The Church Times Podcast

On this week’s podcast, Dr Mark Vernon talks about his new book, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A guide for the spiritual journey (Angelico Press)(Church Times Bookshop £16.20). This year marks 700 years since Dante’s death, and this week’s Church Times (10 September) includes features by Robin Ward and Alexander Faludy, as well as several reviews of books published to mark the anniversary. In a review of Dr Vernon’s book, Jonathan Boardman describes it as a “detailed and immensely thoughtful commentary. . . His personal experience as a psychotherapist and student of philosophy, polished further with physics, theology, and ordination, opens . . . a very special reflective door into Dante’s thinking and expression: its dreamlike design is peppered constantly with personal experience and knowledge.” Read a preview of the introduction to the book at https://www.markvernon.com/books/dantes-divine-comedy-book Dr Vernon’s books include A Secret History of Christianity (Christian Alternative) (Books, 20 December 2019) and The Idler Guide to Ancient Philosophy (Idler Books). Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader.

On this week’s podcast, there’s a chance to listen again (or, perhaps, for the first time) to Sarah Lothian’s interview with Susanna Clarke about her long-awaited second novel, Piranesi. The book has just been published in paperback and is available from the Church Times Bookshop for £8.09. Dr Jane Williams, the McDonald Professor in Christian Theology at St Mellitus College, chose Piranesi as her favourite book of 2020 (Books, 27 November 2020). “Piranesi looks with loving attention at the world in which he finds himself, caring for everything that he encounters, and receiving everything as loving gift,” Dr Williams said. “Other forces see it very differently. The book is deeply satisfying, with a depth of sadness — or is it joy?” Picture credit: Sarah Lee The next Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature takes place on Saturday 25 September. For more information and to buy tickets, visit https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk/ Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader.

On this week’s podcast, Ed Thornton talks to the writer — and General Synod member — James Cary about his new book The Gospel According to a Sitcom Writer (SPCK). An extract from the book is published in this week’s Church Times (27 August), and the book is available to buy from the Church House Bookshop. “The first thing you notice when you hear scripture read out loud really well by an actor, the first thing you notice is that it’s actually funny – not everywhere, but it’s usually surprising,” he says. “And if you hear large portions of it read, there will be lots of jokes, and there will be lots of what we would call in sitcoms ‘callbacks’, and moments where it’s like, ‘Ah, suddenly this is becoming clear’. “The book is an attempt to draw out here’s how it’s funny, here’s reading between the lines, here’s some stuff that isn’t in the Bible, but might have been running through their minds as they’re experiencing this in real time during Jesus’s earthly ministry, but also in the minds of the listeners as they are hearing it and their minds are thinking possibly what might happen next.” James’s writing credits include the BBC TV sitcoms Miranda and Bluestone 42 (Features, 1 March 2013), and the radio sitcoms Think the Unthinkable and Hut 33. His previous books include The Sacred Art of Joking (Books, 18 January 2019) and Death by Civilisation (Books, 23 August 2013); his plays include A Turbulent Priest (Arts, 26 April 2019), A Monk’s Tale (Features, 18 August 2017), and The God Particle. At the end of the interview, you can hear James reading from the book. The recording was originally posted on James’s YouTube channel, and is used with his kind permission. https://www.jamescary.co.uk Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader.

This week, Ed Thornton talks to the Revd Mark Nam, the founder of the Tea House, a new national network of C of E clergy of Chinese heritage. As the Tea House was launched on Monday, he said that its aim was “to support and empower clergy with Chinese-heritage in the Church of England by promoting their presence in all structures of the Church, creating connections and providing information and resources”. On the podcast, he talks more about the aims of the Tea House and the need for the Church of England and wider society to tackle the racism experienced by people of East Asian heritage, which has risen significantly since the start of the pandemic. The Revd Mark Nam is Assistant Curate of St Anne’s, Oldland, and All Saints’, Longwell Green, in south-east Bristol, and the diocese of Bristol’s Minority Ethnic Vocations Champion. https://theteahouse.org/ Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader.

This week’s podcast provides a chance to listen again, or perhaps for the first time, to an interview with Ysenda Maxtone Graham, which was first posted in July last year. She talks about her book British Summer Time Begins: The school summer holidays 1930-1980 (Little, Brown), which is now available in paperback from the Church Times Bookshop for £9.99. She also talks about holidays and churchgoing, which she wrote about last year for the Church Times (Features, 17 July 2020); Christian house-swaps and clergy holidays; and how the school summer-holiday experience has changed. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader.

THIS week, Ed Thornton talks to Carolyn Skinner, Events Chaplain at Sports Chaplaincy UK, about how chaplains support Olympic athletes. At this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Covid restrictions mean that chaplains have been prevented from entering the Olympic Village. Carolyn explains how they have had to adapt to provide virtual pastoral support (News, 23 July). Carolyn also considers the growing awareness of mental health among athletes, which has been highlighted by the American gymnast Simone Biles’s withdrawal from some events in Tokyo (Leader comment, 30 July). Carolyn has been an Events Chaplain with Sports Chaplaincy UK since 2007, and served as a chaplain at Royal Ascot in 2007, the 2010 Winter Paralympics, the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup, the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics 2012, and the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She also runs “Love All, Serve All,” an annual outreach project at the Wimbledon tennis queues, as well as being a chaplain at her local gym. Carolyn has been Pastoral Support Lead for Gyms since 2016, which is a rapidly growing area for Sports Chaplaincy UK. https://sportschaplaincy.org.uk/ Picture: Team GB’s Kelly competes in the second semi final of the Women's 800 metres at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, on Saturday. She went on to win the silver medal 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 churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader.

TODAY (30 July) is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. On the podcast this week, Ed Thornton talks to Esther Swaffield-Bray, Director of England at International Justice Mission UK (IJM), about the global campaign to end slavery and human trafficking. She talks about IJM works in partnership with police, local authorities, and churches in different countries to rescue victims of slavery and trafficking, bring perpetrators to justice, and provide long-term support to survivors. She also explains why the pandemic has made more people vulnerable to exploitation, and how churches in the UK can join the campaign to end slavery and trafficking. “We are hoping that this day will be used to spread awareness around the brutal realities of human trafficking today, particularly given the context of the pandemic which has made even more people vulnerable to trafficking,” Esther says. “This is fantastic opportunity to see a light shone on this problem. . . We also want to let people know that there is hope, and that change is possible.” https://www.ijmuk.org/ https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-human-trafficking-day Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader.

This week, Ed Thornton is joined by Corin Pilling, UK director of Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries, a charity that seeks to raise awareness of mental-health issues in the Church. Corin talks about how he has navigated the challenges of lockdown, and explains what Sanctuary is doing to help churches and communities. Sanctuary UK this week launched a new app that features the “Together Again” conversation game, which prompts people to talk about the challenges that they’ve experienced during the pandemic, the anxieties they feel about restrictions being lifted, and their hopes for the future. The app is available is available for free at the usual outlets, including the Apple and Google stores. The Sanctuary Course, meanwhile, is an eight-week small group resource that is designed to help a church explore the topic of mental health through the lenses of theology, psychology, and lived experience. Corin Pilling was previously deputy director of public engagement at Livability (Interview, 19 May 2017). https://www.sanctuarymentalhealth.org/uk Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader.

THIS week, Ed Thornton is joined by Church Times cartoonist Dave Walker to talk about his new book on cycling: From A to B: A cartoon guide to getting around by bike (Bloomsbury). The book is on special offer at the Church Times Bookshop for £10.99. The book contains 100 full-page cartoons about the delights and challenges of cycling. The publisher describes it as a “cartoon manifesto for pedal-powered transport is a mixture of comedic insights and actually useful information, for everyone from beginners to seasoned cycling campaigners”. The broadcaster Jeremy Vine, who is a keen cyclist, has described Dave’s book as “Pure joy. Happy, generous, funny, kind, wise and full of fresh air. An absolutely wonderful book.” Dave also discusses on the podcast how more clergy and laypeople can be encouraged to cycle, especially to services. He has also written a feature about this for this week’s Church Times (16 July). https://cyclingcartoons.com https://cartoonchurch.com Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader.

England are through to the final of the Euros, after beating Denmark 2-1, in extra time, during a tense and thrilling semi-final match at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday night. What is it about Gareth Southgate’s approach to leadership that is inspiring the players to perform, and what lessons might there be for the Church? What does the humility of England’s players show about the link between character and performance? And what are we to make of this generation of players’ championing of social-justice causes? To discuss all this, and more, Ed Thornton is joined on the podcast this week by the Revd Peter Crumpler, a priest in the diocese of St Albans, a former communications director at Church House, Westminster, and an avid football fan. He has written previously in the Church Times about the relationship between football and faith,, and spoken about it on this podcast. The book he mentions in the interview, Thank God for Football!, by Peter Lupson, is published by SPCK and is available to buy from the Church House Bookshop. 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 churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader.