It took 400 years, but sometime in the early fifth century Christians transformed a tradition about Jesus’s miraculous virgin birth into a doctrine that inextricably connected sex with sin. It has plagued the church...
Author - Robyn Whitaker
Robyn Whitaker
Hell, no! Halloween is not ‘satanic’ – it’s an important way to think about death
American televangelist Pat Robinson once claimed children who celebrate Halloween were unknowingly “worshipping Satan”. Despite the absurdity that a child dressing up as a witch is devil worship, the idea that Halloween...
God Forbid podcast | What is hell, and does anyone go there?
In popular culture, hell is often depicted as a place full of flames, demons and screaming people. Is this what Christians really believe? Join James and our panel of Christian theologians — each with a differing view...
What and where is heaven? The answers are at the heart of the Easter story
Robyn J. Whitaker, University of Divinity This is the second in a two-part series on heaven and hell by Bible scholar Robyn Whitaker. You can read her piece on hell here. My pious Baptist grandmother once shockingly...
What is hell, exactly? We might joke it’s other people, but the Bible has a more complicated answer
Robyn J. Whitaker, University of Divinity This is the first in a two-part series on heaven and hell by Bible scholar Robyn Whitaker. You can read her piece on heaven here. “This is hell” we might proclaim, midway...
A Christmas story: the arrival of a sweet baby boy – or a political power to change the world
Dear tiny Jesus, with your golden fleece diapers, with your tiny little fat balled-up fists … Dear 8 pound 6 ounce newborn infant Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant so cuddly … So goes the...
On gender and sexuality, Scott Morrison’s ‘blind spot’ may come from reading the Bible too literally
Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND Robyn J. Whitaker, University of Divinity Why is our prime minister so poor on matters of gender and sexuality? Why won’t he clearly state that no institution in Australia...
After a long struggle, the Uniting Church becomes the first to offer same-sex marriage
For some, this recent decision is a source of celebration and perhaps even symbolic, finally, of full equality in the church for gay and lesbian members. Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND Robyn J. Whitaker...
God Forbid Podcast | Holy hot potatoes: Freedom edition
LISTEN NOW Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free! But how free are we really? James Carleton sits down with an Opus Dei bishop and a Uniting Church theologian to find out what happens when anti...
