Sunday 31st January

Greetings.

As January draws to a close, Oxfordshire awoke to a chilly morning and a packed Sunday Breakfast show.

The Dead Sea Scrolls
We heard from Geza Vermes, the Emeritus Professor of Jewish Studies at Oxford University. He recalled how he published the first doctoral dissertation on the Dead Sea Scrolls... in 1953. He has just brought out two books- one on this topic, and the other about the "real" Jesus. A fascinating man.

Poverty
This week it was revealed that the gap between rich and poor is wider today than it was forty years ago. Oxford's Chris Brazier (below), who co-edits the magazine New Internationalist, joined Phil in the studio to discuss poverty and its causes. They were joined on the line by David Stapleton from Banbury who runs a money management course, and Jim Hewitt who has run Blackbird Leys' Credit Union for twenty years.


'The Subversive Jesus'
Phil spoke to Mother Winsome from the community of St Mary the Virgin in Wantage about her story - she trained to be a lawyer in New York before deciding on a religious life. She is giving a talk at Christ Church, as part of their series entitled The Subversive Jesus.