Unbelievable?

Lord Richard Harries is the former Bishop of Oxford and a life peer in the House of Lords. His book ‘The Beauty And The Horror: Finding God in a suffering world’ (SPCK) delves into art, history and literature to show why Christianity can make sense of both the beauty and the tragedy of life. He debates the search for meaning and beauty, and the question of why God allows suffering with atheist Michael Ruse, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Florida State University.   Towards the end of the show Justin also plays a preview clip of a forthcoming debate between popular Canadian psychologist Jordan B Peterson and atheist psychologist Susan Blackmore ahead of the launch of The Big Conversation dialogue series later this year. For ‘The Beauty and the Horror’ by Richard Harries: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beauty-Horror-Searching-Suffering-World/dp/0281076936    For ‘On Purpose’ by Michael Ruse: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Purpose-Michael-Ruse/dp/0691172463 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  

In the second part of their debate Greg Boyd and Paul Copan continue their conversation about Boyd's new book The Crucifixion Of The Warrior God in which Boyd sets out a new way of reconciling Old Testament violence with the love of God shown on the cross. In this conversation they deal with specific examples of violence in the Old Testament such as the slaughter of the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15 and the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5z For Greg Boyd's Crucifixion Of The Warrior God: http://reknew.org/book/crucifixion-warrior-god/  For Cross Vision: http://fortresspress.com/product/cross-vision-how-crucifixion-jesus-makes-sense-old-testament-violence  For Paul Copan: http://paulcopan.com/ 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  

Greg Boyd, a pastor and theologian known for his work on the Renew movement, engages in a thought-provoking debate with Paul Copan, a philosopher and author of 'Is God a Moral Monster?'. They explore Boyd's cruciform hermeneutic—how Christ’s cross reinterprets Old Testament violence. Topics include divine character, cultural accommodation in ancient texts, and the nature of divine judgment versus violence. Boyd argues for reading violent images as literary crucifixes, while Copan defends a synthesis view of continuity between the Testaments.

During his time as leader of the Liberal Democrat party, Tim Farron was repeatedly questioned about his views on homosexuality and gay sex. When he resigned he said “To be a political leader and to live as a committed Christian, has felt impossible for me”. On a recent Premier Christian Radio interview he reignited the controversy by stating that he regrets saying that gay sex was not a sin. Revd David Robertson of Solas Centre for Public Christianity and Jonathan Bartley of the Green Party react to the interview. David believes that Christians are being discriminated against if they diverge from society’s current views on sexuality. Jonathan, who is also a Christian, doesn’t believe that discrimination is happening and conservative Christians need to get used to new realities. For the Tim Farron Interview: https://www.premierchristianity.com/Blog/Tim-Farron-Q-A-Why-I-resigned-why-it-matters-and-what-I-should-have-said-about-gay-sex For David Robertson: https://theweeflea.com/   For Jonathan Bartley: https://www.greenparty.org.uk/people/leaders-of-green-party.html   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 

Street Epistemology has become popular among many atheists as a conversational way to interrogate people's spiritual beliefs. Popularised by atheist philosopher Peter Boghossian in his book "A Manual For Creating Atheists" the movement is now seeking to create 10,000 street evangelists for atheism.  Pascoe Rapacci engages regularly in Street Epistemology (though doesn't claim to speak for the movement as a whole). He engages with Christian apologist Cameron Bertuzzi of Capturing Christianity on whether Street Epistemology is a valid way of investigating the truth of people's beliefs.  For Street Epistemology: https://streetepistemology.com/ For Pascoe Rapacci: https://www.twitter.com/pocketpasc For Cameron Bertuzzi's written dialogue with a Street Epistemologist: http://capturingchristianity.com/conversation-street-epistemologist/ 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  

Myron B Penner wrote 'The End of Apologetics: Christian witness in a postmodern context'. He argues that rational defence of the Christian faith can become a form of idolatry and that modern believers need to rethink their relationship with apologetics. Myron engages with Sean McDowell who with his father Josh has written an updated version of the classic apologetics book 'Evidence That Demands a Verdict'. They discuss the benefits and limits of apologetics and why Myron wrote a book critiquing the whole area. For Sean McDowell: http://seanmcdowell.org/ For Evidence That Demands a Verdict: http://seanmcdowell.org/item/evidence-that-demands-a-verdict  For Myron B Penner: http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/the-end-of-apologetics/285610 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  

Is it ok to take the Christ out of Christmas carols? That's what TyLean Polley has done with The Atheist Christmas Album. She explains why she's produced an album of classic carols to secular lyrics. Evangelist Glen Scrivener engages with TyLean on why he doesn't think you can separate Christmas from the message of joy, hope and the birth of Jesus at its centre. For The Atheist Christmas Album: http://atheistchristmas.bandcamp.com/  For Meet The Nativity: https://meetthenativity.com/  For Glen Scrivener: http://speaklife.org.uk/ 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

Hinge is a brand new documentary style podcast co-hosted by atheist Cory Markum and Christian pastor Drew Sokol. Justin plays out the first episode of Hinge and talks to Cory and Drew about their project to look into the evidence for the historical Jesus. In the final part of the show Justin speaks to Australian pastor and activist Jarrod McKenna about his recent adventure being smuggled into the Manus Island detention centre to document human rights abuses. For Hinge: http://hingepodcast.org/ For Jarrod McKenna: https://facebook.com/Jarrodandmates 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  

After becoming disillusioned with failed prophecies at the charismatic church he was part of, Matthew Hartke lost his faith altogether when he become convinced Jesus himself was a failed apocalyptic prophet. Now an agnostic, Matthew engages with New Testament scholar Andrew Perriman. Andrew believes Jesus was indeed Israel's Messiah but that his apocalyptic prophecies in passages such as Matthew 24 have often been misunderstood. For Matthew Hartke: http://www.fifthacttheology.com/about/ For Andrew Perriman: http://www.postost.net/ For Glen Scrivener's "What Christians Believe in 90 Seconds": https://www.facebook.com/christianitymag/posts/1680780525293414  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    

Ed Feser is a Catholic philosopher whose latest book ‘Five Proofs of the Existence of God’ presents five classical arguments that he believes present compelling evidence for theism. He debates two of the arguments on the show with atheist Cambridge philosopher Arif Ahmed. They talk about whether modern atheists take such arguments seriously, and then dive deep into debating the Aristotelian Proof and the Rationalist Proof… your brain will be stretched! For Ed Feser and ‘Five Proofs of the Existence of God’: http://edwardfeser.com/ For Arif Ahmed: https://www.phil.cam.ac.uk/people/teaching-research-pages/ahmed/ahmed-page Get signed copies of Unbelievable? the book and audiobook: http://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