The Church Times Podcast

The Church Times
  • 4.6 (9)
  • Religion & Spirituality

News, interviews, book reviews, and discussion each week from the Church Times - the world's leading newspaper on faith and the Church.

  1. 2d ago

    The Syposium: Anderson Jeremiah: ‘The Radical Act of Common Life’ - with Anna Rowlands responding

    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 Syposium: Anderson Jeremiah: ‘The Radical Act of Common Life’ - with Anna Rowlands responding

  2. Aug 28

    The Symposium: Guli Francis-Dehqani: ‘Influences on my public faith’

    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

    The Symposium: Guli Francis-Dehqani: ‘Influences on my public faith’

  3. Aug 21

    The Symposium: Nick Spencer and Rowan Williams: 'True human welfare'

    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

    The Symposium: Nick Spencer and Rowan Williams: 'True human welfare'

  4. Aug 14

    The Symposium: Andrew Rumsey: 'Another Country: social order and the national church'

    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

    The Symposium: Andrew Rumsey: 'Another Country: social order and the national church'

  5. Jul 31

    From the podcast archive: Edward Stourton: Can truth survive in a digital age?

    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

    From the podcast archive: Edward Stourton: Can truth survive in a digital age?

  6. Jul 17

    Interview with Archbishop Luc Terlinden

    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

    Interview with Archbishop Luc Terlinden

  7. Jul 9

    Update from Fr Fadi Diab on the plight of Christians in the Holy Land

    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

    Update from Fr Fadi Diab on the plight of Christians in the Holy Land

  8. Jul 3

    How Andy Burnham's religion shapes his politics

    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

    How Andy Burnham's religion shapes his politics
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About

News, interviews, book reviews, and discussion each week from the Church Times - the world's leading newspaper on faith and the Church.

Information

  • Creator
    The Church Times
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    417
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
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    The Church Times Podcast

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