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Lent Talks on Truth to Power

Written and Presented by The Right Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin the Bishop of Dover and the Bishop in Canterbury.

When I was at theological college, I had an Old Testament lecturer who brought the Old Testament to life for me. There was a particular theme that connected with me, it was the fearlessness of the prophets. These men were simply not afraid to speak ‘truth to power.’ The fact that they might even be endangering their lives by speaking up and speaking out was the least of their concerns. The prophets had a sense of responsibility to address whatever the issues of injustice were. They were like a dog with a bone, pressing home their point, and using whatever means were at their disposal, whatever the cost. In the New Testament, we also see examples of prophetic witnesses and Jesus’ ministry is an example of this. Deep within, I feel we need in our present times more prophetic witnesses in our midst. Most of the events making our news headlines all speak into a lack of fearless men and women, morally upstanding who are prepared to speak truth to power. The Windrush and Post Office scandals; the Covid Inquiry; Grenfell Tower and the Israel Gaza war to name but a few. Where were the fearless prophets in these situations, the strong critical friends who were simply not afraid to speak truth to power? Had they spoken up initially the outcomes no doubt may have been very different. Our world needs more Nathans (the prophet who challenged King David), not scoops on the front page of certain newspapers: men and women of integrity and conviction who are unafraid to speak truth to power.

Producer: Carmel Lonergan
Editor: Tim Pemberton