Our learning library

Paula Gooder talks about who St Paul really was, what formed him and what drove him.

Paula Gooder introduces some of her favourite psalms and their themes of joy, lament, comfort and reconciliation, and reflects on how they can draw us closer to God. With live music from members of the St Paul’s Cathedral Consort performing settings of psalms from across the centuries and readings by Adjoa Andoh, actor and Licenced Lay Minister in the Church of England.

Charlotte Gibson reflects on contemporary and ancient icons, and their place in our faith today.

Cally Hammond introduces Augustine of Hippo, his life story, his most famous book Confessions, and his ways of prayer. She also explores why she thinks his difficult reputation is wrong, why he matters today and how he can be a teacher and a companion to us in our lives of faith. You can find the handout that the speaker refers to here.

Jarel Robinson-Brown reflects on the lives of the Saints, particularly through the life of St Augustine, and what they can teach us about being holy and truly human.

Pádraig Ó Tuama introduces his book In the Shelter, and its themes of how stories and language can help us to negotiate our lives, our fears and our faith with authenticity and courage. He tells stories from his own life and experiences, reads some of his poems and answers questions.

An academic seminar titled 'Contemplation in the city: some modern approaches to prayer in the urban landscape' in which Rowan Williams talks about about Madeleine Delbrêl. Part of the Koinonia lectures for 2022-23, co-organised by the Diocese of London, St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, which offer an opportunity to engage with the latest research from a wide range of theological and ecclesiological thinkers.

Biblical scholar Paula Gooder says that stories and storytelling make all the difference to our understanding of the New Testament. In this conversation with Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley she talks about her new book 'Lydia', her second narrative exploration of a woman in the early church, which opens up life as a Christian in first-century Philippi and Paul’s letter to the new church there.

Etty Hillesum was a young Jewish woman living in occupied Amsterdam in the 1940s who chronicled both what was happening around her, and her own deepening spiritual life and refusal to hate or to hide. Patrick Woodhouse introduces her story, her thinking, what we might learn from it today, and reads from her writings.

Canon Chancellor, Dr Paula Gooder, reflects on dying well as we mourn the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Bishop Graham Usher reflects on how we can listen to the Voice of Creation in a time of climate change.

Graham Usher explores why so many of us encounter the presence of God in landscapes, and also key moments in the Bible where people encounter God in the natural world. In particular, he talks about what mountains mean to him and what they signify in the Bible: places where heaven and earth meet.