Matters of Life & Death: The book reconsidered, the Moscow State University reading list, audiobooks, and the decline of the reading Christian

2022-10-12T17:00:00+01:00

Twenty-four years ago, John published the book which gave this podcast its name: Matters of Life and Death. His first foray into Christian writing and teaching on ethics, it’s now available as an audiobook for the first time which we’re using as an excuse to do a short retrospective. How does the book stand up to scrutiny today? Would John change anything about it if he was writing it from scratch? Why has it been influential, even beyond the UK’s shores? And what has the experience told John about the miracle of the written word and its power to engage and shape minds across time and space?

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Topics

Shows
Matters Of Life & Death: Martin Rees 1: Advances in artificial intelligence, the Eliza effect, passing the Turing Test, and the problem of other minds
2022-12-28T18:00:00Z
Today’s episode is a little different from normal as we’re going to begin a short series sharing a recent conversation John had with Lord Martin Rees, the astronomer royal.
Shows
Matters Of Life & Death: Embryology 2: Psalm 139, reconsidering ‘ensoulment’, the language of right and wrong, and co-operation with evil
2022-10-05T17:00:00Z
Building on last week’s whistlestop tour through the latest ground-breaking embryo research, in this episode we consider what we should do as Christians about all this.
Shows
Matters Of Life & Death: Embryology 1: A stem cell ‘Mini Me’, CRISPR, Brave New World, and extending the 14-day limit
2022-09-28T17:00:00Z
There has been a flood of highly significant if poorly reported developments in embryo research in recent years, all of which raise new and confusing questions for Christians and non-Christians alike.

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Shows
Matters of Life & Death Friendship 1: The hermeneutic of suspicion, Classical ideals, scandalising middle-class Vienna, and the ‘mysticism of materialism’
2023-03-22T18:00:00Z
Somebody once said that in contemporary society we all want to ‘have sex with our friends, and be friends with our sexual partners’. There is a broad suspicion of intimate but non-sexual friendships, especially those which are intergenerational or cross the sexes. We are all supposed to be too cynical to believe that people might just be friends – surely it’s actually all about sex and power in some way? In this episode we try to unpick where the denigration of friendship came from in the modern Western world, and explore what impact this has on the Christian ideal of friendship.
Shows
Matters of Life & Death: Listener questions: Polarised culture wars, the challenge of elder care, and childlike sexbots
2023-03-15T18:00:00Z
To mark one year since Matters of Life and Death joined the Premier Unbelievable network, we have a special one-off episode answering some questions emailed in by listeners.
Shows
Matters of Life & Death: Public sector strikes 2: Taking patients hostage, employment as service, slaves and masters, and Christian peacemaking
2023-03-08T17:00:00Z
There are two strong Christian traditions when it comes to robust political or industrial action such as strikes. One argues for enduring oppression and unfair employment in the manner of Jesus and points to Paul’s teaching in the Bible on slaves and masters. But a second position throws its weight behind efforts to challenge injustice and protect the vulnerable, noting Jesus’s clear teaching on care for the widow, orphan and stranger.

Matters of Life & Death: The book reconsidered, the Moscow State University reading list, audiobooks, and the decline of the reading Christian

Topics

Related articles

Matters Of Life & Death: Martin Rees 1: Advances in artificial intelligence, the Eliza effect, passing the Turing Test, and the problem of other minds

Matters Of Life & Death: Embryology 2: Psalm 139, reconsidering ‘ensoulment’, the language of right and wrong, and co-operation with evil

Matters Of Life & Death: Embryology 1: A stem cell ‘Mini Me’, CRISPR, Brave New World, and extending the 14-day limit

More Matters of Life and Death

Matters of Life & Death Friendship 1: The hermeneutic of suspicion, Classical ideals, scandalising middle-class Vienna, and the ‘mysticism of materialism’

Matters of Life & Death: Listener questions: Polarised culture wars, the challenge of elder care, and childlike sexbots

Matters of Life & Death: Public sector strikes 2: Taking patients hostage, employment as service, slaves and masters, and Christian peacemaking