St Paul's Cathedral

Can we ever encounter the Christmas stories as if for the first time? Stephen Cottrell tells the story backwards and from the perspective of some of the characters we don’t usually hear from or think of as Christmas people - the prophets Anna and Moses, the Innkeeper’s wife, Rachel who weeps for her children, as well as Isaiah, the shepherds, wise men, Joseph and Mary. Stephen Cottrell is the Bishop of Chelmsford. Recorded December 2014.

'In our search for God we are our own starting point.’ Rosemary Lain-Priestley, Dean of Women’s Ministry in the Two Cities area of the London Diocese, explores the spiritual necessity of looking our own experience in the face without glossing over the difficult bits, and how we can learn to see and be changed by the ordinary miracles we miss if we don’t pay attention to the daily. Recorded July 2014.

Compassion is love-in-action, and it’s also been said that the best name for God is Compassion. Trystan Owain Hughes,Diocesan Director of Ordinands for the Diocese of Llandaff, draws on contemporary scientific thought, ancient wisdom, poetry, literature and film to explore compassion’s place at the heart of humanity, and what it might mean for our public, church and spiritual lives if we were to put it at the centre of our lives. Recorded October 2014.

May God protect me from gloomy saints! said St Teresa of Avila, the least gloomy of saints. Peter Tyler, Reader in Pastoral Theology and Spirituality at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, brings refreshing new light to the life and work of this great mystic and considers how it is that Teresa’s ‘language of the soul’ finds such resonance in contemporary spiritual life, including the worlds of psychology, meditation, mindfulness and personal development. Recorded June 2014.

St Benedict wrote his ‘rule of life’ – his practical and spiritual guide for living a good life – in the sixth century, and it has been a foundational document for Christian monasticism and spirituality ever since. Esther de Waal explores the ancient, gentle wisdom of the Rule of St Benedict in relation to the demands of modern living and the importance of balance between prayer, work and study.

There is a great tradition of finding God in the natural world, and many people who have given up on church appreciate the spiritual benefits of climbing a mountain or walking in the countryside. Graham Usher, Bishop of Dudley, encourages us to look at the world with fresh eyes – and so be enchanted by the wonder of God all around us. Recorded September 2014.

December marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr. preaching at St Paul’s. This event will challenged us to fulfil the dream he put to us of an equal society, one free from discrimination, intolerance, prejudice and extremism. The discussion addressed the impediments to true equality, and discuss practical ways these obstacles can be removed. Recorded December 2014.

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith. How can it possibly be that God dies, and what can it teach us about how to live? Graham Tomlin, Dean of St Mellitus College, London, explores how the mystery of the cross can shed new, life-giving light on the way we live today. Recorded April 2014.

Professor Burridge, Dean and Professor of Biblical Interpretation of King’s College London, is one of the foremost Biblical scholars of our time, and this book grew out of ten years of academic research into the gospels, but also his desire ‘to bridge the gap between the prayer cell and the seminar debate’. For anyone intrigued or puzzled by the differences between the gospels, this is a revelatory reading of the four portraits of Jesus we are given in the New Testament. Recorded 2 March 2014.

The Reverend Richard Coles is a parish priest and regular host of BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live. He is also the only vicar in Britain to have had a number 1 hit single: the Communards' Don't Leave Me This Way. Fathomless Riches is his remarkable memoir in which he divulges with searing honesty and intimacy his pilgrimage from a rock-and-roll life of sex and drugs to a life devoted to God and Christianity. Recorded 11 November 2014.