In Australia, the TPP has attracted a fair amount of media commentary, much of it critical. While some of the more vocal criticism has come from non-governmental sectors, it is also important to note that a wide range of economists, with views ranging across the political spectrum, have also evinced scepticism, if not hostility, to these arrangements.

Like all saints made into static statues, portraits often tell as much or more about the artists and their age than the saints and theirs. This is certainly true of Bonhoeffer and the Church of his anguished age.

We have, right now, an exciting opportunity to not only expand our application of the gospel but to redeem the very motivations at the heart of why we buy what we buy.

When there is disagreement about an issue and people from both “sides” talk to each other or in the public space promoting their point of view, we call this an argument. But a look at the two distinct ways we use the word “argument” tells us a lot about the state of public moral discourse.

"We must guard ourselves from this management philosophy and corporatisation of the church. Surely we need sound management of our finances and efficient organisational structures. But we must learn to be love-centred with the help of the Spirit, so that we can truly be an alternative community to a value system that treats people as commodities and money-making machines."

Christians mourn the increasing ungodliness of our culture. We hope that we may make contributions to reversing this. What convictions can animate this? I think a sense that all the spheres of work were designed by the Father to reveal his glory in the Son.

Place has its own history, its own story, and our ability to perceive and to talk about “place” is conditioned by culture. As a result of some historical distortions, we have some work to do in recovering a biblical theology – and then a Christian practice – of place. Recovering these things requires that we also re-place humankind within the creation. For what purpose were we created?

Having spent the past 18 months co-authoring a book on climate change however, and having consciously refused the constant temptation to turn away from this overwhelming and perplexing moral and spiritual issue, I find that jet skis make me cry. The sight, the smell, and the sound all remind me of humanity’s ongoing willingness to choose self-indulgent pleasure over sacrificial love.

On top of the $7.6 billion in cuts to aid since it came into office, the Abbott government will take a further $3.7 billion out over the next four years, with 1 billion to be extracted from the coming year's budget alone. How much will be cut from the part of our aid that is delivered through non-government agencies like mine, remains to be seen. Wherever it falls, the impact will be brutal.

On Christmas Day 2014, the Wall Street Journal published a provocative piece by Christian thinker Eric Metaxas , arguing that the extraordinary odds against life existing on another planet supports an inference to intelligent design. The article has since gone viral on social media and provoked considerable discussion and criticism. Aerospace engineer and Fellow of ISCAST James Garth weighs into the debate.