Re-Enchanting

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 v...

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...

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-...

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...

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.co...

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...

Holly Ordway is a scholar of English literature who is a professor at the Word on Fire Institute in the USA and Houston Christian University.  Holly has written about literary and imaginative apologetics, edited and annotated a volume of Gerard Manley Hopkins' poetry, and has also gone on to publish major books on the works of one of her literary heroes JRR Tolkien. These are the award-wining...

Elizabeth Oldfield is a writer, broadcaster and host of The Sacred podcast. Her new book 'Fully Alive' examines how modern life can be informed by ancient wisdom, including a fresh look at the 'Seven Deadly Sins'. Belle and Justin speak to Elizabeth about her own spiritual journey, wisdom, our common life and the things that most deeply bind us. Elizabeth Oldfield: https://www.elizabetholdfield.co...

Joshua Luke Smith is a poet, songwriter, storyteller, podcaster and author of the book 'Something You Once Knew'. His latest album 'Liberated' is available now. Belle and Justin talk to Joshua about re-enchanting creativity, the music industry and ultimately, ‘the life we have’. Joshua Luke Smith: https://www.joshualukesmith.com/ For Re-Enchanting: https://www.seenandunseen.com/podcast There’s mor...

Re-enchanting is back! Join Justin, Belle and a host of guests as they explore how Christianity can re-enchant culture, politics, the arts, the sciences, history, and so much more. Season four starts this Wednesday, with episodes from poet and songwriter Joshua Luke Smith, host of The Sacred podcast Elizabeth Oldfield, journalist Ben Sixsmith and many more. You can get Re-enchanting wherever you l...

Lisa Fields is the founder of The Jude 3 Project - an organisation helping the Christian community know what they believe and why they believe it with a strong emphasis in equipping those of African descent in the United States and abroad. Lisa founded the organisation after encountering significant intellectual challenges to her own faith. Belle and Justin find out what answers she discovered, th...

Jonathan Pageau is a French Canadian icon carver, public speaker and YouTuber exploring the symbolic patterns that underlie our experience of the world. He's also the editor of the Orthodox Arts Journal and host of the Symbolic World blog and podcast. Jonathan is also known for his friendship with Jordan Peterson, another thinker invested in symbolism, psychology and pointing people back to Christ...

Jessica Oyelowo is a creative force of nature: an actor, TV and film producer, singer, and song-writer. Jessica has brought her art to both the stage and the screen. Living in Los Angeles with her husband, David, and their four children, much of Jessica’s latest work highlights how her faith, her dreams, her convictions, and her roles tend to collide. In particular, her latest album '(M)other' emp...

Milton Jones is an award-winning stand-up comedian, broadcaster, author, and 'Mock the Week' legend. He's a king of the one-liners, and crafter of the ‘Ten-Second Sermon’. Belle and Justin chat to Milton about his life, his comedy, and his Christian faith – as well as discussing the relationship between God and laughter. For Milton Jones: https://miltonjones.com/ For Re-Enchanting: https://www.see...

Lauren Windle is a journalist, author, speaker and presenter who specialises in faith, recovery and love. She is the author of 'Notes on Love: being single and dating in a marriage-obsessed church' and the upcoming 'Notes on Feminism: Being a woman in a male-led church'. Justin and Belle chat with Lauren about her own story of addiction, recovery and faith, the intersection between Christianity an...

David Bennett is an author, speaker and theologian based at Oxford University. Originally from Australia, his book 'A War of Loves' describes his own story of encountering the love of God in a pub in the gay quarter of Sydney. He tells Belle and Justin how, as an atheistic gay activist, he became a follower of Jesus and why he advocates for a positive moral vision of biblical sexuality and di...

Professor Sabina Alkire directs the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at the University of Oxford. Sabina has been involved in developing methods of measuring multidimensional poverty and her work is used to address development issues in countries around the world.

 Sabina is ordained in the Anglican Church. Belle and Justin explore how her Christian faith maps onto her work in...

Martin Shaw is a renowned storyteller and mythologist, who in the last couple of years has his own quite extraordinary conversion story to tell. After many years as a poet, author and teaching others through the West Country school of myth, Martin had a visionary encounter that confounded all his expectations. Martin is now a Christian but sees this homecoming as a fulfilment of a life invested in...

Helen Lewis is a journalist, broadcaster and staff writer for The Atlantic. She is the author of 'Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights’ and has been writing and speaking about feminism, gender, and the culture wars for several years... and occasionally gets caught up in them herself, including a viral interview with Jordan Peterson for GQ. Justin and Belle chat to Helen about the re...

Rory Stewart is a former cabinet minister and MP who co-hosts the hugely popular podcast 'The Rest Is Politics'. He is author of the best-selling autobiography 'Politics On The Edge'. He is interviewed by former cabinet minister Rev Jonathan Aitken who spent time in prison after being convicted of perjury, an experience which led him to embrace Christian faith. They talk about whether politics is...

Belle & Justin return for season three of Re-Enchanting, talking to leading figures in science, history, politics, art and education. This season we welcome Rory Stewart, Jonathan Aitken, Helen Lewis, Lauren Windle, David Bennett, Sabine Alkire, Dr Martin Shaw and more. Despite the increasingly scientific and secular age we live in, many people are still searching for a bigger story to live by...

Esau McCaulley is an author, public theologian and associate professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. His book 'Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope' won numerous awards. His new memoir 'How far to the Promised Land', draws on his life and experiences to question what the American dream looks like for African-Americans. Justin and Belle talk to...

Kate Bowler is an author podcast host, and an Associate Professor of American Religious History at Duke University in North Carolina. After being unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35, Kate penned the New York Times bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved) and No Cure For Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear). Kate hosts the Everything...

Professor Rosalind Picard is founder and director of the Affective Computing Research Group at MIT. She has pioneered the field of life-saving wearable technology that responds to human emotion and wellbeing. Ros is an expert in machine learning and AI - a field that has exploded in public consciousness recently, moving from the world of sci-fi to everyday life with the advent of Chat GPT and nume...

Suzannah Lipscomb is an award-winning historian, author and broadcaster who has brought the loves, lives and intrigues of the sixteenth century to millions of people through TV shows, podcasts and writing. She is the author of several books, including '1536: The Year that changed Henry VIII' and 'The Voices of Nîmes: Women, Sex, and Marriage in Reformation Languedoc'. Justin and Belle talk to Suza...