Food For Thought is a public theology & Bible advocacy blog for Eternity from Sophia Think Tank’s David Wilson, who gathers top Christian thinkers to take a closer look at how the Christian faith addresses matters in society at large every week.

I’ll put it on the table right up front: I’m a Kevin Rudd supporter.  So when I was given the opportunity to go and hear Eureka St’s Discerning Conversation between Frank Brennan and Kevin Rudd I not only gladly accepted but I also expected to like what I heard.  I was not disappointed.

The setting was Melbourne University, the mood was conversational, low key, a discussion between two friends on things that matter and we were allowed to eavesdrop.  Later we would be invited to enter the conversation.  In the world of ideas it doesn’t get much better than this!

So, what did I hear?  The topic of public debate ran throughout the evening.  There should be more transparency in public discourse and academics need to be more involved in challenging the political machine and the media that goes with it because this could raise the quality of the discourse.  If this doesn’t happen we, as a nation, will continue to be vulnerable to every new trend that comes along.

The final question came from Latika Bourke, a reporter with the ABC.  She asked what one thing Rudd would change about politics in Australia if he had the power to do so.  She added that she hoped it wouldn’t be to get rid of her profession although she feared it might be!  Her fears were unfounded; Rudd’s answer was much more insightful than that.  He would change the tone of public discourse by adding to it.  Not doing away with the hurly burly of everyday politics but alongside that frenzy carving out a space for reasoned debate on the bigger issues, the questions behind the issues, the things that really matter.  In this space there would be the chance to listen, to reflect, to dwell and deliberate, and then to act.  He observed that we are facing profound and complex questions as a nation and that these will not be dealt with in eight-second sound bites.

The time spent with Kevin Rudd covered a lot of ground.  The need to act from a values base rather than one of self-interest, the fact that social change requires personal change, the need to listen really well when addressing Indigenous issues, the apology, the application of Christian values in a post-Christian public space, climate change, asylum seekers, and Industrial relations.  Phew…all in an hour!

In amongst all of this there was the personal side of Kevin Rudd as well.  He talked about the importance of forgetting the hurtful things, of forgiving because revengefulness eats you up on the inside and that social change starts with yourself anyway, and of the need to have a values base in public life as well as personal life for the sake of the future of our nation and our world.

This ‘Food for Thought’ blog is all about asking how the wisdom found in the Bible applies to contemporary issues.  I find that the Bible has something to say about all of the issues raised by Kevin Rudd and that he was pretty much on the same page as the Judeo-Christian Scriptures.  The Bible talks much about forgiveness, justice to the world’s most vulnerable, the power of listening, and the importance of dealing wisely with the big issues of the day in a manner guided by such principles as love, justice, mercy, and humility.

Thanks go to Eureka St. for putting this conversation on and to Frank Brennan and Kevin Rudd for the way in which they went about the discussion.  I went in as a Rudd supporter and came out thinking I had some really good reasons for such support.

There’s some challenges in all of this for us, none more important than raising the quality of public discourse and it’s a role that all of us are able to take on.  How about we decide to be more committed to listening, reflecting, and wisely acting on such deliberations?  How about we accept nothing less than that from our National, State, and Local Leaders in Politics, Business and Education?

Food for thought.

Dr David Wilson

Sophia Think Tank

** Opinion and blog pieces posted for Eternity do not reflect the opinion of Bible Society Australia. **

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