St Teresa formulated a specifically Catholic version of contemplative religion in response to the 16th-century Protestant Reformation; Vivekananda was a Hindu holy man who articulated a religious path that set the template for much 20th-century spiritual thinking; Friedrich Nietzsche set out to subvert 1,800 years of religious thinking in his iconoclastic book Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which has been newly translated by poet Michael Hulse.

Rana Mitter is joined by New Generation Thinker Dafydd Mills Daniel, historian Ruth Harris, and philosopher Katrina Mitcheson to discuss.

Producer: Luke Mulhall.

On the Free Thinking progamme website you can find a collection of Free Thinking episodes exploring religious belief including programmes about Cardinal Newman, early Buddhism, the links between Judaism and Christianity, Islam Mecca and the Quaran and a collection exploring philosophy