You're invited to a thought-provoking interview with John Dickson on the current challenges facing Christianity today, along with a special live performance of The First Hymn by John & team of local musicians.
"The First Hymn" is a modern musical adaptation of the world’s oldest known Christian hymn, dating back to the 3rd century. It preserves every original Greek word from the ancient text discovered in Egypt, brought to life with a new melody by Chris Tomlin and Ben Fielding. The project, led by historian John Dickson, bridges early Christian worship with today’s church, inviting believers to sing the same words as the earliest followers of Jesus.
John’s story is eclectic. Starting out as a professional singer-songwriter, he now works as an author, speaker, historian, and media presenter. John hosts the Undeceptions podcast, Australia’s top Christian podcast which has a growing audience in both the US and the UK. He has hosted four television documentaries. The most recent documentary The First Hymn: Resurrecting a song buried for millennia, was released in April 2025.
John has published over 20 books, including Bullies and Saints: An Honest look at the Good and Evil of Christian History (2021). He has held a variety of teaching and research positions before becoming the Jean Kvamme Distinguished Professor of Biblical Studies and Public Christianity at Wheaton College in Illinois in 2022. Before that, John had held positions in the Ancient History Department at Macquarie University (2002-2015), the Hebrew, Jewish and Biblical Studies Department at Sydney University (2011-2021), Ridley College Melbourne (2019-2022), and the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford (2015-2023).
A busy public speaker, he lives in Wheaton, Illinois, with his wife Elizabeth and the youngest of their three children.
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