Reflections on a human experience that’s at once routine and exceptional; both very costly and very good.
---
Life & Faith has covered many stories relating to birth over the years – incredible stories of courage and heartbreak, difficult decisions, life and death – but we’ve never done an episode on birth itself: what’s amazing about this process, what’s so hard about it, what makes it so meaningful for so many people.
This year Simon Smart is celebrating a once-every-four-years occasion (yes, he was born on 29 February!) and Natasha Moore is due to head off on maternity leave soon, so Justine Toh joins them for a conversation about birthdays – that is, birth ... days. And midwife Jodie McIver, author of Bringing Forth Life: God’s Purposes in Pregnancy and Birth, offers some insights on the journey to becoming a parent, including how surprisingly frequently pregnancy and birth – in story and as metaphor – feature in the Bible.
“I think the fact that God chooses birth to help us understand deep spiritual realities about his character and work in the world really gives honour to women’s bodies, and to these human experiences as well, as we kind of share in the cost of bringing forth life in our own little way.”
---
EXPLORE
Jodie McIver, Bringing Forth Life: God’s Purposes in Pregnancy and Birth
A few other Life & Faith episodes related to birth, touching on disability, loss, infertility, and fostering:
Speak Up, Show Up
Intensive Care
When Life Doesn’t Go to Plan
Home Extension
Two Years to Live
Street Pastors
The Long Shadow of Slavery
Healing After Abortion
Silence
Another Day in Paradise
Things You Cannot Prove
Life & Faith: Nativity
Life & Faith: A Sunburnt Country
Life & Faith: Love in the time of ISIS
Life & Faith: Looking Over the Fence
Life & Faith: Based On A True Story
Life & Faith: Transgender Identity
Life & Faith: The Elephant Not In The Room
Life & Faith: Compassionate Conservatism
Life & Faith: The Untold Story of Slavery
Life & Faith: Women
Life & Faith: Crusades
Life & Faith: The Evolution of the West
Life & Faith: Going Nuclear
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Tangent on Veritas Catholic Network
Life After Ministry
Devoted To Prayer
The Bible Recap
BardsFM