The Russian Orthodox Church and Putin, why the vote for the Archbishop of Canterbury has taken so long, and philosopher Joseph Pearces transformation from racist thug to renowned biographer

Christian nationalism is a phenomenon we usually associate with the United States. But it’s also a driving force behind Vladimir Putin and his war on Ukraine. MARLENE LARUELLE specialises in the fusion of religion and global politics at George Washington University. She writes about Russian Christian nationalism in the Journal of Illiberalism Studies. 

Why is taking so long to choose a new leader of the world’s 80 million Anglicans? It took the Catholic Church about three weeks from the death of Pope Francis to elect his successor, Pope Leo. But it’s almost seven months since Justin Welby resigned, in controversial circumstances, as Archbishop of Canterbury. MADELEINE DAVIES of The Church Times in Britain has some answers – and a tip about his replacement.

How did a young man go from being a racist teenage thug,  who did gaol time, to one of the world’s leading Catholic writers. You can thank that lovable character from the G.K. Chesterton novels, Father Brown. JOSEPH PEARCE became captivated by the gentle, crime-solving priest, turned his life around and became a biographer of Chesterton and J.R.R. Tolkien. He brought his extraordinary story to Australia recently as a guest of Hartford College, a liberal studies school in Sydney.

GUESTS:

• Marlene Laruelle Research Professor and Director of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at the George Washington University. 
• Madeleine Davies journalist at The Church Times
• Joseph Pearce is a US based British philosopher and author