Luke Bretherton... re-enchanting the election(s)

Can we re-enchant politics, democracy and our vote? Oxford's new Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology discusses.

Nick Jones

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

Listen now

Watch now

2024 will see more than sixty countries hold national elections and more than two billion people eligible to vote - including an imminent election in the UK and what looks to be a historic election in the US.

This calls for a special episode of Re-Enchanting.

Luke Bretherton is an author and theologian who currently splits his time between Duke University in the US and St Mellitus College here in London. It has just been announced that from January 2025 onwards, Luke will be the Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Christ Church Oxford.

Specialising in political and moral theology, Luke’s books include the award-winning Christianity & Contemporary Politics, Resurrecting Democracy, and his latest offering - A Primer in Christian Ethics: Christ and the Struggle to Live Well.

Luke joins Belle and Justin to discuss the often-choppy waters of liberal democracy and to ponder whether we can re-enchant politics, democracy and our vote.

Podcast

Creed

Death & life

GodPod

6 September 2024

1 min read

Lydia Dugdale: the lost art of dying

New GodPod episode. How well do we deal with our own death? What is a ‘technology-dependant death’, and should we want it?

Nick Jones

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

A medieval book illustration of a person dying in bed.

A 15th Century ars moriendi, or ‘art of dying’ image.

Basel University, via WikiCommons.

How well do we deal with our own death? What is a ‘technology-dependant death’, and should we want it? Just because we can prolong our lives, should we?

These are just some of the questions pondered by our three presenters – Jane Williams, Micheal Lloyd and Graham Tomlin – along with physician and ethicist, Dr Lydia Dugdale.

Lydia talks the presenters through the historical shifts that have caused us to go from speaking about death openly and honestly, to having a newfound societal imagination that tells us that ‘death won’t come to us’ – and why that’s a problem.

This is one of the most thought-provoking episodes of GodPod yet.

For more about Lydia and her bestselling book – The Lost Art of Dying: Lydia S. Dugdale (lydiadugdale.com)