In this episode Chris delivers Opinion Scholarship on the origins of Judeo-Christian monotheism. He takes us through the archeological record, exploring the Canaanite religion of El and seeking the mysterious origin of Yahweh. The questions arise: Was the religion of El the same as the religion of Yahweh? and Was El the same god as Yahweh? From here we step into controversial territory as we explore the possibility that both Yahweh and monotheism come not from ancient Judea, but from the Indo-European tribes of Europe.

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In this episode Chris explores the ideas of the ancient Greek, Neoplatonic philosopher--Iamblichus--through his correspondence with an ancient Egyptian priest. Iamblichus does something no philosopher did before him, at least not to such a degree; he questioned religious orthodoxy, expressed skepticism about the legitimacy of religious ritual and sacrifice and even of the priesthood itself. Along the way, however, he's striving to understand the nature of the divine at the deepest level. It turns out, there was no better source for answers to religious questions than the Egyptian priesthood, who benefited from the oldest and grandest religious tradition in all of the ancient world. And what did Iamblichus learn? It's not at all what you'd expect. 

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In this episode Chris engages with the ideas of author--Brian Cranely, in his book The Call of Wonder. He discusses the importance of the human experience of wonder and awe as a catalyst for opening one's mind to realities greater than oneself. He then moves to the Western philosophical tradition to trace how we have wrestled with the idea of 'greater realities,' leading to Plato's idea of forms and eventually to the realm of spirit as formulated in our religious traditions. Next, we trace the pedigree of the idea of God with a capital 'G,' beginning with Plato's idea of the Form of the Good in distinction to the gods of Olympus. From there we arrive at Aristotle's First Cause and start to pin down the qualities that such a thing must necessarily have--Unity, Eternity and Unknowability. From this basic pattern we arrive at the religious idea of the Image of God and describe how it is reflected in cosmology, biology and consciousness.

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In this episode Kyle and Chris reflect on the tragic death of Charlie Kirk. We discuss the state of discourse in the United States, the prevalence of debate over discussion and the slow progress of leftist totalitarianism and identity politics. We ask the question: How do we diagnose the cause of this new stream of anti-Western political violence? And after we're done licking our wounds, we ask: What can be done and what should be done to remove this cancer from our social body. We agree on one thing...that justice delivered to Charlie's killer is insufficient to prevent such things from recurring. More must be done. The public has expectations here from our leaders. Let's just hope they rise to the occasion.

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In this episode Chris interviews author Brian Cranely about his new book 'The Call of Wonder'. Brian studied biomedical engineering and built a career in the field before heeding the call of wonder, which put is professional career on hold in favor of divinity school where we received his graduate degree along with a heaping helping of philosophy! Brian's unique background, weighted equally in the domains of science and religion, inspired the message which became 'The Call of Wonder.' We discuss the key discoveries of ancient Greek philosophy, which , through logic and reason alone, brought such figures as Plato and Aristotle right to the precipice of monotheistic revelation. We touch on the impact of Greek philosophy on the early development of Christianity and on the medieval scholastic tradition, which succeeded in synthesizing them. And finally, we reach deeply into the speculative, discussing the Biblical 'Image of God' and how it can be seen reflected fractally in each of the great unexplained mysteries of science--the origin of the cosmos, of life and of the psyche.

Check Brian out at: briancranely.com & buy the book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/8cMP2JO

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In this episode Chris brings Opinion Scholarship on stories told about Jesus that appear in the historical record, but not in the canonical Bible. We explore weird tales from Jesus' childhood recorded in Gnostic gospels, refutations of Christ told by the Greeks and Jews of the first, second and third centuries AD, and lastly we explore the Talmud where uncanny tales of Jesus appear. Was Jesus a sorcerer or a genuine prophet? Was he man or God? Was he a carpenter or did he study under one of the greatest Rabbis of the Jewish Tradition? Find out here...

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