Seen & Unseen Aloud: the director's cut

At the start of a new year, Bishop Graham Tomlin looks back over his favourite articles of 2023.

Graham Tomlin

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

A medieval illustration of two sets of monks seated and facing each other. One gestures towards the sky

A 13th Century depiction of a meeting between Latin and east Syrian clerics.

AtlasAtlas des Croisades, Jonathan Riley-Smith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

At the start of a new year, Bishop Graham Tomlin - Director of the Centre for Cultural Witness, publisher of Seen & Unseen and the Seen & Unseen Aloud podcast, looks back over his favourite articles of 2023.

The Screwtape Letters image of hell as an unscrupulous business is still relevant. Simon Horobin tells how C.S. Lewis came to author the influential bestseller.
An astonishing 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.
Bach’s boundless abundance: the making of a musical genius. Jeremy Begbie shares how Bach explored musical possibility.

Podcast

Podcasts

Seen & Unseen Aloud

12 November 2025

1 min read

Shame, Remembrance and Alice Roberts

New episode: listen to articles by Belle Tindall, Henna Cundill, and Jonathan Rowlands.

Natalie Garrett

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

Frankstein stares our from his covered face.

Jacob Elordi plays Frankenstein's monster

Netflix.

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About this episode

In this week's episode, Belle Tindall considers both Jacob Elordi and Zadie Smith's take on shame, and presents her own; Henna Cundill asks why too much emotional expression seems to be frowned upon at Remembrance and the Cenotaph; Jonathan Rowlands gives his personal (and very strong) opinions on Alice Roberts' book Domination: The Fall of the Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity

Support Seen & Unseen Since Spring 2023, our readers have enjoyed 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, would you consider making a gift towar

Since Spring 2023, our readers have enjoyed 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, 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

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