Unbelievable?

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

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

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

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 [email protected]

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

"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

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/

To hear more discussions between Christians and non-Christians go to www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable.

Andrew Wilson is an author and church leader.  His book "GodStories" describes the Bible as "the gospel of God". He says the story is told in multiple ways of sins forgiven, shame removed, beauty restored, and meaning reinstated.

Atheist Norman Bacrac of the Ethical Society contends that the picture the Bible paints of God is not as beautiful as Andrew claims - for instance how can the story of The Flood tell of a loving God?

Find out about Andrew and GodStories at www.godstoriesbook.com

For Norman Bacrac and the Ethical Society visit www.ethicalsoc.org.uk

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

If you enjoyed this show you may also enjoy:

Unbelievable? 25 Aug 2007 - Deluded by Dawkins? Andrew Wilson debates atheist Gordon Livesey

Unbelievable? 7 Mar 2009 - The Reason for God" - Pastor Timothy Keller & Atheist Norman Bacrac

Join the debate at the Premier Community's "Unbelievable?" group

Christian Apologist David Robertson, Atheist blogger Ed Turner and Christian convert Richard Morgan return to debate the rights and wrongs of Christian and atheist influence in society.

For David Robertson's book "The Dawkins Letters" Click here

For David Robertson see http://www.stpeters-dundee.org.uk/

For Ed Turner see http://edthemanicstreetpreacher.wordpress.com

For Richard Morgan see http://www.premiercommunity.org.uk/profile/RichardMorgan

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? 13 Jun 2009 The Moral Argument For God - Atheist Paul Orton & Christian David Robertson

Unbelievable? 4 Jul 2009 Peter Hitchens & Ibrahim Mogra debate "Is Islam or Christianity the best future for Britain?"

Join the discussion at the Premier Community