Dame Sarah Mullally has been announced as the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Previously the Bishop of London, she becomes the first woman to lead the Church in its almost 500 year history. She also had a 40 year career as a professional nurse, rising to be the most senior nurse in England and Wales. The Rev'd Marcus Walker, rector at St Bartholemew the Great in the City of London, joins Damian Thompson to react to the news – what can we expect from her leadership?

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

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The past few years have seen growing calls for countries in the global west to pay reparations to former colonies for their role in the transatlantic slave trade. The debate over reparations was already part of the so-called ‘culture wars’, but became louder following the Black Lives Matter movement, as many groups sought to re-examine their histories. Calls for reparations have been embraced by the Church of England which set up a £100 million fund, with the aim of raising £1 billion, to pay reparations for the role the Church played in the slave trade.

But do the arguments in favour of reparations really stand up? Conservative peer Nigel Biggar, emeritus regius professor of moral theology at the University of Oxford – and an Anglican priest – demolishes the arguments for reparations in his new book. In Reparations: Slavery and the Tyranny of Guilt he argues that calls for reparations are part of a ‘lust for self-condemnation’ and rooted in political opportunism. And, as Conservative MP Katie Lam questions, is it even legal for the Church to do this? And why – with crumbling parish churches across the country – is the Church focused on this now?

Nigel and Katie join host Damian Thompson to talk through their arguments and warn about the worrying precedent it could set.

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

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This year marks 800 years since the birth of the theologian St Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas, best known for his theory of natural law and his magnum opus the Summa Theologia, argued for the existence of God through faith-based reason. The influence of the 13th Century theologian on the philosophy of religion is unquestionable, but what is curious is his resurgent popularity amongst Generation Z – particularly in America. Is this part of the recovery of the sacred seen across the global west?

Fr Gregory Pine OP, professor of dogmatic and moral theology at the Dominican House of Studies, joins Damian Thompson to talk about Aquinas’s legacy, unpack some of the philosopher’s more complicated arguments and describe his own personal journey within the Order of Preachers.

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

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