The Church Times Podcast

On the podcast this week, the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, is interviewed by Francis Martin about her visit this month to Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. Since the “awful atrocities” committed by Hamas on 7 October and the subsequent “horrors of the war in Gaza”, she said, “there has been an absence of a focus on the West Bank. “One of the main points of my trip was to go to the West Bank, to listen to the voices of Palestinian Christians, to see how things are for them in the light of all that's been going on since 7 October, but being acutely aware that things have been going on for years and years.” During the visit, she met the family of Layan Nasir, the 23-year-old Anglican who has been detained by Israel since April. “We are praying and speaking out loudly in the hope that, when her case is heard, when the review happens at the beginning of August, that she will be released back to her family, who simply want her home.” Her itinerary also included a visit to the Military Court attached to Ofer Prison, near the West Bank city of Ramallah; a visit to the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem, where Christians are trying to protect their land from development; and prayer in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Bishop also had conversations at Hebrew Union College, in Jerusalem, with Rabbi Dr Michael Marmur, of Rabbis for Human Rights, and the Archbishop in Jerusalem, Dr Hosam Naoum. 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

This week’s episode is brought to you from Edinburgh, and features a conversation with the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Most Revd Mark Strange. It was recorded on Saturday, 15 June, at the conclusion of the Church’s General Synod meeting. The Primus spoke about the General Election campaign and Christians’ involvement in politics; the situation involving the Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney, the Rt Revd Anne Dyer (News, 24 May); the Synod’s motion on the war in Gaza; mission in the 21st century; and his hopes for Scotland’s national football team at Euro 2024 (it was recorded the day after Scotland lost to Germany, but before the 1-1 draw with Switzerland, which kept Scotland’s hopes of advancing past the group stages alive). During the conversation, Bishop Strange was also asked about non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), and he said that he had no knowledge of their use in the Church. Subsequent to this, the SEC sent the Church Times a statement, which said: “Non-disclosure agreements have, on occasion, been entered into in the past in the Church. HR processes are handled at the appropriate level within the Church, and therefore the Primus would not normally be involved.” Read the report on the use of NDAs here and detailed coverage of the Synod meeting in this week’s Church Times (21 June), in print and online. 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

Stewart McCulloch joined Christians Against Poverty (CAP) at the start of the year as its new chief executive. He previously led the charity Stewardship. CAP’s latest report says that 46 per cent of its clients have considered taking their own life as a way out of their debt, and nine out of ten have reported having sleepless nights from financial anxiety (News, 24 May). On the podcast this week, Francis Martin interviews Mr McCulloch about the findings of the report, as well as how the cost-of-living crisis is affecting CAP’s clients. He also explains how CAP works with churches, why the charity is unapologetically Christian in its approach, offering clients prayer and invitations to church, and he calls for politicians to do more to tackle debt. “Our clients are our neighbours, they are friends of friends, they are the people amongst us, and so it’s a really transformative ministry in so many different ways,” he says. “It’s never just about the finances, because it’s about the social isolation, it’s about the anxiety, it’s about the spiritual poverty as well as the material poverty.” 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 best-selling novelist Karen Powell is the guest on this month’s Book Club Podcast, where Sarah Meyrick interviews her about Fifteen Wild Decembers, which is this month’s choice. Michael Wheeler has written an essay about the book in the 7 June edition of the Church Times. Fifteen Wild Decembers is a re-imagining of the life of Emily Brontë set against the wild moors of the author’s beloved Yorkshire — the same wild landscape that inspired her best-known novel Wuthering Heights. The book’s title is taken from Brontë’s poem “Remembrance”, words spoken at the graveside of her past love — “Cold in the earth — and fifteen wild Decembers”. She, too, like her lost love, ends up living a short life. In this first-person narrative, we hear Emily’s account of the domestic struggles that she has with her siblings from schooldays to adulthood, and the long journey to publication of not only her work, but that of her sisters, too. Fifteen Wild Decembers is published by Europa Editions at £9.99 (Church Times Bookshop £8.99); 978-1-78770-545-6. Karen Powell grew up in Rochester, Kent, and now lives in North Yorkshire. Sarah Meyrick is a novelist. Her latest novel is Joy and Felicity (Sacristy Press, 2021). The Church Times Book Club is run in association with the Festival of Faith and Literature: https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk Sign up to receive the free Book Club email once a month. Featuring discussion questions, podcasts and discounts on each book: churchtimes.co.uk/newsletter-signup Discuss this month’s book at facebook.com/groups/churchtimesbookclub 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

On the podcast this week, Elizabeth Oldfield talks about her new book, Fully Alive: Tending to the soul in turbulent times. An extract from the book is published in the 24 May edition of the Church Times. Elizabeth is a journalist, public intellectual, and the host of the podcast The Sacred, which explores the deep values of a range of guests. Until recently, she was director of the think tank Theos. In Fully Alive, she explores what it means to live life to the full, drawing on theology, philosophy, sociology, economics, science, literature, and psychotherapy, and on her own life as a millennial feminist with a husband and two children, living with another family in an intentional community. Reviewing the book for the Church Times (Books, 17 May), Rachel Mann writes: “I can offer no higher praise than to say that this is a book for those who found oxygen and hope in Francis Spufford’s Unapologetic; that is, for those who can’t quite give up on the Song of Love despite all the evidence to the contrary.” Fully Alive is published by Hodder & Stoughton at £18.99 (Church Times Bookshop £15.19); 978-1-3998-1076-0. https://www.elizabetholdfield.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 www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On this week’s podcast, the Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, is interviewed by Francis Martin about her recent trip to Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. The aim of the trip was to show solidarity with the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and Christians in the region, and to understand more about the conflict and its impact on the diocese and local communities. “I think that we need to be much more vocal and confident in calling for a permanent ceasefire . . . [the war] needs to stop and it needs to stop now,” she says. “All the hostages need to be released. There needs to be unrestricted aid allowed into Gaza. . . in order to provide the possibility to begin talking. "This is not just for the Palestinians, it’s also for the Israelis. I don't see any advantage in this war for Israel. Violence will only beget violence, and until at some stage the violence stops, and people begin to talk, there is no possibility of a solution.” Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, the Archbishop of York speaks about “Tuning Forks and Orchestras: Music and the mission of God.” The talk was given at the first Church Times Festival of Faith and Music in York Minster late last month (News, 3 May). It was held in partnership with the Royal School of Church Music. “The universe and all creation are held together in harmony by the single note of the will of God, played throughout the ages by the Holy Spirit, and from which everything else is tuned,” he said. “The music is complex and beautiful, but it is held together, and we are part of it, only finding our meaning and fulfillment in life when we tune in with God. We are, in thise sense, the orchestra of God, each with our own contribution to make, whether we play the trombone or the kazoo.” Photo: Duncan Lomax https://faithandmusic.hymnsam.co.uk https://www.rscm.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

On the podcast this week, Elizabeth Fremantle is interviewed about her historical novel Disobedient, which is the choice for this month’s Church Times Book Club. She is in conversation with Sarah Meyrick. Natalie K. Watson has written this month’s book club essay about Disobedient. Disobedient is an enthralling historical novel that retells the turbulent life of the great Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi. As a young artist in Rome in the early 17th century, Artemisia outstrips her brothers and contemporary male artists in talent. Her initial struggle as a painter in a male-dominated society is nothing compared with the dramatic turn of events that occur when a handsome male tutor is employed by her father to teach her linear perspective. Her rage against the trauma that she experiences at the hands of her tutor and the way in which law and society then fail her is expressed through her art. The story centres on her motivation for creating the brutal painting Judith Slaying Holofernes — a critical point, at which her art takes a dark turn. Disobedient is published Penguin Books at £9.99 (Church Times Bookshop £8.99). https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781405952811/disobedient?vc=CT203 Sarah Meyrick is a novelist. Her latest novel is Joy and Felicity (Sacristy Press, 2021). The Church Times Book Club is run in association with the Festival of Faith and Literature. https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk Sign up to receive the free Book Club email once a month. Featuring discussion questions, podcasts and discounts on each book: churchtimes.co.uk/newsletter-signup Discuss this month’s book at facebook.com/groups/churchtimesbookclub Photo: © J. P. Masclet 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 the podcast this week, Fr Alex Frost — parish priest, best-selling author, and host of The God Cast — talks to Madeleine Davies about the Church of England’s problems connecting with people from working-class settings. Fr Alex has written a comment article in this week’s Church Times which argues that the C of E needs to remove barriers that make it harder for working-class people to respond to a call to ordination or lay leadership. “I heard examples of intelligent and highly capable individuals from urban working-class settings who had struggled to break through the pomp and procedures of the Church of England,” he writes. “And of individuals dismayed by the Church and its approach to training and developing leaders who happened to drink Vimto more than they did Vin Mariani. . . “I could relate to this. In my own journey to ordination, I had many advocates; but, for every advocate I had, there were dreadfully high hurdles put in front of me to demonstrate whether I might be worthy of fulfilling my authentic and genuine call to ordination.” The Revd Alex Frost is the Vicar of St Matthew the Apostle, Burnley, a member of the General Synod, and host of the podcast The God Cast: https://www.youtube.com/@thegodcast5878 His book, Our Daily Bread: From Argos to the altar — a priest’s story is published by Harper North (Books, 11 November 2022). Madeleine Davies is Senior Writer for the Church Times. 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

The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald is the choice for this month’s Church Times Book Club. On the podcast this week, Emily Rhodes, who has written this month’s Book Club essay about the book, is in conversation with Sarah Meyrick. The Beginning of Spring is a historical novel set in Moscow a few years before the Russian Revolution as political tensions mount. The story starts with the sudden unexplained departure of Frank Reid’s wife, Nellie. She boards a train heading west, leaving her husband and children behind. Frank moved to Moscow with his family to run his father’s print business. Unlike his rambunctious Russian neighbours, Frank is a repressed but honourable English gentleman — a man of reason. Frank is left to look after three small children, and, for him, the ensuing days are full of misadventure, poignancy, and wonder. This intriguing story, which doesn’t follow conventional plot lines, is set against the background of the great thaw in Moscow which heralds the arrival of spring. The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald is published by HarperCollins at £9.99 (Church Times Bookshop £8.99); 978-0-00-654370-1. https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9780006543701/beginning-of-spring?vc=CT405 Emily Rhodes is a writer and journalist, whose features and reviews have appeared in publications including the Financial Times, The Spectator, The Guardian, and the TLS. Sarah Meyrick is a novelist. Her latest novel is Joy and Felicity (Sacristy Press, 2021). The Church Times Book Club is run in association with the Festival of Faith and Literature: https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk Sign up to receive the free Book Club email once a month. Featuring discussion questions, podcasts and discounts on each book: churchtimes.co.uk/newsletter-signup Discuss this month’s book at facebook.com/groups/churchtimesbookclub 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 Subscribe to Church Times before 15 April, and you will also a receive a FREE three-month subscription to the bestselling app, Reflections for Daily Prayer