Beyond Belief: Archaeology and Religion

I have always enjoyed listening to Beyond Belief on Radio 4, especially since they started releasing it as a podcast.  Back in the day I used to guest on the programme myself, but these days one of the plusses is that I often know (or know of) other contributors to the programme.   This week's episode featured renowned Hebrew Bible scholar Francesca Stravrakopoulou in a thoroughly enjoyable discussion of "Religion and Archaeology".  Listen here:

Beyond Belief: Archaeology and Religion

Or do what I do and download the podcast version here:

Podcasts and Downloads: Beyond Belief

A couple of highlights: some discussion of a "Christian Zionist" viewpoint at the mid-point of the episode, and a reference towards the end to Dr Stavrakopoulou's hate mail.

Before posting this, I thought to myself, "I bet Jim West has already posted on this," so I took a look and I was not wrong!

Beyond Belief does Apocalyptic

The most recent episode of Radio 4's Beyond Belief discusses Apocalyptic. One of the guests is Philip Alexander, professor of Post-Biblical Jewish Literature at the University of Manchester, whose work will be well-known to many readers:

Beyond Belief: Apocalyptic

If you get to listen to this programme, it's because the Domesday scenario - according to which the world would end on December 21st - did not happen. The interpretation of the Mayan calendar that arrived at this date was derided by most Mayan scholars, but this hasn't stopped the media camping out in the French village of Bugarach, identified as the only village on earth which was to be spared destruction.

Apocalyptic ideas about the end of the world, as we in the West understand them, have their roots in the Jewish and Christian traditions. The popular imagery - the Mark of the Beast, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Whore of Babylon - feed the imagination of film makers and writers, who draw upon Biblical imagery.

Joining Ernie Rea to discuss the nature and role of apocalyptic ideas on western religion and culture are Dr Philip Alexander, Professor of Post Biblical Jewish Studies at the University of Manchester; Dr Stefan Skrimshire, lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds; and Rev Dr Steve Jeffrey minister of Emmanuel Evangelical Church in North London. 

It's a good listen.  You can listen again at the link above, or you can download the podcast.  The programme is thirty minutes long.

King James Bible Programmes on Radio 4

It's been a real treat of the new year to have some excellent programmes on Radio 4 to celebrate the 400th year anniversary of the King James Bible. Let me strongly recommend in particular the three part series presented by James Naughtie:

The Story of the King James Bible

It's a lively, clear and entertaining series with three episodes of 45 minutes each. It features scholars like Alistair McGrath. It's available on the iPlayer for all, international users included, so there are no excuses for not catching up with this. Go to the main link above or to individual episodes here:

1. The Commission
2. The Translation
3. The Legacy

Then don't miss Sunday from 9 January when a whole episode was devoted to the King James Bible. It includes interviews with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Ed Kessler and Simon Gathercole. As always with Sunday, it is available as a podcast.

Also worth catching is a discussion on Beyond Belief on 3 January on Translation and this one you can get as a podcast. It is a discussion of translation more broadly but the catalyst is the King James Bible anniversary.

Lots to enjoy there, but the series is the top priority -- well worth a listen.

Don't you just love Radio 4?

Michael Goulder on the Resurrection and Losing Faith

This is a short clip from an episode of the BBC Radio 4 series Beyond Belief (25 March 2002) in which Michael Goulder was asked by Ernie Rea about his coming to doubt the resurrection of Jesus, and his giving up his Anglican orders:

Update (10 October 2018): If you can't see the audio player above, try this direct link to the audio file.

Beyond Belief on Paul

More from Radio 4: Beyond Belief back on 23 June dealt with Paul. No one else on the blogs has mentioned it so far (Surely I am the only biblioblogger who listens to Radio 4). The contributors are Paula Gooder, Gerald O'Collins and Ed Kessler, all three great choices, especially Paula! You can catch it again on Listen Again from the previous link (just select 23 June St Paul from the drop down menu). If you don't yet subscribe to the podcast, you can do so at Beyond Belief: Podcast. One choice question that gets discussed: would Paul have circumcised his son if he had one?

Beyond Belief on Mary Magdalene

I interrupt my blogging holiday to note that while driving from Birmingham to South Derbyshire yesterday, it was a pleasure to catch my friend Bridget Gilfillan Upton on the latest Beyond Belief on Radio 4. (It's great being in the UK -- you can get Radio 4 just by switching on the radio in the car! You don't even have to have your laptop and an internet connection!). You can listen again here:

Beyond Belief: 24 July 2006

As well as Bridget Gilfillan Upton, there was a second woman whose name I have forgotten (sorry) and also Timothy Freke, whom I've met on a couple of occasions, most recently on a previous episode of Beyond Belief on Gnosticism.

Beyond Belief on Judas

Next Monday's Beyond Belief is advertising a programme on Judas:

Monday 27 March 2006
Judas

Not many babies are called Judas these days – and to be labelled such is considered by many to be a serious insult, suggesting unreliability and untrustworthiness.

But was the original Judas really as black as he's painted? Was he really a traitor or simply misunderstood? So, Judas: victim or villain?

I don't know who is on the programme yet. I haven't done a Beyond Belief myself for some time now. It's on Radio 4 on at 16.30 BST, and is always available for ages on "Listen Again" streaming afterwards.

Beyond Belief: Gnosticism

I am on Beyond Belief today, BBC Radio 4, 4.30--5.00 pm GMT, with Timothy Freke and Michael Green, talking about Gnosticism. Elaine Pagels also has a short piece half-way through the programme. If you're not a regular Radio 4 listener, it's at 92-95 FM and 198 LW in the UK, or you can listen on-line or, after the programme, visit the archive. Here's the main link:

Beyond Belief

Beyond Belief

I went up to Manchester on Thursday to take part in a recording for a Beyond Belief on Radio 4. The topic was Gnosticism and the other two taking part in the discussion were Timothy Freke and Michael Green, with an interview with Elaine Pagels on tape to be broadcast at the half-way point. Ernie Rea was in the chair as usual. I'd met both Timothy Freke and Michael Green before, though in very different contexts. Tim I met in 2001 on the Channel 4 programme Right to Reply. I was on with Michael Wakelin to defend the BBC1 series Son of God against Tim's critique, a short film and then an in-studio discussion. This time it was good to get to know Tim a little better. On that occasion they kept us apart until we met on set. On this occasion, we shared lunch together first and, as it happened, a train journey afterwards. We disagreed profoundly, and I especially disagreed with Tim's Jesus-myth approach, on top of what I would call a kind of popular philosophical approach rather than an historical approach to Gnosticism, but Tim's company I enjoyed very much -- and we had a few laughs.

Michael Green I had met before in Oxford when I was a fresher. He was rector of St Aldate's Church at the time and used to invite the freshers to tea in the rectory on a rolling college by college basis each Sunday tea-time. Goodness only knows how they managed to keep up with this across the weeks and years, but we appreciated it. I remember their asking us if we would like to pray together after we had had our tea and cakes, and I remember getting a special prayer because I would be studying Theology, so would need additional strength! I also recall the dog sniffing around us while we were praying.

That was almost twenty years ago. This time Michael Green was in a studio in Oxford and the other three of us were in Manchester. I've done Beyond Belief several times and just once in a lonely studio in Birmingham down the line -- I don't recommend it. It is much easier to do when you can see Ernie and your fellow guests. And on this occasion we lost Michael Green for a good ten minutes or so during the recording.

The discussion was quite enjoyable. I felt like I spoke less than the other two, both of whom got pretty passionate, the one for how wonderful Gnostic texts were and how much they can lead to inner enlightenment today, the other for how far they were in thought from orthodox Christian texts in the canon. Happily, I was not asked to define Gnosticism, something that I would not find easy after having read Michael Allen Williams and Karen King. Also happily, we tended to focus most often on the Gospel of Thomas which I know better than any of the other Nag Hammadi texts, though it was a shame that we did not get into some of the really interesting funkier bits of the Apocryphon of John and the like. Ernie asked me to tell the story of the discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts too. But as usual on such occasions, I cannot now remember a great deal of the rest of what I said, so I hope that none of it was daft. (I do remember sharing my first impression of reading the Gospel of Thomas, that I wondered whether the author of it was on drugs).

The programme goes out on Monday 7 March at 4.30 pm on Radio 4.

Beyond Belief today

Today's Beyond Belief on Radio 4 is apparently about "Religion and Cyberspace" so I'll be listening. Don't know who will be on the programme -- it's not me.

Religion has embraced the internet as enthusiastically as any big business, and you can read up on the weird and wonderful as well as the mainstream faiths through your computer.

But has the world wide web changed the way we worship? Does it lessen the significance of the body and the importance of meeting others face to face? And could we ever have a spiritual experience in cyberspace?

If you're not in the UK, listen live on the internet at 4.30 p.m. BST (BBC Radio 4 web site here) or the programme is archived not long afterwards for you to listen to.

Beyond Belief

One tidbit from the media: Beyond Belief, BBC Radio 4 on Monday August 25 was a discussion of Jesus by "a Jew, a Muslim and a Christian". I was the Christian of this blurb. You can still listen to it on-line, along with all the other past archives of Beyond Belief, on the BBC Web Site. To go directly to the programme, click here:

Beyond Belief, 25 August 2003

Or to go to the programme archives, click here:

Beyond Belief Archive