Jonathan Thomas interviews Katharine Hill about schools and smartphones. Katharine Hill is the UK director of Care for the Family. She is a well-known speaker, broadcaster and author of a number of books, including Left To Their Own Devices: Confident parenting in a digital world and A Mind of Their Own: Building your child’s emotional wellbeing in a fast-changing world.
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Lost Hymns
Azim Ahmed and guests shine a light on a collection of ‘Lost Hymns’; long forgotten Welsh-language folk hymns recorded by oral historians at St. Fagan’s National Museum of History in the 1960s. When musician and composer Lleuwen Steffan came across these recordings she immediately realised that they were no longer featured in contemporary hymn books. She embarked on a decade long project to track down the descendants of those recorded, and to compose music inspired by these songs. Today she brings these recordings to modern audiences, joining the recorded voices with her own compositions on piano, guitars and synthesizers.Many of the hymns were composed as a response to the Welsh Revival of 1904, a period of intense religious fervour that swept across Wales, filling chapels, and bringing life-changing religious experiences to those part of the revivals. The songs are frank, down to earth and sometimes dark. They reflect the fragility of human experience. Emeritus Professor Wyn James, a Welsh hymnology expert from the School of Welsh at Cardiff University sets out the historical context of these hymns. Catrin Roberts, the granddaughter of hymn collector William Morris (one of the voices in the collection) shares memories of her grandfather, and his passion for the heritage of Wales. Lleuwen’s work is made in partnership with Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru and supported by the British Council Wales.
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Sacred harmonies: Psalm singing in Wales
For centuries the singing of psalms has been a cornerstone of Christian worship and in Wales today psalms are sung in the splendour of great cathedrals and in the quiet devotion of Catholic monasteries. While the singing of psalms has long been cherished, in some churches and denominations psalm singing has been replaced by more modern songs and worship. But a new movement called 'Psalm Roars' is challenging that notion. Led by vicar Tim Vasby Burnie, 'Psalm Roars' aim to make psalm singing accessible to everyone, regardless of whether you have a musical background, and to encourage singing that is “enthusiastic, robust, loud, and inclusive.” Jonathan Thomas attends a 'Psalm Roar' and meets enthusiastic people learning all about psalm singing. He speaks to one of the most pre-eminent modern hymn writers of today, Keith Getty, who sets psalms to music, bringing them to contemporary audiences. Jonathan visits Llandaff Cathedral and meets Stephen Moore, Director of Music, where psalms are sung daily by the cathedral choirs. At Belmont Abbey, Abbot Brendan Thomas explains the ancient tradition of psalmody in the Benedictine Order, where psalms have been sung since its foundation in the sixth century.This programme was first broadcast on the 30th March 2025.
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Is the Church in Crisis?
Procedures are in process to find a new Archbishop of Canterbury and a new Archbishop of Wales. Both of whom retired amidst controversies over the handling of safeguarding issues, although there are no suggestions that they behaved inappropriately themselves. Azim Ahmed and guests discuss - is the Church in Crisis?Dr Andrew Graystone is an advocate for survivors of abuse in the Church and is the author of “Bleeding for Jesus : John Smyth and the cult of the Iwerne Camps”
Dr Michael J Kruger is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Reformed Theological Seminary in the United States of America. He’s the author of “Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church”
The Reverend Nan Powell-Davies is head of the Presbyterian Church in Wales.
Simon Plant is Executive Manager for the Charity for Action on Spiritual Abuse, formerly Replenished Life. He has over twenty-five years experience working in safeguarding in Education, Local Government and Faith settings.
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Tom Holland
Jonathan Thomas is joined by the award-winning historian, biographer and broadcaster Tom Holland. Tom is the co-presenter of the world’s most popular history podcast 'The Rest is History', a bi-weekly podcast that explores everything from the Norman Conquest to Nazi Germany. The series is downloaded an astonishing eighteen million times every month. Tom Holland has written many best-selling books include 'Millennium' and 'Rubicon', but in the programme Tom discusses 'Dominion', a book that explores how Christian values and ideas have shaped Western civilisation, although we now live in a secular age. Tom and Jonathan explore how writing Dominion has influenced Tom's perspectives on Christianity.
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