Making peace with our unpeacefulness: Claude AnShin Thomas' path from war to Zen Buddhism

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 first drag performer to reach #1 on the Christian iTunes charts, and in 2023 her debut record Bible Belt Baby was nominated for Best Pop Album at the San Diego Music Awards. Prior to adopting the Flamy Grant persona, Matthew Blake worked as a worship leader for 22 years and released folk music under their own name.

Mikali Anagnostis (they/them) is a singer/songwriter who has just released their first EP, Whole with the sacred arts collective, Marion St. They are a member of Leichhardt Uniting Church on Gadigal/Wangal land in Sydney.

Music in this episode

• 'What Did You Drag Me Into?' by Flamy Grant
• 'Good Day' by Flamy Grant
• 'Garden' by Mikali Anagnostis/Marion St
• 'God is Coming' by Mikali Anagnostis/Marion St

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 and Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music and cohost of the Weird Religion and Rock That Doesn't Roll podcasts.

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 studies, ritual music and anthropology of religion. He is the author of "Buddhism and Popular Music", a chapter in The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Popular Music, first edition. His latest book is The Sound of Vultures' Wings: The Tibetan Buddhist Chöd Ritual Practice of the Female Buddha Machik Labdrön

Hundreds of people — including pastors, activists, ministry workers and theologians — have gathered from every corner of this land we now call Australia. They're on Wurundjeri country for a First Nations theology conference, to share their faith and vision for justice. Some are describing this event as a theological revolution.

It's a reckoning of sorts, addressing the role of the churches during the era of colonial missionary activity through to the recent constitutional referendum.

Professor Anne Pattel-Gray is the inaugural Head of the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Divinity. She is a descendant of the Bidjara and Kari Kari peoples of Queensland and a celebrated Aboriginal leader.

Mikenzie Ling is a Wiradjuri woman who recently completed her Masters of Theology, with her dissertation titled: Is Land My Mother? An Australian Aboriginal Christian Theology of Custodianship and Connection to Country.

Rhanee Lester, Adnyamathanha delegate from South Australia at the First Nations theology conference. 

Sandra King OAM, Quandamooka and Bundjalung woman, and Reconciliation Action Plan Coordinator for the Anglican Church in Southern Queensland.

Also in this episode, Julie Coombs, Joshua Lane, Travis Turner, Kyle Wicker, Ben Van Geldren, Dean Chisholm.

Further conference information: 

Further listening:

• Contemplating country with Garry Deverell - ABC listen
• Theology after Mabo – Dr Anne Pattel-Gray for Reconciliation Week - ABC listen
• Heal Country: NAIDOC week with Brooke Prentis and Aunty Rev Denise Champion - ABC listen
• Sovereignty is a spiritual notion: NAIDOC special - ABC listen
• Reconciliation as a pilgrimage to justice - ABC listen
• Indigenous theologian Garry Deverell on grounded spirituality - ABC listen

How do we live with care and attention on this beautiful, but warming planet? 

We meet leading Zen teacher Susan Murphy. She's re-thinking the wisdom stories of her tradition, after having to flee her home during the 2019 bushfires.

We also hear from Dr Alda Balthrop-Lewis, who recently found herself on the front lines of a climate protest, to the point of blockading coal exports.

Guests:

Dr Alda Balthrop-Lewis is a researcher of religion and environmental ethics at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne.

Roshi Susan Murphy is a leading Australian Zen teacher, and founder of the Zen Open Circle in Sydney. She's been writing about Buddhism and climate change for years, and her latest book is A Fire Runs through All Things: Zen Koans for Facing the Climate Crisis

Further Listening:

The Chinese dragon has long been associated with the Emperor of China, and by extension China itself. The coming Year of the Dragon this Lunar New Year is a reminder of how the dragon is a significant and auspicious symbol for people all over the world — from Bendigo to Shanghai.

Doug Lougoon is President of the Bendigo Chinese Association, which owns the world's longest processional dragon. Doug's grandfather migrated to Bendigo in the 1880s.

Dr Hongyan Chen is Associate Professor at the institute of International and Comparative Education at the East China Normal University in Shanghai. In 2018 she published the paper, The Metaphor of the Dragon in Chinese Culture

Special thanks to the Bendigo Easter Fair Society for permission to use audio from the 2019 Easter Fair, when the new dragon, Dai Gum Loong, was introduced to his predecessors, Loong, Yar Loong and Sun Loong. You can watch the parade on YouTube.

Further listeningRe-enchanting China: The resurgence of popular religion, on Soul Search.

What do Aboriginal spirituality and Christian theology have to say to each other? According to Garry Deverell there's plenty, but the conversation can only really begin when there's mutual respect and listening — something that is still missing 235 years after British colonisation.

Rev Dr Garry Deverell is a Trawloolway man from north-eastern Tasmania and Academic Dean, Lecturer, and Research Fellow in the new School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Divinity, which he helped to found. His latest book is Contemplating Country: More Gondwana Theology.

On SBS’s hit show Alone Australia, contestants had to spend weeks in the wilderness without any human contact. Isolation can be hard — many people fear it — but some embrace solitude as an opportunity to learn what makes us human.

Dr Kate Grarock was a contestant on the reality TV show Alone Australia. She’s also an ecologist, hiker and YouTube creator.

Hon Dr Joseph Randolph Bowers is a psychotherapist, spiritual director and lifelong meditation practitioner based in Armidale, NSW. He is the author of Solitude Awakens: The Heart Forest Mountain Way as well as various books exploring Mi’kmaw First Nations culture and spirituality.

This episode was first broadcast 6 August 2023

Julian of Norwich, the Medieval mystic and anchoress, continues to inspire though her writing even after 650 years. Her powerful prose about her religious revelations, was written in the midst of 14th Century plague-riven Europe.

Julian was the first woman to write in Middle English in the time of Chaucer, and her writings still exist today because of groups of dedicated women who smuggled, hid, translated and nurtured them across the centuries.

Professor Daniel Anlezark is McCaughey Professor of Early English Literature and Language at the University of Sydney. He was reading excerpts from The Shewings of Julian of Norwich - Revelations of Divine Love - (1675 manuscript)

Dr Janina Ramirez is Research Fellow in History of Art at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford. She’s the author of Julia of Norwich, a very brief history, and presenter of the documentary BBC The Search for the Lost Manuscript Julian of Norwich

The Reverend Dr Sally Douglas is lecturer in biblical studies at Pilgrim Theological college in Melbourne, and a minister of the word in the Uniting Church. Her new book is Jesus Sophia: Returning to Woman Wisdom in the Bible, Practice, and Prayer.

This episode was first broadcast Sunday June 25, 2023 

Ningaloo Reef – on the remote west coast of Australia – is the playground of whales, manta rays and black-flanked rock wallabies. The world-heritage site is one of the last wild places left on Earth, and has inspired author Tim Winton for decades, both in his written work and environmental activism.

Tim Winton is one of Australia’s most popular and prolific authors. A four-time Miles Franklin winner, he is the creator of iconic novels like Breath and Cloudstreet.

Ningaloo Nyinggulu is available to watch now on ABC iview.

This episode  was 21 May 2023