This is the final episode in our series On Religion. The series was co-produced with Chine McDonald from Theos and Liz Slade from the Unitarians, and it is Chine and Liz who bring the series to a close.

In the episode we reference a lot of other writers in this space, as well as some art. They include:

Markus Bockmuehl who edited The Cambridge Companion to Jesus.

Gillian Rose author of Love’s Work published by Penguin in 1995.

Chine referred to this comprehensive survey of religious and spiritual attitudes in the U.K.

You can listen to Andy Burnham’s Theos Annual Lecture for 2025 here.

This is Christ on the Cross by Francisco de Zurbarán, a source of meditation for me on regular visits to the Art Institute of Chicago in another life.

The series feels unfinished. Later in the year, I will see if the abundance of learning that came out of the conversations settles into some sort of pattern. If it does, I will try and get that pattern onto paper.

I am going to hand over Relational Social Policy substack to a series of pieces that bring together, in summary form, what I have learned in the last eight years about the power of relationships between people, and between peoples.

The regular conversations with people whose work informs a relational social policy will go out on the Ratio Substack. It will start with a couple of my colleagues, Celestin Okoroji and Jolyon Miles-Wilson who have established a new research centre, Just Knowledge, to democratise data.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thisisratio.substack.com