21 December 2024
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MeaningofLife.tv videos
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Sep 17, 2016 — Nikita Petrov & George Young
What is Russian cosmism?
The religious side of cosmism
Cosmism as a response to the challenges of the 20th century
Nature as a temporary enemy and eternal friend
Pavel Florensky, the Russian da Vinci
Plant life as a spiritual ideal
The father of the Soviet space program, and his weird spirituality
Cosmism and transhumanism: Compare and contrast
Cosmism as a Russian propaganda project
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death
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technology
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the future
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transhumanism
Sep 12, 2016 — Robert Wright & Robert George
Why Robby refuses to support Trump
Is history shaped more by social forces or human agency?
Robby gives an insider’s view on why Appalachia is Trump country
The declining influence of religion
How a lack of humility poisons politics
Contempt in current political rhetoric
Robby: Politicians need to get out of the identity politics game
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Christianity
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ethics
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free will
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history
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moral imagination
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philosophy
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politics
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psychology
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religion
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tribalism
Aug 6, 2016 — Philip Menchaca & Benigno Sánchez-Eppler
Why Benigno is a Quaker
How do you find unity when God says different things to different people?
The many kinds of Quakers
What does a Quaker meeting look like?
What does a Quaker meeting feel like?
How the World Wars helped Quakers overcome their divisions
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Christianity
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religion
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ritual
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spirituality
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war
Aug 3, 2016 — Benjamin Perry & Emily Brewer
Presbyterians who say “no” to war
What’s the connection between religion and violence?
How Emily’s time in Guatemala led her to peacework
Emily: Conflict zones aren’t quite as scary as you might think
Ben: Am I praying wrong?
How can religious institutions get better at promoting peace?
TAGS
Christianity
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economics
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meditation
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moral imagination
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power
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prayer
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religion
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violence
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war
Jul 5, 2016 — Robert Wright & Steven Nadler
What made Spinoza a heretic?
Why Spinoza matters today
Perspectives on the purpose, if any, of nature
Religion: a source of morality, meaning, and fear
Spinoza’s mysticism—or lack thereof
Parallels between Spinozan and Buddhist thought
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ancient philosophy
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atheism
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Buddhism
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Christianity
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Donald Trump
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ethics
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evolution
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Judaism
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meditation
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mysticism
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philosophy
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politics
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religion
Jun 24, 2016 — Robert Wright & Daniel Kaufman
Understanding Saddam Hussein ≠ sympathy for Saddam Hussein
The ethics of punishing bad people
Dan vs. evolutionary psychology
Is religion really behind Sunni-Shia conflict?
The good side of tribalism
What does “mindfulness” actually mean?
TAGS
Christianity
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ethics
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Islam
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meditation
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mindfulness
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moral imagination
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philosophy
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psychology
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religion
Jun 20, 2016 — Robert Wright
The Cliff Notes version of Bob’s first four talks
Must a spiritual worldview include a “higher purpose”?
How non-zero-sum games shaped religion
Is God like an electron?
Everyone is deluded (but salvation is possible)
An ancient theology compatible with a modern mindset
Questions from the audience
TAGS
Buddhism
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Christianity
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consciousness
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game theory
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Islam
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meditation
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religion
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spirituality
Jun 9, 2016 — Robert Wright & Joseph Blankholm
Who attends a “Reason Rally”?
The non-believers who identify as religious
Sunday Assembly and evangelicals: compare and contrast
The spirituality of Sam Harris
Foreign policy and the New Atheists
The history of “secularism” and “humanism”
Atheist organizations in the U.S.
TAGS
atheism
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Christianity
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New Atheists
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religion
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secularism
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Sunday Assembly
Jun 1, 2016 — David Kyuman Kim & Brian McLaren
What is an “evangelical progressive Christian”?
Tribal tendencies in the evangelical community
The urge to annihilate the “other”
Do right beliefs lead to right actions?
The upside of despair
Our toxic political system
TAGS
Christianity
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compassion
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ethics
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love
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politics
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psychology
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tribalism
Apr 19, 2016 — Robert Wright & Gregg Easterbrook
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s path from conventional to radical theology
Bonhoeffer’s key beliefs and their manifestation
Back when theologists were celebrities
Gregg’s new play about Bonhoeffer
Reasons to think twice about assassinating Hitler
Wishing for a left-wing Christianity
TAGS
Christianity
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history
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politics
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religion
Mar 21, 2016 — Robert Wright & Sarah Posner
Why do people believe in Donald Trump?
Tapping into fear and resentment
What’s the appeal of vulgar rhetoric?
Us vs. Them
The “Trumpvangelical”
Donald Trump at AIPAC
TAGS
Christianity
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Donald Trump
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economics
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foreign policy
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moral imagination
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politics
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tribalism
Mar 6, 2016 — Robert Wright & Daniel Ingram
What is it like to be an arhat?
Perspectives on the self: It’s nothing, it’s everything
What enlightenment is, and what’s so great about it
Dwelling in enlightenment is easy, but getting there can be hard
Does enlightenment entail moral improvement?
Can meditation save—or impede salvation of—the world?
TAGS
Buddhism
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Christianity
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consciousness
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enlightenment
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happiness
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Hinduism
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meditation
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mysticism
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psychology
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religion
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self
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spirituality
Mar 1, 2016 — Robert Wright & Mark Smith
Considering the thesis of Mark’s new book
Secular Faith
Creative uses of the Scriptures by pro-choice and pro-life advocates
What shapes attitudes towards abortion?
Reinterpreting biblical condemnations of homosexuality
How cultural change affects religious thought
How cultural change affects religious institutions
TAGS
Christianity
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gender
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religion
Feb 16, 2016 — Robert Wright & Melanie Brewster
Melanie Brewster and other
Atheists in America
Can atheism be a source of community?
What about hope, consolation and wonder?
Melanie’s book and why it was originally titled
The Other Closet
Why do New Atheists tend to be white, male and angry?
Are atheists understudied?
TAGS
atheism
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Christianity
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ethics
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Islam
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psychology
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religion
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spirituality
Feb 11, 2016 — Robert Wright & Sarah Posner
The fractured evangelical vote
State of the evangelical mind (with a cameo by Sarah’s dog Karma)
The trajectory of Sarah’s relationship with Judaism
Journalistic work as a source of pleasure and meaning
Mourning without the consolation of an afterlife
Hillary’s brand of liberal Christianity
TAGS
Christianity
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death
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Donald Trump
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Islam
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Judaism
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media
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politics
Feb 4, 2016 — Robert Wright & Heather Hurlburt
Finding meaning in Washington D.C.
Heather’s spiritual life
Ways Episcopalians think about God
Tempting things public servants should avoid
The importance of being hokey
“There is no having it all”
TAGS
Christianity
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Donald Trump
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family
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Judaism
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Paul Tillich
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politics
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religion
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spirituality
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tribalism
Jan 19, 2016 — Robert Wright, Roger Haight & Paul Knitter
Jesus, Buddha, Roger and Paul: friends in conversation
How do you say “nirvana” in Christian?
The perennial philosophy
Religious pluralism as a political imperative
Why Paul will not live for eternity (and Roger will)
When Christian mysticism feels pretty Buddhist
TAGS
Buddhism
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Christianity
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mysticism
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peace
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religion
Jan 4, 2016 — Robert Wright & David Kyuman Kim
What is Confucianism?
Living with both a Confucian and a Christian identity
Wisdom accumulates slowly
The power (and difficulty) of radical love
Melancholic freedom and existential angst
Finding and losing meaning in the scientific age
TAGS
Christianity
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compassion
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fundamentalism
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love
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moral imagination
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technology
Dec 24, 2015 — Robert Wright & Michael Brendan Dougherty
Why conservative Catholic Michael likes the New Atheists
Finding strength and unity in Scripture
What’s the true meaning of Christmas?
Michael: Catholic ritual defines my religion
Michael’s Irish heritage and Bob’s West Texas roots
How a fear of Hell affects everyday life
TAGS
Christianity
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death
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New Atheists
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religion
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ritual
Dec 12, 2015 — Robert Wright & Pamela Cooper-White
Clergy as front-line therapists for parishioners
Personal guilt about God’s judgment
Using faith to counter a traumatic religious upbringing
Neoliberal capitalism and its discontents
A psychological reading of the Christian Trinity
Are humans making spiritual progress?
TAGS
Christianity
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psychology
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religion
Nov 23, 2015 — Robert Wright & David Carr
How personal trauma inspired David’s book on trauma and the Bible
Ancient Israel’s transition from polytheism to “monolatry”
The Babylonian exile and the birth of Abrahamic monotheism
The link between trauma and God’s covenant with Israel
Why the crucifixion of Jesus shocked his followers
Why have Biblical texts survived?
TAGS
Christianity
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Donald Trump
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foreign policy
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Islam
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Judaism
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monotheism
Nov 20, 2015 — Robert Wright & Paul Knitter
A Catholic questions whether Jesus is the “one and only savior”
How Paul integrates Buddhism and Christianity
Paul: Jesus, like the Buddha, “fully woke up”
How “interbeing” leads to loving thy neighbor
Meditation, the Eucharist, and the feeling that “all is well”
Paul: Peace in the world starts with peace within yourself
TAGS
Buddhism
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Christianity
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meditation
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mysticism
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religion
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self
Nov 16, 2015 — Daniel Kaufman & Leslie Baynes
Digging into C. S. Lewis’s “Liar, Lunatic, or Lord” argument
Did Jesus assert his own divinity?
Unpacking “son of God” and “son of man”
The Jesus of John vs. the Jesus of Mark
How to use the New Testament as a historical document
Why Leslie, a Christian, wants to rebut Lewis’s apologetic
TAGS
Christianity
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history
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Judaism
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religion
Oct 24, 2015 — Robert Wright & Aliou Niang
Parallels between Christianity and Africa’s Diola religion
Essential Diola ritual practices
How economics caused the French Imperial powers to suppress the Diola tradition
The land as a “living being”
Aliou’s path to Christianity via Diola and Sufi traditions
Reading Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians from a Diola perspective
TAGS
Christianity
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colonialism
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economics
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ritual
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Sufism
Sep 26, 2015 — Robert Wright & Glenn Loury
Glenn’s born-again Christian experience
A double life: Harvard professor and crack addict
How the death of a close friend shattered Glenn’s faith
Is a secular life a less meaningful life?
Glenn’s communitarian understanding of moral truth
Why hedonism isn’t enough
TAGS
Christianity
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death
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drugs
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family
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prayer
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religion
Sep 21, 2015 — Robert Wright & Andrew Sullivan
Andrew’s unorthodox Christianity
The darkest fifteen minutes of Andrew’s life
Andrew: “God is forgiveness”
Silent monks and psychedelic experiences
Jesus vs. Nietzsche
Andrew: Good religion, not atheism, will beat bad religion
TAGS
Christianity
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fundamentalism
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meditation
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religion
Sep 9, 2015 — Robert Wright & John Thatamanil
Paul Tillich’s conception of God as “the ground of being”
Viewing the Christian tradition as symbolic, not literal
Tillich’s engagement with Eastern mysticism
How Tillich wrestled with the problem of evil
Tillich’s recasting of the idea of divine revelation
Is there consolation in Tillich’s view of death?
TAGS
Buddhism
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Christianity
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free will
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mysticism
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Paul Tillich
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prayer
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religion
Aug 22, 2015 — Robert Wright & Jerusha Lamptey
Why Jerusha doesn’t call her path to Islam a “conversion”
Jerusha: In Islam, science and belief are not in opposition
Constructing a Muslim feminist theology
Taqwa
, the egalitarian idea of “God consciousness”
What the Koran says about the salvation of non-Muslims
Female Muslim scholars are between a rock and a hard place
TAGS
Christianity
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gender
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Islam
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religion
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science
Aug 18, 2015 — Robert Wright & Lucy Lawless
How Lucy, as Xena, became an icon for gay fans
Why do we search for meaning?
Bob tries to solve Lucy’s spiritual crisis
The psychological ups and down of a TV actor
How Lucy makes herself happy
Fighting worries about what others think of you
TAGS
Christianity
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gender
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happiness
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psychology
Aug 15, 2015 — Robert Wright & John Thatamanil
The Hindu idea that you are one with the universe
Moral implications of this idea of oneness
How different are Hindu and Buddhist philosophy?
Grappling with the Buddhist doctrine of “emptiness”
Connecting Hindu belief with the Christian Trinity
John: No, believers are not all “climbing the same mountain
TAGS
Buddhism
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Christianity
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Hinduism
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meditation
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religion
Aug 1, 2015 — Robert Wright & Karl Giberson
Why Adam is crucial to Christian theology
What happens when the Biblical Adam encounters modern genetics
The “slippery slope” of critical inquiry
What do you need to believe to be a Christian?
Trying to reconcile God as Creator with natural selection
Evolutionary psychology and the doctrine of original sin
TAGS
Christianity
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evolution
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fundamentalism
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genetics
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psychology
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religion
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sin
Jul 25, 2015 — Robert Wright & Gary Dorrien
A brief history of liberal theology
Does “theologically liberal” mean “politically liberal?”
When theologians appeared on the cover of
Time
The long lineage of identifying God with “being”
Hegel’s idealism and the Christian
logos
Challenges from neo-orthodoxy and liberation theology
TAGS
Christianity
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Paul Tillich
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religion
Jul 18, 2015 — Robert Wright & Judith Shulevitz
Can you have religion without belief?
Bob tries to convince Judith that she’s not an atheist
Judith: The Torah is true in the way that fairy tales are true
Why “purpose” isn’t talked about much in Judaism
A Jew can’t run away from being a Jew
How atheists can create community traditions
TAGS
atheism
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Christianity
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Judaism
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religion
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Sunday Assembly
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