Forgive me for posting again about the intellectual and spiritual journey of historian Tom Holland. But with my live London conversation with him only a couple of weeks away, it’s pertinent that the most recent episode of The Surprising Rebirth Of Belief In God podcast, features him recounting a profound experience in a ruined church in Northern Iraq.

In 2016, Holland had been filming a TV documentary on ISIS, the murderous Islamic cult that was committing genocide against Christian and Yazidi minorities at that time.

Walking through the remains of the recently liberated, but now-devastated town of Sinjar - a place where people were actually crucified by ISIS - had already left a profound impact on the historian. Holland had come face to face with just how much the meaning of crucifixion had been radically reshaped by the Christian story of a God who choose to submit himself to death.

You can hear some of his account of it in the video below:

But there was another unexpected epiphany.

Holland has said it's often standing in beautiful ancient churches with roots that stretch into the distant past, that he feels most able to believe in the strangeness of the Christian faith. But this time, it was a church in Sinjar, recently vandalised by ISIS, where the veil between heaven and earth seemed for a moment to become paper thin.

Tom told me:

“My mind was saturated with with Biblical stuff and we went to a church that had been systematically desecrated. They literally brought in power drills and demolished the altar and everything. They'd taken pictures off the walls and smashed them on the ground.

There was a picture that I'd picked up that showed the Annunciation, with Gabriel's wings. I was kind of open to the idea of there being angels at that point. I was so kind of spacey that it didn't remotely seem to me impossible that there were angels.

It was a kind of sweet sense of intoxication, that perhaps everything was weird and strange. And the moment you accept that there are angels, then suddenly, the world just seems richer and more interesting.”

After verging on being able to believe, what happened once Holland returned home?

“I came back from that and recovered and thought ‘Well, I can entirely see why there was psychological reasons why I would think that. I don't need to explain it as angels actually exist‘.

But the memory of thinking that they might exist, is a really powerful one. It's like the memory of taking a drug. Everything seems more intense, more vivid, more beautiful. And you remember it wistfully. You remember that experience. And I think that that was very transformative, because suddenly, I really wanted to believe it, I really wanted to get that feeling back.”

Holland tells me he's still on a journey, and remains open to where it may take him as he opens himself up to the strangeness of Christianity.

Perhaps we shall hear more of the strangeness of his journey, when Holland joins me in London on the 5th of March for a live event. If you can't be there, don't worry, the video of our conversation will be made available early to Gold & Silver supporters on Patreon and USA Tax-deductible giving.

Get first access to the live conversation when you become a supporter.

Extra tickets released for Tom Holland conversation in London

Due to popular demand, extra tickets have been released for my conversation event with Tom Holland, hosted by LICC.

If you turned up at the website in the last week to find the tickets were ‘Sold Out’ then fear not, you can now book again for Tue 5 March at Westminster Chapel, London.

If you can’t be with us in person, don't worry, the video of our conversation will be made available early to Gold & Silver supporters on Patreon and USA Tax-deductible giving.

Get first access to the live conversation when you become a supporter.

Help me bring Thinking Faith to more people

I’m excited by the response so far to our new podcast.

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Best wishes

Justin Brierley