe. Christianity asserts that the order guiding the universe is personal, that in Jesus, “the Word became flesh”.

Explore:

Brigid Delaney’s The Seeker and the Sage and Reasons Not to Worry.

Brigid Delaney’s previous interview on Life & Faith: Misadventures in Wellness.

Brigid Delaney’s column in The Guardian on the experience of attending two funerals – one secular, one faith-based – in quick succession.

Follow Brigid Delaney on Substack or Instagram, or check out her consultancy Stoic Solutions.

Lou Markos explains the similarities and differences between Christianity and Stoicism, and why he thinks the latter is the sanest, most reasonable option out there – if Jesus hadn’t risen from the dead.

Lou Markos’ From Aristotle to Christ, From Plato to Christ, From Achilles to Christ.

New York Times columnist and ex-soldier David French on his surprising career trajectory, faith and politics, and what Jesus has to say about power.

---

David French has a fascinating life story that has seen him work as a constitutional lawyer for 20 years, a journalist and writer for places like the National Review, the Atlantic, and now the NYT.

He is a writer and commentator with a conviction to wrestle with and try to make sense of the country that he loves – its history, its possibilities and its faults, and how it can be the best version of itself that it can be.

It was at least partly that conviction that led him, at age 37, to sign up to the U.S. Army where he deployed to Iraq. That experience changed him in many different ways, he says, for better and also worse.

In this interview with Life & Faith, French talks about polarisation, faith and politics, Jesus and power, Christian nationalism, and where he sees green shoots of hope in an otherwise troubling landscape.

Explore:

David’s New York Times Columns.

His book, Divided We Fall: America's Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.

Some principles, some practices, and a bit of inspiration for the digitally exhausted.

We pick up our phones 150 times per day on average.

Three out of four Australians check social media as soon as they wake up. Four out of five check it before they go to bed.

These ‘micromoments’ add up – the ways we choose (consciously or not) to spend our time shape us. Many of us find ourselves dissatisfied in the ‘relationship’ we have with our phones, and wanting to make a change. But breaking up is hard!

In this first episode of Life & Faith for 2026, we consider the forces at work when it comes to our digital habits, why we might choose to reduce our phone use, and how.

Simon, Justine, and Natasha confess and compare their daily average screen time. Felicia Wu Song, author of Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age, describes the ‘digital ecology’ we inhabit and the ‘liturgies’ we participate in – and proposes some practices, or ‘counterliturgies’, that might help us move in a different direction. Plus, a bunch of people who’ve taken various steps to get off their phones tell a remarkably consistent story about why they did it, and how it’s changed their lives.

More and more of us are joining the ranks of the ‘digitally exhausted’, and looking for a better way forward. If you want it to be, this is the year of getting off your phone.

Explore:

Felicia Song’s book Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age

Life & Faith brings you a conversation with an Aussie icon.

“Write the song and just let the song be a mirror on life, and then see if people see themselves in the picture.”

You might know Colin Buchanan as an Australian country music star, as a much-loved writer and performer of kids’ music, as a Play School presenter, or from one of the other myriad hats he’s worn over the years. And if you don’t know him, you’ll definitely feel like you do at the end of this rollicking hour spent in his company.

Come along for the ride as Colin takes Life & Faith on a journey into the heart of the outback, the inner workings of the creative process, and the depths of the Bible, with stops along the way to chat comedy, Christmas, and Play School bloopers. He also plays us a song or two.

---

EXPLORE:

Check out Colin’s music (past and forthcoming), and upcoming performances, here

Greg Sheridan on why the early Christians were able to change the world.

Greg’s third in a trilogy of books on Christianity examines the “success” of the early Christians in upending the ancient world, and how this story speaks to contemporary life.

Greg Sheridan has been the foreign editor at the Australian newspaper since 1992. He is one of Australia’s leading national security and foreign affairs analysts, and has interviewed Prime Ministers and Presidents all over the world.

He also writes about Christianity and culture and his last three books have been on that subject. The first, in 2018 was “God is Good For You: A Defence of Christianity in Troubled Times.” In 2021 he delivered “Christians: The Urgent Case for Jesus in Our World.” And in 2025 we have “How Christians Can Succeed Today.”

Greg is able to bring ancient stories to life with his journalistic style, insight and good humour. And he makes a compelling case for why this story remains relevant and life-giving for our times of upheaval, conflict and uncertainty.

Explore:

How Christians Can Succeed Today

Christians: The Urgent Case for Jesus in Our World

God is Good For You: A Defence of Christianity in Troubled Times

Getting inside the Bible, the most published book of all time.

The Bible is the most published book of all time, and not just historically. It continues to be the case today. In fact, in 2024 Bible sales were up by 22%.

In Western Countries the Bible is easily accessible but increasingly there are people who have very little contact with or understanding of the Bible.

So what even is the Bible? How was it put together? What kind of influence has it had on our lives, even if we are not Bible readers ourselves?

Life & Faith delves into these questions in a suitably epic episode. We speak to an academic about the cultural influence of the Bible, and a New Testament lecturer about how the Bible came together. We talk to the Australian representative of the biggest Bible app in the world about to celebrate their billionth download. And we hear from two people whose lives have been changed by reading the Bible.

What do we know about “The biggest story ever told” and what does this story still have to tell us?

Explore:

The Great bible Swindle

YouVersion and the One Billionth Download

Youth worker and founder of the Red Frogs, Andy Gourley, tells Life & Faith how a trip to the Gold Coast to look after his skateboarding crew changed his life.

The group known as Red Frogs have become a legendary presence at schoolies weeks, at music festivals and wherever large groups of young party-goers congregate. Offering food, assistance, a listening ear, protection and of course, the famous red jelly frogs, this movement of young volunteers has become a household name in Australia and overseas.

Andy Gourley, the founder of Red Frogs, tells us the origins of this remarkable movement. Twenty seven years ago Andy, who was a youth worker at the time, turned up at “schoolies” on the Gold Coast with a small team of people to try to lend a hand and help keep things under control. And keep people safe from life changing mistakes and consequences.

Andy could not have imagined that the steps he took that week would lead to a movement in nine countries that has assisted tens of thousands of young people to party safely, and to make better decisions at a crucial stage of their lives.

This year 24 tons of red frogs will be delivered to sites around the country as around 1500 volunteers assist 70,000 school leavers. Andy says he never gets tired of helping out when people most need it. For him it’s an honour. Find out why on this episode of Life & Faith.

---

Explore: The Red Frogs website