Show Notes
For decades, Western culture has asked, “What is my purpose?” Many have been told that meaning is subjective, truth is relative, and every grand narrative should be questioned. Yet in the midst of rising skepticism, anxiety, and the rapid growth of the religious “nones,” a surprising shift seems to be taking place: people are searching for meaning once again. In this thought-provoking Socrates in the City conversation, Eric Metaxas is joined by Paul Anleitner, who discusses the ideas behind his new book “Based on a True Story: Vibe Shifts, the End of Deconstruction, and the Reboot of Meaning,” exploring why our deepest human longing is not merely for comfort or success, but for purpose. From the cultural revolutions of Woodstock to the enduring appeal of Rocky Balboa and the music of the Eagles, and from the moral worlds of The Cosby Show to the ironic detachment of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Anleitner traces how popular culture has reflected—and shaped—our changing understanding of truth, identity, and fulfillment. Why has deconstruction become such a defining feature of modern life, and why does it seem to be losing its grip? Are we finally moving beyond nihilism toward a renewed search for transcendent meaning? Together, they examine why Christianity continues to offer a compelling answer to humanity’s oldest and most important question: What is the meaning of life? The post Eric Metaxas and Paul Anleitner: What is the Meaning of Life? first appeared on Socrates in the City.
More from Socrates in the City
What happens when the myth of human progress begins to crack? In this meeting of the minds, Socrates in the City co-contributors Mary Harrington and Joe Loconte explore the intellectual and cultural aftermath of the First World War—and the profound questions it raised about technology, human nature, and the promise of progress. Beginning with Loconte’s first book, which examines the shattering of the optimistic vision of progress after World War I, the conversation turns to C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, whose work wrestled with many of the same anxieties about modernity, power, and the limits of human mastery. From “That Hideous Strength” and Lewis’s prescient concerns about automation and the manipulation of human thought to America’s enduring fascination with “The Lord of the Rings,” Harrington and Loconte ask what these stories reveal about the way we understand ourselves—and whether the myth of progress was ever truly shattered in the first place. The post Joseph Loconte and Mary Harrington: Was the Myth of Progress Ever Really Shattered? first appeared on Socrates in the City.
In this episode of The Revolution, Socrates in the City travels to the historic Conference House—the very room where General Howe, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin once gathered to debate what might come next—to interview Andrew O’Shaughnessy. He joins host Eric Metaxas to discuss his acclaimed book “The Men Who Lost America.”
In this episode of Socrates Dialogues with Mary Harrington, she is joined by D.W. Pasulka, professor of religious studies and author of American Cosmic and Encounters, to explore her newest book “The Others: UFOs, AI, and the Secret Forces Guiding Human Destiny” and the strange and often overlooked relationship between religion, technology, and the uncanny. The conversation moves from her academic journey—from studying purgatory and Marian visions to investigating modern technological developments and the cultural phenomenon of UFOs—raising the provocative possibility that what we once understood as religious visions may now be interpreted through the language of technology. Drawing on René Girard’s work on religion, violence, and human imitation, Pasulka reaches even further back to Plato and Socrates, whose ancient questions about perception, knowledge, and reality seem remarkably prescient in an age increasingly shaped by technological spaces. The two explore the implications of Plato’s Cave, which describes a world in which shadows could be mistaken for reality—who are the modern puppet masters, and what happens when the technologies shaping our “cave” are increasingly invisible, immersive, and powerful? Are we still watching shadows on the wall, or have we begun to build the cave ourselves? The post D.W. Pasulka and Mary Harrington: UFOs, AI, and the Secret Forces Guiding Human Destiny first appeared on Socrates in the City.
In this episode of Socrates in Oxford, host Eric Metaxas is joined by Lord Nigel Biggar—author, scholar, and minister—who examines the complicated history of the British Empire and challenges the increasingly simple narrative that colonialism was an unqualified force for evil.
In this episode of Socrates in Oxford, host Eric Metaxas is joined by James Orr—theologian, philosopher, and now politician—who reflects on his journey to Christ and his discovery of philosophy’s power to make sense of the world we inhabit. From the classical arguments of Thomas Aquinas and St. Anselm to questions of being, human nature, moral truth, and the existence of God, Orr explores why these ancient debates still matter profoundly in the modern world. He challenges the “nothing-but” thinking that reduces humanity and reality to mere biology, chemistry, or material processes, and considers what happens when we lose our sense of absolute truth and objective morality. Throughout this conversation is a call to recover the passion for philosophy, serious thought, and faith—and to remember that perhaps the most important thing we can do is simply learn how to think. The post Eric Metaxas and James Orr: Can Classical Theism Save Modern Philosophy? first appeared on Socrates in the City.