Seen & Unseen | Seen & Unseen

President Biden, at his desk after announcing his decision.

Did God tell Joe Biden to stand down?

His story teaches us to listen a little more intently to what comes our way.

The collective effervescence of sport’s congregation

Art captures how sport and religion are entwined throughout history.

Paradise cottage: Milton reimagin’d

Artist Richard Kenton Webb converses with the blind poet in his former home.

Are we forgetting how to care?

The profound act at the heart of nursing.

We're pretty useless really

We all fail. Not just Southgate, Biden and Sunak.

The case for taking a holiday

The reasons we need to rest and re-boot.

When the journey is the destination

Flights to nowhere and third spaces.

Did God save Donald Trump?

In the aftermath of the assassination attempt, Graham Tomlin asks whether or...

Why England lost the Final

Emerson Csorba explores why love is a game-changer when it comes to winning.

Tech has changed: it’s no longer natural or neutral

The first in a three-part series exploring the implications of technology.

Podcasts

Podcast

Iain McGilchrist: re-enchanting the brain

Can we re-enchant our view of the world by re-engaging a ‘right hemispheric’...

Johannes Hartl: the sign of the times

The philosopher and theologian on meaning, connectedness, beauty and faith...

Seen & Unseen Aloud: new episode

C.S. Lewis' storytelling, Shardlake, and the mistakes that set us apart.

Nick Spencer: re-enchanting aliens, animals, and AI

Belle and Justin chat with Nick about what makes humans unique.

Karen Swallow Prior: re-enchanting evangelicalism

Belle and Justin speak to Karen about imagination in faith.

Seen & Unseen Aloud: new episode

Elections, the Euros, revival, and betting on eternity.

Ben Sixsmith: re-enchanting agnosticism

Justin and Belle talk to Ben about what it takes to believe.

Seen & Unseen Aloud: new episode

The companionship of reading, the benefit of enemies, and the power of mercy...

Luke Bretherton... re-enchanting the election(s)

Can we re-enchant politics, democracy and our vote? Oxford's new Regius...

Seen & Unseen: new episode

This week: how we think. Difference, dialogue and fusion between fans and...

Recently popular

Belief

Are we moving beyond the secular scepticism of religion?

A cross held aloft is illumminated by a shaft of light that also reveals hands raised in priase.

Revival – really?

Abigail Frymann Rouch

Ghosting is not immature, it’s plain cruel

Belle Tindall

The dehumanising behaviour hiding in plain sight.

When America presses in on you

A returning American feels the heat generated by contesting ‘realities'.

Whistleblowing: what if your CEO is a Caesar?

Charles Foster

What are the boundaries of legitimate protest?

It's our mistakes that make us human

Silvianne Aspray

What we learn distinguishes us from tech.

We’re gonna need a bigger ontology

Orca attacks prompt questions about being.

Mercy of any magnitude is scarce

Natalie Williams

Today’s cynicism, means justice really needs tempering.

How C.S. Lewis used myth to supercharge storytelling

Simon Horobin

Great stories allow ideas to be experienced rather than merely thought about.

28 May 2024

Recent reviews

Review

A coupe sit on outdoor steps against a blue sky. One holds a plate and the other looks towards them.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: 20 years on

Memory and the meaning of suffering.

When a wallflower blossoms

Unpicking Bridgerton’s complex coding.

Paradise cottage: Milton reimagin’d

Artist Richard Kenton Webb converses with the blind poet in his former home.

Seen & Unseen Aloud: new episode

C.S. Lewis' storytelling, Shardlake, and the mistakes that set us apart.

Art makes life worth living

Why society, and churches, need the Arts.

What makes fans tick?

Fandom’s remarkable fusing.

Seen & Unseen Alive: new episode

This week: democracy and dairy, The Three Body Problem, and artist Hannah...

The women with tears of gold

Artist Hannah Thomas’ visceral and moving portraits offer a glimpse into...

The problem with The Three Body Problem

The possibility of love in a universe of terror.

Holly Ordway: re-enchanting... Middle Earth

Why Tolkien’s world of hobbits, elves, wizards and warriors continues to...

Nick Jones

Podcasts

1 min read

Political culture

A deflated looking woman stands aside from a protest rally, holding a small doll of herself that reads Recall Knope'.

Leaders wanted for these testing times

We need leadership that is famous for fifteen miles not fifteen minutes.

Did God save Donald Trump?

In the aftermath of the assassination attempt, Graham Tomlin asks whether or...

Why the Prime Minister should swear this new oath

A proposed new constitutional instrument is a hopeful recognition of the...

When America presses in on you

A returning American feels the heat generated by contesting ‘realities'.

The problems Keir Starmer faces are not just political - they are spiritual

His greatest battle may be the fight for our trust.

Camden: what’s up in Keir’s backyard?

The new Prime Minister’s constituency has valuable lessons for the country.

Looking upon Labour’s "loveless landslide"

What watching a night that changed the country tells us about its mood.

What happens when you lose an election?

Spare a thought (and prayer) for the defeated.

The book Keir Starmer says you must read

Will Hutton’s This Time No Mistakes surveys the thinking that could solve...

By Graham Tomlin

Belief

The difference between Richard Dawkins and Ayaan Hirsi Ali

How we decide what is true rests on where we start from.

A history of Israel and Palestine – 4,000 years of history in 2,500 words

The land at the heart of the Middle Eastern crisis is at the centre of world attention again. For those whose grasp on the history behind the situation is hazy, Graham Tomlin offers a brief survey.

Humility is just plain weird

Can leaders be humble?

Manchester City and the surprises of Grace

What a footballing dynasty's dominance tells us about the problems of meritocracy

The moral machine: algorithms that give a window into the soul

In TikTok’s algorithm Graham Tomlin saw something that got him thinking. Could it lead to moral health rather than harm?

God in the garbage: Egypt's unlikely megachurch

Cairo's Church of the Zabballeen is the largest Church, and one of the most unusual in the Middle East. Graham Tomlin tells its story and that of the remarkable priest who inspired it.

What the Gaza conflict and the asylum seeker row have in common

Iran’s persecution drives its Christians here. This is their story.

Prince William's doubt is normal - it's impossible to be certain whether there is a God

Our limited human understanding means we will never fully understand God in this life, writes Graham Tomlin.

05 February 2024

8 min read

Sport culture

A professional footballer wearign a red top stands proudly beneath a white and black banner.

Idols or idiots? Why sporting stars cannot bear the weight we place on them

Why it’s wise to know their place, and ours, in the universe.

Even the best have their limits: Jürgen Klopp’s lessons for life

A famed football manager’s resignation tells us a lot about human nature...

We're pretty useless really

We all fail. Not just Southgate, Biden and Sunak.

Why England lost the Final

Emerson Csorba explores why love is a game-changer when it comes to winning.

Shootout: what penalties say about life

Football is a global language and the shootout is the end to Shakespearian...

Seen & Unseen Aloud: new episode

Elections, the Euros, revival, and betting on eternity.

The Euros and the problem of nationality

In a world of populist nationalism, should you support your national team?

The decade that defined sport

What the sports stars of today owe to the eighties.

What makes fans tick?

Fandom’s remarkable fusing.

The power of running together

Park Run and the participation principle.

America today

Essay

Politics

A red baseball cap, with Make America Great Again written across it, sits on an open bible.

MAGA’s sorting of America

What would Bonhoeffer make of the rogue creed?

Is reconciliation possible in America’s culture wars?

Miroslav Volf

Understanding a strange kingdom of anxiety and belligerence.

America's mood check: Matt McDonald interview

Dilemma, apathy, and what we get wrong about politics and religion.

Why religious liberty? Love, actually

Nathan S. Chapman

Claims for religious freedom can be controversial. Nathan Chapman weighs up approaches to accommodating them, not just legally but in the light of love.

Remembering well: journeying through America’s memorials

Ian Hamlin

Ian Hamlin recalls the Civil Rights landmarks and memorials, as he continues his journey in the footsteps of his hero Martin Luther King.

Disney at 100: The Magic Kingdom's simulation of modern life

Disney is more than a mouse and entertainment. Theologian Jared Stacy dissects how the Liturgy of Disney reflects modern America in all its contradictions.

Christian Nationalism: an uncontrollable ideological fusion

In America, Cross, Flag, and Nation have become fused into a single, toxic entity. Jared Stacy dissects the increasingly influential ideology of Christian Nationalism.

What do we want from our stories?

James K.A. Smith

New film release American Fiction satirises storytelling and the expectations placed on authors. Jamie Smith records his reactions to watching the movie.

09 February 2024

3 min read

Israel-Hamas War

Interview

Change

Middle East

Medical staff stand beside a bed in which a man lies with an amputated leg.

Eye witness: life and death in Gaza’s European Hospital

Returning plastic surgeon Tim Goodacre reports on the struggles, the despair and the dignity of the people and the medics of Gaza during their long nightmare.

The Israel-Hamas war: how does it all end?

Some of the supposed solutions to the Israel – Hamas conflict, may not be the end of it. Graham Tomlin explores what’s on offer and the need for a newly imagined form of politics.

How much is a human life worth?

Ryan Gilfeather

Concerned by the conditional responses to deaths in the Israel-Hamas war, Ryan Gilfeather considers why we should value all human lives.

A peacemaker’s guide to keeping hope alive

Todd Deatherage

Amid continuing despair around the Israel-Hamas war, former diplomat Todd Deatherage shares the practices of the peacemaker.

How redemptive justice could be a way out of a long and costly war

Steven Firmin

Dynamics of shame, dis-honour and vengeance swirl around the decision makers in the Israel-Hamas war. Steven Firmin explores how redemptive justice could restore a relationship of peace.

Eyeless in Gaza: the tragedy and the trauma of Israel and Palestine

An ancient story of a captured warrior demolishing buildings and devastating Gaza, prompts Graham Tomlin to view the current conflict through the lens of pain and trauma.

“Sometime the killing just has to stop”

George Pitcher

Simple calls for peace are often against the grain of power, observes George Pitcher. Many still yearn for it, even when faced with complexities and impossibilities.

A history of Israel and Palestine – 4,000 years of history in 2,500 words

The land at the heart of the Middle Eastern crisis is at the centre of world attention again. For those whose grasp on the history behind the situation is hazy, Graham Tomlin offers a brief survey.

Whither work?

Work isn’t working, it’s killing us

Cameron Wiltshire-Plant

We mistake the nature of work and our purpose within it.

How to be (un)successful

Pete Portal

Could busyness really be the counterfeit of significance?

Can the economy work for the common good?

Laurence Fletcher

Adrian Pabst on the economic framework that is universal yet particular about people.

16 April 2024

Assisted dying

Assisted dying

Comment

A elderly women in a care home stands and places her hands on the shoulders of a seated woman.

The careless conflation of independence, autonomy and dignity

As Jersey begins to legalise assisted dying, there’s keyword confusion.

What do you make of Esther?

Michael Wenham

A campaigner’s call to change an assisted dying law got family calling MND sufferer Michael Wenham. Here he shares why such legalisation will increase people’s fear of dying.

The lost art of dying well and what we can learn from it today

Lydia Dugdale

Living well in order to die well doesn’t simply happen. It takes work. It takes preparation. For All Souls Day, Lydia Dugdale asks if we are prepared for death.

The cold truth of Canadian lives not worth living

M. Ciftci

Canada’s implementation of medical assistance in dying concerns M. Ciftci, showing that a society consider some lives not worth living. Part of the How to Die Well series.

Dealing with death – why the fuss?

Jane Cacouris

“No fuss” cremations are getting more popular. Not giving a formal space or process to say goodbye feels like a seismic cultural shift to Jane Cacouris. Part of the How To Die Well series.

Behind the data: the social messages physician assisted suicide sends

If intense suffering caused by society drives autistic people to seek assisted death, then society has failed. Henna Cundill seeks the stories behind the data about such deaths.

Rediscovering 'ordinary dying'

Robert Wright

On the eve of her Theos annual lecture on 'Death for Beginners', Robert Wright speaks to former palliative care consultant Kathryn Mannix about the need for everyone to re-engage with the process of dying. Part of the Seen & Unseen How to Die Well series.

Depreciating human life: a year-end market report

George Pitcher

The cold currency of trading hostages repels George Pitcher, who explores the casual acceptance that some lives are biddable against lives of intrinsically higher value.

01 December 2023

4 min read

Freedom of belief

A burnt out motor cycle and car stand amid charred debris in a dusty compound.

We’re ignoring Nigeria's hellish underbelly

Why the West averts its gaze from anti-Christian violence there.

What the Gaza conflict and the asylum seeker row have in common

Iran’s persecution drives its Christians here. This is their story.

Letter from South Sudan

The people of South Sudan face more conflict and uncertainty as elections...

Why religious liberty? Love, actually

Claims for religious freedom can be controversial. Nathan Chapman weighs up...

Understanding authority from Rome to Beijing

As geo-political tensions between China and the West rise, K.K. Yeo explores...

The right to believe – or not: how's the UK doing?

As the UN passes its first ever resolution on freedom of religion, Philip...

Philip Mounstephen

Comment

6 min read

Around the world

Daniel Ortega's power grab fuels persecution.

Freedom of Belief

An balding man with a moustache turns to look at a camera.

Nicaragua in peril

Jane Cacouris

Edward I and the monk from China

Benjamin Sharkey

A tale of a Chinese priest meeting a medieval monarch sheds a different light on the extent of Christendom. Benjamin Sharkey tells the surprising tale of the historic Asian church.

Geert Wilders: heir apparent to an anxious nation

Wim Houtman

The election of a populist has shocked The Netherlands. Wim Houtman unpacks the result and explores anxious attitudes among electors, particularly Christians.

Beyond Bollywood: how Indian cinema depicts Christians

'Sha'

India’s film industry tackles the complexities of life, morality, harmony and violence, as experienced by its Christian community. Indo-Christian Culture’s Sha reviews.

A tale of two Septembers

Anush Petrosyan

The recent conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh is already a twice forgotten war. Forced to flee twice, Anush Petrosyan describes the experience.

Untouchable: experiencing discrimination around the world

Rahil Patel

In America it’s in the headlines, while in India it continues to influence. Rahil Patel explores caste discrimination and finds out who helped craft constitutional protections for those affected.

Moscow letter: why Russia critiques the West

Malcolm Rogers

Beyond condemning the invasion of Ukraine, there is also a need to understand why Russia thinks what it does, explains Malcolm Rogers, the Anglican chaplain in Moscow.

Understanding authority from Rome to Beijing

K.K. Yeo

As geo-political tensions between China and the West rise, K.K. Yeo explores authority and religion in China, finding complex questions and nuanced answers.

27 June 2023

Artificial Intelligence

An angel of death lays a hand of a humanioid robot that has died amid a data centre

What AI needs to learn about dying and why it will save it

Those programming truthfulness can learn a lot from mortality.

Andrew Steane

Culture

Explore more on artificial intelligence and living

As AI constructs our future, explore its impact and understand its key...

Nick Jones

1 min read

Tech has changed: it’s no longer natural or neutral

The first in a three-part series exploring the implications of technology.

Seen & Unseen Aloud: new episode

C.S. Lewis' storytelling, Shardlake, and the mistakes that set us apart.

Whistleblowing: what if your CEO is a Caesar?

What are the boundaries of legitimate protest?

It's our mistakes that make us human

What we learn distinguishes us from tech.

Roll on AI, you'll make us more human

I’m not necessarily stupidly optimistic about AI, but there’s a tentative...

Are we being anxious about anxiety?

Haidt's diagnosis of a 'doomed' youth is off. Instead, we should learn from...

Work isn’t working, it’s killing us

We mistake the nature of work and our purpose within it.

Cameron Wiltshire-Plant

We’ll learn to live with AI: here’s how

AI might just help us with life’s dilemmas, if we are responsible.

Andrew Briggs

Culture

10 min read

Seen & Unseen Showcase

A strangely named season of the Church calendar, Ordinary Time, is anything but that. Julie Canlis explores how it can point to wonder in the moments.

A father sits on a bed and fixes the hair of his daughter standing in front of him

The unutterable preciousness of an ordinary day

Julie Canlis

Strangers and identity in a global age of nationalism

Miroslav Volf

Exploring inclusive and exclusive nationalism, Miroslav Volf challenges all of us to dialogue with those who may see things differently.

The meaning of meals

Matthew Croasmun

Food is the nexus of relationships. Matthew Croasmun notes that food, and all created things, are most themselves when they are more than merely themselves.

Shouldn’t you be in school?

Beyond headlines about school refusers and ghost children, lies a challenge to adult notions of schooling. Henna Cundill unpacks the issue, inspired, in part, by fish.

What's good – and bad – about cancel culture?

Erin Crider

Looking to an ancient story of compassion Erin Crider seeks inspiration for an ethical response to social censure.

The really annoying thing about dying

Roger Bretherton

In his first Notes from Solitude, the death of his dad causes Roger Bretherton to reflect on the relationship and the strange emergence of 'father’.

Riding from darkness to light

Graeme Holdsworth

Long-distance cycle rides give Graeme Holdsworth time to contemplate traveling from light to darkness and back again. And, to grapple with the wordless way our bodies do what they were created to do.

Beyond cold certainties

Alister McGrath

The Creeds set out a vision of reality – a vision that cannot be proved to be true, but which was found to be true by a community of people.

30 March 2023

4 min read

How to Die Well

“No fuss” cremations are getting more popular. Not giving a formal space or process to say goodbye feels like a seismic cultural shift to Jane Cacouris. Part of the How To Die Well series.

Change

Life & Death

Dealing with death – why the fuss?

Jane Cacouris

Rediscovering 'ordinary dying'

The lost art of dying well and what we can learn from it today

Lydia Dugdale

Living well in order to die well doesn’t simply happen. It takes work. It takes preparation. For All Souls Day, Lydia Dugdale asks if we are prepared for death.

How to face the space of death

Natalie Garrett

Losing family and friends across a life, leads Natalie Garrett to navigate the space of death we all face. Part of the How to Die Well series.

How lament and hope destroyed death and transformed our attitudes towards it

Andrew Davison

Once we buried bodies outside cities, cast out from the living. Then we started burying loved ones inside them. For All Hallows Day, Andrew Davison explains how Christianity transformed attitudes to death. Part of the How to Die Well series.

What they don’t tell you about when someone you love dies

Yvonne Tulloch

Sharing her experience of her husband’s death, Yvonne Tulloch charts grief’s journey and shares signposts to help. Part of the How to Die Well series.

08 November 2023

4 min read

The Problem with Men

There was much more to the famed monarch than a padded codpiece, Historian Suzannah Lipscomb unpacks how his toxic behaviour led to ridicule and dishonour. Part of The Problem with Men series.

Culture

King Henry VII, wearing a hat, stares away, in a portrait.

Henry VIII's toxic masculinity

Suzannah Lipscomb

Authenticity and the problem with men

James Ray

The problem with men rarely leaves the headlines. James Ray looks beyond, seeking one potential solution - authenticity. Part of the Problem with Men series.

Well, what about men? Caitlin Moran’s love letter to masculinity

Krish Kandiah

Gender writing that’s gracious and full of hope. Krish Kandiah reviews Caitlin Moran’s What about Men? Part of the Problem with Men series.

Russell Brand and the bystanders: how to say enough is enough

Tiffany Bluhm

When calling out misogyny, low standards are expected of men. Tiffany Bluhm assesses the ‘Say Maaate’ campaign and explores bystander intervention. Part of the Problem with Men series.

Should you be ashamed of yourself?

Shame powers cancel culture, yet its historic role is guarding community boundaries. Henna Cundill takes an in depth look at shame - and empathy.

To the abyss and back. The art of Peter Howson

Alastair Gordon

Painter Peter Howson captures personal conflict, toxic masculinity and horrific wars. Alastair Gordon reviews his work. Part of the Problem with Men series.

The overwhelm

Belle Tindall

What follows is an act of female emancipation. Belle Tindall reviews the Oscar-winning Women Talking.

14 March 2023

The Seven Deadly Sins

Updated weekly, over the summer, Seen & Unseen explores the Seven Deadly Sins.

Seven Deadly Sins

Gluttony’s unconscious self-image of emptiness

In the seventh of a series on the Seven Deadly Sins, Graham Tomlin digests gluttony’s distorting obsession with food.

Pride: self-obsessed isolation

Jonathan Aitken

In the sixth of a series on the Seven Deadly Sins, Jonathan Aitken identifies Pride as egotism with a capital E and the cause of his own royal flush of crises.

Anger: the dragon’s wrath

James Mumford

In the fifth of a series on the Seven Deadly Sins, James Mumford encounters Anger, and reflects that its object is no mere object.

Lust: disordered desire

Belle Tindall

In the fourth of a series on the Seven Deadly Sins, Belle Tindall explores how Lust minimises or sensationalises sex and desire.

Greed: “No, I’ll never have enough”

Jane Williams

In the third of a series on the Seven Deadly Sins, Jane Williams highlights how Greed destroys both individuals and societies.

Envy: jealousy’s evil cousin

Roger Bretherton

In the second of a series on the Seven Deadly Sins, Roger Bretherton investigates the psychological and moral impact of envy on its victims.

Sloth’s languid lack of passion

In the appropriately last in a series on the Seven Deadly Sins, Graham Tomlin looks at what’s lost to life when sloth sets in.

Reverse psychology: understand goodness then sin

Roger Bretherton

Psychologist Roger Bretherton concludes our series on the seven deadly sins with a subversive proposition: we don’t understand sin because we don’t understand goodness.

Sin: explained