Christmas countdown day 6: Father Christmas origin story

Red radical: the tales behind the Santa we see today

Graham Tomlin

Graham is the Director of the Centre for Cultural Witness and a former Bishop of Kensington.

A Lego Stanta figure strolls across a table holding a wrench

Artem Maltsev on Unsplash.

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The Christmas Countdown

It’s the season to be jolly, stressed, and all round Christmassy. On the Seen & Unseen Aloud podcast, we’re here for you with our Aloud Christmas Countdown!

Every day in December, we’ll drop some of the best seasonal content from Seen & Unseen Aloud. From how to survive Christmas, reviews of the best Christmas movies and the origin story of Santa Claus.

For when you’ve got your hands full of mince pies and baubles, but you still want to hear some thoughtful content, subscribe to Seen & Unseen Aloud for the Christmas Countdown.

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or Amazon.

Throughout the year, the Seen & Unseen Aloud brings you the week’s best articles, in a short 20 minute podcast episode. Browse the index for episodes from Seen & Unseen Aloud, Re-enchanting and GodPod.

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Graham Tomlin, Editor-in-Chief

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Podcast

Culture

Re-enchanting

4 October 2023

1 min read

Re-Enchanting season two is live

Find out who's sharing with Belle and Justin this season.

Nick Jones

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

At a podcast recording in a room overlooking Big Ben, A man holds his hand up in gesture while speaking

Frank Skinner recording Re-Enchanting at Lambeth Palace Library.

The long awaited season two of Re-Enchanting from Seen and Unseen has gone live. Belle Tindall and Justin Brierley are back with the podcast show recorded at the top of Lambeth Palace Library overlooking London. Here’s the line-up of guests joining them throughout October, November and December.

They include Molly Worthen, Professor of Religion at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, who will be telling her story of conversion from agnosticism to Christianity only last year.

Glen Scrivener will be share about why the air we breathe has been shaped by the Christian story.

TV historian Suzannah Lipscombe will be talking about her faith and the female side of history.

We will be taking a deep dive into Disney at 100 with special guests philosopher Esme Partridge and film reviewer Yaroslav Walker.

Theos think tank director Chine McDonald will be talking about why God is not a white man.

MIT researcher Ros Picard will share the perils and promises of AI.

Turning the tables, Belle, and Graham Tomlin, will talk with Justin about the surprising rebirth of belief in God.

And to kick it all off, the first episode of season two is with comedy superstar Frank Skinner talking about how his comedy and Catholicism fit together, plus more guests to be announced.

Look out for season two episodes dropping every Wednesday over the next 10 weeks. And, please continue to rate, review and share the podcast with others as we continue to explore how our post-Christian secular world can be re-enchanted with the Christian story of reality.

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