The Church Times Podcast

What causes someone to go from being a committed Christian to a convinced non-believer? On this week’s podcast, Ed Thornton talks to Dr John Marriott, an expert on so-called “deconversion”. His book, A Recipe for Disaster, is published by Wipf & Stock.

This week, two gay priests of different generations talk about the challenges they've faced in the Church. They have both recently published books about their experiences. The Revd Marcus Green has writtenThe Possibility of Difference (Kevin Mahew) and the Revd Stanley Underhill's book is called Coming out of the Black Country (Zuleika). Both books are available at the Church Times Bookshop.

Transforming the one million who regularly attend Church of England services into “agents of mission” is crucial to the Church’s multi-million-pound evangelism push, the General Synod will hear next week. Ed Thornton talks to Madeleine Davies about the drive to give the laity confidence to evangelise - and whether English reticence stops them from doing so. Plus, Adam Becket catches up with the Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Prebendary Rose Hudson-Wilkin, at the C of E's National Education Conference. He asks her about Crispin Blunt MP’s call for prayers in parliament to be scrapped.

This week, the education secretary Damian Hinds talks to Hattie Williams about why he would like more faith schools to convert to academies. The Bishop of Gloucester, Rachel Treweek, talks to Adam Becket about how churches must not ignore the realities of domestic abuse. And the Bishop of Liverpool, Paul Bayes, talks to Madeleine Davies about his new book, The Table.

Meg Munn was appointed first independent chair of the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Panel in September. She took over from the Bishop of Bath & Wells, Peter Hancock, who is the lead bishop on safeguarding. Meg Munn is a practising Methodist and former social worker and former MP, who established and chaired the All-Party Child Protection Parliamentary Group. She left Parliament in 2015 to become an independent governance consultant. Hattie Williams sat down with Meg Munn for her first interview since she took up the post. You can read a write up of the interview in this week’s paper and on our website. A fuller version follows on this podcast.

This week, more Brexit uncertainty – what are the bishops saying? Adam Becket has been hearing from them. And we hear from the Revd Christine Smith, publishing director of Hymns Ancient & Modern, about the second Festival of Preaching, which is being organised by Canterbury Press Norwich and the Church Times

This week, a critical moment for Brexit: the Archbishop of Canterbury says that a no-deal Brexit would be a moral failure, and Dame Caroline Spelman calls on the Church to pray for the nation. What’s going on in the diocese of Oxford, where more than 100 clergy are uneasy with their bishops’ approach to sexuality? And, news of the finalists of the inaugural 'Theology Slam' competition.

On the first episode of the new year, editor Paul Handley talks about work of the groups charged with resolving the Church’s disputes about sexuality. He has been quizzing two of the people leading the Living in Love and Faith group, the Bishop of Coventry, Dr Christopher Cocksworth, and Dr Eeva John. What are the project’s aims and what will its work mean for the Church’s stance on same-sex relationships?

This week, we talk to actor and playwright Justin Butcher about his new book Walking to Jerusalem: Blisters, hope and other facts on the ground, published by Hodder. It tells the story of a pilgrimage from London to Jerusalem in 2017, which marked three major anniversaries: the centenary of the Balfour Declaration; the 50th year of Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian territors; and the tenth year of the blockade of Gaza. Brian Eno says that the book "displays the kind of unusual empathy essential in that tangled and tragic situation". Walking to Jerusalem can be purchased from the Church Times Bookshop for £15.30. Picture credit: Mark Kensett

This week, Ed Thornton talks to John Pritchard, the former Bishop of Oxford and a popular writer of books such as The Life and Work of a Priest, Why go to Church?, and God Lost and Found. His latest book is called Five Events that Made Christianity, published by SPCK. In the book, he takes readers on a pilgrimage of the Holy Land, as he unpacks the five great events that made Christianity: Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. For each event, he explores what happened, what does it mean, and what does it mean for us now. The book is available to buy from the Church Times Bookshop for £9. You can read an extract, on what the incarnation means for us now, in our Christmas double issue, out next Friday. There’s still time to buy a Christmas gift subscription of the Church Times for £85, a 30% saving on the paper’s cover price. It also includes a Christmas card announcing the gift, a bar of Fairtrade chocolate, and one of three great books. The offer is available until the end of the year, but if you order today (Friday) and we will endeavour to send the book in time for Christmas. Go to Churchtimes.co.uk/christmas. Image credit: KT BRUCE