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Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio 4's Lent Talks 2009 take the theme of "the absence of God" as a starting point for reflection. Each of this year's six speakers reflects on experiences where they have felt such an absence and explain how this has altered or affected their own beliefs and understanding of God.

The Lent Talks will be broadcast on Radio 4 at 8.45pm every Wednesday for six weeks from Wednesday 4 March.

This year's speakers are:

Martin Bell, the British UNICEF Ambassador and former broadcast war reporter, reflects on his time in battle zones and how leaders and armies have perceived God in those situations.

Richard Holloway, previously Bishop of Edinburgh and once described as an "atheist bishop", speaks from a position where God has become, for him, indescribable but still possible to experience.

Sr Frances Dominica, founder and trustee of Helen & Douglas House, hospices for children and young adults with life-shortening conditions, draws from her own experience of supporting the dying and their loved ones at a time when God may be thought to have withdrawn in some way.

George Pattison, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford and a canon of Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, argues that God's absence might be viewed in a positive way.

Frank Field, MP for Birkenhead, considers how the impact of a perceived absence of God has affected both society and a shared sense of community.

Melissa Raphael, professor of Jewish Theology at the University of Gloucestershire, looks at the Holocaust and the experience of God's absence for those in the death camps.

Michael Wakelin, Head of Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Religion and Ethics, says: "This year's Lent talks address ideas of the absence of God as a challenge to mature thinking for believers. The gospels suggest Jesus' experience in the desert helped prepare him for ministry and to have been instrumental in forming his understanding of God, and his own identity and mission.

"Of all places, perhaps the wilderness has a symbolic significance where absence offers a context for fresh thinking about the human encounter with the divine in any age."

Notes to Editors

The programme is a Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Manchester Production. The producer is Clair Jaquiss.

Each Lent Talk will be repeated on the Monday following the original broadcast at 00.30am – except for the final talk repeat will be broadcast on Saturday 11 April at 5.45am.

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