[Part 1]    [Part 2]    [Part 3]    [Part 4]    [Next >>] In a four-part series of posts, guest writer Grace Dalton shares her thoughts on BBC Radio 4’s The Secret History of Science and Religion, broadcast last year. In June, BBC Radio 4 aired The Secret History of Science and Religion: three half-hour episodes narrated by Nick Spencer, who wants

I have always, until very recently, been a passionate supporter of the BBC TV licence. I believed that the licence fee was a price well worth paying for TV and radio programming that was intelligent, impartial, and not beholden to commercial interests. My trust, however, in the BBC’s output has been steadily eroding for a

One of the most intriguing parables Jesus ever told was the parable of ‘the Rich Man and Lazarus,’ recorded only for us in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 16. I have often wondered, and have even disagreed with somebody sharply, over how ‘literally’ Jesus’ parable here is a description of the afterlife prior to the bodily resurrection.

The North African Christian theologian Tertullian’s treatise On the Resurrection of the Flesh is rewarding reading. In its sixteenth chapter we have an early testimony to the Judaeo-Christian belief that life begins at conception. On the Resurrection of the Flesh, written around A.D. 208, was written to counter the position of the various schools of

The argument is often put forward by atheists that “religion is the cause of all wars.” On at least two occasions I’ve had this very thing said to me. But is it really true? Come, let us reason together. Firstly, let us consider the assertion itself. “Religion is the cause of all wars.” As aphorisms

The North African Christian theologian Tertullian (c. 145—220 A.D.) was a prolific writer, and one of our key witnesses to the condition and beliefs of Christianity at the end of the second century. His work ‘On the Resurrection of the Flesh’ was written to defend orthodox Christianity against the many heresies, then current, which taught

In the opening chapter of his treatise ‘On the Resurrection of the Flesh,’ the Christian writer Tertullian (c. 145—220 A.D.) gives us a brief survey of the views prevalent in his day concerning the afterlife. The range of views — Christian and pagan — which he presents still sounds surprisingly modern. On the Resurrection of

It’s five years this month since the shooting-up by Islamic terrorists of the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris which left twelve people dead and eleven people injured. Following the attack on 7 January 2015, a million people marched through Paris in solidarity with the magazine and those killed in the attack, many bearing banners proclaiming

Given that it is still fashionable for the literati of Western society to regard Christians as imbeciles, it was refreshing to hear the writers of the BBC and Netflix’s Dracula, Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, who describe themselves as “a couple of ageing atheists,” acknowledge the genuine value of Christianity both as a rational faith

We have looked previously, in our series of reflections on Augustine of Hippo’s 5th-century text On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis, at some of the good science which it is to be found in it. To some of us, the level of scientific understanding which Augustine shows more than 1,500 years ago may come as