麻豆约拍

In the final programme in his series of personal essays, Richard Holloway concludes his reflections on the tensions between faith and doubt over the last 3000 years. Author and former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway focuses on the Judeo-Christian tradition as he takes the listener from the birth of religious thinking, through the Old and New Testaments, to the developments in subsequent centuries and their influence on thinkers and writers, up to the present day.

Summing up the journey he has undertaken over the previous four weeks, Richard describes the 'human animal' as 'a riddle': 'Whence came our creations, our amazing discoveries? How did all this meaning, all this purpose, all this beauty, emerge from the void?' He concedes that there are 'neither negative nor positive conclusions about the mystery that besets us' but accepts that our moments will be lost 'like tears in the rain'.

Talking to him about that mystery are the writer and psychoanalyst Adam Phillips, the theologian and author Professor Don Cupitt, and the poet Sir Andrew Motion.

Producer: Olivia Landsberg
A Ladbroke Production for 麻豆约拍 Radio 4.