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The Very Revd Dr Mark Oakley is the Dean of Southwark, whose book The Splash of Words: Believing in poetry won the 2019 Michael Ramsey Prize. On the podcast this week, we bring you his Plenary Lecture from the Festival of Preaching in Cambridge last month: “Unarmed and Disarming: Preaching love in pitiless times.” Dr Oakley will be one of the speakers at the Festival of Faith and Literature in Winchester from Friday 26 February to Sunday 28 February. For more information and to book tickets, visit: https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk This week’s podcast is brought to you by Magnet: https://ourmagnet.hymnsam.co.uk Read this week’s featured headlines here:  • C of E heading for ‘financial disaster’ warn two academics: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/23-october/news/uk/c-of-e-heading-for-financial-disaster-warn-two-academics • Debt-relief is ‘in the British interest’ says Ed Miliband: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/23-october/news/uk/debt-relief-is-in-the-british-interest-says-ed-miliband • Selection of books for Advent: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/23-october/books-arts/book-reviews/advent-books-round-up-2026-blossoming-into-holy-living-in-advent Picture credit: Emma Chonofsky/Church Times Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader Music for the podcast is by Twisterium

John Humphrys was the first reporter on the scene of the Aberfan disaster. Wednesday (21 October) marks the 60th anniversary of the disaster, in which 116 children and 28 adults died when slurry from a hillside coal-heap slid on to the Welsh village, burying classrooms at Pantglas Junior School. On the podcast, this week, Mr Humphrys speaks to Libby Purves about his memories of Aberfan and how witnessing such suffering made him unable to believe in a merciful God. This leads to a wider discussion about whether belief is possible in the face of suffering. John Humphrys was a presenter of Today on Radio 4 from 1987 to 2019 and presented the BBC’s flagship Nine O’Clock News from 1981 to 1987. His books include In God We Doubt: Confessions of a failed atheist (Hodder & Stoughton, 2007). Libby Purves is a journalist and author, who has written for The Times since 1982. She was a broadcaster on Radio 4 for 40 years. She is the author of 12 fiction and non-fiction books, including That Was Midweek That Was: The story of a radio programme 1979-2017 (Songsend Books, 2017). This episode is produced by Alexis Condon. Read this week’s featured headlines here: • Attitudes to Christianity and Britishness reflect deep anxiety, Theos report says: www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/16-october/news/uk/attitudes-to-christianity-and-britishness-reflect-deep-anxiety-theos-report-says • Churches appeal to Ukrainians to stand firm: www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/16-october/news/world/ukrainian-church-leaders-urge-faith-and-resilience-amid-russian-attacks • And the Church Times is now on TikTok! Follow our official account for news updates, behind the scenes content, and more. Find us at: www.tiktok.com/@thechurchtimes Picture credit: Alamy Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

The Revd Steve Chalke is a Baptist minister and the founder of the Oasis Charitable Trust. He recently co-founded the We Are United campaign, which aims “to create at least 1,000 Festive Tables of Welcome across the country in the month-long run-up to this Christmas”. On the podcast this week, Ed Thornton visits Steve Chalke at Oasis St Martins Village in South London, a hub for community transformation. Mr Chalke talks about the role of faith-based groups in delivering social change, his new voluntary government post as Enrichment Ambassador for Civic Engagement, and about the We Are United campaign. Read his Church Times article about the campaign here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/2-october/comment/columnists/steve-chalke-let-s-choose-connection-over-division Read more about We Are United here: https://peopleunite.org.uk/ Steve Chalke’s books include: • A Manifesto for Hope: Ten principles for transforming the lives of children and young people (SPCK, 2023). • The Lost Message of Paul: Has the Church misunderstood the Apostle Paul? (SPCK, 2019). • Being Human: How to become the person you want to be (John Murray Press, 2016). Read this week’s featured headlines here: • Bishops decry Green motion on Zionism: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/9-october/news/uk/bishops-and-british-jewish-leaders-voice-concern-about-green-party-motion-on-zionism • Our door is open to church voices, say Conservatives: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/9-october/news/uk/our-door-is-open-to-church-voices-say-conservatives • The last temptation of TikTok: interview with Pippa White: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/9-october/features/features/the-last-temptation-of-tiktok Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

“I think it’s really important to recognise that we’re all made differently,” the Archbishop of Canterbury says. Since being diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 15, it has shaped her educational and professional experiences, including her time as Chief Nursing Officer and as the Bishop of London. Before the start of Dyslexia Awareness Week, on this week’s podcast, multimedia reporter Amelia Braddick sits down with Archbishop Mullally at her office in Lambeth Palace to talk about her experiences of dyslexia. Drawing on her faith and ministry work, the Archbishop reflects on how she came to see neurodiversity as part of human difference, rather than as a flaw. Their conversation covers: • Diagnosis and faith • Coping strategies • Strength and creativity • Church inclusion This year, Dyslexia Awareness Week runs from 5 to 11 October, focusing on dyslexic adults and their experiences of work and the workplace. Read more about Dyslexia Awareness Week here. Read this week’s featured headlines here: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/support-us/awareness-events • Emotional PM sets out his stall at first Labour Party Conference in office: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/2-october/news/uk/emotional-pm-sets-out-his-stall-at-first-labour-party-conference-in-office • Synod hopefuls set out stalls as voting begins: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/2-october/news/uk/synod-hopefuls-set-out-stalls-as-voting-begins • How 'dem dry bones' speak to today’s world: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/2-october/features/features/how-dem-dry-bones-speak-to-todays-world Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Last week, the Festival of Preaching welcomed around 300 clergy and lay preachers. The event brought together inspiring talks and workshop from well-known preachers from around the world. In today’s episode, we’re bringing you one of the lectures from the festival: Colin Heber-Percy asks: Is writing a sermon like caging a bird? The Revd Dr Colin Heber-Percy is Team Vicar of Savernake in Salisbury diocese. He is the author of Lost in the Forest: Finding joy in losing your way (Octopus Books £10.99 (Church Times Bookshop £9.89). You can read our review here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/11-september/books-arts/book-reviews/book-review-lost-in-the-forest-notes-on-not-belonging-from-the-english-countryside-by-colin-heber-percy He is also a writer and screenwriter, and has written numerous articles on faith and film, the philosophy and theology of cinema. Read this week’s featured headlines here: • Muslim scholar in awards débâcle deserves apology from Lambeth Palace, says Moderator of Church of Pakistan: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/25-september/news/uk/muslim-scholar-in-awards-d%C3%A9b%C3%A2cle-deserves-apology-from-lambeth-palace-says-moderator-of-church-of-pakistan • End ICE deal, say faith leaders: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/25-september/news/world/end-ice-deal-say-faith-leaders • Churches spear US lawsuits: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/25-september/news/world/churches-spearhead-us-lawsuits • Good Money Week: Better ways to spend – from housing schemes to microfinance: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/25-september/features/features/good-money-get-a-home-to-call-your-own https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/25-september/features/features/good-money-from-small-seeds-to-nurturing-growth If you enjoyed today’s talk, you can also listen to Colin Heber-Percy in conversation with Dr Andrew Rumsey, now Bishop of St Albans, from the 2023 Festival of Faith and Literature: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2023/14-april/audio-video/podcast/colin-heber-percy-in-conversation-with-andrew-rumsey-at-the-festival-of-faith-and-literature Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Five years ago, the Revd Marcus Walker co-founded the Save the Parish campaign. The Revd Dr Stephen Cherry, former parish priest, cathedral canon, and college dean, sat down recently with Fr Walker in the vestry of his church to find out what the issues are and to dig a little deeper into the theology that is behind the concerns. Among the topics discussed: • When and why Fr Walker first decided that the parish needed to be saved. • Why he believes that stipendiary clergy are so vital. • How he responds to critics who say that Save the Parish is standing in the way of initiatives to deal with the Church of England’s attendance crisis. • What would success look like for Save the Parish? Fr Walker is the Rector of St Bartholomew the Great, in the City of London. He is chairman of the Save the Parish network and a member of the General Synod. He is a monthly columnist for the Critic Magazine, and an occasional columnist for The Times, the Telegraph, and the Spectator. Dr Cherry is an Emeritus Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. His most recent book, Unforgivable? Exploring the limits of forgiveness, is published by Bloomsbury. Read our review here. He presents the podcast Encounters with King’s College Chapel: https://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/encounters-kings-college-chapel-podcast This episode is produced by Neil Koenig. Picture credit: Geoff Crawford/Church Times Stories mentioned at the end of the podcast: • Opponents welcome Commons’ rejection of ‘dangerous and unworkable’ assisted-dying Bill: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/18-september/news/uk/opponents-welcome-commons-rejection-of-dangerous-and-unworkable-assisted-dying-legislation • Church in Wales Governing Body: Detailed paper outlines future funding issues: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/18-september/news/uk/church-in-wales-governing-body-detailed-paper-outlines-future-funding-issues • Interview with Jackie Pullinger: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/18-september/features/features/lifetime-given-to-prayer-protection-and-hope Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

“We don’t do God,” the former government communications director Alastair Campbell once told an American reporter who asked Tony Blair about religion. The phrase has come to signify the idea that, in the UK, religion should be kept out of public life. On the podcast this week, staff writer James Macintyre sits down with Alastair Campbell at his home in north London to talk about his enduring interest in faith. Their conversation covers: • What he meant by saying “We don’t do God.” • Why he is proud to be a “pro-faith atheist” • His private Bible studies with the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, at Lambeth Palace • Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical on humanity and AI, Magnifica Humanitas Today, Campbell remains a well-known public figure. He co-presents the hugely popular podcast The Rest is Politics, is Editor-at-Large of The New World, and campaigns on mental health. He is the author of a number of books, which include: • But What Can I Do? Why politics has gone wrong and how you can help fix it (Penguin, 2023). • Living Better: How I learned to survive depression (John Murray, 2020) • Eight volumes of Diaries about is time working in government Stories mentioned in the podcast: • ‘I was probably the only atheist in the room’: Alastair Campbell on Bible studies with Justin Welby: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/11-september/news/uk/i-was-probably-the-only-atheist-in-the-room-alastair-campbell-on-bible-studies-with-justin-welby • Churches marking 25 years since 9/11: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/11-september/news/world/churches-marking-25-years-since-911 • Education: Is AI a threat or an opportunity for young people?https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/11-september/features/features/education-is-ai-a-threat-or-an-opportunity-for-young-people Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Picture credit: Alamy Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

The Symposium series concludes this week with a talk by the Bishop of Edmonton, Dr Anderson Jeremiah, and a response by Dr Anna Rowlands, the St Hilda Professor of Catholic Social Thought & Practice in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University. The title of the talk is: ‘The Radical Act of Common Life: Finding “Us” in a World Drifting Apart.’ The talks were given last month at the event “Public faith, common good, Christian social order,” organised by St John’s College, Cambridge, in conjunction with the diocese of Ely and the Church Times. Read more about the Symposium: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-research/leading-thinkers-discuss-faith-in-a-fractured-society Dr Jeremiah became Bishop of Edmonton in 2024. He is the first Dalit, and the first presbyter ordained in the Church of South India, to be appointed Bishop in the Church of England. He was the first lecturer in World Christianity in the department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University, and is a globally recognised Anglican Theologian with research interests in the lived facet of World Christianity, and its theological, political, and missional engagement in the wider society. He is the author of Community and Worldview among Paraiyars of South India (Bloomsbury, 2012). Professor Rowlands is also the Vincentian Chair in Social Justice at St John University, New York. She is an ecumenical lay canon of Durham Cathedral and the Chair of the UK Centre for Catholic Social Thought and Practice, and a Member of the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development. She is the author of Towards a Politics of Communion: Catholic social teaching in dark times (Bloomsbury, 2021). Her current book project is on three women social philosophers read as political theologians: Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil, and Gillian Rose. Picture credit: Diocese of London Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

The Symposium continues this week with a talk by the Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, and a response by the church historian the Revd Dr Jeremy Morris. The talks were given last month at the event “Public faith, common good, Christian social order,” organised by St John’s College, Cambridge, in conjunction with the diocese of Ely and the Church Times. Read more about the Symposium here Dr Francis-Dehquani’s books include: (SPCK, 2025). Read our review here Cries for a Lost Homeland: Reflections on Jesus’ sayings from the cross (Canterbury Press, 2021). Read an extract here Dr Morris’s books include: A People’s Church: A history of the Church of England (Profile Books, 2023). Read our review here To Build Christ’s Kingdom: An F. D. Maurice Reader (Canterbury Press, 2007) Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Picture credit: Diocese of Chelmsford Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Our new four-part series, The Symposium, continues this week with a talk by Dr Nick Spencer, senior fellow of Theos, and a response by the former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams. The talks were given last month at the event “Public faith, common good, Christian social order,”, organised by St John’s College, Cambridge, in conjunction with the diocese of Ely and the Church Times. Other speakers at the event, whose talks will appear on the podcast in the coming weeks, include: Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford The Revd Dr Jeremy Morris, church historian, former national C of E adviser on ecumenical relations and former Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. The Bishop of Edmonton, Dr Anderson Jeremiah, a globally recognised theologian Dr Anna Rowlands, St Hilda Associate Professor of Catholic Social Thought & Practice in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University Read more about the Symposium here: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-research/leading-thinkers-discuss-faith-in-a-fractured-society Dr Spencer hosts the podcast Reading our Times. His books include: The Landscapes of Science and Religion: What are we disagreeing about?, written with Hannah Waite (OUP, 2025). Magisteria: The entangled histories of science and religion (Oneworld, 2023). The Evolution of the West: How Christianity has shaped our values (SPCK, 2016) Dr Williams’s books include: Solidarity: The work of recognition (Bloomsbury, 2026). Do We Have the Right to Die? , written with Brenda Hale (Vintage, 2026). Discovering Christianity: A guide for the curious (SPCK, 2025). Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

A new series, The Symposium, begins this week, with a talk by the Bishop of St Albans, Dr Andrew Rumsey. The talk was given last month at the event “Public faith, common good, Christian social order,” and was organised by St John’s College, Cambridge, in conjunction with the diocese of Ely and the Church Times. Other speakers at the event, whose talks will appear on the podcast in the coming weeks, include: Dr Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford Dr Nick Spencer, senior fellow at the think tank Theos Dr Anna Rowlands, St Hilda Associate Professor of Catholic Social Thought & Practice in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University Read more about the Symposium here: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-research/leading-thinkers-discuss-faith-in-a-fractured-society Dr Rumsey’s books include: Parish: An Anglican theology of place (SCM Press) English Grounds: A pastoral journal (SCM Press) Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Tributes have been paid to the journalist and broadcaster Edward Stourton, who died this month, aged 68. Paul Vallely writes in the Church Times this week: “Ed’s faith strengthened his journalism because it gave him a deeper insight into the truth. There is no finer exemplar of the vocation of journalism than Edward Stourton.” Last year, Edward Stourton delivered the Sir Tony Baldry Lecture in Winchester Cathedral as part of the Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature. The lecture examined how truth can survive in a digital age, and explained why truth-telling still matters. “Technology can create challenges as well as opportunities,” he said. “Today’s digital landscape offers us an abundance — a superabundance — of sources for information, something unimaginable in the 1940s, and, indeed, in the three-television-channel world I joined in the 1970s. If we’re offered several versions of the truth, it is only natural to prefer the version which best fits our views and prejudices, and that’s a real challenge facing us in what’s sometimes called the mainstream media. So, how do we meet that challenge?” Read Paul Vallely's article here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/31-july/comment/columnists/paul-vallely-for-edward-stourton-journalism-was-a-vocation Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and Primate of Belgium, Mgr Luc Terlinden, is interviewed by James Macintyre, staff writer for the Church Times. The interview was recorded on Sunday in a chapel at York Minster. Archbishop Terlinden had been invited by the Archbishop of York to be an ecumenical observer at the meeting of the General Synod in York, after he had invited Archbishop Cottrell, to Mechelen, to a major international conference last year. Archbishop Terlinden speaks about his impressions of the Synod, what the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches can learn from one another, his hopes for world peace, and his assessment of Pope Leo XIV’s first year. Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, the Rector of St Andrew’s, Ramallah, the Revd Fadi Diab, returns to the podcast (he was first interviewed in 2024). He speaks to James Macintyre, staff writer at the Church Times. Fr Diab is on a visit to the UK, where, last week, he presented to the Methodist Conference the 2025 document Kairos II, A Moment of Truth: Faith in a time of genocide, which he co-wrote in response to events in Gaza after the atrocities in Israel on 7 October 2023. The document calls for an urgent global Christian response. This weekend, he will be in York for the General Synod, where he has been invited to attend and speak with members about the situation in the Holy Land for Palestinian Christians, and the wider situation in the region. Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Paul Vallely and Nick Spencer join Ed Thornton on the podcast this week to discuss how Andy Burnham’s Roman Catholicism influences his politics. Nick Spencer writes in the Analysis section of this week’s Church Times about what kind of religious politician Mr Burnham is, and what faith groups can expect from him once he enters 10 Downing Street, as he is expected to do later this month. Paul Vallely, in his column this week, finds echoes of papal encyclicals in Mr Burnham’s speech in Manchester on Monday. “Manchesterism, it seems, is the new word for Catholic social teaching,” he argues. Read their articles here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/3-july/comment/analysis/analysis-andy-burnham-s-faith-is-politically-safe https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/3-july/comment/columnists/paul-vallely-burnhams-manchesterism-echoes-papal-encyclicals Paul Vallely is a writer, broadcaster, and consultant who specialises in philanthropy, business ethics, and international development. He is a Senior Honorary Fellow at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester. He writes a weekly column for the Church Times. He is the editor of The New Politics: Catholic social teaching for the twenty-first century (SCM Press). His most recent books are Live Aid: The definitive 40-year story (New Modern) (Books, 5 December 2025) and Philanthropy: From Aristotle to Zuckerberg (Bloomsbury) (Books, 11 September 2020, Podcast, 17 September 2020). Dr Nick Spencer is senior fellow at Theos, and the host of the podcast Reading our Times. His books include The Landscapes of Science and Religion: What are we disagreeing about? (OUP) (Books, 10 October 2025) (written with Hannah Waite) and The Mighty and the Almighty: How political leaders do God (editor) (Biteback) (Books, 16 June 2017). Podcast edited by Katie Bartlett. Picture credit: Alamy Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

The writer and broadcaster Chris Bowlby is intereviewed this week about his book No Complacency: Life, death, football, and the cathedral on the hill. The book is published by Herne Books and is available from the Church Times Bookshop for £18. From the publisher’s description: “When Chris Bowlby’s son Ewan was diagnosed with a brain tumour aged 17, you might have thought football would be the last thing on their minds. But in the following decade in which Ewan faced growing threats to his health, the love of football they shared seemed to grow in importance. It was a kind of thread, defiantly holding some kind of normal life together, and a passion that prompted fascinating discussion about why a sport could matter so much. “After Ewan’s death from cancer in 2022 [Gazette, 3 March 2023], Chris faced a choice. He wondered whether his lifelong love of football might fade. But gradually he found a way of including grief in a return to life, all of life. He understood as never before how much football had meant to him, how it had shaped the world he had lived through, and how it could now help him cope. Yet there was tension too. Was he now more aware of how the modern game might be leaving its humanity behind? “This book explores that experience, ranging from top-level football to community clubs, the intensely local to the global, the women’s game as well as the men’s. It has football at its heart but is about much more than sport.” Ewan Bowlby’s book, Borrowed Stories: Facing cancer with culture — from Breaking Bad to The Divine Comedy, was published last year (Features, 12 September 2025). https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781917362115/borrowed-stories https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/12-september/features/features/facing-cancer-with-culture-end-of-life-solace-in-storytelling Chris Bowlby has written the Viewpoint column in the 19 June edition of the Church Times. https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/19-june/comment/columnists/viewpoint-with-chris-bowlby-football-and-religion-can-benefit-each-other Chris Bowlby was for many years on the staff of the BBC, where he made documentaries on a wide range of subjects including payday lending and football, profiles of leading football club owners, and the history of the Berlin venue for the 2006 World Cup final. He has also been a regular columnist for the BBC History magazine, a foreign correspondent for the Independent, and writes obituaries for The Times. Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Peter Stanford returns to the podcast to talk about his new book, Gaudí: God’s architect, published to mark the centenary of Antoni Gaudí’s death. The book is published Hodder & Stoughton at £30 (Church Times Bookshop £24). https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781399811811/gaud%C3%AD?vc=CT705 The writer Tobias Jones says: “In daring to trace the complex connections between Gaudí’s religious faith and his famous buildings, this is an enriching, nuanced book.” Read an extract from the book in the 5 June edition of the Church Times: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/5-june/features/features/antoni-gaud%C3%AD-architect-of-his-own-destiny Peter Stanford is an award-winning writer, journalist, broadcaster, and campaigner. He is a former editor of The Catholic Herald. His previous books include If These Stones Could Talk (Podcast. 14 October 2021; Books, 26 November 2021) and Martin Luther (Podcast, 13 April 2017; Books, 28 July 2017). Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On this edition of the podcast, Canon Angela Tilby talks about her new book, Good Faith: Why England needs its Church (Hodder & Stoughton), which is available to buy at the Church House Bookshop. https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781399801638/good-faith Canon Tilby is Canon Emeritus of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and a Canon of Honour at Portsmouth Cathedral. She is also a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day, as well as a weekly columnist for the Church Times. The book “seeks to reclaim what is unique about the Church of England — a church which claims to be ‘part of’ the one, holy Catholic Church — and its role in our national life, and how a deeper understanding of Christian faith can still be passed on through it to the English people”. Picture credit: KT Bruce Music for the podcast is by Twisterium. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, the singer, composer, and conductor Joanna Forbes L’Estrange is interviewed by Madeleine Davies. Joanna Forbes L’Estrange talks about how she developed a love of singing as a child, and why she believes that singing in primary schools is “absolutely vital”. This is especially needed in state schools, she says, where there is often less of a culture of singing than in independent schools. “There have been lots of musicians over the decades who have recognised this need, but still somehow there needs to be a seismic culture shift,” she says. “It’s somehow convincing the people who make the big decisions that singing provision in schools is absolutely vital.” She delivered a keynote speech this month at the annual conference of the Choir Schools’ Association. Read more in Madeleine’s report in the Church Times this week. https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/15-may/news/uk/state-schools-need-support-to-improve-music-provision-choir-schools-association-hears https://www.joannaforbeslestrange.com/ Tickets are on sale for the Church Times Festival of Faith and Music, on 10 October at Southwark Cathedral: https://faithandmusic.hymnsam.co.uk/buy-tickets/ Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Tributes have been paid to Richard Harries, a former Bishop of Oxford , long-serving peer, and prolific writer, who died on 29 April at the age of 89. He was a frequent contributor to the Church Times. In 2023, Lord Harries was interviewed on this podcast about his memoir, The Shaping of a Soul: A life taken by surprise (John Hunt) (Books, 6 April 2023). On this week’s podcast there’s another chance to hear the interview about his fascinating life. In this week’s Church Times, an obituary of Lord Harries is published, as well as his last book review for the paper. The Shaping of a Soul is available from the Church House Bookshop: https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781803411620/shaping-of-a-soul-the https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/8-may/gazette/obituaries/obituary-the-rt-revd-the-lord-harries-of-pentregarth https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/8-may/books-arts/book-reviews/book-review-vermeer-a-life-lost-and-found-by-andrew-graham-dixon Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, Dr Lucy Sixsmith is interviewed about her new book, When the Music Fades: Power, surrender and the Soul Survivor generation. In the book, she reflects on growing up as part of the Soul Survivor generation, including attending its festivals, and she grapples with the big questions that she and others have been left with in the wake of revelations about its founder, Mike Pilavachi. In September 2023, an investigation by the Church of England’s safeguarding team concluded that Mr Pilavachi had exercised an abuse of power and spiritual abuse (News, 7 September 2023). The following year, a review by Fiona Scolding KC concluded that the abuse of power had been enabled by a wholesale failure of organisational culture at Soul Survivor (News, 4 October 2024). The book goes beyond Soul Survivor to the wider culture of Charismatic Evangelicalism in Britain in the 1990s and 2000s. One of the books aims, she says, was to try to evoke this environment, “to put out into the world: this is what it was like, this is what a lot of us who are now 30- or 40-somethings experienced as teenagers.” An extract from the book is published in this week’s edition of the Church Times. Dr Sixsmith is in conversation with Madeleine Davies, senior writer at the Church Times. When the Music Fades: Power, surrender and the Soul Survivor generation is published by Canterbury Press at £16.99 (Church Times Bookshop £13.59); 978-1-786-22615-0. https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781786226150/when-the-music-fades?vc=CT201 Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, the Archbishop of Canterbury speaks to the editor, Sarah Meyrick. It is the Archbishop’s first interview since her enthronement last month. Archbishop Mullally is asked about her hopes for her time in office. What will be distinctive about her archiepiscopate? What sort of leader will she seek to be? She also speaks about church growth, safeguarding, Living in Love and Faith, and her relationship with the Anglican Communion, among other topics. “What I want to offer is a consistency: a calm, non-anxious leadership,” she says. “I see myself as a shepherd, as somebody who supports and provides pastoral care.” Picture credit: BBC Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On this episode of the podcast, Malcolm Guite talks to Rachel Mann about his new book, Galahad and the Grail, part one of a planned four-volume poem sequence, Merlin’s Isle, a retelling of the tales of King Arthur. In a review of the book in the Church Times, Dr Michael Wheeler describes Galahad and the Grail as “a poem of sacramental re-enchantment, grounded in the holy eucharist”. Galahad and the Grail: Merlin’s Isle Volume 1 is published by Canterbury Press at £30 (Church Times Bookshop £27). https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781786227126/galahad-and-the-grail?vc=CT727 The Revd Dr Malcolm Guite is a Life Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge, and writes the weekly Poet’s Corner column for the Church Times. The Ven. Dr Rachel Mann, also a priest-poet, is the Archdeacon of Bolton and Salford, in the diocese of Manchester. Her second collection of poetry, Eleanor Among the Saints (Carcanet), was shortlisted for the 2024 T. S. Eliot Prize (Books, 25 April 2025).

On this edition of the podcast, Peter Hitchens is interviewed by Church Times staff writer James Macintyre. Mr Hitchens is one of the most well-known — and well-travelled — columnists and commentators in Britain. He has worked in the journalism trade for almost 50 years, serving as a resident correspondent in Moscow, and in Washington DC, as well as an industrial correspondent and a political correspondent. A practising Anglican and a “small-c” conservative, he is known as “controversial”: at once celebrated by his many admirers, and reviled by his opponents. Few people who have come across him have no opinion on him. He has a weekly column for The Mail on Sunday and also writes for the Daily Mail, among a range of other outlets. A regular broadcaster, his books include The Rage Against God, first published by Continuum in 2010. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On this edition of the podcast, the Revd Dr Andrew Atherstone, Professor of Modern Anglicanism in the University of Oxford, is intereviewed about his biography of the Archbishop of Canterbury, which was published this week. The book, "Archbishop Sarah Mullally", draws on conversations with people who know her and archive material to tell the story of her childhood, her journey of faith, and her rapid rise through both the NHS and the Church of England. Dr Atherstone also considers how her archiepiscopate might compare with that of Archbishop Welby’s, about whom he has also written a biography. The book is published by Hodder & Stoughton at £22 (Church Times Bookshop £17.60); 978-1-3998-2878-9. https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781399828789/archbishop-sarah-mullally?vc=CT320 An extract is due to be published in next week’s issue of the Church Times (27 March), along with coverage of her enthronement in Canterbury. Dr Atherstone is interviewed by Ed Thornton, Associate Editor. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

The Bible’s Society’s report The Quiet Revival, published last year, said that the Church in England and Wales was in a “period of rapid growth, driven by young adults and in particular young men”, and the trend of decline had been reversed (News, 11 April 2025). But is the Church of England experiencing a share of this revival? Some have expressed concern that the Church will “miss out” on the opportunity presented. At the end of January, the Church Times hosted an event at St John’s, Waterloo, in London, “Springtime for the Church of England: Where are we seeing growth?”, which brought together speakers representing different traditions to share stories of local growth. The podcast this week features the opening talk by the Revd Dr David Goodhew, Vicar of St Barnabas’s, Middlesbrough, Visiting Fellow of St John’s College, Durham University, and the former director of the Centre for Church Growth Research. “The reason we have a confused discussion is that people tend to say either it must be growth, or it must be decline,” he says. “Actually, it’s both; and, if you look across British Christianity, you are seeing a whole load of things going up, and going down, and it depends where you look as to what you are seeing.” At the start, Madeleine Davies, senior writer at the Church Times, and the Vicar of St John’s, Waterloo, Canon Giles Goddard, introduce the event. A video recording of the event can be purchased at: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/springtime-for-the-church-of-england-where-are-we-seeing-growth Find out about forthcoming Church Times events, including the Festival of Preaching in September, at https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/events Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader Picture: The cover image of the report The Quiet Revival. Credit: Bible Society

On the podcast this week, James Macintyre talks about his new book, Gordon Brown: Power with purpose, which provides a definitive portrait of the former Prime Minister and Chancellor. The conversation focuses on an aspect of Mr Brown that previous biographers and commentators have overlooked: his Christian faith, and how it guides his politics and advocacy for social justice. You can read an article adapted from the book in this week’s Church Times . James Macintyre is staff writer at the Church Times, and has previously been political correspondent for The Independent and The New Statesman — where he covered Brown’s premiership close up — and politics editor of Prospect magazine. He is co-author of Ed: The Milibands and the making of a Labour leader. Interview by Ed Thornton, Associate Editor. Gordon Brown: Power with purpose is published by Bloomsbury at £25 (Church Times Bookshop £22.50); 978-1-5266-7341-1. https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781526673411/gordon-brown?vc=CT913 Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, staff writer Francis Martin speaks to the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, about her recent trip to Israel and Palestine. Travelling with the Bishops of Norwich and Chelmsford, Bishop Treweek met Anglicans across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. The bishops planted olive trees in the al-Makhrour valley near Bethlehem, with members of the group Rabbis for Human Rights. “Words are not enough,” she says, as a response to the situation affecting Palestinians, and suggests that the UK Government is “complicit in the occupation” of the West Bank. The episode was recorded on 30 January. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the final podcast of the year, the editor, Sarah Meyrick, is joined by senior writer Madeleine Davies and staff writer Francis Martin to discuss some of the most memorable and significant stories that the Church Times covered in 2025. They discuss: the departure of Justin Welby and ongoing questions about safeguarding in the Church of England; the Bible Society’s Quiet Revival report; the rise of Christian nationalism; the assisted-dying Bill; the nomination of the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury; and the Archbishop of York’s visit to Israel-Palestine. The episode was recorded on Wednesday 17 December. They also look ahead to what 2026 has in store for the Church of England. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

At the age of 91, Richard Holloway has written what he says “feels like the final book”: Last Words, in which he reflects on his long and fascinating life. Richard Holloway is interviewed by Malcolm Doney in this week’s 12-page Books for Christmas supplement, and a recording of their telephone call is on this podcast. The book is also reviewed by Angela Tilby. “I’ve always had a melancholic side to my nature. Melancholy is not sadness,” he says in the interview. “It’s a kind of mood you fall into when you consider the passingness and transience of things. Our lives just flow towards the end, but you look back on memories, your parents, your schooldays — all of that, and, as I get older, I spend more time doing that. . . “And this is a grateful kind of looking back, I guess, at the way my life went, people I owe a lot to, especially my parents, my mother . . . a reflection on what has been, what feels like the final run.” Last Words is published by Swift Press at £16.99 (Church Times Bookshop £15.29); https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781800755338/last-words?vc=CT228 If you already subscribe to the Church Times, why not give a gift subscription to friends or family this Christmas? Visit: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/subscribe

This week’s episode is an interview with the Archbishop of York, recorded a week after his return from a five-day visit to Israel and Palestine. The interview is by Francis Martin, staff writer, who travelled with the Archbishop’s delegation, reporting on the trip for the Church Times. The Archbishop spoke about what moment of the visit most resonated for him; being confronted by heavily armed settlers; and why he believes that Israeli actions in Gaza are “genocidal acts” and the situation in the occupied West Bank amounts to “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing”. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

The Bishop of Washington, DC, the Rt Revd Mariann Edgar Budde, made headlines in January when she preached before President Trump at the traditional post-Inauguration service of prayer for the nation, in Washington National Cathedral. She pleaded with him directly to be merciful to migrants and LGBTQ people (News, 24 January, Features, 5 September). Bishop Budde was a speaker last month at the Festival of Preaching, organised by the Church Times and Canterbury Press, in Southwark Cathedral. The theme of the festival was “Preaching Truth to Power”. On the podcast this week, there is a chance to hear the sermon that she preached at the festival eucharist. “I wasn’t speaking only to the President and his supporters gathered at the cathedral: I was speaking to and for those listening around the country,” she said. “One of my favourite homiletics professors used to say ‘Sometimes, we speak to the people; other times, we speak for them.’ But I didn’t feel like a prophet: I felt like a pastor, speaking to and for a country that I loved. . . “The task isn’t to preach to those who aren’t listening, but to those who are, who are trying to make sense of what’s happening. . . We have the sacred duty to give voice, yes, to factual truth, as best we can discern it, but also a moral truth rooted in the teachings of Jesus and the prophetic tradition of our faith.” Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, Dr Selina Stone is interviewed about her new book, A Heavy Yoke: Theology, power and abuse in the Church, by Dr Lisa Adjei, the C of E’s Head of Racial Justice Priority. It was recorded at the book’s launch last month at Bridewell Hall in London. In A Heavy Yoke, Dr Stone lifts the lid on the ways in which Christian theology can, often unwittingly, uphold existing power structures to the detriment of the flourishing of the whole Church. It calls for a more rigorous and critical understanding of Christian theology and how it is shaping Christian leaders, churches, and organisations. Reviewing the book in this week’s Church Times, Lyle Dennen describes it as “well written, challenging, and disturbing. . . Stone’s powerful contention is that it is not just some bad apples on a good tree: there are narratives, twisted theologies, and cultures that significantly enable abusers to control others and justify terrible behaviour.” Read the Church Times review of the book here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/10-october/books-arts/book-reviews/book-review-a-heavy-yoke-theology-power-and-abuse-in-the-church-by-selina-stone Read Dr Stone’s recent Analysis piece, “Theology can be spiritually abusive”, here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/12-september/comment/analysis/analysis-theology-can-be-spiritually-abusive Photo credit: Tom Perkins New to us? Or know someone who is? Receive 10 weeks of full access to the Church Times – plus subscriber-only benefits – all for just £5* this October. Select the trial offer and add the code Archbishop106 at checkout. Visit www.churchtimes.co.uk/subscribe *first-time subscribers only. UK only.

A team from the Church Times was at Canterbury Cathedral on Friday, where the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury was revealed: the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally. She will be the first woman to hold the post. On the podcast this week, Francis Martin guides us through a memorable day. It includes the Archbishop-designate’s address in the cathedral, shortly after Downing Street announced her nomination; Sarah Meyrick’s interview with Bishop Mullally and episcopal colleagues; and Amelia Braddick seeking reactions from members of the public. Picture credit: Neal Turner for Lambeth Palace New to us? Or know someone who is? Receive 10 weeks of full access to the Church Times – plus subscriber-only benefits – all for just £5* this October. Select the trial offer and add the code Archbishop106 at checkout. Visit https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/subscribe *first-time subscribers only. UK only.

The editor of the Church Times, Sarah Meyrick, is joined by Madeleine Davies, senior writer, and Francis Martin, staff writer, to talk about the challenges that will face the next Archbishop of Canterbury. This week’s edition contains an eight-page pullout exploring what lies ahead for the next Archbishop of Canterbury. On the podcast, Madeleine talks about her article, which looks at the state of the Church of England that the next Archbishop will inherit; and Francis reflects on his piece, which is about the most pressing issues that will be in the next Archbishop’s in-tray. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

In this week’s Church Times, Madeleine Davies has written an indepth feature about the so-called “quiet revival” among younger people, following a recent report by the Bible Society (News, 8 April). On the podcast this week, Madeleine talks about her article with the editor, Sarah Meyrick. They discuss how the research has been received; whether it resonates with what is happening in parishes; what might be attracting young men to church in particular; why the mainstream media has taken such an interest in the “quiet revival”; and more. Read Madeleine's article here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/15-august/features/features/quiet-revival-myth-or-reality Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader Festival of Preaching: Truth to power takes place in Southwark Cathedral on 13 September. More information at https://festivalofpreaching.hymnsam.co.uk

On the podcast this week, there’s another chance to listen to an interview with Elizabeth Oldfield about her book Fully Alive: Tending to the soul in turbulent times (Hodder & Stoughton). The book is now out in paperback and is available from the Church House Bookshop. https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781399810777/fully-alive Elizabeth is a journalist, public intellectual, and the host of the podcast The Sacred, which explores the deep values of a range of guests. She is a former director of the think tank Theos. In Fully Alive, she explores what it means to live life to the full, drawing on theology, philosophy, sociology, economics, science, literature, and psychotherapy, and on her own life as a millennial feminist with a husband and two children, living with another family in an intentional community. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader Festival of Preaching: Truth to power takes place in Southwark Cathedral on 13 September. More information at https://festivalofpreaching.hymnsam.co.uk

The podcast this week comes from the General Syond meeting in York, where the Archbishop in Jerusalem, Dr Hosam Naoum, is interviewed by Francis Martin, staff writer for the Church Times. Dr Naoum speaks about life in the region, the welcome that he has received at the Synod, and the prospects of peace in the Middle East. “If I can reconcile myself as both Palestinian and Israeli and Arab and a Christian, that means that we can live together as Israelis and Palestinians. That’s something we can do,” he says. “We have done it for many centuries, actually, as Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the land of the Holy One, and we can do it again, but we need to be determined to walk the path of peace.” Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, Dr Alec Ryrie, Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham University, talks about his latest book, The Age of Hitler and How We Will Survive It, an examination of society’s fixation with the Nazis and the unravelling of the post-war moral consensus today. He argues that Adolf Hitler has replaced Jesus as the most important moral figure in the West (“we’ve replaced a positive exemplar who shows us what good is with a negative exemplar who shows us what evil is”), and how this has influenced thinking about human rights. Professor Ryrie wishes to hold on to the moral insights of the “Age of Hitler”, but argues that “they are not enough, and, at the moment, we are asking them to carry more weight than they can bear.” He challenges each side of the culture wars “to find a synthesis with the other”, saying that this is the only way in which each side “can truly secure the values which are most dear to them”. Professor Ryrie’s previous books include Protestants (Books, 28 July 2017) and Unbelievers: An emotional history of doubt (Books, 15 May 2020). The Age of Hitler and How We Will Survive It by Alec Ryrie is published by Reaktion Books at £15.95 (Church Times Bookshop £14.36) https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781836390824/age-of-hitler-and-how-we-will-survive-it?vc=CT204 Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

John Harris, the Guardian columnist and host of its Politics Weekly UK podcast, is best known for his political and music journalism. His new book, Maybe I’m Amazed: A story of love and connection in ten songs, is a personal story about life with his autistic son James and the life-changing effect of his son’s intense connection with popular music. On the podcast this week, he talks to Sarah Meyrick, editor of the Church Times, about the book. Harris, who calls himself a “devout agnostic”, also speaks about his son’s love of playing organs when they visit churches during country walks. Maybe I’m Amazed is published by John Murray at £16.99 (Church Times Bookshop £15.29). https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781399814034/maybe-im-amazed?vc=CT530 Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, Francis Spufford discusses his latest novel, Cahokia Jazz, with the Dean of Southwark, the Very Revd Dr Mark Oakley. The conversation was recorded at the Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature, which was held in Winchester in March (Features, 7 March). Set in an alternative America in the 1920s, Cahokia Jazz is “a detective novel with noir tendencies” which is “as inventive and unpredictable in its setting as it is in its thrilling plot”, Dr Oakley wrote in a review in the Church Times. Cahokia Jazz is available in paperback from the Church House Bookshop. https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9780571336883/cahokia-jazz Francis Spufford’s first novel, Golden Hill, won the Costa First Novel Award 2016; his second novel, Light Perpetual was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize. He has also written five highly praised works of non-fiction, including Unapologetic: Why, despite everything Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Michael Ramsey Prize. Picture credit: Harvey Mills Find out about forthcoming Church Times events at https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/events Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

The names of most of those who will help to decide the next Archbishop of Canterbury were announced this week: five representatives of the global Anglican Communion, along with those selected from among the central members elected by the General Synod for a five-year term. Previously, the Canterbury Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) has had only one representative of the Anglican Communion, but this was increased to five after a Synod vote in 2022. On the podcast this week, the editor, Sarah Meyrick, and staff writer, Francis Martin, talk about the composition of the Canterbury CNC: who the members are and how their views might influence the kind of person who is appointed. Will church tradition be a consideration? How likely is it that CNC members will vote for a woman to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury? And how does this protracted process compare to the election of a new pope? Photo credit: Neil Turner/Lambeth Palace Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On this episode, Paul Vallely, a columnist for the Church Times, talks about the papacy of Pope Francis and what his legacy might be. Pope Francis adopted “a pastoral approach”, he says, “not a dogmatic approach. “He thought that people, were the centre of the gospel, and he thought that mercy was more important than dogma. He didn’t really change a lot of Catholic teaching, in the sense that he saw dogma as the kind of ideal to which we all aspire. He knew we weren’t perfect or ideal: we were all on a journey and starting very often in a difficult place. He wanted to be there at the start of the journey to accompany people. He wasn’t a liberal: he was a pastor.” Paul Vallely has also written in the Church Times this week about Pope Francis, after news of his death on Easter Monday, aged 88. Read the article here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/25-april/comment/columnists/paul-vallely-pope-francis-was-pastor-to-the-world Paul Vallely’s book, Untying the Knots: The struggle for the soul of Catholicism, is published by Bloomsbury. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Eighty years ago, on 9 April 1945, the Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed in Flossenburg. Ethics was the final book that he wrote before his arrest by the Nazis. Pages of it were on his desk the day he was taken away and it remained unfinished. Based on careful reconstruction of the manuscripts, freshly and expertly translated and annotated, this crown jewel of Bonhoeffer’s body of work is the culmination of his theological and personal odyssey. A repackaged edition of Ethics, published by SCM Press, includes a foreword by the Revd Dr Sam Wells. On the podcast this week, to mark the anniversary, Dr Wells reads the foreword. "Perhaps the greatest fascination of the book lies in the insight it gives to the soul of the author in the midst of the German crisis and the war”, he says. Dr Wells is the Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, in London. https://scmpress.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9780334065876/ethics-repackaged-edition Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On this episode, Chine McDonald speaks about the themes of her new book, Unmaking Mary: Shattering the myth of perfect motherhood (Hodder & Stoughton). The book is available to buy at the Church Times Bookshop here: https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781399814638/unmaking-mary?vc=CT828 The talk was given earlier this month at the Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature. It was chaired by Dr Eve Poole. In this week’s Church Times, Chine explores depictions of Mary the mother, meek and mild. Read her article here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/28-march/features/features/how-portrayals-of-mary-in-art-influence-perceptions-of-motherhood Chine McDonald is director of Theos. Her previous books include God is Not a White Man: And other revelations (Podcast, 28 May 2021, Books, 11 June 2021). https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk Picture credit: Harvey Mills Save the date: Festival of Preaching one day event, 13 September 2025, Southwark Cathedral. Further details tbc at https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/events Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, Mark Oakley reflects on “Paternoster” by Jen Hadfield. This episode was first broadcast in 2023 as part of the Church Times Poetry Podcast for Lent series. “Paternoster” is published in Jen Hadfield’s collection Nigh-No-Place (Bloodaxe Books, 2008), which won the T.S. Eliot Prize. We are grateful to Bloodaxe Books for giving permission to play a recording of Jen Hadfield reading the poem. https://www.bloodaxebooks.com The material in this podcast is taken from Mark Oakley’s book The Splash of Words (Canterbury Press), winner of the 2019 Michael Ramsey Prize for Theological Writing. Artwork by Emily Noyce Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

In this episode, Edward Stourton, the veteran journalist and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme, examines how truth can survive in a digital age, and explains why truth-telling still matters. He was delivering the Sir Tony Baldry Lecture in Winchester Cathedral on 28 February, as part of the Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature (Features, 7 March). https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk “Technology can create challenges as well as opportunities,” he says. “Today’s digital landscape offers us an abundance — a superabundance — of sources for information, something unimaginable in the 1940s, and, indeed, in the three-television-channel world I joined in the 1970s. If we’re offered several versions of the truth, it is only natural to prefer the version which best fits our views and prejudices, and that’s a real challenge facing us in what’s sometimes called the mainstream media. So, how do we meet that challenge?” Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On this episode, the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow, is interviewed about his new booklet, Can We Imagine a Future Together? Intercultural lessons for living in love and faith, in which he attempts to chart a way forward for the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process. Bishop Snow is the lead bishop on LLF. “The Church of England is in a season of discernment as it seeks a way to honour and accommodate differing theological and pastoral responses to Living in Love and Faith and to find a way to remain united despite sometimes profound disagreement,” the booklet's description says. “Martyn Snow offers further practical resources for this season of listening, prayer, patience and kindness. “Drawing on his experiences of working in the UK’s most culturally diverse diocese to explore how best to live together well across difference, such that all church members — especially those who have been historically marginalised — flourish, he finds helpful models in the in the field of interculturalism and in the concept of gift exchange. These models are expressed in generous giving, radical receptivity and transformative thanksgiving — all of which can contribute positively to today’s pressing questions.” Can We Imagine a Future Together? is published by Church House Publishing and is available to buy at https://www.chpublishing.co.uk/books/9781781405130/can-we-imagine-a-future-together. Bishop Snow is interviewed by Francis Martin, Staff Writer for the Church Times. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Staff writer Francis Martin spent all of last week in the press gallery of Church House, Westminster, reporting on the latest meeting of the General Synod. He reports back to the editor, Sarah Meyrick, about some of the most significant debates and votes, including on the future of safeguarding and proposed changes to the Crown Nominations Commission. Francis was also out and about talking to Synod members. Watch a video of some of the interviews here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/14-february/audio-video/video/watch-church-times-reports-from-the-general-synod-in-london Read coverage of the Synod on our website: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/topics/general-synod Synod digest will be published next week (28 February issue) Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

In 2023, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York asked Professor Alexis Jay to develop proposals for a fully independent structure to provide scrutiny of safeguarding in the Church of England. Her report, published the following year, concluded that not only scrutiny, but operational safeguarding, should be independent, necessitating the creation of two separate charities. But while there is widespread demand for action to prevent further failings, opinion on taking up Professor Jay’s recommendations remains divided. Next week, members of the General Synod will gather again to discuss the way forward. The task before them is a weighty one, with the debate taking place against a backdrop of widespread horror at the Church’s record to date. On Wednesday (5 February), the Church Times hosted a webinar to discuss the right way forward, in response to Professor Jay’s recommendations. This podcast features contributions from the panel below. A video of the full webinar, including the panel’s discussion and responses to questions, will be available soon. Panel Jane Chevous, co-founder, Survivors Voices Colin Perkins, diocesan safeguarding adviser, diocese of Chichester David Greenwood, Switalskis Solicitors Jim Gamble, INEQE Safeguarding Group Chaired by Madeleine Davies of the Church Times New to us? We are currently offering a £5 digital subscription, giving you full access to our website and archive, for 2 months. This best-ever value subscription offer is available until 14 February, so subscribe now to avoid missing out. https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/subscribe