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Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle

Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle: Episode 16: On the Edge

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Episode 16

Episode 16: On the Edge

On the Edge

BBC Radio 4 - Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle, On the Edge

In exploring the riddle of existence, Richard draws on the work of poet Emily Dickinson.

In exploring the riddle of existence, Richard Holloway uses American poet Emily Dickinson as a bridge between 19th- and 20th-century thinking.

In a series of personal essays, Richard Holloway considers 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. 

In exploring the 'riddle of existence', Richard Holloway uses the American poet Emily Dickinson as a bridge between 19th and 20th Century thinking. He draws from her poem sequence 'The World is Not Conclusion' to suggest that there is no objective 'point of view from which we can observe the whole mystery of the universe'. 

He talks to Sir Anthony Kenny, literary executor and biographer of the 20th Century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, about Wittgenstein's view that 'even when all possible scientific questions are answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all'. In response, Kenny offers a rare poem by Wittgenstein. 

The debate between the 'unbelieving' and the 'believing' continues into our age as Holloway cites the ideas of evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and philosopher Roger Scruton. 


Producer: Olivia Landsberg
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.

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Richard Holloway presents a series on the relationship between faith and doubt

Richard Holloway, writer and former Bishop of Edinburgh, presents a series of personal essays on the relationship between faith and doubt over the last 3,000 years

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Episode 16: On the Edge

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