St Paul's Cathedral

The question of suffering has always been something with which people have wrestled. In his 2025 Lent book, Healing Wounds, Erik Varden attempts to offer new reflections on this most challenging of themes. Reflecting on the cross, on Jesus’ own suffering as well as on our own sufferings, he draws out the ways in which Jesus’ suffering on the cross can turn into sources of healing for ourselves and for others. In this online conversation, Erik Varden and Paula Gooder draw on these and other themes. Erik Varden is Bishop of Trondheim in Norway and a Cistercian monk.

For two thousand years, the Virgin Mary has been depicted throughout art, literature and culture as symbolising the perfect mother: chaste, beautiful, meek, mild and white. These supposed virtues and symbols have penetrated not just Christianity but wider popular culture, and contributed to harmful views about motherhood and what it is to be a woman. Chine McDonald deconstructs the myth of perfect motherhood and reflect on its theological, social and personal impact, proposing a more authentic, grace-filled way forward. Chine McDonald is the Director of Theos, the religion and society think tank. Previously she headed community fundraising and public engagement at Christian Aid. The author of the best-selling 'God is Not a White Man (and other revelations)', her latest book is 'Unmaking Mary: Shattering the Myth of Perfect Motherhood'.

Janet Williams introduces the tradition of apophatic spirituality and explores its relevance to 21st century Christian life. The Revd Dr Janet Williams is the Vice-Principal of St Hild’s College, Mirfield in Yorkshire, an Anglican centre for ordination training and theological study. Her latest book is Seeking the God Beyond: A Beginner’s Guide to Christian Apophatic Spirituality.

Did you know that world famous poet and writer, Walter de la Mare was a one-time Chorister of St Paul’s? Born in Charlton, South London, in 1873, de la Mare attended the Cathedral School from the age of 10 to 16. Find out more about his life, and how St Paul’s may have shaped his literary work. Produced and presented by Douglas Anderson.

When is a cathedral not a cathedral? Answer: When it might also be the venue for a grand scientific experiment! Explore Sir Christopher Wren's vision - and whether is came to pass - in this, the strange tale of the telescope in the tower. Produced and presented by Douglas Anderson.

Martin Luther King Jr’s memory is revered, but in his time he was a radical, controversial figure, sharply critical of militarism, inequality and poverty, and racism in the US and elsewhere. Marking 60 years since Dr King spoke at St Paul’s Cathedral, Richard Reddie will explore his profound and subtle theology, philosophy and politics, and the challenge he leaves us to work for justice in our own time. Richard Reddie is the Director of Justice and Inclusion at Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. He is the author of 'Martin Luther King Jr: History Maker' and 'Abolition!: The Struggle to Abolish Slavery in the British Colonies', and editor of Race for Justice.

Found in the Cathedral every festive season is the St Paul’s nativity scene. Discover its very special story which begins in 1989, when former Master Carver Tony Webb and assistant Hannah Hartwell got to work on a new crib – one that has been seen and enjoyed ever since. Produced and presented by Douglas Anderson.

Few matters produce more public interest or division than sex and religion. Revolutions in attitudes in the last generations have brought liberation to some, fear and fury to others. Diarmaid MacCulloch, Emeritus Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford, will seek to calm fears and encourage understanding by telling a 3,000-year-long tale of Christians encountering sex, gender and family, from the Bible to the present day. Diarmaid MacCulloch is Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University and one of the UK’s leading historians. His books include the magisterial A History of Christianity and the definitive biography of Thomas Cromwell, which won the Whitbread Biography Prize. His latest book is Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity.

Grief and grieving are universals, and on All Souls’ Day we hold before God those we hold dear in death as in life. Requiem settings for the Eucharist, named after the Latin text which begins 'Eternal rest grant them O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them', are some of the most powerful music ever written. Using music by Victoria, Mozart, Charpentier, Verdi, Fauré and Duruflé, Andrew Carwood explores how music and religion come together to deal with fear and loss, and provide comfort and hope. For copyright reasons, the tracks played at the event have been edited out of this film. To find them to listen to here is a list of the tracks (details also appear on screen): 1. Hushabye Mountain – Aled Jones 2. Missa pro defunctis Introit: Requiem aeternam – Gregorian chant – Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz 3. Missa pro defunctis Introit: Requiem aeternam – Tomas Luis de Victoria – The Tallis Scholars / Peter Philips 4. Requiem Mass Sequence : Dies irae – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Colin Davis 5. Messe des Morts: Sequence: Dies irae – Marc-Antoine Charpentier – Orfeo Orchestra & Purcell Choir / Gyorgy Vashegyi 6. Requiem Mass Sequence : Lachrymosa – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki 7. Requiem Mass Sequence : Dies irae – Giuseppe Verdi – Orchestra & Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Milano / Ricardo Muti 8. Messe de Requiem: Libera me – Gabriel Fauré – Benjamin Luxon, Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, ASMF / George Guest 9. Antiphon: In paradisum – Gregorian chant – Cantori Gregoriani / Fulvio Rampi 10. Messe de Requiem: In paradisum – Maurice Duruflé – Corydon Singers & ECO / Matthew Best Andrew Carwood MBE is the Director of Music at St Paul’s Cathedral, having had an illustrious solo career as a singer before focusing attention on conducting and choral direction. He is also the founder-director of the Gramophone award-winning early music ensemble The Cardinall's Musick which continues to perform throughout the UK and Europe.

‘Remember, remember, the 5th of November: Gunpowder, treason and plot.’ The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 is synonymous with the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, but the fates of some of the conspirators are inextricably linked to St Paul’s. Find out how in this podcast episode. Produced and presented by Douglas Anderson.