Re-enchanting... history and the coronation - Tom Holland

In this third episode of Re-enchanting, Belle and Justin talk with Tom Holland about all things history and, or course, the coronation.

Nick Jones

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

A man sits at a table speaking into a microphone but looks into the distance. Behind him, through the window and beyond a wall is Big Ben

Tom Holland recording the podcast at Lambeth Palace Library.

Re-enchanting episodes

Can the secular West outlive its Christian past? Will the coronation remind us of our Christian inheritance? Tom Holland is a historian and author who co-hosts the popular podcast The Rest Is History. His best-selling book Dominion charted how the Christian revolution shaped the West's moral instincts. He chats with Belle Tindall and Justin Brierley about why modern secularists are still swimming in Christian waters, and why he has personally become enchanted by the 'greatest story ever told'.

There’s more to life than the world we can see. Re-Enchanting is a podcast from Seen & Unseen recorded at Lambeth Palace Library, the home of the Centre for Cultural Witness. Justin Brierley and Belle Tindall engage faith and spirituality with leading figures in science, history, politics, art and education. Can our culture be re-enchanted by the vision of Christianity?

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Seen & Unseen Aloud

21 November 2025

1 min read

Alan Bennett, rationality and the Budget

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

Natalie Garrett

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.

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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.

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