Bringing light into darkness

This November, when the nights deepen, the temperatures drop, and the shadows grow longer, we’ll be diving into the darker aspects of human experience with ‘Bringing light into darkness’, the fifth outing of our interview series, Questions of our Times.

In four online radio and video interviews, we’ll be engaging with authors, theologians, and everyday believers to explore how the Christian faith speaks into the reality of evil, death, violence and the paranormal.

The series will be broadcast live on Premier Christian Radio at 1pm every Tuesday lunchtime in November. Here are the details of the episodes and guests:

Do things really go bump in the night?
4 November
Matt Arnold, editor of the journal The Christian Parapsychologist and founder of the Christian paranormal website, explores the relationship between paranormal and spiritual experience. See Matt’s website, Ghosts, Ghouls, and God, and his article on Halloween.

Why does God cause bloodshed?
11 November
Dr Helen Paynter, founding director of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, and author of God of Violence Yesterday, God of Love Today? looks at the troubled relationship between faith and violence. See her recent book, Blessed are the Peacemakers, and read an interview about Old Testament violence here.

Is there such a thing as sin?
18 November
Dr Gwen Adshead, forensic psychotherapist, the BBC Reith Lecturer in 2024, and author of The Devil You Know, shares her professional experience and reflections on sin, crime and moral responsibility. Read more about The Devil You Know here, and listen to the 2024 Reith Lectures here.

What is a good death?
25 November
Dr Claire Gilbert, theologian and ethicist, and author of Miles to Go Before I Sleep, about her experience of cancer, responds to the difficult questions raised by end-of-life issues. See Claire’s interview on the 2024 season of Questions of our Times on the question, How ethical is medicine?

Our guests in Questions of our Times will do some thinking out loud with the help of journalist and series host Major Nigel Bovey, former editor of the Salvation Army newspaper The War Cry.

All the videos from the previous four seasons of Questions of our Times are available to view – follow the link. They range widely over the areas of physics, the environment, racial justice, truth in journalism, astrophysics, the relevance of Jesus to modern life, health and wholeness, social robotics, and the religion and science debate.

Questions of our Times is produced by the Christian Evidence Society and Premier Christian Radio, and is made possible with the support of the Montgomery Trust.

Photo by Eerik Sandstrom