Socrates in the City

A conversation between David Berlinski and Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas regarding Dr. Berlinski’s recent book “Human Nature.” This event took place at the Union League Club in New York City in November 2022. Learn more about Socrates in the City at socratesinthecity.com. David Berlinski received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University and was later a postdoctoral fellow in mathematics and molecular biology at Columbia University. He has authored works on systems analysis, differential topology, theoretical biology, analytic philosophy, and the philosophy of mathematics, and three novels. He has taught philosophy, mathematics and English at Stanford, Rutgers, the City University of New York and the Université de Paris. David is the author of many books including the bestselling book The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions. Dr. Berlinski lives in Paris, France. The post David Berlinski: Human Nature first appeared on Socrates in the City.

A conversation between Dr. James Tour and Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas on the topic “How Did Life Come into Being?” This event took place at the River Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas in October 2022. Learn more about Socrates in the City at socratesinthecity.com. Dr. Tour is presently the T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Computer Science, and Professor of Materials Science and NanoEngineering at Rice University. He is widely regarded as among the leading nano-scientists in the world. The post James Tour: How Did Life Come into Being? first appeared on Socrates in the City.

A conversation between Eugenia Constantinou and Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas regarding Ms. Constantinou’s recent book: “The Crucifixion of the King of Glory.” This event took place at the Union League Club in New York City on February 28th, 2023. Learn more about Socrates in the City at socratesinthecity.com. Dr. Eugenia Constantinou is an acclaimed author and scholar who has earned six degrees in various disciplines, including a Masters in Theology from Harvard Divinity School, where she specialized in New Testament, a doctorate in law from Pepperdine University, a doctorate from the Universite Laval in Quebec, a Master of Theology from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Massachusetts, where she specialized in Orthodox Theology and Patristics, and a Master of Arts from the University of San Diego. Her book The Crucifixion of the King of Glory is a breathtaking multi-disciplinary masterpiece. Her previous book is titled Thinking Orthodox. Eugenia has for two decades taught Biblical Studies and Early Christianity at the University of San Diego, where she lives with her husband Father Kostas, a Greek Orthodox priest. The post Eugenia Constantinou: The Crucifixion of the King of Glory first appeared on Socrates in the City.

Os Guinness and Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas discuss Mr. Guinness’ recent books: “The Magna Carta of Humanity” and “Zero Dark America.” This event took place at the Union League Club in New York City on December 6th, 2022. Learn more about Socrates in the City at socratesinthecity.com. Os Guinness, author and speaker, is the great-great grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer. He was born in China in World War II where his parents were medical missionaries. A witness to the climax of the Chinese revolution in 1949, he was expelled with many other foreigners in 1951 and returned to Europe where he was educated in England. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of London and his D.Phil. in the social sciences from Oriel College, Oxford. In the late 1960s, Guinness was a leader at the L’Abri community in Switzerland and, after Oxford, a freelance reporter for the BBC. Guinness has written or edited more than thirty books and is a frequent speaker and seminar leader at political and business conferences in both the United States and Europe. He has also lectured at many universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, Harvard and Stanford, and has spoken at the White House, Capitol Hill and other public policy arenas around Washington D.C. area. The post Os Guinness: The Magna Carta of Humanity first appeared on Socrates in the City.

From the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776, to the California Gold Rush, to the Guano Islands Act of 1856, Socrates in the City guest Michael Medved and host Eric Metaxas discuss the idea that America’s existence and expansion has been divinely devised. Medved begins the conversation with a story about the miraculous life of his grandmother after finding a tumor at age fifty…and the conversation only gets more interesting from there! The two discuss Medved’s THE AMERICAN MIRACLE and GOD’S HAND ON AMERICA, two extraordinary books that display the highest level of scholarship while simultaneously being tremendously, gloriously readable. This event took place at Seattle’s Arctic Club in April 2023.The post Michael Medved: God’s Hand on America first appeared on Socrates in the City.

North Korean defector Yeonmi Park joins Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas to discuss her latest book WHILE TIME REMAINS. In this uniquely sobering SITC interview, Ms. Park details her early years: foraging for plants and eating bugs to stay alive in “Socialist Paradise,” her family’s involvement in the black market, escaping to China and being sold into slavery, and seeking freedom in South Korea by way of the Gobi Desert. The conversation then moves to Yeonmi’s time studying at Columbia University in New York City. With insight from her time spent in a dictatorship filled with indoctrination, censorship, and mob rule, Park speaks to the current American landscape. The interview took place on March 30th, 2023 — 16 years to the day of her escape from North Korea in 2007 — at the Union League Club in New York City. The post Yeonmi Park: While Time Remains first appeared on Socrates in the City.

A conversation between esteemed author Andrew Klavan and Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas regarding Mr. Klavan’s recent book, The Truth and Beauty: How the Lives and Works of England’s Greatest Poets Point the Way to a Deeper Understanding of the Words of Jesus. This event took place at the Union League Club in New York City in September 2022.The post Andrew Klavan: The Truth and Beauty first appeared on Socrates in the City.

Eric Metaxas interviews Stephen C. Meyer on the scientific evidence for the existence of God as outlined in Dr. Meyer’s book THE RETURN OF THE GOD HYPOTHESIS. Their conversation explores evidence from cosmology, showing that the material universe had a beginning; evidence from physics, showing that the universe was been “finely tuned” to allow for the possibility of life, and evidence from biology, showing that since the universe came into being, large amounts of genetic information present in DNA must have arisen to make life possible. Metaxas asks about the response to the 2021 book and Meyer details a dramatic shift in the intellectual world. He says that after the rise and fall of the popular arguments put forward by the “New Atheists” in the early 2000’s, groundbreaking scientific discoveries led to a return to belief. Meyer cites the rise of figures like psychologist Jordan Peterson and British historian Tom Holland who lament the loss of morality and look beyond the cynicism of the New Atheists by returning to conversations on truth and meaning. The interview took place at the Westminster Conference on Science and Faith, sponsored by the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, in April 2022.The post Stephen Meyer: The Return of the God Hypothesis first appeared on Socrates in the City.

From the Socrates in the City archives: Baroness Caroline Cox sits in the British House of Lords as a crossbencher and is a frequent contributor to Lords debates on Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Nigeria, and Burma. At this 2011 event in Manhattan, Baroness Cox discusses threats to the West’s cultural and political heritage in the U.K. and abroad.The post Baroness Caroline Cox: The Threat to the West's Cultural and Political Heritage first appeared on Socrates in the City.

Distinguished Fellow of The Center for Bioethics, physician, and Consulting Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University Medical Center William Hurlbut explores how dramatic advances in molecular biology and human biology have resulted in inquiry that raises questions about the relationship between the material form and the moral meaning of developing life. After unpacking the scientific arguments vs. the ethical, social, and political conflicts, Dr. Hurlbut proposes a way forward in this remarkably still-relevant lecture from a 2009 Socrates in the City event in New York City.The post William Hurlbut: The Science and Politics of Stem Cells: Is There a Way Forward? first appeared on Socrates in the City.