Unbelievable?

Did Christianity build the modern West? From human rights and equality to science, secularism and democracy, many thinkers now argue that Christianity lies behind much of what modern Western societies value most. Popular historian Tom Holland helped revive this debate with his bestselling book Dominion, but how far can the argument really go? In this episode of Unbelievable?, John Nelson is joined...

In this wide-ranging episode of Unbelievable? The Interview, host Luke Martin speaks with Christian apologist, author and Islam specialist Dr Andy Bannister about the big questions shaping our cultural moment. Andy reflects on the renewed curiosity about Christianity among young people, why questions of meaning and beauty may now be more compelling than classic debates about God’s existence, and h...

What happens when a philosopher loses faith in God — and then unexpectedly finds it again? In this deeply personal and philosophical episode of Unbelievable?, host John Nelson sits down with philosophers Dr Shaun Stevenson and Dr Joshua Sijuwade to explore belief, doubt, suffering and the search for meaning. Shaun shares how he moved from Christianity into atheism after wrestling with judgmental c...

What does evolution mean for Christian faith? In this episode of Unbelievable?, John Nelson hosts a thoughtful dialogue between molecular biologist Dr Denis Alexander and returning guest Ed Atkinson on one of the deepest questions in science and theology. Can evolution be reconciled with the character of God, or do millions of years of suffering count against belief? Denis argues that evolution ca...

As Oxford mathematician and Christian apologist John Lennox prepares to appear on The Diary of a CEO, he joins Luke Martin on Unbelievable to reflect on his extraordinary life and the questions that have shaped a generation. From Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Peter Singer to Alex O’Connor, AI, social media, suffering, marriage and Christian hope, Lennox looks back on the rise and fall...

What happens when one of the world’s leading geneticists sits down with one of the world’s most influential Christian theologians? In this special live episode of Unbelievable?, recorded at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in partnership with the Oxford Pastorate and BioLogos, Dr Francis Collins and N. T. Wright explore some of life’s biggest questions: Can science and faith truly c...

Do we truly have free will, or are our choices determined by biology, upbringing and brain chemistry? In this episode of Unbelievable?, John Nelson hosts a lively philosophical dialogue between Joe Folley, host of Unsolicited Advice, and Dr Nathan Hawkins, a Christian philosopher who teaches at Cambridge. Together they explore libertarian free will, compatibilism and determinism, asking whether ne...

Dr Joshua Sijuwade, teaching fellow in philosophy at the University of Birmingham, joins Luke Martin for a wide-ranging conversation on God, evil, the Trinity and the atonement. Joshua begins by explaining why he thinks the existence of God is the best explanation for a contingent, non-fundamental universe, and why he favours a fundamentality argument over some popular versions of the Kalam cosmol...

Filmed before a packed live audience at London’s Royal Institution in May 2026, this Unbelievable? x Panpsycast x Theora co-production brings William Lane Craig face-to-face with Unbelievable? regular Alex O’Connor for a gripping conversation on God, cosmology and suffering. Craig makes the case for Christian theism, drawing on the Kalam cosmological argument, fine-tuning, moral values and the res...

In this timely classic edition of the Unbelievable podcast Billy Hallowell hosts theologians Tom Wright and Preston Sprinkle for a timely conversation on faith, politics and the church’s public witness. For more Tom Wright subscribe to the new YouTube Channel for the Ask NT Wright Anything podcast. Drawing fromJesus and the Powers and Exiles: The Church in the Shadow of Empire, they ask what it me...

William Lane Craig and Alex Malpass debate the Kalam cosmological argument: everything that begins to exist has a cause; the universe began to exist; therefore, the universe has a cause. Hosted by John Nelson, the discussion explores whether causation applies to the universe, whether an actual infinite can exist, Hilbert’s Hotel, successive addition, the Grim Reaper paradox, and whether the univer...

What if much of what Christians think they know about the devil is wrong? In this fascinating conversation, Luke Martin speaks with author and filmmaker Jared Brock about his provocative book A Devil Named Lucifer. Jared argues that “Lucifer” is not actually the devil’s proper name, explores what Scripture really says about Satan, demons and spiritual warfare, and challenges popular myths shaped m...

Did Jesus really rise from the dead, or is the resurrection best explained another way? In this gripping debate, Alex O'Connor and Trent Horn go head-to-head on one of history’s most controversial claims. Trent argues that the resurrection offers the best explanation for the historical evidence: the empty tomb, the transformation of the disciples, and early eyewitness testimony. Alex pushes back,...

Live from Sir Henry Floyd Grammar school in Aylesbury, Nigel Crook and Andy Bannister discuss the promise and peril of artificial intelligence and what it could mean for the future of humanity. Hosted by biologist Sam McKee, and filmed in front of a live audience of teenagers in Aylesbury, UK, this conversation asks the big questions young people are already wrestling with. As AI systems grow more...

What if the more we learn about the universe, the harder it is to explain without God? In this conversation, Dr Antony Latham, retired GP, former hospital doctor in East Africa, and Chair of the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, joins Luke Martin to discuss his new book, When I Consider Your Heavens: How Science and Philosophy Lead Us to God. We explore how a life in medicine led him into big q...

Why do we suffer, and what, if anything, can make sense of it? Live from John Colet School in Wendover, Unbelievable? hosts a compelling debate on one of the hardest questions in philosophy and faith: the problem of suffering. Joining the conversation are Alonzo Paul, a philosopher of religion based in Oxford researching horrendous and seemingly meaningless suffering, and Harry Amos, an ex-Christi...

In recent years, numerous high-profile Christian leaders have resigned following revelations of moral failure, including Carl Lentz, Jerry Falwell Jr., and Bill Hybels. Others have posthumously been subject to allegations of sexual misconduct, including Jean Vanier and Ravi Zacharias (an independent investigation is ongoing). Karen Swallow Prior, who resigned her position at Liberty University ove...

In this Unbelievable conversation, host John Nelson tackles the “meaning crisis” that’s been bubbling up across the internet: the rise in loneliness, anxiety, addiction and a sense of cultural fragmentation and the growing hunger for depth, belonging and transcendence. John Vervaeke (University of Toronto) argues that modern life suffers from a “propositional tyranny”, over-privileging facts and a...

Luke Martin is joined by neurosurgeon, war veteran and author Dr Lee Warren for a powerful and deeply personal conversation on trauma, grief, the brain, and whether we can truly change how we think and live. After performing over 200 brain surgeries in a warzone in Iraq, Lee returned home carrying the unseen wounds of PTSD. Years later, following the devastating loss of his son, he found himself c...

In this conversation, we’re exploring one of the central claims of Christianity: the resurrection of Jesus. Joining us are two of the world’s leading New Testament scholars who approach the evidence from different angles. Dale Allison, former Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, is widely respected for his historical work on Jesus and early Christian be...

Physicists Paul Davies and Jeremy England tackle one of science’s hardest puzzles: how did lifeless matter spark into life? In this classic Big Conversation from Unbelievable podcast the question is whether we need a new theory for the origin of life in the universe. Davies argues that “software” (information) is as crucial as chemistry, hinting at undiscovered laws that bind hardware to code. Eng...

Can morality be objective without God? In this thought-provoking episode of Unbelievable, host John Nelson brings together Christian writer Caleb Woodbridge and Objectivist thinker Thomas Walker-Werth for a deep clash over reason, self-interest, human dignity and the basis of right and wrong. Is morality grounded in God’s nature, or can human reason alone discover universal moral truths? Drawing o...

In this episode, Luke Martin speaks to psychiatrist, neuroscientist and bestselling author Iain McGilchrist about the ideas that have made him one of the most influential thinkers of our age. Rod Dreher has said McGilchrist’s The Matter With Things “will come to be regarded as one of the seminal texts of the century”. In this conversation, McGilchrist explores the divided brain, the crisis of mean...

In this special episode of Unbelievable?, John Nelson speaks with Pastor Richmond Wandera in Kampala, Uganda. After his father was murdered, Richmond grew up in a slum community before his life was transformed through Compassion child sponsorship. Now leading New Life Baptist Church and equipping thousands of pastors across East Africa, Richmond shares what’s changed for vulnerable children since...

In this replay we bring together Christian Philosopher & Theologian Keith Ward and atheist Professor of Philosophy from King's College London, David Papinaeu to unpack the question "Is our mind more than matter"? Ward believes that the brain is accompanied by an immaterial mind, while Papinaeu believes the brain and the mind to be one in the same - with nothing immaterial about it. What do you thi...