Podcast
Awe and wonder
Biology
Change
Podcasts
Politics
1 min read

Francis Collins: re-enchanting wisdom

Covid, faith, polarised politics and the battle for truth.

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

A man talks animatedly.

Listen now

Watch now

Francis Collins is a physician and geneticist whose groundbreaking work has led to the discovery of the cause of cystic fibrosis among other diseases. He led the Human Genome Project which first sequenced the entire human DNA, established the science-faith organisation BioLogos, and has gone on to serve three US presidents as the director of the National Institutes of Health.

Francis’ new book is titled The Road To Wisdom: On truth, science, faith and trust and covers some of the controversies and challenges he has faced personally in his public role as a scientist and government advisor leading the USA’s Covid response during the height of the pandemic.

In the light of the 2024 presidential election Justin and Belle talk to Francis about whether we can re-enchant truth, trust and wisdom in an increasingly polarised world. Francis Collins:

Support Seen & Unseen

Seen & Unseen is free for everyone and is made possible through the generosity of our amazing community of supporters.

If you’re enjoying Seen & Unseen, would you consider making a gift towards our work?

Podcast
Podcasts
Seen & Unseen Aloud
1 min read

Alan Bennett, rationality and the Budget

New episode. Listen to articles by Roget Standing, Alister McGrath, and Annika Greco-Thompson.

Natalie produces and narrates The Seen & Unseen Aloud podcast. She's an Anglican minister and a trained actor.

In the style of a Raeburn portrait, a set of young people lounge around on their phones looking diffident
Enlightened disagreement (with apologies to Henry Raeburn).
Nick Jones/Midjourney.ai.

Listen to episode

About the episode

This week we start with Roger Standing's review of Alan Bennett's latest film, The Choral; then Alister McGrath unpacks the terrain between the "Age of Reason" and the era of "post-truth" and finally Annika Greco Thompson discusses the possible Christian response to financial (in)security, in the lead up to the UK's Chancellor announcing the Autumn Budget.

Support this podcast

Since Spring 2023, thousands of people have enjoyed hundreds of podcast episodes and over 1,500 articles.

All for free.

This is made possible through the generosity of our amazing community of supporters.

If you enjoy Seen & Unseen Aloud, would you consider making a gift towards our work?

Do so by joining Behind The Seen. Alongside other benefits, you’ll receive an extra fortnightly email from me sharing my reading and reflections on the ideas that are shaping our times.

Graham Tomlin
Editor-in-Chief