Unbelievable?

It's still the bestselling book in the world. But can the Bible speak to modern life in the way it has to past generations? Andrew Ollerton, author of 'The Bible: A book that makes sense of life', explains why he believes the Bible has a unique ability to speak to who we are as humans. He is joined by historian Tom Holland, author of books including 'Dominion', and editor of 'Revolutionary: Who wa...

The Unification church of Revd Sun Myung Moon (aka The Moonies) is often regarded as a cult.  But what do they actually believe about Jesus and his death and resurrection? Christian Nseka is a member of the religion and believes we need to see Jesus' death and resurrection in a new way.  He believes that Christ did not fulfil his mission and that Revd Moon is the new Messiah. Doug Harris runs the...

Episode 2 | Season 3 of The Big Conversation. Prof Nick Bostrom, director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University and Prof Rosalind Picard, director of the Affective Computing Research Group at MIT debate the philosophical and spiritual questions raised by AI. Could AI become conscious? Are we living in a simulation universe? Could technology be the key to immortality? For bonus c...

An Inter-Christian discussion on the beliefs and doctrines that are distinctive of Seventh Day Adventists. Why do they hold to Saturday as the ‘true’ day for worship and rest? Are they too legalistic? What about the failed prophecy of Christ's return that they grew out of? What should we make of founder Ellen White's teaching on ‘Investigative Judgement’? David Burnett and Victor Hulbert of the SD...

It's often claimed that, despite their religious differences, Muslims and Christians still believe in and worship the same creator God.  In his new book Andy Bannister explains why he believes the God of Islam and Christianity cannot be the same. In contrast, Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon, who heads up Christian-Muslim interfaith work in Nigeria, believes that the two religions are working with d...

What does it take for life to get going in our universe?  Is there intelligence in the stars or right under our nose? Renowned astrophysicist Paul Davies chats to Oxford Professor of Mathematics John Lennox. A popular science author, Davies’ book ‘The Eerie Silence’ examines the likelihood of the universe producing life elsewhere. John Lennox is a Christian Mathematician and philosopher. He is the...

TikTok star Zach Pincince lost his faith after developing a career in hypnotism and growing doubts about whether Jesus rose again. He engages with Christian evangelist and stage illusionist Bryan Drake on whether religious belief is down to our suggestibility and debates the evidence for the resurrection. For Zach Pincince: https://www.tiktok.com/@zachpincince For Bryan Drake:  https://bryandrakes...

Bishop Robert Barron of Word on Fire and Alex O'Connor of the Cosmic Skeptic channel discuss the evidence for God, the nature of faith and the problem of suffering in the first episode of The Big Conversation season 3. For a bonus video of Bishop Barron and Alex O'Connor debating the Trinity sign up at  http://www.thebigconversation.show We'd love to know what you think of the conversation! Take o...

In prominent atheist author Philip Pullman’s ‘The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ’, he re-imagines the story of Jesus as the story of two twins - one called Jesus, the other Christ. It is the twin Christ who writes the history of Jesus, turning him into the God-man of the Gospels. Philip Pullman joins Justin Brierley to discuss whether we should believe the biblical stories of Jesus as his...

Former Christian youth worker, Logan Walker, shares some of the reasons for losing his faith. Evangelist Ben Jack from the Message Trust responds to some of Logan's doubts and provides some of his own thoughts on these difficult topics.  For Ben Jack’s book My Lord and My God  https://shop.message.org.uk/product/my-lord-and-my-god-ben-jack/ For Logan Walker’s blog  https://linktr.ee/beyondbelief F...

How can natural evil and death that have existed for millions of years on an Old Earth view be reconciled to the view that the Fall brought these things into God's good world? Why does God answer some prayers and not others?  Does free will exist? American mathematician, professor of theology and author of The End Of Christianity, Bill Dembski engages with former Christian Norman Hansen. For Dembs...

Justin and Ruth present 3 interviews in this week's show.    Alister McGrath, Prof of science and religion at Oxford University talks about the life and legacy of physicist-priest John Polkinghorne who has passed away aged 90. Justin also presents a sneak peek of his forthcoming CS Lewis podcast.   Shelby Abbott talks about deconstruction and doubt in his latest book 'Doubtless: Because faith is h...

This week we look at two different Christian views of Divorce and Remarriage. Andrew Cornes is part of the clergy team at All Souls Eastbourne.  He holds to the traditional understanding that Jesus taught divorce is only permissible for adultery, and that the Bible forbids remarriage. David Instone-Brewer is a New Testament scholar from Tyndale House Cambridge.  He believes the church has misunder...

Julia Rynkiewicz was suspended from her midwifery course at Nottingham University because of her support for the pro-life organisation Students for Life.    Justin is joined by Julia along with Ryan Christoper of ADF UK who fought and won Julia’s case for unfair dismissal. They debate whether there is a problem of free speech on campus with Prof Alison Scott-Baumann of SOAS University of London. ...

Alister McGrath combines a background in science with a passion for theology and apologetics. Many of his books, including ‘The Dawkins Delusion’, his critique of Richard Dawkins and the New Atheism, have been bestsellers. In this wide-ranging interview McGrath shares his own journey of faith and why Christianity makes best sense of the world as he sees it. He addresses the way atheism is currentl...

Why do we often picture a Caucasian Jesus with blonde hair and blue eyes? Why are many of the early church fathers depicted as white when they weren’t? Has African Christianity been hijacked?    Dr Vince Bantu of Fuller Theological Seminary and Dr AJ Varmah of the Holy Qubtic Church join Ruth Jackson to discuss these important questions and look at how we can correct the distorted image of Eurocen...

Atheists Richard Dawkins and AC Grayling squared up against Christians Richard Harries and Charles Moore for a debate on the motion "Atheism is the new fundamentalism". Justin Brierley reviews the debate with audio clips from the speakers and Q&A session, as well as interviews with those who attended, including AC Grayling and the Chair of the debate Anthony Seldon. Originally broadcast 12th Decem...

A recent report about Ravi Zacharias has shipwrecked a global ministry and the legacy of one of the most influential Christian apologists has been swept away. Justin and Ruth are joined by Christian psychologist Dr Diane Langberg, a specialist in trauma abuse, and Rev Glen Scrivener, an evangelist with Speak Life, to discuss how we safeguard against more scandals in the future. The focus was on su...

‘The Evangelical Universalist’ was published in 2006. The author claimed to be an evangelical Christian who believes that everyone will ultimately be saved. He published under a pen name, but a few years later revealed his true identity as Robin Parry, then editorial director of UK Christian publisher Paternoster (he’s now at Wipf and Stock Publishers). Laurence M Blanchard, a pastor and author in...

Richmond Wandera, a pastor in Kampala, Uganda and listener of Unbelievable? talks to Justin about the history of Christian revival in Africa, elections and Covid in Uganda, witchcraft, secularism and the problem of the prosperity gospel in churches. He also share his story of coming from the slums of Kampala through to theological education and church leadership in a show in partnership with Compa...

Many have suggested that Christian belief in the divinity and worship of Jesus as God was a late development, and that Jesus' early followers did not regard him as being equal with God.  So was Jesus merely regarded as an ‘elevated’ being? Was high Christology at odds with the Jewish monotheism of the first century? New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham argues against these views.  His book ‘Jesu...

There’s been a rise in the demand for exorcism from church priests in recent years.   Billy Hallowell author of ‘Playing With Fire: A modern investigation into demons, exorcism and ghosts’ says we need ot take the supernatural seriously. Atheist skeptic Michael Shermer believes that there are better natural explanations for paranormal claims.   For Billy Hallowell:  http://www.billyhallowell.com  ...

Rev Christina Beardsley is a transgender priest in the Church of England and author of numerous resources on trans experience in the church.   She engages with Preston Sprinkle, author of ‘Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has to Say’ who takes a grace-filled but traditional Christian approach to sexuality.   They discuss how churches should engage with trans people,...

Richard Bauckham’s book ‘Jesus and the Eyewitnesses’ has been heralded as a paradigm shift in the way the authorship of the Gospels should be seen. Bauckham argues that the Gospels are based on eyewitness accounts and should be regarded as fundamentally trustworthy. New Testament historian James Crossley discusses the implications of Bauckham's work and whether the Gospel of John was written by th...

The online atheist world is awash with memes that critique passages from the Bible.  Dan Kimball is the author of the new book ‘How (not) to read the Bible: Making sense of the anti-women, anti-science, pro-violence, pro-slavery, and other crazy sounding parts of scripture’.  He debates atheist memes on slavery, violence and warfare with Michael Wiseman, host of the atheist podcast ‘The Bible Says...