Matters of Life and Death
Premier Unbelievable?
All episodes
Best episodes
Seasons
Top 10 Matters of Life and Death Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Matters of Life and Death episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Matters of Life and Death for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Matters of Life and Death episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Tech hype: Should Christians resist or lean into AI?
Matters of Life and Death
03/20/24 • 57 min
The future of gender medicine and transgender children, with Dr Julie Maxwell
Matters of Life and Death
12/11/24 • 59 min
Prenatal screening: Is all knowledge a good thing?
Matters of Life and Death
10/23/24 • 69 min
Q&A: Did ending Roe v Wade actually save unborn children’s lives?
Matters of Life and Death
04/17/24 • 38 min
Earthquakes and cancer: Why is God’s good world so full of suffering? with Sharon Dirckx
Matters of Life and Death
11/20/24 • 65 min
Lucy Letby reconsidered: Innocence and guilt, partial evidence, and living with unknowns
Matters of Life and Death
08/28/24 • 56 min
Coronavirus: Miscounting deaths, the Sun’s front page, key workers with long covid and vaccine generosity
Matters of Life and Death
05/26/21 • 56 min
In today’s episode we’re returning to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s been almost six months since we last dedicated an episode to covid, and since then a lot has happened. Hundreds of millions of vaccine doses have been delivered around the world, but are they going to the right people at the right time? We now know the vaccines increase by a tiny amount the risk you might experience a dangerous blood clot in the brain – how have we done at understanding that risk and putting it in its proper context? We’re also sadly much more familiar with long covid– what’s going on there and how should we as a society look after those suffering these symptoms? And finally, does the way we count – or rather, significantly undercount – deaths caused by coronavirus really matter?
Please take our three-minute listener survey to help us improve the podcast - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJjFoI3G6a-5lJ07S7vBm_yxOkDVoDQXQfI6RnrZSJNI2zuw/viewform
The ONS report on how many people in the UK have long covid - https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/prevalenceofongoingsymptomsfollowingcoronaviruscovid19infectionintheuk/1april2021
The BBC Radio 4 programme on long covid - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000w4t4
The Sun's front page on the blood clot risk - https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14589798/brilliant-front-page-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine/
The government's information page on the blood clot risk with the covid vaccines - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-and-blood-clotting/covid-19-vaccination-and-blood-clotting
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Coronavirus: Thinking as a Christian during Covid-19
Matters of Life and Death
04/29/20 • 36 min
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Surveillance capitalism 1: Trillions of data points, clickbait, an advertising arms race, and BF Skinner’s pigeons
Matters of Life and Death
02/15/23 • 32 min
Every tap, swipe and click we make on our phones, tablets and laptops is being recorded by big tech firms. This is often called surveillance capitalism – a network of products and services we use every day which sucks up large quantities of data about us and then sells it on to advertisers at huge profits. It’s garnering increasing concern from citizens and regulators around the world, but should we care as Christians? What impact is this system having on once flourishing industries such as journalism or bookselling, let alone on us as human beings? And why have tech companies made their products so addictively hard to put down and stop tapping, swiping and clicking?
Some extra reading...
Surveillance capitalism: the hidden costs of the digital revolution, Jonathan Ebsworth, Samuel Johns, Michael Dodson, Cambridge Papers June 2021
The Question of Surveillance Capitalism, Nathan Mladin and Stephen Williams, in The Robot will see you Now: Artificial Intelligence and the Christian Faith, ed John Wyatt and Stephen Williams, SPCK, 2021
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Shoshana Zuboff, Profile Books, 2019
Atlas of AI: Power politics and the planetary costs of artificial intelligence, Kate Crawford, Yale University Press, 2021
Irresistible: The rise of addictive technology and the business of keeping us hooked, Adam Alter, Penguin, 2017
Hooked: how to build habit forming products, Nir Eyal, Penguin, 2019
Weapons of Math Destruction, Cathy O’Neil, Penguin, 2017
- Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173
- If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com
- For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
Infertility and IVF: Hidden wounds, premature quintuplets, embryo donation and the procreative-unitive bond
Matters of Life and Death
11/10/21 • 40 min
Today we are delving into a complex and sensitive topic – infertility and IVF. The statistics suggest about one in seven couples will be unable to conceive without some kind of medical intervention, and the most popular form of reproductive treatment is in vitro fertilisation – IVF. Partly because infertility is such a painful time for many of those experiencing it, we don’t talk about it much. The same is also true of IVF, even though today in some places the procedure now accounts for as many as five per cent of all births. In this episode we wanted to consider how infertility interacts with both church culture and broader society, for good or ill, and then examine the complicated ethical questions raised by IVF treatment.
Some links which may be helpful for Christians who are experiencing infertility:
Saltwater and Honey - a collection of voices sharing their stories about infertility, miscarriage, childlessness and faith, plus lots of resources
The Rhythm of Hope - an annual retreat and community for Christian couples
Waiting for Children - a course which many churches around the UK run, including HTB who are running it online
John's book Matters of Life and Death also has several chapters exploring infertility and reproductive technology.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Show more best episodes
Show more best episodes
FAQ
How many episodes does Matters of Life and Death have?
Matters of Life and Death currently has 173 episodes available.
What topics does Matters of Life and Death cover?
The podcast is about Religion & Spirituality, Podcasts and Science.
What is the most popular episode on Matters of Life and Death?
The episode title 'Pregnancy crisis: A constructive Christian response, heads versus hearts, paternalistic gynaecologists, and ambiguity in the ultrasound clinic' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Matters of Life and Death?
The average episode length on Matters of Life and Death is 43 minutes.
How often are episodes of Matters of Life and Death released?
Episodes of Matters of Life and Death are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Matters of Life and Death?
The first episode of Matters of Life and Death was released on Apr 23, 2020.
Show more FAQ
Show more FAQ