Paula Gooder: the women of the nativity

A GodPod Christmas special with storyteller and theologian Paula Gooder.

Nick Jones

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

Nativity scene in the style of Eithiopian icon.

Contemporary Ethiopian nativity icon.

It’s the GodPod Christmas special! Today, Graham, Michael and Jane, are joined by Dr Paula Gooder. Together they speak about the stories of women in the New Testament, including the ones that make up the nativity.

Dr Paula Gooder is a New Testament scholar and Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. She is also the author of numerous best-selling books – including Phoebe, Lydia, and her latest offering, Women of the Nativity: an Advent and Christmas Journey in Nine Stories – within which she fuses her extensive biblical knowledge with her masterful story-telling skills.

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Podcast

Podcasts

Re-enchanting

2 April 2025

1 min read

Esther Maria Magnis: re-enchanting suffering

A raw account of the beauty of life and the ugliness of death.

Nick Jones

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

Listen now

Esther Maria Magnis is a German writer whose book With or Without Me is a memoir of her journey with faith and the perception of reality.

With unflinching honesty Esther takes us through her childhood and adolescence as she, along with her brother and sister, deals with the grief of her father’s cancer diagnosis, her prayers, and her journey through the loss of faith, into materialism, self-deconstruction and finally the turn back to the idea of God.

Justin and Belle talk to Esther about her raw account of coming to terms with faith through the beauty of life, the ugliness of death, and even the apparent silence of God.

With or With Out Me is published by Plough.

With or With Out Me