Dr. Brian Kemple of the Lyceum Institute joins Anthony Alberino for a discussion on digital technology and its relation to the human soul. Together they reflect philosophically on:

• the nature of technology
• the way in which technology psychologically attunes and structures us
• the prevalence of conspiratorial thinking in the digital environment
• the technologically mediated fragmentation of the human soul
• the impact of artificial intelligence
• the way to resist the malformation of the human soul in the digital age

See related episodes here: - https://youtu.be/jM3Vm6apEPk - https://youtu.be/1GxM-MqL3og

Link to the Lyceum Institute: https://lyceum.institute

In this second episode of The Dangers of the Digital Age, we reflect philosophically on how digital technology poses a profound threat to our humanity. What does it mean to be human in an age when our perceptions, desires, and attention are absorbed by screens? To illuminate this question, we turn to one of the most powerful allegories in the history of philosophy: Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” By revisiting Plato’s image through the lens of our digital condition, we uncover how the modern technological environment is not merely like Plato’s cave—it is, in many ways, its technological embodiment. In the Digital Cave, we see how: - Screens replace sunlight as our source of illumination. - Algorithms act as unseen puppeteers shaping what we perceive. - Habit and addiction become the chains that bind our wills. - Shadows—digital representations—replace real human encounters. But Plato also shows us a way out: the liberation of the soul through true education—a turning away from the glow of illusion toward the light of the real, the true, and the good.

We are all participants—willing or not—in the greatest social experiment in human history. In this inaugural episode of The Dangers of the Digital Age, we explore how the rise of the digitally networked environment has radically reshaped what it means to be human. Once a tool for information and communication, the digital world has evolved into the place where we live, move, and have our being. From social media to AI, technology has begun to form our perceptions, appetites, and even our capacity for free will.

This episode traces three key phases of the Digital Age:

• The Information Phase (1990s–2005). The birth of the internet and desktop computing.
• The Social Media Phase (2005–2020). The rise of platforms, smartphones, and algorithmic governance.
• The AI Phase (2020–Present). The dawn of autonomous systems shaping human behavior.

As philosopher Jacques Ellul warned, when technology advances without regard for the human good, “what can be done, will be done.” The question we now face is not simply how to use technology—but how to remain human in its midst.

Christian philosophers Anthony Alberino, Andrew Payne, and J. T. Bridges share their thoughts on the Charlie Kirk assassination.

What does it really mean to say that God is perfect and infinite? Too often, modern theology treats perfection simply as a value title—God as “the greatest being we can imagine.” But in the classical Christian tradition, perfection is not just a label. It is a deep metaphysical truth about God’s very being. In this episode, Anthony Alberino explores:

• The traditional meaning of perfection as excellence or completion of being.
• Why perfection is rooted in existence itself, the “act of all acts and perfection of all perfections.”
• The difference between relative perfection (as in creatures and angels) and - absolute perfection (found only in God).
• How God’s infinity is not quantitative (endless size or extension) but qualitative—the unbounded act of existence itself.
• Why divine perfection and infinity reveal God’s radical transcendence as the fullness of being, utterly beyond lack or limitation.

Taken together, these attributes show why God is not simply the highest being among others, but Being Itself—the infinite, perfect source on which all creatures depend.

For other episodes on the divine attributes see:

• https://youtu.be/tuUf7VCTGfM
• https://youtu.be/pQelAOAx-A8

For most of church history, Christians have confessed the doctrine of divine simplicity—the teaching that God is not composed of parts. But what does this mean, and why does it matter? In this episode, Anthony Alberino explores the profound connection between God’s simplicity and His unity. We’ll see why the classical tradition insists that God is not only without physical parts but also without metaphysical or even logical parts. Unlike creatures—composites of act and potency, essence and existence—God is utterly uncomposed. Because composed beings are dependent beings, only a God who is absolutely simple can be the uncaused, necessary, and independent source of all reality. From here, Anthony shows how divine simplicity grounds divine unity:

• Simplicity means that God not composed of parts and that all that is in God is God. His attributes are not distinct “parts” but are identical with His essence—and thus with each other.
• Unity follows because an absolutely simple being cannot, even in principle, be divided. God is not one member of a class called “deity,” but the one and only subsistent Being itself.

Along the way, we’ll consider why the attributes of God—wisdom, love, justice, power—are distinct in our minds but perfectly identical in God’s essence, using the analogy of white light refracted through a prism. We’ll also see how divine simplicity marks the sharp metaphysical divide between Creator and creature, and why this doctrine has been central to Christian theology throughout the centuries. Finally, we touch on the connection between divine simplicity and the doctrine of the Trinity, and why classical theology maintains that distinction within God does not imply composition. If you’re seeking to understand why divine simplicity has been called “the bedrock of classical theism,” this episode is for you.

• 📺 Watch next: https://youtu.be/tuUf7VCTGfM, https://youtu.be/LeyRhQD7IWQ

At the very heart of classical theism stands the doctrine of Divine Aseity—the truth that God exists a se, “from Himself.” Unlike all created beings who are contingent, dependent, and derived, God alone is self-existent, self-sufficient, and uncaused. He is the ultimate explanation of His own being, the First Cause, and the ground of all reality. In this video, Anthony Alberino explores the rich meaning of divine aseity—both its negative aspect (God’s ontological independence: uncreated, uncaused, underived) and its positive aspect (God as pure actuality, the ultimate reality upon which all else depends).

We’ll examine:

• Why divine aseity means God is a necessary being that cannot fail to exist.
• The common misunderstanding behind the skeptic’s question, “What caused God?” -
• Why God is the explanation of His own existence (not His own cause).
• Aquinas’ profound insight that God is not composed of act and potency but is Pure Act, whose very essence is existence—I AM WHO I AM.

By unpacking this doctrine, we see why God is not just another being among beings, but Being Itself Subsisting—the transcendent source of all that is.

If you want to go deeper into classical Christian theology and understand how divine aseity illuminates the uniqueness of God’s nature, this teaching is for you.

In this episode, Anthony Alberino and Andrew Payne critically interact with one of the most popular and philosophically sophisticated attempts to reconcile God’s sovereignty with human libertarian freedom: Molinism. We’ve already considered the Thomistic “Dual Sources” view with Dr. Matthews Grant, and in the last episode we examined Open Theism. Now, we look at Molinism — a view originating with the 16th-century Jesuit Luis de Molina and defended today by leading philosophers such as Alvin Plantinga, William Lane Craig, and Thomas Flint. Molinism hinges on the idea of middle knowledge: God’s knowledge of what any possible free creature would do in any possible circumstance. By appealing to middle knowledge, Molinists argue that God can sovereignly order the world while preserving genuine human freedom.

In this discussion, we:

• Explain Molina’s distinction between natural knowledge, middle knowledge, and free knowledge.
• Show how middle knowledge is supposed to secure both meticulous providence and libertarian free will.
• Explore why Molinism has been attractive to many theologians and philosophers, particularly within Arminian circles.
• Critically engage key challenges to Molinism, including the grounding objection, the tension with libertarian freedom, and problems related to divine aseity, simplicity, and sovereignty.
• Compare Molinism with both Open Theism and classical theism to see whether it truly resolves the tension between divine providence and human agency.

Does Molinism succeed where other views fail? Or does it compromise God’s ultimacy and the very nature of freedom? Join us as we unpack and critically examine this influential theological model.

In this in-depth conversation, Anthony Alberino and Andrew Payne tackle a theological proposal that has gained traction among some evangelicals: Open Theism. This view seeks to solve the long-debated tension between divine sovereignty and human freedom by rethinking the nature of God and especially his relationship to time and his knowledge of future free acts. Anthony and Andrew first explain the core claims of Open Theism, including its approach to divine foreknowledge and human choice. They then offer an extended critique, exploring its biblical, philosophical, and doctrinal implications—and why they believe it ultimately fails to provide a faithful solution to the sovereignty–freedom puzzle. Topics covered in this video:

• What is Open Theism?
• Why some evangelicals are attracted to it
• How it addresses the tension between God’s sovereignty and human freedom
• Key philosophical, theological, and biblical objections
• Why Anthony and Andrew believe a better solution exists

If you’ve ever wrestled with how God’s sovereignty works alongside genuine human choices, or if you’ve encountered Open Theism and want to understand it critically, this conversation is for you.

When it comes to the question of divine and human agency, the prevailing view among Christian theologians and philosophers (not to mention Christian laypeople) is that it is zero sum game. In other words, the more agency God exercises over the human will, the less agency the human has. It seems like we have to make a choice here. We have to either choose to uphold God’s universal causality and diminish human freedom or choose to uphold human freedom and diminish God’s causality. But, in his book Free Will and God’s Universal Causality, Dr. W. Matthews Grant denies that such a choice has to be made. Dr. Grant argues that by embracing a Dual Sources Account, we can resolve the conflict between human freedom divine causality without diminishing either. In this episode of Think for Christ, Dr. W. Matthews Grant joins Anthony Alberino to talk about divine causation and human freedom and the Dual Sources Account.

• Amazon link to Dr. Grant's book: https://www.amazon.com/Free-Will-Gods-Universal-Causality/dp/1350203653/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LU8U1F0F33LA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.yPOEXNqMWQnSZ0anoQnRHA.9BVmBQGe7yInHlYeBwTy1HwtgZGKH8ZaTyRuBDJVxLE&dib_tag=se&keywords=free+will+and+god%27s+universal+causality&qid=1754063323&sprefix=free+will+and+God%27s+univeral%2Caps%2C119&sr=8-1
• Link to the paper mentioned in the episode: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11406-024-00790-w