THE TRANSFORMATIVE LIFE OF ETTY HILLESUM | The Free Radical Podcast # EP 75 — Patrick Woodhouse 8/5/26
On this episode of the Free Radical Podcast, we are joined by Anglican priest, author, and former Canon of Wells Cathedral, Patrick Woodhouse. Our conversation unfolds through faith, suffering, and the possibility of transformation within life’s most difficult experiences. We discuss the search for meaning beyond fixed religious boundaries, including the ways in which faith can emerge in unexpected forms and settings.
Much of the discussion is shaped by Woodhouse’s engagement with the life and writings of Etty Hillesum, particularly through Patrick’s book Etty Hillesum: A Life Transformed, alongside his work Life Transformed and Life in the Psalms: Contemporary Meaning in Ancient Texts (Bloomsbury). Through these texts, he explores how ancient spiritual traditions and modern testimony can speak into questions that remain urgently present today: how to live with grief and tragedy, how to understand hope without denial, and how praise and lament can coexist within a single life.
At its heart, this episode invites reflection on how Etty Hillesum’s witness, along with the enduring voice of the Psalms, continues to offer language for both despair and hope in a complex and unsettled world.
on Youtube! Swami Padmanabha – YouTube