From the podcast archive: Elizabeth Oldfield on Fully Alive: Tending to the soul in turbulent times
On the podcast this week, there’s another chance to listen to an interview with Elizabeth Oldfield about her book Fully Alive: Tending to the soul in turbulent times (Hodder & Stoughton). The book is now out in paperback and is available from the Church House Bookshop. https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781399810777/fully-alive
Elizabeth is a journalist, public intellectual, and the host of the podcast The Sacred, which explores the deep values of a range of guests. She is a former 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.
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Festival of Preaching: Truth to power takes place in Southwark Cathedral on 13 September. More information at https://festivalofpreaching.hymnsam.co.uk
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Archbishop in Jerusalem interviewed at the General Synod
The podcast this week comes from the General Syond meeting in York, where the Archbishop in Jerusalem, Dr Hosam Naoum, is interviewed by Francis Martin, staff writer for the Church Times. Dr Naoum speaks about life in the region, the welcome that he has received at the Synod, and the prospects of peace in the Middle East.
“If I can reconcile myself as both Palestinian and Israeli and Arab and a Christian, that means that we can live together as Israelis and Palestinians. That’s something we can do,” he says. “We have done it for many centuries, actually, as Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the land of the Holy One, and we can do it again, but we need to be determined to walk the path of peace.”
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
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Alec Ryrie on The Age of Hitler and How We Will Survive It
On the podcast this week, Dr Alec Ryrie, Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham University, talks about his latest book, The Age of Hitler and How We Will Survive It, an examination of society’s fixation with the Nazis and the unravelling of the post-war moral consensus today.
He argues that Adolf Hitler has replaced Jesus as the most important moral figure in the West (“we’ve replaced a positive exemplar who shows us what good is with a negative exemplar who shows us what evil is”), and how this has influenced thinking about human rights.
Professor Ryrie wishes to hold on to the moral insights of the “Age of Hitler”, but argues that “they are not enough, and, at the moment, we are asking them to carry more weight than they can bear.” He challenges each side of the culture wars “to find a synthesis with the other”, saying that this is the only way in which each side “can truly secure the values which are most dear to them”.
Professor Ryrie’s previous books include Protestants (Books, 28 July 2017) and Unbelievers: An emotional history of doubt (Books, 15 May 2020).
The Age of Hitler and How We Will Survive It by Alec Ryrie is published by Reaktion Books at £15.95 (Church Times Bookshop £14.36) https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781836390824/age-of-hitler-and-how-we-will-survive-it?vc=CT204
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
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John Harris on Maybe I'm Amazed: A story of love and connection in ten songs
John Harris, the Guardian columnist and host of its Politics Weekly UK podcast, is best known for his political and music journalism. His new book, Maybe I’m Amazed: A story of love and connection in ten songs, is a personal story about life with his autistic son James and the life-changing effect of his son’s intense connection with popular music.
On the podcast this week, he talks to Sarah Meyrick, editor of the Church Times, about the book. Harris, who calls himself a “devout agnostic”, also speaks about his son’s love of playing organs when they visit churches during country walks.
Maybe I’m Amazed is published by John Murray at £16.99 (Church Times Bookshop £15.29). https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781399814034/maybe-im-amazed?vc=CT530
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
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Francis Spufford on Cahokia Jazz
On the podcast this week, Francis Spufford discusses his latest novel, Cahokia Jazz, with the Dean of Southwark, the Very Revd Dr Mark Oakley. The conversation was recorded at the Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature, which was held in Winchester in March (Features, 7 March).
Set in an alternative America in the 1920s, Cahokia Jazz is “a detective novel with noir tendencies” which is “as inventive and unpredictable in its setting as it is in its thrilling plot”, Dr Oakley wrote in a review in the Church Times.
Cahokia Jazz is available in paperback from the Church House Bookshop. https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9780571336883/cahokia-jazz
Francis Spufford’s first novel, Golden Hill, won the Costa First Novel Award 2016; his second novel, Light Perpetual was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize. He has also written five highly praised works of non-fiction, including Unapologetic: Why, despite everything Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Michael Ramsey Prize.
Picture credit: Harvey Mills
Find out about forthcoming Church Times events at https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/events
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
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