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In the first of two programmes, Mark Tully questions the apparent conflict between religion and reason and asks if the two are more closely related than we might think.

Rationalism often seems to exclude religious thought but, in conversation with Mark, neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield suggests that, far from being mutually exclusive, we should look to them both in order to make sense of our existence. And when it comes to advances in science, Mark asks if there are limits we should be prepared to put on our powers of inventiveness, and on our faith in reason to solve our problems.

On the one hand William Wordsworth implores us to "close up these barren leaves" of science and simply wonder at nature instead while, on the other, Charles Dickens' Mr Gradgrind demands that "by means of addition subtraction multiplication and division settle everything somehow, and Never Wonder!".

Thankfully, music from Johann Sebastian Bach and Hildegard de Bingen bring religion and science back into harmony.

The readers are Peter Guinness, Frank Stirling and Emily Raymond

Producer: Adam Fowler.
A Unique production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4.