Free Thinking

Original version

BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

The ideas shaping our lives today - with artists and thinkers in debates and interviews.

The ideas shaping our lives today - with leading artists and thinkers in extended interview and debate.

Free Thinking: Writing about Faith

Writing about Faith

BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, Writing about Faith

Stand-up Frank Skinner and novelists Jeet Thayil and Yaa Gyasi talk to Laurence Scott.

Is there a place for comedy in prayer? What can we understand about the viewpoint of a figure like Mary Magdalen? How does scientific research connect with faith?

In Frank Skinner's A Comedian's Prayer Book - the broadcaster presents a series of prayers which read like a stand-up routine exploring questions of belief. A practising Roman Catholic, Skinner's questions include the correct way of addressing God, what it means to be humble, and an unpicking of some of the metaphors used in the Bible. Jeet Thayil was born into a Syrian Christian family in Kerala and his latest novel Names of the Women imagines the New Testament from the viewpoint of the women who became followers of Jesus Christ, from Martha and Mary the sisters of Lazarus to Lydia of Thyatira, who is regarded as the first documented convert to Christianity in Europe. Yaa Gyasi’s second novel is called Transcendent Kingdom and it tells the story of a woman working within science who is negotiating her relationship both with her mother and with her beliefs and background. Laurence Scott talks to these three authors about how they approached writing about faith in fiction and for a mass audience.

Producer: Emma Wallace

You can find a playlist on the Free Thinking website exploring religious belief hearing from speakers including Ziauddin Sardar, Richard Dawkins, Karen Armstrong, Rabbi Sacks, Marilynne Robinson and Rowan Williams. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03mwxlp

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Free Thinking

Writing about Faith

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3