Undeceptions with John Dickson
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Undeceptions with John Dickson
Every week on Undeceptions we’ll explore some aspect of life, faith, history, culture, or ethics that is either much misunderstood or mostly forgotten. With the help of people who know what they’re talking about, we’ll be trying to ‘undeceive ourselves’ and let the truth ‘out’.
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234 episodi
Persecution Complex
Some claim Christian persecution is on the rise, while others find the idea of a modern persecution implausible. So, what’s the truth? It’s complex … ...
161. Jane Austen
Jane Austen’s words and books are well known. But what do we know of Jane herself - what she was like, and what she believed? What did she think of so...
Deep Learning
Christianity is sometimes branded as anti-intellectual, and its followers labelled unteachable. But in an increasingly divided age, the church - with...
African Jesus
African Christianity is almost as old as Christianity itself. Many of the early church's theological giants came from Africa, and today, Christianity...
158. Faith Factor
As the West undergoes a ‘de-churching,’ some are starting to wonder about the unintended consequences of a society with fewer believers.
...
REWIND: Mental Health
Season 15 of Undeceptions is coming really soon! And our latest REWIND will help you brush up on some of the issues we’ll be discussing in our first f...
REWIND: Decoding Dreams
Are our dreams full of messages and warnings?
John was sceptical, but for most of human history, that’s been the common view. In this Undecepti...
157. Why Believe?
The 18th-century philosopher David Hume famously predicted that, as the world grew more rational and scientific, people would stop having supernatural...
156. Question Answer XIV
Why does the church meet on a Sunday? How far is too far when it comes to self-defence, biblically speaking? Is it possible that Hell is temporary?
155. Good Pope
The world’s attention has recently been on the Vatican, and the election of the new Pope Leo XIV.
But what’s the history behind th...
REWIND: Emotional Intelligence
Some think we might not be too far away from Artificial Intelligence actually having feelings. If it does happen, what will it mean? Might it mean we...
154. Boy Jesus
The Gospels tell us about Jesus’ adult life, with scant references to his childhood.
We can catch glimpses of the younger Jesus' l...
153. The Chemists
According to the data, chemistry is the scientific discipline with the highest number of ”theists”.
Perhaps it’s not that surprisi...
152. God Laments
Like it or not, life will let us down. We all face disappointment.
Despite this, people spend their entire lives trying to avoid a...
151. Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene has played many roles throughout history.
She’s been a prostitute, a temptation, Jesus’ wife, Jesus’ lover, a cave-dwelling myst...
150. Jesus' Trials
This week, leading up to Easter, we’re looking at the most famous trial of all time: the trial of Jesus. It’s a courtroom drama like no other, and its...
149. Our Hymn
When John Dickson convinced top Christian songwriters Ben Fielding and Chris Tomlin to have a go at transforming an 1800-year-old hymn into a tune for...
148. The Anthropologists
Welcome to season XIV of Undeceptions!
Anthropology has a reputation for being the most “godless” of all the sciences.
The so-called Fath...
REWIND: Jesus Philosopher
The cliche: ‘faith’ is the antithesis of knowledge, of wisdom and therefore “Christian philosophy” is an oxymoron, right? For this Undeceptions rewind...
REWIND: Danger - Proselytising
Why are Christians such god-botherers? Is it possible to share your belief system with someone who doesn’t accept it without being a jerk? In this Und...
Introducing Small Wonders season 4
Words can change lives – whether on paper, on screen, or spoken down a phone line.
A library has an abundance of words – and an abundance of opp...
147. On Hell
Hell is one of the most difficult parts of Christian belief - but of all the characters in the Bible, no one comes close to using the word "Hell" as m...
REWIND: Kingdom Come
As we gear up for a special episode on the difficult topic of Hell, we first bring you this Undeceptions Rewind looking at what the Bible says about H...
146. Question Answer XIII
Is Christianity an offshoot of an ancient fertility cult? Why do the Gospels only talk about Jesus' genealogy in connection to Joseph? Is there a plac...
145. Second Act
The Acts of the Apostles is the epic sequel to Luke's Gospel.
It follows the dramatic events immediately after the resurrection of Jesus, and f...
144. Into Wine
If we’re talking only about liquids you drink—because the water in the Bible is washed in, crossed over, and even walked on once—wine is no.1.
W...
143. Virgin Mary
There's just something about the Virgin Mary.
She stirs up big feelings - she has for millennia.
Some have perhaps given her more promin...
142. First Hymn
In the 3rd century, in the Ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, a group of Christians composed a song of praise set to the pagan music of the time. <...
141. Bible Genres
With 66 different books composed across literally thousands of years, it's fair to say the Bible is a complex read. But it doesn't have to be. The key...
140. Disenchanted Age
The great project of the Enlightenment was to bring reason to the forefront.
No more would humans be held back by superstitions: the power of t...
139. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
A new movie has been released this week about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was killed by the Nazis for his involvement in a plot to kill...
SINGLE: Environmental Jesus
Sam Allberry was involved in environmental activism when he became a Christian - a development that his activist friends saw as bad news.
After...
SINGLE: 39 Books
The Old Testament is sacred not just to the Christian but also to the Jewish religion. Its 39 books cover thousands of years with an array of literary...
REWIND: Global Christianity
The 21st century has seen—and will continue to see—the rise of Christianity in the ‘Global South’, with surging conversion numbers in Asia and Africa....
REWIND: Christian Revolution
We interviewed Tom Holland, historian and co-host of the extraordinarily popular podcast The Rest is History, back in 2021 for episode 45, Christian R...
138. Van Gogh
Artists have used their tools not just to capture beauty and transcendence, but also the essence of what it means to be human.
In this episode,...
137. Bible Unlocked
Is there a "right" way to read The Bible?
Millennia of Ink has been split trying to answer that question.
Surely if The Bible is God's wor...
136. Question Answer XII
Why did God make the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Can Christians smoke weed? Why does God allow natural disasters to happen? John Dickson tackl...
135. Intelligible Universe
Famed Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson once (well, several times actually) claimed Christianity was irreconcilable with the science of the Universe....
134. History Wars
Is history under threat?
Increasingly, the modern, individualistic global West is coming to see history as a discipline that's irrelevant, harm...