The name of Tom Holland (the historian, not Spiderman) has been on the lips of many believers, seekers and skeptics over the last few years as his thesis in ‘Dominion’ about how Christianity shaped the West has been widely debated and led to many secular thinkers (including former new atheist Ayaan Hirsi Ali) taking Christianity more seriously.

Tom describes how spending time in the sandals of the Romans and Greeks led to the dawning realisation that his own beliefs in human value and dignity were forged by the Christian revolution. “I began to realise that actually, in almost every way, I am Christian.”

But what does the popular host of The Rest Is History podcast believe about the faith itself? The latest episode of The Surprising Rebirth Of Belief In God podcast traces Holland’s own journey and why he finds himself attracted to Christianity, while remaining uncertain about whether he can fully believe it.

Listen in and you’ll also hear from thinkers, historians and converts on why atheist accounts of history often fail to explain why we believe in equality, dignity and human rights.

P.S. Have you heard that Tom Holland and I will be in conversation in London, Tue 5 March? Book your seat here!

P.P.S. Want to hear more great content like this? Please support the podcast!

Why Louise Perry changed her mind about sex - listen to the early release podcast.

The next episode of the podcast will feature another influential secular thinker who seems to be on a similar journey to Tom Holland - female rights advocate Louise Perry. Her recent book ‘The Case Against The Sexual Revolution’ critiques our modern porn-ified, hookup culture. It wasn’t written from a Christian perspective and Perry doesn’t claim a faith herself, but she has come to surprisingly Christian conclusions about the value of monogamous marriage and chastity.

In this episode I speak to Perry about her own journey and what she finds attractive about Christianity. I also chart the way early Christians laid the foundation for our belief in equality, consent and human rights, radically reshaping the pagan view of sex and marriage.

This episode won’t be publicly released for some time. But you can listen now when you become a Silver or Gold Patreon supporter, or get early access via Tax-deductible giving (USA).

Celebrating 100K downloads and moving to fortnightly podcast schedule

I was so pleased to see the number of downloads for The Surprising Rebirth Of Belief in God podcast pass 100,000 this past week. It’s a significant milestone for a new podcast that is only a couple of months old. We’ve also received lots of lovely testimonials.

A lot of effort and passion gets poured into every episode, so it’s great to see the impact it is making.

However, from the start of 2024, this podcast will be coming out on a fortnightly rather than weekly basis. It's not a decision we’ve taken lightly (we’d love to deliver it weekly if we could) but the documentary nature of this show does mean a lot of time, energy and resource goes into each episode.

We are a very small team, and in order to be able to free ourselves up to expand our work into more videos, newsletters, articles, online resources, other podcasts and events from Think Faith - we’ve decided, for now, to go to a fortnightly schedule on the Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God.

If you’re able to help us meet our financial needs it helps us to expand the team and advance the work.

Here are a few ways you can support:

1. Become a regular Patreon Supporter.

   Silver supporters get early access to new episodes and bonus content. Gold supporters also receive signed copies of my books and monthly catch ups with me.

2. Support via Paypal

   A great way to make a one-off gift - thank you!

3. Tax-deductible giving from the USA

   If you’d like to give in this way, we are partnering with Defenders Media to make this possible. Just follow the link.

Thanks for being part of the journey as we enter 2024!

Justin Brierley