Skip to content
The Good Samaritan episode artwork

Dec 11, 2017 27 min

The Good Samaritan

from Beyond Belief Hosted by BBC Radio 4

Politicians these days are not much given to quoting the Bible; but the Good Samaritan is the exception. Mrs Thatcher pointed out that he was only in a position to help because he was rich. Gordon Brown touched on the parable in support of bailing out the banks. Hilary Benn used it to justify bombing Syria. How can one story be used to support such diverse political policies? Why is it so popular? What resonance does the Good Samaritan have today? Joining Ernie Rea to discuss the political interpretations of the Good Samaritan are Nick Spencer Research Director of Theos, the religion and society Think Tank and author of 'The Political Samaritan'; the Rev Leslie Griffiths (Lord Griffiths of Burry Port) who sits as a Life Peer on the Labour benches; and Adrian Hilton, Director of Education at the Thatcher Centre. Producer: Helen Lee.

Episode details come from the podcast's RSS feed.

Embed this episode

Ready to play

The Good Samaritan

0:00 27:12

No transcript yet.

Requests help us decide what to transcribe next.

Frequently asked questions

How long is this episode of Beyond Belief?

This episode is 27 minutes long.

When was this Beyond Belief episode published?

This episode was published on December 11, 2017.

Can I download this Beyond Belief episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.