The Church Times Podcast

The Symposium: Nick Spencer and Rowan Williams: 'True human welfare'

The Church Times Podcast

Show Notes

Our new four-part series, The Symposium, continues this week with a talk by Dr Nick Spencer, senior fellow of Theos, and a response by the former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.

The talks were given last month at the event “Public faith, common good, Christian social order,”, organised by St John’s College, Cambridge, in conjunction with the diocese of Ely and the Church Times.

Other speakers at the event, whose talks will appear on the podcast in the coming weeks, include:

Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford

The Revd Dr Jeremy Morris, church historian, former national C of E adviser on ecumenical relations and former Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

The Bishop of Edmonton, Dr Anderson Jeremiah, a globally recognised theologian

Dr Anna Rowlands, St Hilda Associate Professor of Catholic Social Thought & Practice in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University

Read more about the Symposium here: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-research/leading-thinkers-discuss-faith-in-a-fractured-society

Dr Spencer hosts the podcast Reading our Times. His books include:

The Landscapes of Science and Religion: What are we disagreeing about?, written with Hannah Waite (OUP, 2025). Magisteria: The entangled histories of science and religion (Oneworld, 2023). The Evolution of the West: How Christianity has shaped our values (SPCK, 2016)

Dr Williams’s books include:

Solidarity: The work of recognition (Bloomsbury, 2026). Do We Have the Right to Die? , written with Brenda Hale (Vintage, 2026). Discovering Christianity: A guide for the curious (SPCK, 2025).

Music for the podcast is by Twisterium.

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