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Beyond Belief

Monsters and Gods

Duration: 28 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FM

Available for over a year

Bunny Love-Schock is an interfaith minister and practising witch. She has a devotional practice to the figure of Lilith, a character who has appeared in myth and religious storytelling for centuries. She’s been a demoness, a monster linked to owls, screeching and with wings. In the middle ages you might have been afraid of her harming your unborn or young children.

Now, Bunny tells us how she’s seen as a Goddess figure, in all her ambivalence.

Giles Fraser explores the monsters that have snarled at us from religious writings. What is their relationship to the divine? What are they trying to tell us and how do we see them now?

He’s joined by Professor Esther Hamori, author of ‘God’s Monsters’ who reminds us of the fearsome nature of angels, Dr Bihani Sarkar who has stories from classic Hindu literature and Natalie Lawrence, whose fascination with folklore and ancient myth inspired her book 'Enchanted Creatures'.

Producer: Rebecca Maxted
Assistant Producer: Ruth Purser
Editor: Jonathan Hallewell Show less

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