Unbelievable?

Latest Episodes:

Unbelievable? 5 Dec 2009 - Dan Barker on losing faith Jun 05, 2014

Show notes

Dan Barker was a Christian evangelist and musician for 19 years before he lost his faith. He tells the story in his book "Godless: How an evangelical preacher became one of America's leading Atheists". Dan is now President of the Freedom from Religion Foundation in the USA.

Charles Foster is a writer, barrister and traveller. A committed Christian he has written books defending the Christian faith including "The Jesus Inquest: the case for and against the resurrection". He says that, unlike Dan, when doubt came knocking he found the Bible to be trustworthy and the Christian story to be fulfilling.

They discuss Dan's deconversion, the case for the resurrection, and whether we are better off free from religion.

For Dan Barker see http://ffrf.org/about/bio_dan.php

For his Book "Godless" click here

For Charles Foster see http://www.charlesfoster.co.uk/

For his book "The Jesus Inquest" click here

For more Christian/non-Christian discussion visit www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable or get the podcast or via Itunes

If you enjoyed this programme you may also enjoy:

Unbelievable? 8 Mar 2008 Can we trust the Gospels?

Unbelievable? 26 Apr 2008 Proof for the Resurrection - Evangelist Tony Costa & Atheist Ken Humphreys debate

Join the discussion at the Premier Community

Unbelievable? 12 Dec 2009 - Dawkins Debate on Atheist fundemantalism Jun 05, 2014

Show notes

Atheists Richard Dawkins, and AC Grayling recently squared up against Christians Richard Harries and Charles Moore for a debate on the motion "Atheism is the new fundamentalism".

Justin Brierley reviews the debate with audio clips from the speakers and Q&A session, as well as interviews with those who attended, including AC Grayling and the Chair of the debate Anthony Seldon.

For the full debate visit http://www.intelligencesquared.com/

For more Christian/non-Christian debate visit www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable or get the podcast or Via Itunes

If you enjoyed this programme you may also enjoy

Unbelievable? 8 Nov 2008 Dawkins & John Lennox's Oxford debate - a review with interviews and comment.

Unbelievable? 19 Jul 2008 Masters of Apologetics Pt 2: William Lane Craig

Join the discussion at the Premier Community

Unbelievable? 19 Dec 2009 - What does science tell us about God? Jun 05, 2014

Show notes

Professor Lewis Wolpert is Emeritus Professor of Biology at University College London. Professor Russell Cowburn is Chair of Nanotechnology at Imperial College.

Wolpert is an atheist, Cowburn a Christian.

Following on from a debate at Gunnersbury Baptist Church, the two scientists tackle the question "does science tell us anything about God?" Wolpert believes it does - that belief in God is a product of evolution. Cowburn believes that both science and scripture witness to a God who reveals himself to us.

Their conversation ranges over evolution, the new atheism and whether God should reveal himself through the miraculous.

To hear their original debate from November 2009 visit http://www.gunnersburybaptistchurch.org/events/opentoquestion/

For more Christian/non-Christian debate visit www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable or get the podcast or via Itunes

If you enjoyed this discussion you may also enjoy

Unbelievable? 21 Jun 2008 - Keith Ward on "The Big Questions in Science and Religion": Why Christians CAN believe in evolution

Unbelievable? 21 Feb 2009 - DNA & the origin of life - the cosmic fingerprints of God? Perry Marshall and Peter Hearty debate.

Join in the discussion at the "Unbelievable?" group of the Premier Community

Unbelievable? 14 Nov 2009 - Alister McGrath interview Jun 05, 2014

Show notes

Alister McGrath combines a background in science with a passion for theology and apologetics. "The Dawkins Delusion" - his critique of Richard Dawkins and the New Atheism has been a bestseller.

In this wide-ranging interview McGrath shares his own journey of faith and why Christianity makes best sense of the world as he sees it. He addresses the way atheism is currently making its case, as well as fine tuning of the universe, the resurrection, heresy and much more besides!

You can read the Christianity Magazine profile of Alister McGrath here

For Alister McGrath's website visit http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mcgrath/

For more Christian debate and dialogue visit www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable or Get the podcast or via Itunes

If you enjoyed this programme you may also enjoy the following:

Unbelievable? 12 Jul 2008 Gary Habermas - American Masters of Apologetics pt 1 American Masters of Apologetics Pt 1: Gary Habermas

Unbelievable? 19 Jul 2008 William Lane Craig - American Masters of Apologetics pt 2 American Masters of Apologetics Pt 2: William Lane Craig

To join in the debate visit the Unbelievable group of the Premier Community

Unbelievable? 24 Oct 2009 - Christian conversion of Hindus Jun 05, 2014

Show notes

In light of Premier's Faith Without Fear campaign, this discussion between Anil Bhanot and Sunil Raheja addresses the tensions that exist when Christians seek to evangelise Hindus in India.

What is acceptable? Is the response of some Hindus justified? Is it wrong for Christians to state that Jesus is the "only" way to God?

To sign the petition for Justice for Christians in Orissa State, India go to www.faithwithoutfear.org

For Anil Bhanot see www.hinducounciluk.org

For Sunil Raheja see www.nlmg.org

For more Christian/non-Christian debate visit www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable or get the podcast or via itunes

If you enjoyed this programme you may also want to listen to:

Unbelievable? 14 Jul 2007 - Hindu & Christian concepts of God - Paul and Rohit

Unbelievable? 15 Sep 2007 Yoga and Christianity - is there a conflict?

Join the debate at the Premier Community

Unbelievable? 31 Oct 2009 - Preterist, Dispensational and Liberal views of The return of Jesus. Jun 05, 2014

Show notes

Matthew Chapter 24's "Olivet Discourse" records Jesus saying that his followers will see him "coming on the clouds of the sky with great glory" and that "this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened."

Two thousand years later Christians are still waiting for his return. We explore different Christian responses to the apparent expectation of the imminent return of Jesus in the New Testament. What do they make of other end time events such as The Tribulation and The Rapture?

Terry Boyle Pastor for Insight For Living in the UK describes his "Dispensationalist" understanding of this and other passages.

Dee Dee Warren describes her "Preterist" understanding of the passage and how she arrived at it.

Andrew Whyte describes his journey of coming to a liberal view that early Christian writers were mistaken in their expectations.

For more on Dee Dee Warren and Preterism see http://www.preteristsite.com/ or www.preteristblog.com where she will be posting extra responses to the programme.

For Terry Boyle and Insight for Living see http://www.insightforliving.org.uk/

For more Christian theology discussion visit www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable or get the podcast or via Itunes

If you enjoyed this programme you may also enjoy:

Unbelievable? 1 Aug 2009 - Debating doctrine - James White and Roger & Faith Forster debate predestination

Unbelievable? 30 May 2009 Reconciling Bible Contradictions: Christian Derek Tidball vs. Atheist Gordon Livesey

Unbelievable? 6 Dec 2008 Christian Zionism, Israel & the Church: Stephen Sizer debates Geoffrey Smith of Christian Friends of Israel

Join the discussion at the Premier Community

Unbelievable? 7 Nov 2009 - John Shelby Spong vs. Terry Boyle Jun 05, 2014

Show notes

John Shelby Spong is one of the most influential liberal Christians in the world and advocates that Christianity needs to re-interpreted for the modern world leaving behind supernatural beliefs. In his latest book "Eternal Life: a new vision" he claims that we need to transcend belief in God, heaven and hell to undesrtand what "Life in all its fullness" means.

Terry Boyle, Uk Pastor of Insight for Living, defends an evangelical view of Scripture and doctrine and asks "what is left if we gut Christianity of its core beliefs?"

For the Book "Eternal Life: a New Vision" click here

For John Shelby Spong visit http://www.johnshelbyspong.com/

For Terry Boyle visit http://www.insightforliving.org.uk/

For more Christian debate and dialogue visit www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable or Get the podcast or via Itunes

If you want to explore some of the issues raised by Spong in this programme then visit:

Unbelievable? 29 Aug 2009 - Jesus and the Eyewitnesses part 1 : Richard Bauckham and James Crossley

Unbelievable? 20 Dec 2008 - The Virgin Birth: Fact or Fiction? Revd Michael Sayward debates Unitarian Sarah Tinker

Unbelievable? 15 Nov 2008 - Does the Trinity lead to polytheism? James White of Alpha & Omega ministries debates Abdullah Al Andalusi

Join the discussion at the Premier Community

Email the show unbelievable@premier.org.uk

Unbelievable? 17 Oct 2009 - The "Evangelical Universalist" is revealed Jun 05, 2014

Show notes

"The Evangelical Universalist" was published several years ago. The author claimed to be an evangelical Christian who believes that everyone will ultimately be saved. He published under a pen name, but recently revealed his true identity as Robin Parry, editorial director of UK Christian publisher Paternoster.

While Robin's views do not represent those of Paternoster, he tells why he has personally come to believe that the Bible teaches that everyone will ultimately be saved.

Laurence M Blanchard, a pastor and author in California responds to Robin's arguments and raises questions such as "what's the point of evangelism if everyone will be saved?"

Read Robin's blog here: http://theologicalscribbles.blogspot.com/

Read his blog as the Evangelical Universalist here: http://evangelicaluniversalist.blogspot.com/

Read about Laurence Blanchard here: http://http://www.charteroaklighthouse.org/about_us.htm

To order "The Evangelical Universalist" book:

Click here for the UK

Click here for the US

To hear more Christian and non-Christian debates visit the showpage at www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable or get the podcast or via Itunes

If you enjoyed this programme you may also enjoy the original show when Parry's voice was disguised:

Unbelievable? 15 Mar 2008 Christian Universalism - Will everyone be saved?

For information on the Zacharias Trust apologetics training day mentioned at the end of the programme visit http://www.zactrust.org/

Join the discussion at the Premier Community

Unbelievable? 10 Oct 2009 - Jesus and the God of Israel Jun 05, 2014

Show notes

Many have suggested that Christian belief in the divinity and worship of Jesus as God was a late development, and that Jesus' early followers did not regard him as being equal with God. So was Jesus merely regarded as an "elevated" being? Was high Christology at odds with the Jewish monotheism of the first century?

New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham argues against these views. His book "Jesus and the God of Israel" claims that the worship of Jesus as God was both very Jewish and very early. Agnostic scholar James Crossley contests Richard's claims.

Click here for the book "Jesus and the God of Israel" (Paternoster)

For Richard Bauckham visit http://www.ridley.cam.ac.uk/people/rbauckham.html

For James Crossley see http://shef.ac.uk/bibs/staff/jgc.html

Listen to more Christian/non-Christian debates at www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable or via podcast or itunes

If you enjoyed this programme you may also enjoy:

Unbelievable? 29 Aug 2009 - Richard Bauckham on the Gospels - pt 1: Richard Bauckham and James Crossley

Unbelievable? 24 Jan 2009 - How did Christianity begin?" Pt 2 - James Crossley & Michael Bird

Join the discussion at the Premier Community

Unbelievable? 18 Aug 2007 - Atheist and Christian bloggers discuss Jun 05, 2014

Show notes

Ian Thorpe is an atheist and Jenni Hutchinson a Christian. They got chatting about faith after bumping into each other on the internet. They discuss whether the church is having a beneficial effect on society, Ian's concerns over "fundamentalism" and whether you need to believe in God to be good.

See Ian's blog at http://machiavelli.blog.co.uk/ See Jenni's blog at http://vieira.blog.co.uk/

To hear more discussions between Christians and non-Christians go to www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable. Join the discussion on the Premier Community www.premiercommunity.org.uk/group/unbelievable.

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