The Church Times Podcast

On the final podcast of the year, the editor, Sarah Meyrick, is joined by senior writer Madeleine Davies and staff writer Francis Martin to discuss some of the most memorable and significant stories that the Church Times covered in 2025. They discuss: the departure of Justin Welby and ongoing questions about safeguarding in the Church of England; the Bible Society’s Quiet Revival report; the rise of Christian nationalism; the assisted-dying Bill; the nomination of the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury; and the Archbishop of York’s visit to Israel-Palestine. The episode was recorded on Wednesday 17 December. They also look ahead to what 2026 has in store for the Church of England. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

At the age of 91, Richard Holloway has written what he says “feels like the final book”: Last Words, in which he reflects on his long and fascinating life. Richard Holloway is interviewed by Malcolm Doney in this week’s 12-page Books for Christmas supplement, and a recording of their telephone call is on this podcast. The book is also reviewed by Angela Tilby. “I’ve always had a melancholic side to my nature. Melancholy is not sadness,” he says in the interview. “It’s a kind of mood you fall into when you consider the passingness and transience of things. Our lives just flow towards the end, but you look back on memories, your parents, your schooldays — all of that, and, as I get older, I spend more time doing that. . . “And this is a grateful kind of looking back, I guess, at the way my life went, people I owe a lot to, especially my parents, my mother . . . a reflection on what has been, what feels like the final run.” Last Words is published by Swift Press at £16.99 (Church Times Bookshop £15.29); https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781800755338/last-words?vc=CT228 If you already subscribe to the Church Times, why not give a gift subscription to friends or family this Christmas? Visit: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/subscribe

This week’s episode is an interview with the Archbishop of York, recorded a week after his return from a five-day visit to Israel and Palestine. The interview is by Francis Martin, staff writer, who travelled with the Archbishop’s delegation, reporting on the trip for the Church Times. The Archbishop spoke about what moment of the visit most resonated for him; being confronted by heavily armed settlers; and why he believes that Israeli actions in Gaza are “genocidal acts” and the situation in the occupied West Bank amounts to “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing”. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

The Bishop of Washington, DC, the Rt Revd Mariann Edgar Budde, made headlines in January when she preached before President Trump at the traditional post-Inauguration service of prayer for the nation, in Washington National Cathedral. She pleaded with him directly to be merciful to migrants and LGBTQ people (News, 24 January, Features, 5 September). Bishop Budde was a speaker last month at the Festival of Preaching, organised by the Church Times and Canterbury Press, in Southwark Cathedral. The theme of the festival was “Preaching Truth to Power”. On the podcast this week, there is a chance to hear the sermon that she preached at the festival eucharist. “I wasn’t speaking only to the President and his supporters gathered at the cathedral: I was speaking to and for those listening around the country,” she said. “One of my favourite homiletics professors used to say ‘Sometimes, we speak to the people; other times, we speak for them.’ But I didn’t feel like a prophet: I felt like a pastor, speaking to and for a country that I loved. . . “The task isn’t to preach to those who aren’t listening, but to those who are, who are trying to make sense of what’s happening. . . We have the sacred duty to give voice, yes, to factual truth, as best we can discern it, but also a moral truth rooted in the teachings of Jesus and the prophetic tradition of our faith.” Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, Dr Selina Stone is interviewed about her new book, A Heavy Yoke: Theology, power and abuse in the Church, by Dr Lisa Adjei, the C of E’s Head of Racial Justice Priority. It was recorded at the book’s launch last month at Bridewell Hall in London. In A Heavy Yoke, Dr Stone lifts the lid on the ways in which Christian theology can, often unwittingly, uphold existing power structures to the detriment of the flourishing of the whole Church. It calls for a more rigorous and critical understanding of Christian theology and how it is shaping Christian leaders, churches, and organisations. Reviewing the book in this week’s Church Times, Lyle Dennen describes it as “well written, challenging, and disturbing. . . Stone’s powerful contention is that it is not just some bad apples on a good tree: there are narratives, twisted theologies, and cultures that significantly enable abusers to control others and justify terrible behaviour.” Read the Church Times review of the book here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/10-october/books-arts/book-reviews/book-review-a-heavy-yoke-theology-power-and-abuse-in-the-church-by-selina-stone Read Dr Stone’s recent Analysis piece, “Theology can be spiritually abusive”, here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/12-september/comment/analysis/analysis-theology-can-be-spiritually-abusive Photo credit: Tom Perkins New to us? Or know someone who is? Receive 10 weeks of full access to the Church Times – plus subscriber-only benefits – all for just £5* this October. Select the trial offer and add the code Archbishop106 at checkout. Visit www.churchtimes.co.uk/subscribe *first-time subscribers only. UK only.