Elizabeth Oldfield reflects on her conversations from Series 9 of The Sacred

This series of The Sacred Elizabeth spoke with eight fascinating individuals about their core values, and how the messages, philosophies and experiences from their childhood shaped them into the people they are today.

She spoke with Greg Wise, Clementine Morrigan, Chris Packham, Katherine May, Freddie Sayers, Elizabeth Alker, Sunder Katwala and Jonathan Haidt.

In this reflection episode, Elizabeth takes a look back at all these conversations and dwells on a couple key threads that were prominent throughout.

The Sacred is a podcast produced by the think tank Theos. Be sure to connect with us below to stay up-to-date with all our content, research and events.

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Elizabeth Oldfield speaks with social psychologist Jonathan Haidt

Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist, author and professor at New York University Stern School of Business. He is the author of a number of highly influential books including The Happiness Hypothesis (2006), The Righteous Mind (2012), The Coddling of the American Mind (2018), and The Anxious Generation (2024).

Jonathan spoke about the importance of truth, his atheism, experiences of using psychedelics, and why he thinks we are over protecting children in the physical world and under protecting them and in digital and online spaces.

Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2024/03/27/jonathan-haidt-on-religion-psychedelics-and-the-anxious-generation

Learn more about The Anxious Generation here: https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/ Buy The Anxious Generation here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/9780241647660?sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=117976&awc=3787_1711364129_0b812600adff731b0dbd345a0ad86d49&utm_source=117976&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=Penguin+Books Subscribe (for free) to his Substack After Babel here: https://www.afterbabel.com/ Follow Jonathan on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/JonHaidt

The Sacred is a podcast produced by the think tank Theos. Be sure to connect with us below to stay up-to-date with all our content, research and events.

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Elizabeth Oldfield speaks with think tanker Sunder Katwala

Sunder Katwala is the Director of the think tank, British Future. who have worked on issues such as immigration and identity. He was formerly General Secretary of the Fabian Society, and before that, he was a journalist and a leader writer for The Observer.

Sunder spoke about growing up Irish Catholic, why he's broadly optimistic about the trajectory around race and identity in the UK, and why football is so central to who he is.

You can buy Sunder's book How to be a Patriot here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Patriot-country-British-culture/dp/0008553866#:~:text=Book%20overview&text=How%20to%20be%20a%20Patriot%20offers%20a%20new%20way%20of,some%20questions%20to%20work%20through.

Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2024/03/20/sunder-katwala-on-race-identity-and-reimagining-patriotism

The Sacred is a podcast produced by the think tank Theos. Be sure to connect with us below to stay up-to-date with all our content, research and events.

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Elizabeth Oldfield speaks with radio presenter Elizabeth Alker

Elizabeth Alker is a BBC Radio 3 presenter, and previously spent several years working at BBC Radio 6 Music.

Elizabeth spoke about growing up with parents who fostered, the role of faith in her life, fairness as a sacred value and her reflections on being northern.

Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2024/03/13/elizabeth-alker-on-fairness-foster-care-and-accent-stigma

The Sacred is a podcast produced by the think tank Theos. Be sure to connect with us below to stay up-to-date with all our content, research and events.

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Elizabeth Oldfield speaks with journalist and podcaster Freddie Sayers

Freddie Sayers is Editor-in-Chief of UnHerd and host of the podcast UnHerd with Freddie Sayers. He was the former Editor-in-Chief of YouGov and founder of Politics Home.

Freddie spoke about his sacred value of beauty, his unconventional path into political journalism, why he began to question some of the underlying logic and culture of liberalism, his outspoken criticism of lockdown policy's during COVID-19, and how he navigates being unorthodox and questioning without descending into tribalism.

Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2024/03/06/freddie-sayers-on-political-tribalism-and-questioning-the-status-quo

** Listen to Freddie's podcast UnHerd with Freddie Sayers here https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/unherd-with-freddie-sayers/id1540134798

The Sacred is a podcast produced by the think tank Theos. Be sure to connect with us below to stay up-to-date with all our content, research and events.

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Elizabeth Oldfield speaks with author Katherine May

Katherine May is the author of multiple books, both fiction and memoir, including the much celebrated Wintering and The Electricity of Every Living Thing. She most recently authored the book Enchantment: Reawakening Wonder in an Exhausted Age, and is the host of the very popular podcast How We Live Now.

Katherine spoke about seasons of life, finding wonder in the everyday, class, autism, the weirdness of becoming a 'person of wisdom' to many and how to avoid becoming an internet guru.

** You can buy a copy of Katherine's book 'Enchantment' here: https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571378357-enchantment/ **

** And check out her podcast How We Live Now here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/how-we-live-now-with-katherine-may/id1516642192 **

Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2024/02/28/katherine-may-on-everyday-wonder-and-how-to-not-be-a-guru

The Sacred is a podcast produced by the think tank Theos. Be sure to connect with us below to stay up-to-date with all our content, research and events.

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Elizabeth Oldfield speaks with naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham

Chris Packham is a naturalist, nature photographer and TV Presenter best known for his 40 years of work in television on programmes such as CBBC's The Really Wild Show and the BBC's Springwatch.

Chris spoke about his childhood, and the challenges of growing up with undiagnosed autism, the influence punk had, and has, on him, and experiences of religious diversity in the home.

Find out more about Chris' work by visiting his website here: https://www.chrispackham.co.uk/

Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2024/02/21/chris-packham-on-love-grief-and-autism

The Sacred is a podcast produced by the think tank Theos. Be sure to connect with us below to stay up-to-date with all our content, research and events.

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Elizabeth speaks with writer and podcaster Clementine Morrigan

Content Note

This episode briefly touches on early chapters of Clementine's life where she was sexually abused as a minor. Listener caution, especially if listening with young children around, is advised.

Clementine Morrigan is a writer and podcaster known for her active challenging of cancel culture from a leftist perspective. After her own cancellation in 2020 she began the Fucking Cancelled podcast with Jay Lesoleil, which looks to critique cancel culture, identitarianism, and 'social justice' orthodoxy.

Clementine spoke about her upbringing, how abuse and bullying sent her down a path of alcoholism at a young age, her recovery through Alcoholics Anonymous, what the 12 steps taught her about human dignity and forgiveness, and why that message left her at odds with 'cancel culture'.

You can listen to Fucking Cancelled here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/fucking-cancelled/id1549437914 You can read more from Clementine here: https://www.clementinemorrigan.com/ You can follow Clementine on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/clementinemorrigan/?hl=en

Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2024/02/14/clementine-morrigan-on-trauma-alcohol-recovery-and-challenging-cancel-culture-from-the-left

The Sacred is a podcast produced by the think tank Theos. Be sure to connect with us below to stay up-to-date with all our content, research and events.

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Elizabeth Oldfield speaks with actor and film producer Greg Wise

Greg Wise is an actor and film producer best known for his roles in Sense and Sensibility and The Crown. In 2018 he published Not That Kind Of Love, a memoir co-written with his sister, Clare, about the process of her dying and him taking care of her. He is also known for standing next to his wife, Emma Thompson on the red carpet.

Greg spoke about his love for rock climbing and solitude in nature, the role actors play in our common life, and what he learnt about death after caring for his sister.

Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2024/02/07/greg-wise-on-the-transcendent-dimensions-of-nature-death-and-acting

The Sacred is a podcast produced by the think tank Theos. Be sure to connect with us below to stay up-to-date with all our content, research and events.

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Elizabeth Oldfield is joined by producer Daniel Turner to answer questions sent in by listeners of the show.

Elizabeth Oldfield is joined by producer Daniel Turner to answer questions sent in by listeners of the show.

Thank you to Hannah Clifton, John Ablett, John Ranford, Jess Reid, AJ Bremner, Paul Mitchell, Marc Czerwinski, Anne Weinhold, Rishi Vaidya and Emily Rajeh for sending in your questions.

Special thanks Leanne Sedin for writing and producing the song Gather which you can listen to here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GWbq2ZIl2E

You can follow the rest of Leanne's work here: https://www.leannesedin.com/

CHAPTERS 00:00:00 Intro 00:06:48 Question 1 - Balancing communal acts with personal integrity 00:13:14 Question 2 - Is there anyone you'd like to invite back? 00:17:23 Question 3 - How do we do theology in the Anthropocene? 00:21:46 Question 4 - Finding community 00:30:06 Question 5 - How do you surrender? How do you believe? 00:44:22 Question 6 - Remaining positive about community after painful experiences 00:48:02 Question 7 - Church vs Nature 00:50:38 Question 8 - Sacred reflections 00:54:33 Question 9 - How can we counter a Christianity that is ideologically possessed? 00:59:00 Outro 01:01:30 Gather by Leanne Sedin

The Sacred is a podcast produced by the think tank Theos. Be sure to connect with us below to stay up-to-date with all our content, research and events.

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Elizabeth Oldfield reflections on the eighth series of The Sacred

This series of The Sacred Elizabeth spoke with nine fascinating individuals about their core values, and how the messages, philosophies and experiences from their childhood shaped them into the people they are today.

She spoke with Cole Arthur Riley, Thordis Elva, James Marriott, Tomiwa Owolade, Anne McElvoy, Tea Uglow, Iain McGilchrist and John Vervaeke.

In this reflection episode, Elizabeth takes a look back at all these conversations and dwells on a couple key threads that were prominent throughout.

Read 'Can there ever be a larger us in the Middle East?', which Elizabeth contributed to, here: https://larger.us/ideas/larger-us-middle-east/

CHAPTERS 00:00:00 Intro: Scheduling Beyond Demographic Boxes 00:03:00 Series Theme 1: Rigorous Particularity 00:03:59 Series Theme 2: Human Formation 00:07:52 Series Theme 3: Taking Time to Reflect 00:12:00 Series Theme 4: Anti–tribalism 00:15:29 Additional reflection: Israel and Gaza

The Sacred is a podcast produced by the think tank Theos. Be sure to connect with us below to stay up-to-date with all our content, research and events.

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