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New Reformation

Five hundred years after Luther's Reformation, Mark Tully examines calls for reforming today's church to tackle issues like declining congregations, feminism and homosexuality.

500 years after Luther's Reformation, Mark Tully examines calls for reforming today's church to address issues like declining congregations and influence, feminism and homosexuality.

Beginning with St Francis of Assisi who believed he had heard Jesus saying to him, "rebuild my church," Mark explores the growing impetus for reformation in today's Christian Church and particularly the calls for a return to spiritual traditions that have atrophied in mainstream churches.

He also looks at other faith traditions, finding practitioners - both contemporary and ancient - who have embraced more mystic expressions of faith.

However, he warns about exaggerating the need for reform, arguing that perhaps what any expression of faith needs most of all is to demonstrate that they have spiritual life and celebrate the grandeur of God.

Producer: Adam Fowler
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.

30 minutes

Last on

Sun 16 Jul 201723:30
BBC Radio 4

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Music Played

  • Melchior Franck

    Burg Is Unser Gott in F Major

    Performer: Vox Luminus. Performer: Bart Jacobs.
    • Luther and the Music of the Reformation.
    • Outhere.

  • Francis Poulenc

    Quatre petites prie`res de Saint Franc¸ois d'Assise: IV. "O^ mes tre`s chers fre`res"

    Performer: Westminster Cathedral Choir. Performer: Iain Simcock. Performer: James O’Donnell.
    • Poulenc: Mass.
    • Hyperion.
    • CDA66664.

  • Bob Marley

    Natural Mystic

    Performer: Bob Marley.
    • Exodus.
    • Tuff Gong.
    • 548-8982.

  • Tarik O’Regan

    Fleeting God

    Performer: The Sixteen. Performer: Harry Christophers.
    • O Guiding Night.
    • Coro.
    • 16090.

  • Loreena Mc

    The Mystic's Dream

    Performer: Loreena McKennitt.

  • Samuel Barber

    God's Grandeur for double chorus

    Performer: Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir. Performer: Paul Spicer.
    • Choral Music by Samuel Barber.
    • Somm.
    • SOMM0152.

Readings

Title: Making Christianity Relevant Again

Author: Richard Rohr

Published by the Center for Action and Contemplation, cac.org

Anne Rice Facebook Status

Interview with Lorraine Cavanagh

Title: ‘It’s True, I went to the market’ 

Author: Mirabi

Published in Mirabi: Ecstatic Poems pub Beacon Press, ed. Robert Bly and Jane Hirshfield, trans. Robert Bly

Title: You Have Infused My Being

Author: Rabia Basri

Title: Reason, Faith and Revolution 

Author: Terry Eagleton 

Published by Yale Press

Title: God's Grandeur 

Author: Gerard Manly Hopkins 

Found in Poems and Prose published by Penguin Classics (1985)

Broadcasts

  • Sun 16 Jul 201706:05
    BBC Radio 4
  • Sun 16 Jul 201723:30
    BBC Radio 4