Unbelievable?

In the third Big Conversation episode, Justin is joined by illusionist Derren Brown and popstar-turned-media-priest Rev Richard Coles. In a wide-ranging conversation they tell their respective stories of moving away from and towards Christian faith. Drawing on his book Happy: Why more or less everything is absolutely fine, Derren makes the case for living a fulfilled life as an atheist in the absence of God. Richard draws from his experience of ‘meeting the resurrected Christ’ as they discuss suffering, death and ultimate meaning. The Big Conversation is produced in partnership with Templeton Religion Trust. For Big Conversation videos, updates and bonus content sign up: http://www.thebigconversation.show  Register for Unbelievable? the Conference USA, Portland, Sat 1 Sep https://westsideajc.org/unbelievable-conference For Derren Brown: http://derrenbrown.co.uk  For Richard Coles: http://www.richardcoles.com/  Get signed copies of Unbelievable? the book and audiobook: www.unbelievablebook.co.uk  For more faith debates visit http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable Join the conversation: Facebook and Twitter Get the MP3 Podcast of Unbelievable? Via RSS or Via Itunes

In a podcast special Justin goes head to head with atheist podcast host David Smalley debating Justin’s arguments for Christianity in his book “Unbelievable? Why after, ten years of talking with atheists, I’m still a Christian”. They debate suffering, the moral argument and the evidence for the resurrection in a wide ranging discussion of over 2.5 hrs. For Dogma Debate: https://www.davidcsmalley.com/ For Big Conversation videos, updates and bonus content sign up: http://www.thebigconversation.show  Get signed copies of Unbelievable? the book and audiobook: www.unbelievablebook.co.uk  For more faith debates visit http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable Join the conversation: Facebook and Twitter Get the MP3 Podcast of Unbelievable? Via RSS or Via Itunes

In the second Big Conversation episode, Justin is joined by Harvard professor of psychology Steven Pinker and Nick Spencer of Christian think-tank Theos. They debate the future of humanity in relation to Pinker’s recent book ‘Enlightenment Now’, addressing his claim that science, reason and humanism are the drivers of progress in the world, rather than religion. Nick Spencer argues that science and enlightenment values are firmly tied to the West’s Judeo-Christian tradition. The Big Conversation is produced in partnership with Templeton Religion Trust. For Big Conversation videos, updates and bonus content sign up: http://www.thebigconversation.show  For Steven Pinker: https://stevenpinker.com   For Nick Spencer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evolution-West-Nick-Spencer/dp/0281075204  Get signed copies of Unbelievable? the book and audiobook: www.unbelievablebook.co.uk  For more faith debates visit http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable Join the conversation: Facebook and Twitter Get the MP3 Podcast of Unbelievable? Via RSS or Via Itunes

Sir Colin Humphreys is a Cambridge scientist with an interest in Biblical studies. His book ‘The Miracles of Exodus: A Scientist's Discovery of the Extraordinary Natural Causes of the Biblical Stories’ makes the case that events like the parting of the Red Sea, the stopping of the Jordan river and the sun standing still in Joshua all have a basis in scientific facts and natural causes. The miracle is in the timing of the events by God. Sceptical Bible scholar Bob Price debates Humphreys on these Old Testament events and whether his research proves the credible historicity of the Biblical accounts, and whether his approach runs the risk of eliminating the supernatural from the Bible. For Colin Humphreys: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Miracles-Exodus-Scientists-Discovery-Extraordinary/dp/0060582731 For Bob Price: http://robertmprice.mindvendor.com/ For Big Conversation videos, updates and bonus content sign up: http://www.thebigconversation.show  Get signed copies of Unbelievable? the book and audiobook: www.unbelievablebook.co.uk  For more faith debates visit http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable Join the conversation: Facebook and Twitter Get the MP3 Podcast of Unbelievable? Via RSS or Via Itunes

Launching The Big Conversation debate series, Justin is joined by Canadian psychologist Jordan B Peterson who has risen to fame in recent months for his political, social and religious views. He engages with atheist psychologist Susan Blackmore on the psychology of belief. They debate Peterson’s own religious convictions, the new atheists, whether society needs God, and whether atheists are truly atheists… The Big Conversation is produced in partnership with Templeton Religion Trust. For videos, updates and bonus content sign up: http://www.thebigconversation.show For ‘12 Rules for Life’ by Jordan Peterson: https://www.amazon.co.uk/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0241351634 For Susan Blackmore: https://www.susanblackmore.uk/   Get signed copies of Unbelievable? the book and audiobook: www.unbelievablebook.co.uk   For more faith debates visit: http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable   Join the conversation: Facebook and Twitter   Get the MP3 Podcast of Unbelievable? Via RSS or Via Itunes  

Justin is joined by Christian astrophysicist Hugh Ross, founder of Reasons to Believe, and atheist scientist Peter Atkins of Oxford University, to debate whether the laws of nature came from ‘nothing’ or from God. Peter Atkins’ new book ‘Conjuring The Universe: The Origins of the Laws of Nature’ claims that the Universe and it’s laws reflect the ‘nothing’ from whence they came. Hugh Ross has recently released a 4th edition of ‘The Cosmos and the Creator’ and explains why he believes the scientific evidence is continually growing for a creator of the universe and its life-permitting laws. For ‘Conjuring The Universe’: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/conjuring-the-universe-9780198813378  For ‘The Creator and the Cosmos’: https://shop.reasons.org/product/599/creator-and-the-cosmos-fourth-edition  For The Big Conversation series https://www.thebigconversation.show  Get signed copies of Unbelievable? the book and audiobook: http://www.unbelievablebook.co.uk For more faith debates visit http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable Join the conversation: Facebook and Twitter Get the MP3 Podcast of Unbelievable? Via RSS or Via Itunes

Justin presents selected highlights from last weekend’s Unbelievable? The Conference 2018 #JustAsk. Includes Glen Scrivener’s spoken word ‘Given’, Rob Parsons on keeping the faith when life is tough, Sharon Dirckx on why the world is broken, Andy Bannister on Bible reliability, Ken Samples on the divine claims of Jesus and excerpts from the panel Q&A. Pre-order the Unbelievable? Conference 2018 DVD/CD or Digital Download http://www.premier.org.uk/shop Get updates from Unbelievable’s Big Conversation series https://www.thebigconversation.show  Get signed copies of Unbelievable? the book and audiobook: www.unbelievablebook.co.uk  For more faith debates visit http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable Join the conversation: Facebook and Twitter Get the MP3 Podcast of Unbelievable? Via RSS or Via Itunes

Justin presents a mid-week bonus podcast to make an important announcement about the forthcoming Big Conversation series. The Big Conversation is a new series of video conversations on science, faith, philosophy and what it means to be human featuring leading atheist and Christian voices. Be the first to watch, listen, download and get the newsletter at http://www.thebigconversation.show Be part of the Unbelievable? Live recording in London on Wed 18 July http://www.premierchristianradio.com/unbelievablelive

Christian philosopher Lydia McGrew has recently accused evangelical scholars such as Mike Licona and Craig Evans, of undermining the historical reliability of John’s gospel. She cites Evans’ interactions with Bart Ehrman in debate as giving away too much ground to a sceptical view. New Testament scholar Craig Evans defends his view that John’s gospel is historically reliable but also includes theological development by the Johannine community who knew Jesus’ teaching. Also, at the end of today’s show, Jonny Somerville, creator of the NUA film series talks about its impact on young people investigating Christianity. For Lydia McGrew’s blog http://lydiaswebpage.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/jesus-never-said-i-am-statements.html For Craig Evans https://www.craigaevans.com/ For the NUA film series: https://nuafilmseries.org/  Get signed copies of Unbelievable? the book and audiobook: www.unbelievablebook.co.uk  Get Unbelievable? the Conference 2017 DVD/CD & Digital Download: http://www.premier.org.uk/shop For more faith debates visit http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable Join the conversation: Facebook and Twitter Get the MP3 Podcast of Unbelievable? Via RSS or Via Itunes

New Testament scholar Paula Gooder joins Justin to talk about her new book ‘Phoebe: A Story’ a fictional account of the life of the woman that St Paul entrusted with delivering his letter to the Romans. But have the ensuing centuries lost sight of the role of women such as Phoebe in the early church? Sceptical Bible scholar Francesca Stavrakopoulou joins Paula to discuss whether Christianity is inherently patriarchal and sexist. They debate passages such as 1 Timothy 2: 11-12 and how much St Paul’s attitude toward women leaders in the early church contrasted with the prevailing culture.    For ‘Phoebe’ by Paula Gooder https://www.hodder.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9781473669727 For Francesca Stavrakopoulou http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/theology/staff/stavrakopoulou/  For Unbelievable? the Conference 2018: http://www.premier.org.uk/justask  Get signed copies of Unbelievable? the book and audiobook: www.unbelievablebook.co.uk  Get Unbelievable? the Conference 2017 DVD/CD & Digital Download: http://www.premier.org.uk/shop For more faith debates visit http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable Join the conversation: Facebook and Twitter Get the MP3 Podcast of Unbelievable? Via RSS or Via Itunes