To everything there is a season and The Sacred needs a season change. The podcast is not ending but it is pausing so that we can reflect and refresh, and pop up again with new life and energy. We expect to be back in February 2021, please keep an eye on our social channels for updates (@sacred_podcast).

Meanwhile, we would love to hear from you. We have created a questionnaire https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JFLSFLS that will take just a few minutes to fill in where you can give us feedback about the show and take part in our reflection process. We’d also love a smaller group of listeners to gather for a virtual focus group where we can really discuss how the podcast can be most fruitful in its second season. If you would be up for giving up an hour or so to sit down with the team, please indicate that on your questionnaire and we may well be in touch.

Rachel is a doctor with a specialism in palliative care. Before going to medical school, she was a television journalist and documentary maker. She is the author of Sunday Times bestselling books ‘Your life in my hands’ and ‘Dear Life’, which is about her experiences working in a hospice. Her next book ‘Breathtaking’, about her experience on hospital COVID–19 wards, will be out next year.

In this episode she speaks about unsuccessful attempts to become a Christian, her deep faith in humanity, feeling like a fraud as a journalist, and why we should all have more conversations about death.

Krithika is a columnist at the Wall Street Journal in New York and a former foreign correspondent based in Indonesia. She is a National Geographic Explorer and her first book ‘The Call: Inside the Global Saudi Religious Project’ was launched in April.

In this episode she speaks about growing up in a Hindu home, being humble and doing your research on covering religion, and why it’s vital that journalists take faith seriously.

Helen Lewis is a journalist, staff writer at The Atlantic and former deputy editor at The New Statesman. She is the author of ‘Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights’.

In this episode she speaks about feminism, her parents Catholicism, navigating online backlash, and why she looks forward to the day when British media is more representative.

Jules is a writer, speaker and practical philosopher. He’s a research fellow at the Centre for the History of Emotions, Queen Mary University of London. He’s also the founder of the London Philosophy Club and co-founder of the first Stoicon, festival of Stoicism. He’s also the author of ‘Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations’, ‘The Art of Losing Control’, ‘Holiday from the Self’ and most recently ‘Breaking Open: finding a way through spiritual emergency.’

In this episode he talks about his boarding school hedonism, near-death experiences, foray into charismatic Christianity and why he thinks our society needs more space for ecstatic experiences.

Sophia Smith Galer is currently working as the BBC World Services’ first ever visual journalist in faith and ethics. In this episode Sophia speaks about her experience as one of the first journalists in the UK to be experimenting with Tik Tok, why good religion reporting is so vital, and why journalism and opera singing have a surprising amount in common.

Mark is a psychotherapist who writes, lectures and broadcasts on philosophy with a focus on insights that illuminate our inner lives. He was formerly a priest in the Church of England and has written books on friendship, agnosticism, consciousness and love. His most recent book is ‘A Secret History of Christianity’ which is based upon the ideas of Owen Barfield.

In this episode he speaks about why he left the Church of England, his time as ‘nearly an atheist’, and how he found his way back to experiencing the presence of the divine.

Myriam Francois is a journalist, filmmaker and senior fellow at the Centre for Global Policy, an American think tank working on the intersection of American foreign policy and Muslim geopolitics. She has made radio and television documentaries for the BBC, Sky and others, and presented a range of programmes related to religion. She is currently running the website and podcast ‘We need to talk about whiteness’.

In this episode she speaks about the process which led to her embracing Islam after university, her experiences as a white woman in a headscarf, and why she will no longer take part in debates which she calls religious bear–baiting.

Ed is a journalist. He’s worked on Nuts Magazine, The Catholic Herald and as a columnist for The Telegraph and The Spectator. He’s currently deputy editor at Unherd and the author of a recent book called ‘Small Men on the Wrong Side of History: The Decline, Fall and Unlikely Return of Conservatism’.

In this episode he speaks about his diverse career in journalism, his Catholic upbringing, why he thinks we are on a trajectory to greater progressivism and what he would like people to understand about conservatism.

Willie Jennings is a theologian and associate professor of systematic theology and Africana studies at Yale University. He’s an ordained Baptist minister and the author of ‘The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race’, ‘Acts: A Commentary’ and many other titles. His next book is entitled ‘After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging’ and is out later this year.

In this episode he speaks about his love for the seasons, growing up with a racially divided church, why anger can be a force for good and why and how to understand the concept of whiteness.