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

Podcasts

Re-enchanting

6 August 2025

1 min read

Re-Enchanting Live: why the tide of faith is turning

Recorded at Wildfires

Nick Jones

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

A video caption card show a speaker holding a mike and the text 'Is this a revival?'

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About this episode

Co-hosts Belle Tindall and Justin Brierley are joined by Bishop Graham Tomlin in a live audience edition of the podcast - recorded at Wildfires festival. Together they’ll explore why a ’surprising rebirth’ of belief in God seems to be underway in the West and how the church can engage those coming through its doors once again. If you found this conversation interesting, Seen & Unseen, the creators of Re-Enchanting, offers thousands of articles exploring how the Christian faith helps us understand the modern world.