Within Reason - podcast cover

Within Reason

Alex J O'Connor•www.cosmicskeptic.com
Society & Culture
Philosophy
For the curious. A philosophy podcast that sometimes flirts with other disciplines, Within Reason has featured guests including Richard Dawkins, Douglas Murray, William Lane Craig, Peter Singer, Konstantin Kisin, and Neil deGrasse Tyson.
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Episodes

#95 James McGrath: John the Baptist, the Bible's Most Mysterious Man

James Frank McGrath is the Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University. He is the author of two books on John the Baptist: "John of History, Baptist of Faith: The Quest for the Historical Baptiser" , and "Christmaker: A Life of John the Baptist" . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 31, 2025•1 hr 24 min

#94 Dan McClellan - What Does the Bible Say About Abortion?

Dan McClellan discusses common misinterpretations of the Bible, particularly regarding inspiration, slavery, and abortion, highlighting the importance of historical context and linguistic accuracy. He argues against a univocal reading of scripture, emphasizing the diversity of views within biblical texts and the influence of later interpretations. The conversation also explores the complex history of abortion views within Christianity and the role of political motivations in shaping religious stances.

Jan 27, 2025•1 hr 20 min

#93 The Etymology Nerd - How Social Media is Transforming Our Language

Adam Aleksic is a linguist known online as "The Etymology Nerd". His educational videos are watched regularly by millions. His forthcoming book " Algospeak " is currently available for preorder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 10 min

#92 Bart Ehrman - The Dark Side of Christmas

Bart Ehrman is a New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. Get Bart Ehrman's new course, The Dark Side of Christmas (affiliate link). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 20, 2024•1 hr 1 min

#91 Filip Holm - What is Sufism? Islam and Mystical Experience

Filip Holm is the creator and host of " Lets Talk Religion ", a YouTube channel which aims to educate on the subject of religion from an academic perspective. He joins the show to discuss Sufism, which can broadly be defined as the mystical tradition within Islam. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 13, 2024•1 hr 24 min

#90 Rainn Wilson - Reclaiming Spirituality From Traditional Religion

Rainn Wilson is the actor and comedian best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the The Office (US), for which he received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He is also the host of ‪ ‪Soul Boom‬ , a podcast discussing spirituality, and authored a book of the same name exploring how we can use spiritual tools to help solve some of life's problems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

Dec 06, 2024•1 hr 37 min

#89 The Cultural Tutor - The Philosophy and Ethics of Art

Sheehan Quirke is the Cultural Tutor, a writer with 1.7 million followers on X . His work on art, history, and architecture is some of the most widely-enjoyed in the world. He writes a newsletter called the Areopagus . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 28, 2024•1 hr 2 min

#88 Ayaan Hirsi Ali - Why I Converted To Christianity

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born Dutch-American writer, activist and former politician. Once an advocate for the new atheist movement, she last year announced her conversion to Christianity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 22, 2024•1 hr 3 min

#87 Cliffe and Stuart Knechtle - Biblical Slaves, Women, and the Unforgivable Sin

Cliffe and Stuart Knechtle run the extremely popular online Christian ministry ‪'Give Me an Answer'‬ . In this episode they discuss troubling passages in the Old Testament, New Testament sexism, Job, doubting Thomas, the unforgivable sin (blaspheming the Holy Spirit), and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 13, 2024•2 hr 46 min

#86 Pre-Election Podcast - Destiny on Immigration, Trump, and Voter ID

Steven Bonnell II, known online as Destiny , is an American live streamer and political commentator. He joins me to talk about Trump, Kamala, Biden, Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, Mark Zuckerberg, Voter ID, immigration, demographic change, and who to vote for in the upcoming election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 31, 2024•1 hr 38 min

#85 Magnify - 7 Translation Problems in Genesis

Magnify is a YouTube channel of mostly short-form content, covering interesting details across history, linguistics, and religion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 37 min

#84 David Nutt - The Truth About Drugs

David Nutt is an English neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in the research of drugs that affect the brain and conditions such as addiction, anxiety, and sleep. He was the UK Government's chief advisor on drug policy. He was fired in 2009 after criticising the Government's approach to drug harms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 22, 2024•59 min

#83 Esoterica - The History of the Demiurge

Justin Sledge is currently a part-time professor of philosophy and religion at several institutions in the Metro-Detroit area and a popular local educator. His YouTube channel is " Esoterica ". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 15, 2024•1 hr 50 min

#82 Joe Folley - 9 Questions Atheists Cannot Answer

oe Folley runs the YouTube channel Unsolicited Advice . he graduated from Cambridge University with an MPhil in Philosophy, specialising in logic, in 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 09, 2024•2 hr 30 min

#81 Nick Bostrom - How To Prevent AI Catastrophe

Nick Bostrom is a philosopher known for his work on existential risk, the anthropic principle, human enhancement ethics, whole brain emulation, and superintelligence risks. His recent book, Deep Utopia , explores what might happen if we get AI development right. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 01, 2024•1 hr 2 min

#79 Elaine Pagels - The Origin of Satan

Elaine Pagels is an American historian of religion. She is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. Pagels has conducted extensive research into early Christianity and Gnosticism. Buy "The Origin of Satan" by Elaine Pagels here . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 11, 2024•1 hr 9 min

#78 Rory Sutherland - Why Logical Thinking is Illogical

Rory Sutherland is a British advertising executive, and vice chairman of the Ogilvy & Mather group of companies. His book, Alchemy, is available here . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 29, 2024•1 hr 49 min

#77 Bart Ehrman - What is the Gospel of Judas?

Bart Ehrman is a New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He was one of the first people in the world to see the rediscovered manuscript of the Gospel of Judas, when he was asked by National Geographic to join a small team of experts who verified its authenticity. Study Bart Ehrman's courses and support the show at https://www.bartehrman.com/alex Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m...

Jul 21, 2024•1 hr 51 min

#74 Rabbi David Wolpe - What is Judaism?

David Wolpe is an American rabbi, and Visiting Scholar at Harvard Divinity School. He was named the most influential Rabbi in America by Newsweek in 2012. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 30, 2024•1 hr 19 min

#73 Arguments for Atheism Tier List w/ Joe Schmid!

Joe Schmid is a PhD student in philosophy at Princeton University. He graduated with a B.A. in philosophy from Purdue University in 2022. He has published articles in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of time, and the author of books including "Existential Inertia and Classical Theistic Proofs". He runs the YouTube channel, "Majesty of Reason". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 23, 2024•2 hr 36 min

#72 John Nelson - What Did Jesus Really Look Like?

John Nelson holds a PhD in Biblical Studies from the University of Edinburgh. His thesis is the first book-length study of Jesus' physical appearance in the Gospels. He runs a weekly Substack called "Behind the Gospels" which aims to make Biblical studies accessible to all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 16, 2024•1 hr 5 min

#71 Unsolicited Advice - An Introduction to Nihilism

Joe Folley is the creator of the YouTube channel "Unsolicited Advice" which creates short, digestible philosophical videos on a wide range of topics. He joins me today to discuss nihilism: its history, its meaning, and its significance in philosophy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 09, 2024•1 hr 20 min

#69 Iain McGilchrist - The Mind is More Than a Machine

Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, writer, and former Oxford literary scholar. McGilchrist came to prominence after the publication of his book The Master and His Emissary , subtitled The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 26, 2024•1 hr 40 min

#68 Andrew Mark Henry - What is The Gospel of Thomas?

Andrew Mark Henry is a scholar of religious studies. His research focus is early Christianity and late Roman religion. He earned his PhD at Boston University. His YouTube channel is "Religion for Breakfast". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 19, 2024•1 hr 24 min

#67 Elaine Pagels | What Are The Gnostic Gospels?

Elaine Pagels is an American historian of religion. She is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. Pagels has conducted extensive research into early Christianity and Gnosticism. See me speak at Level Up in Atlanta this June: http://levelupconferences.org/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

May 13, 2024•1 hr 9 min
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