Please note that all ticketing is being handled by Chatswood Concourse.
The Richard Johnson Lecture is an annual public event from the Centre for Public Christianity (CPX). In 2024, one of Australia’s most loved writers, Tim Winton, will deliver the lecture here in Sydney, Australia. Every year we invite someone to speak on a topic that contributes to an important public conversation and highlights the perspective that faith can bring to the subject at hand.
The Lecture is named for Richard Johnson (1755-1827), the first Chaplain to the colony of New South Wales and a popular exponent of a “public Christianity” that served the common good.
Jacques Ellul said, “Belief is reassuring. People who live in the world of belief feel safe. On the contrary, faith is forever placing us on the razor’s edge”.
Well, we’re there now, on the razor’s edge. On the edge of oblivion. The edge of the possible. This is where humans need to go to know themselves. In the moment of decision, and of action.
Writer and activist Tim Winton reminds us that life on earth is a gift, a miracle we often fail to honour or even recognise. As we face an ecological crisis unprecedented in human history, Tim points to the critical need for solidarity – with the earth, our home, and with each other.
The Centre for Public Christianity (CPX) is a not-for-profit media company that offers a Christian perspective on contemporary life. We seek to promote the public understanding of the Christian faith by engaging mainstream media and the general public through columns published in the media, our Life & Faith podcast, public events, books and documentaries about the relevance of Christianity in the 21st century.
Tim Winton’s literary career spans 40 years of writing and 30 books for adults and younger readers. His books have been translated into 29 languages and won numerous awards including the Miles Franklin Literary Award four times (for Shallows, Cloudstreet, Dirt Music and Breath) and twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize (for The Riders and Dirt Music). Tim is also the writer, narrator, and executive producer of the nature documentary series Ningaloo Nyinggulu that screened around the world in 2023. His latest novel, to be released in October this year, is Juice. Tim lives in Western Australia.
