If you found this conversation interesting, Seen & Unseen, the creators of Re-Enchanting, offers thousands of articles exploring how the Christian faith helps us understand the modern world. Discover more here: www.seenandunseen.com. Lamorna Ash is an award-winning writer and journalist, she’s the author of Dark, Salt, Clear: Life in a Cornish Fishing Town and the brand new Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever: A New Generation’s Search for Religion, both of which have caught a huge amount of att...
Jun 11, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 7Ep. 3
If you found this conversation interesting, Seen & Unseen, the creators of Re-Enchanting, offers thousands of articles exploring how the Christian faith helps us understand the modern world. Discover more here: www.seenandunseen.com Alex Evans is the founder and Executive Director of Larger Us - a community of change-makers seeking to bridge divides and bring people together. Alex has previously worked as a think tank researcher, as a special adviser to two cabinet ministers, in the UN Secre...
Jun 04, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 7Ep. 2
If you found this conversation interesting, Seen & Unseen, the creators of Re-Enchanting, offers thousands of articles exploring how the Christian faith helps us understand the modern world. Discover more here: www.seenandunseen.com. Chine McDonald is the Director of Theos, the religion and society think tank. She is also a regular contributor to TV and radio programmes and author of ‘God Is Not a White Man: and Other Revelations’ and the brand new ‘Unmaking Mary: Shattering the Myth of Perf...
May 28, 2025•57 min•Season 7Ep. 1
Esther Maria Magnis is a German writer whose book ‘With or Without Me’ is a memoir of her journey with faith and the perception of reality. With unflinching honesty Esther takes us through her childhood and adolescence as she, along with her brother and sister, deals with the grief of her father’s cancer diagnosis, her prayers, and her journey through the loss of faith, into materialism, self-deconstruction and finally the turn back to the idea of God. Justin and Belle talk to Esther about her r...
Apr 02, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 6Ep. 10
If you found this conversation interesting, Seen & Unseen, the creators of Re-Enchanting, offers thousands of articles exploring how the Christian faith helps us understand the modern world. Discover more here: www.seenandunseen.com Tyler Staton is the Lead Pastor of Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon and the head of Prayer 24/7, USA. He's also the author of three best-selling books: Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools, Searching for Enough, and The Familiar Stranger. In this episode of...
Mar 26, 2025•58 min•Season 6Ep. 9
Dr John Mark Reynolds is the president of the Constantine Schools and College in Texas and the author of numerous books including 'When Athens Met Jerusalem: an Introduction to Classical and Christian Thought'. He is a frequent blogger and lecturer on a wide range of topics including ancient philosophy, classical and home education, politics, faith, and virtue. John Mark was involved in recent research that made global headlines, showing a huge upswing in the numbers of young men entering the Ea...
Mar 19, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 6Ep. 8
Dr Kate Flaherty is Senior Lecturer in English and Drama at the Australian National University. She researches how Shakespeare’s works play on the stage of public culture. Her insights have been published in Contemporary Theatre Review, New Theatre Quarterly, Australian Studies and Shakespeare Survey. She is also the author of the book ‘Ours as we play it: Australia Plays Shakespeare’ and of the latest volume of the ‘ Cambridge Elements’ series - 'Ellen Terry, Shakespeare and Suffrage in Austral...
Mar 12, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 6Ep. 7
Revd Professor Andrew Davison is Regius Professor of Divinity at The University of Oxford. Andrew has both a scientific and theological background and has frequently worked on the intersection of science and faith, as well as writing on ‘participation’ and the ’sacramental theology' of blessing in books such as ‘Participation In God’ and ‘Blessing’. Andrew says we need to rethink separating things into the categories of ‘natural' and ‘supernatural’ - enchantment is part and parcel of the way the...
Mar 05, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Season 6Ep. 6
Jo Swinney is director of communications for the Christian environmental conservation charity A Rocha International. Jo's parents Miranda and Peter Harris were the founders of A Rocha. Miranda's tragic death in 2019 was a shock to all those who knew her. Jo’s book ‘A Place At The Table: Faith, hope and hospitality’ pairs her own words with writings she discovered of her mother’s to celebrate her life and to explore how sharing food is at the heart of a shared life. Justin and Belle hear about th...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 5
Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg is rabbi of New North London Synagogue and Senior Rabbi of Masorti Judaism, here in the UK. He’s also the author of numerous books, including ‘Walking with the Light: from Frankfurt to Finchley’, ‘Things My Dog has Taught Me: about being a better human’ and his latest – ‘Listening for God in Torah and Creation’ Justin and Belle speak with Jonathan about the workings of Jewish scripture, the nature of awe, wonder, and sensitivity and our reposnibility for the care of the...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 4
Professor Lady Sue Black is one of the world’s leading forensic scientists. Police forces, the Foreign Office and the UN have called upon her evidence in countless high-profile investigations. She is currently President of St. John’s College, Oxford, and in 2021 entered the House of Lords as a cross-bench peer. She has penned numerous books, including the Saltire Prize winning ‘All That Remains: A Life in Death’ and her latest book, ‘Written in Bone: hidden stories in what we leave behind’. In 2...
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 3
Rupert Shortt is an author and research associate at the Von Hugel Institute, University Of Cambridge and a former Religion Editor for the Times Literary Supplement. His latest book ’The Eclipse of Christianity… and why it matters’ has been praised by Tom Holland as ‘ A brilliant survey of Christianity’s decline in Britain- how it happened and why it matters, by one of our most learned and stimulating apologists’. Belle and Justin talk with Rupert about why mainstream churches are in decline acr...
Feb 05, 2025•58 min•Season 6Ep. 2
Rev Les Isaac OBE is founder of Ascension Trust. Les came to national attention in 2022 when his message about integrity and the common good at the Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast set in motion a chain of events that led to the resignation of Boris Johnson in the following days. Les is best known as the pioneer of the Street Pastors movement. Every weekend Street Pastors provide care and support to late night clubbers in nearly 250 cities and towns across the UK, a story Les tells in his book ‘Fa...
Jan 29, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 1
Francis Collins is a physician and geneticist whose groundbreaking work has led to the discovery of the cause of cystic fibrosis among other diseases. He led the Human Genome Project which first sequenced the entire human DNA, established the science-faith organisation BioLogos, and has gone on to serve 3 US presidents as the director of the National Institutes of Health Francis’ new book is titled ‘The Road To Wisdom: On truth, science, faith and trust’ and covers some of the controversies and ...
Dec 04, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 5Ep. 10
Dr Claire Gilbert is an author, lecturer, mentor and retreat leader and was the founding director of the Westminster Abbey Institute. She is the author of books including ‘Miles To Go Before I Sleep: Letters on Hope, Death and Learning to Live’ and her most recent publication ‘I, Julian’ a novel about the medieval mystic Julian of Norwich. Belle and Justin talk to Claire about how Julian Of Norwich's 'Revelations Of Divine Love' from 650 years ago, can speak to modern spiritual hunger. Claire Gi...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 5Ep. 9
Sarah Irving-Stonebraker is an Australian historian whose new book ‘Priests of History: stewarding the past in an ahistoric age’, says that, in our age of self-invention, modern people are profoundly disconnected from the stories, practises and history that once gave them their identity. Justin and Belle talk to Sarah about re-enchanting an ahistorical age and about her own journey from atheism to Christianity as a young academic at Cambridge and Oxford in the early 2000s. Sarah Irving-Stonebrak...
Nov 20, 2024•59 min•Season 5Ep. 8
Siku is an artist, author, theologian, musician, and a leading comic book artist. He has worked for 2000AD as artist on titles such as Judge Dredd as well as Marvel UK and COM X. He is the author of the book ‘Batman Is Jesus’ and is of course well known for the graphic novel, The Manga Bible. Siku sits down with Justin and Belle to discuss the creative processes of making a comic book, the theology of story-telling and why he thinks 'Batman is Jesus'. For Siku: https://www.theartofsiku.com/ For ...
Nov 13, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 5Ep. 7
Zoe Clark-Coates MBE has become one of the UK's most trusted voices when it comes to the gigantic topics of grief and loss. She is an author, podcaster and TV broadcaster, as well as the founder and CEO of the Mariposa Trust and co-chair of the most extensive government baby loss review in recent years. Zoe shares her own experience of grief, having lost five babies, and tells of how her faith and her sorrow have always been well acquainted. For Zoe: https://www.zoeadelle.co.uk/ For advice and s...
Nov 06, 2024•53 min•Season 5Ep. 6
Jack Palmer-White is Senior Director at the Good Faith Partnership, an organisation that seeks to bridge some of the gaps between different sectors and, in so doing, find some innovative solutions for some of society’s more difficult problems. Before this, Jack was the Anglican Communion’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and senior advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury on social and public affairs. With over a decade of experience of working with charities, faith-based organisat...
Oct 30, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Talia Dean became a household name in 2017 after she wowed judges on the X Factor with her stunning vocals. She went on to a successful music career, collaborating with Brian May of Queen among others. But Talia recently announced she has quit the mainstream music industry after rediscovering her Catholic faith in a big way at the end of last year. Justin and Belle talk to Talia about what sparked her return to faith and dealing with the celebrity world of X Factor madness. Talia Dean: https://t...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr•Season 5Ep. 4
Dr Krish Kandiah OBE is the founder of The Sanctuary Foundation, a charity supporting refugees to find welcome, work and worthwhile housing in the UK. Krish has also been at the forefront of many other initiatives including the fostering and adoption charity Home For Good, as well as writing multiple books on theology, activism and faith. Following a summer marred by riots over immigration, Justin and Belle talk to Krish about re-enchanting compassion for the 'orphan, widow and foreigner' in an ...
Oct 16, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 5Ep. 3
NT (Tom) Wright is Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University. Tom has written extensively on Jesus, Paul and early Christianity and his work has been hugely influential across the world. As well as his notable academic career Tom has also served in the Church of England in various roles, including as Bishop of Durham from 2003-2010. Belle and Justin talk to Tom about his new book, co-authored with Mike Bird - Jesus And The Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalit...
Oct 09, 2024•59 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Alex O'Connor is a well known atheist Youtube and podcast host with over 800 thousand subscribers to his channel. Unlike many online new atheists he has sought to genuinely understand his Christian and religious counterparts. This included studying theology at Oxford University, helping to re-establish a Socratic debating society in the mould of the one created by CS Lewis, and counting many Christians as his friends and acquaintances. Belle and Justin talk to Alex about atheism, the changing ti...
Oct 02, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Nick Spencer is Senior Fellow at Theos and hosts their podcast ‘Reading Our Times’. He is the author of a number of books and reports, including ‘Magisteria: the entangled histories of science and religion’ and his most recent book co-authored with Hannah Waite, 'Playing God: Science, Religion and the Future of Humanity’. Belle and Justin chat with Nick about aliens, animals and AI. How are the boundaries of science and technology re-enchanting what makes humans unique? Nick Spencer: https://www...
Jul 17, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Season 4Ep. 10
Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist and philosopher, and author of the books ‘The Master And His Emissary’ and ‘The Matter With Things’. Iain’s thesis on the left and right hemispheres of the brain has been highly influential. He believes ‘left hemispheric’ thinking has come to dominate much of modern culture in negative ways. He speaks with Belle and Justin about whether we can we re-enchant our view of the world by re-engaging a ‘right hemispheric’ view of life, love and faith. For Iain McGilch...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Karen Swallow Prior is a Professor of English Literature and an award-winning author. Her most recent book is 'The Evangelical Imagination: How stories, images and metaphors created a culture in Crisis’. Belle and Justin speak to Karen about the role of the imagination in faith, what the term evangelical means today and whether it can be re-enchanted… Karen Swallow Prior: https://karenswallowprior.com/ For Re-Enchanting: https://www.seenandunseen.com/podcast There’s more to life than the world w...
Jul 03, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Ben Sixsmith is a journalist and contributing editor at The Critic. He writes for many outlets on culture and politics including at his own substack The Zone. Ben has also written about about his own religious upbringing and his search for faith as an agnostic. In a disenchanted age Justin and Belle talk to Ben about what it takes to believe… Ben Sixsmith: https://bensixsmith.substack.com/ For Re-Enchanting: https://www.seenandunseen.com/podcast There’s more to life than the world we can see. Re...
Jun 26, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 4Ep. 7
2024 will see more than sixty countries hold national elections and more than two billion people eligible to vote - including an imminent election in the UK and what looks to be a historic election in the US. This calls for a special episode of Re-Enchanting. Luke Bretherton is an author and theologian who currently splits his time between Duke University in the US and St Mellitus College here in London. It has just been announced that from January 2025 onwards, Luke will be the Regius Professor...
Jun 19, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Rasool Berry serves as teaching pastor at The Bridge Church in Brooklyn, New York. He hosts the Where Ya From? podcast and is the writer, producer and host of the Juneteenth: Faith & Freedom feature-length documentary. Justin and Belle speak to Rasool about Re-enchanting… the city, millennials and Gen Z. Rasool Berry: https://www.rasoolberry.com/ For Re-Enchanting: https://www.seenandunseen.com/podcast There’s more to life than the world we can see. Re-Enchanting is a podcast from Seen &...
Jun 12, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Dr Michael Ward is a literary critic, theologian, and renowned C.S. Lewis expert – teaching at both the University of Oxford and Houston Christian University, in Texas. He is the author of books including 'Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis' and 'After Humanity: A guide to C.S. Lewis’ The Abolition of Man'. Justin and Belle talk to Michael about the inner workings of the Narnian universe, the nature of Lewis’ imagination, and one of his most difficult works – The A...
Jun 05, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 4Ep. 4
