St Paul's Cathedral

We live in times that challenge hope. Climate change, pandemic, racism, war and injustice: in the face of these, where we find hope is an urgent question. Susanna Snyder says hope is not just optimism that things will turn out alright, if not in this world then in the next, but is something much more present, supple and resilient. She will explore what hope is and isn’t, its surprising relationship with anger, courage, imagination and action, and how we can cultivate and sustain it in our own lives. The Revd Dr Susanna Synder is Programme Leader for Short Courses, Director of Research, and Lecturer in Theology and Ethics at Sarum College in Salisbury.

A talk by renowned biblical scholar and womanist theologian, the Reverend Professor Wilda C. Gafney on the story of Hannah and Peninnah in the Hebrew Bible. Professor Gafney is the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. She is also the author of 'A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church' and translator of its biblical selections, and 'Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to Women of the Torah and of the Throne'. She has completed the second volume of 'Womanist Midrash' focusing on women in the Former Prophets, which is expected later in 2024.

How do we build a movement of the people of God? If we turn to the earliest days of Christianity, we can find wisdom for how we can mobilise as Christians working for social justice today. Drawing as well from the great Liberation Theologians including Gutierrez, Cone and Black feminist theologians, Anupama Ranawana examines the connections between climate, poverty, race and colonisation, and on the redemptive and restorative work of the Cross as good news for the planet as well as for all people. Dr Anupama Ranawana is a theologian and political economist with research posts at St Andrew’s University and Christian Aid. Her latest book is A Liberation for the Earth: Climate, Race and Cross.

Kate Bottley talks about her own life and faith; about hope, being human, having doubts, getting through life’s hard bits, celebrating the great bits, and finding meaning and connection in it all.

Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral for 33 years, John Collins was a remarkable priest and social reformer who was one of the world's leading proponents in the causes of justice, freedom and peace. Discover more about Collins’ life, work and activism in this podcast episode. Produced and presented by Douglas Anderson.

When St Paul’s was constructed under the stewardship of Sir Christopher Wren, it was by a male dominated workforce – almost exclusively male – except for one woman: Jane Brewer, who cast and polished the golden pineapple found on the Cathedral’s south west tower. Find out more about Jane, and the curious pineapple architectural details to be found all over London! Produced and presented by Douglas Anderson.

Why do some places feel full of spiritual meaning and some feel desolate? There is a rich understanding of place in the Bible, which is full of stories of the surprising places where God is encountered, often interwoven with hospitality and welcoming the stranger. Andrew Rumsey will explore what place means in our spiritual lives, in the search for meaning and identity, in the Bible, as well as in our own local neighbourhoods, parishes, city and nation. The Right Revd Dr Andrew Rumsey is the Bishop of Ramsbury and was formerly the vicar of Gipsy Hill in the Diocese of Southwark. He is also a musician and poet, who in 2023 released an album, Evensongs. His latest books are 'Parish: An Anglican Theology of Place' and 'English Grounds: A Pastoral Journal'.

Selina Stone and Paula Gooder explore the practice of tarrying - waiting on God – which is at the heart of Selina Stone’s Lent book Tarry Awhile: Wisdom from Black Spirituality for People of Faith, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent book for 2024. They talk about favourite Bible stories about tarrying including Gethsemane, Jacob and the Angel, and Hagar in the desert, as well as the importance of bodies in our spiritual lives, being honest about disappointment, and about how to keep a good Lent.

On the 7th May 1913, the Suffragettes brought the fight for women’s votes to St Paul’s, when a plot to blow up the Bishop’s throne was narrowly foiled – after a Virger found the ticking bomb at the Cathedral’s east end. This podcast episode explores this fascinating story, and how it was reported at the time. Produced and presented by Douglas Anderson.

James Baldwin is best known as a novelist and essayist, but he grew up in the church, steeped in scripture, and was a celebrated preacher when he was young. Though he later criticized the church, it gave him his vision of the world. Jarel Robinson-Brown introduces his life and work, and explores how he can help us as Christians to broaden our horizons, to be more honest, more imaginative and challenge us to ask ourselves what kind of world we hope for. A handout referred to in this talk can be found at https://www.stpauls.co.uk/sites/default/files/2024-02/James%20Baldwin%20timeline%20handout.pdf