Keerthik Sasidharan grew up with stories from the great Indian epics. They fired his imagination, and they've stayed with him through all kinds of changes — including moving from India to New York City. Now he is reimagining the Mahābhārata, one of the major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. Keerthik Sasidharan is an author and essayist based in New York City. His first book is The Dharma Forest, published by Penguin India in 2019. More info Read Keerthik Sasidharan's piece in Aeon magazine, The Way of Dharma Listen to the episode of Soul Search mentioned in this episode,&n ..read more

Thirty years after the Rwandan genocide, Rwandans are working towards a better future for the country, and each other — including the perpetrators of the violence. Also, an Australian doctor works tirelessly all over Africa to heal women of fistulas — a medical condition related to childbirth that's almost unheard of in wealthy countries. Emmanuel Kwizera is a Partnership Facilitator with Compassion International and a former sponsor child. He survived the Rwandan genocide at the age of five and has since become a leader of the Rwanda alumni association, with over 10,000 Compass ..read more

What role does faith play over the course of a lifetime? Three Christian women, each from a different generation, engage in an honest conversation about faith ..read more

How can one nurture the soul? Or seek the divine in times of suffering and violence? These aren't new questions, but as 1.9 billion Muslims approach the peak of Ramadan, we meet a poet and a professor wrestling with these questions.  Professor Mohamad Abdalla AM is the Founding Director of the Centre for Islamic Thought and Education (CITE) at UniSA. He has over 25 years of experience in the field of Islamic Studies. Yahia Lababidi.is a writer, poet and aphorist. His forthcoming collection of poems Palestine Wail, is dedicated to his grandmother, who had to flee h ..read more

Jesus is a film star. He’s graced the big screen since the beginning of cinema — you can probably picture him: robed and long-haired, but that’s only one way to imagine Jesus. In fact, the conversation about the image of Christ goes back a whole lot further than the story of cinema — to the earliest Christian era. There are multiple depictions of Jesus in the Bible, and artists have been giving expression to the Christ figure in different ways across time. Dr Adrian Rosenfeldt is a Lecturer and Head Tutor in Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University. He has a particular intere ..read more

Rituals mark moments moments throughout our lives, big and small. They are also used to draw attention to political injustice and social inequality, to express lament and to reorient the participants in the ritual toward wholeness. What role might rituals play in our lives and our politics, and who might we find participating beside us? Cole Arthur Riley is a writer, poet and NYT bestselling author. She is also the creator of Black Liturgies, a project of The Center for Dignity and Contemplation, where she serves as Curator. Her books include This Here Flesh  ..read more

Perhaps you've heard it said, "We are what we repeatedly do". The early Christian ascetics knew this, but you don't have to be a monk to cultivate good habits, replace bad ones, and — hopefully — become a better person. Dr Jonathan Zecher is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at the Australian Catholic University. He is a historian of Late Antiquity and the Byzantine Empire with a special interest in monastic literature and early Christian culture. Andrew Hill is the CEO of Steiner Education Australia and a member of the Anthroposophical ..read more

Flamy Grant is a drag queen who made a splash in the Contemporary Christian Music industry, charting on Billboard and iTunes' Christian charts. Previously, powerful gatekeepers at Christian record labels and radio stations excluded queer artists from their lineups for decades. Now, digital distribution and social media are revolutionising the music industry and opening doors for LGBTI+ people to contribute their art to an industry that previously excluded them. Flamy Grant (she/her, aka Matthew Blake, they/them) is a musician and drag queen originating from North Carolina. She is the firs ..read more

You might not know it, but there's a parallel Christian entertainment industry that's existed since the 1950s, and it's changed the music you listen to — and even the politicians you know about. The Contemporary Christian Music industry caters specifically to evangelical moral, cultural and political tastes, but far from being a world unto itself, it has affected the mainstream in ways that aren't always obvious to outside observers. Dr Leah Payne is Associate Professor of American Religious History at George Fox University and Portland Seminary. She is the author of God Gave Rock an ..read more

Even if you're not Buddhist, you might believe in karma. Taylor Swift's single 'Karma' reflects popular ideas about cosmic justice, and is just the latest Western pop hit to borrow concepts from Eastern religions. Dr Hannah Gould is a cultural anthropologist studying death, Buddhism, and material culture in Australia and Asia. Along with Professor Anna Halafoff, she is presenting a paper at the 2024 Swiftposium titled Vibing with karma: Buddhist teachings on life and death in Western popular culture. Dr Jeffrey W Cupchik is an ethnomusicologist specialising in Buddhist stud ..read more