Socrates in the City

Is there an ethical way to approach the boundaries and limitations of humanity? William Hurlbut is a Senior Research Scholar in the Dept. of Neurology and Neurological Sciences and an Adjunct Professor in the Dept. of Neurobiology at Stanford University Medical Center as well as an expert on the intersection of theology and science. He joins Socrates in the City host, Eric Metaxas, to discuss the dangers of genetic engineering, embryonic testing, and both the international and ethical complications of it all. Through this insightful conversation, Hurlbut shares the new developments in transhumanism and explores the boundaries of humanity.<...

Do all roads lead to Rome? And do all paths lead to faith? Ross Douthat, a New York Times Opinion columnist joins Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas to discuss his new book, Believe, and share his case for why a renewed religious society aligns better with scientific data, history, and our desires for something beyond ourselves. Through his book, Douthat shares the popular arguments against religion, the relationship between faith and science, and how his own personal experience of faith has shifted and grown over time. 

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Has toxic empathy led modern Christians to live in a Stockholm Syndrome-like way towards an opposing world? John West, Vice President of the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, where he also serves as Managing Director of the Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, shares how the overwhelming influence of toxic empathy and desire to appease popular culture can be fatal to our faith. Using the famous Stockholm bank robbery of the 1970, West joins Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas, to discuss how Christians have subconsciously grown up in cultural captivity, and how we can rebel against it.

The po...

What do Woody Allen, Dostoevsky, and Cain and Able have in common? What are the underlying psychological themes and influences in modern horror? Andrew Klavan, an award-winning writer, screenwriter, and media commentator joins Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas to discuss his new book, The Kingdom of Cain. Klavan explores how artists’ imaginative engagement with the darkness can point the way to living beautifully in the midst of a tragic world. Using the frame of three historic murders, he examines how the transformation that occurs in art grants us a vision for how transformation can take root in ou...

Is the West in decline? Dr. James Lindsay is the author of books like Cynical Theories, The Marxification of Education, and most recently, The Queering of the American Child. He joins Socrates in the City host, Eric Metaxas to discuss his experiences in uncovering the hypocrisy of academic journals and the critical theory, cultural and academic marxism, and other hidden agendas these publications endorse. They explore how these trends are impacting academia in the West and beyond.

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Iain McGilchrist is a former Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, an associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists to name a few. A leading scholar in the field of neurology he has published original research on neuroimaging in schizophrenia, the phenomenology of schizophrenia, and is the author of, The Master and his Emissary:The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. He joins Socrates in the City host, Eric Metaxas to discuss the myths and misconceptions between the left and right hemispheres of our brain. McGilchrist highlights...

Headmaster of Michaela school, Katherine Birbalsingh sits down with host Eric Metaxas to discuss the challenges of speaking about the deficiencies in the UK school system and how it led her to begin her school and initiate a reform of Classical Education against the ‘soft bigotry of low expectations’.       

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What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What does the world of philosophy have to do with the world of religion? Professor of Philosophy of Religion at the Faculty of Divinity, Dr. James Orr joins host Eric Metaxas to have a conversation on the Twilight of the West, the relationship between orthodoxy and orthopraxy, and the enduring influence of Hellenistic and Hebraic thought in our enlightened world.

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Is the West inherently bad? Konstantin Kisin, Writer, social commentator, co-host of TRIGGERnometry and comedian, sits down with Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas to discuss how the rise of ‘woke culture’ undermines the multifaceted history of the West. They explore the limits of free speech, the balance between fear and change, and the relationship of shame and truth.

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Host Eric Metaxas welcomes lawyer, activist, and Independent Presidential candidate Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the Socrates in the City stage with a standing ovation for a conversation on America. In keeping with the forum’s history, Mr. Metaxas asks Mr. Kennedy the big questions, questions on “life, God, and other small topics”. Conversation topics are wide-ranging and include everything from government corruption to drug addiction to RFK Jr.’s faith in God to the murder of his uncle and father, and include references to cultural figures such as Upton Sinclair, Carl Jung, Albert Camus, and… Anthony Fauci. The duo ev...

The esteemed editor of The New Criterion — a monthly review of the arts and intellectual life – and president of Encounter Books, Roger Kimball, and Socrates host Eric Metaxas, sit down for a delightful conversation on the intellectual life, touching on subjects from the inversion of virtue to political correctness to the effects of the sexual revolution on culture to Artificial Intelligence.

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Wallstreet businessman turned author Michael Wilkerson sits down with host Eric Metaxas to answer the question of if and why America matters. After his business in Africa was paused during the 2020 Covid shutdowns, Wilkerson’s eyes were opened to the partisan, cultural, and ideological divides in America, and he wondered if the nation could still be good, or even great. Taking an in-depth look at history — from the settlers to Abraham Lincoln and beyond — Wilkerson argues that a new century requires a new vision of American greatness.

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The day after his Socrates in the City event on C.S. Lewis and Scientism, The Discovery Institute’s Dr. John West sits down with Host Eric Metaxas to discuss his documentary Human Zoos: America’s Forgotten History of Scientific Racism.

Human Zoos tells the shocking story of how thousands of indigenous peoples were put on public display in America in the early decades of the twentieth century. To watch the full documentary, head to https://humanzoos.org/.

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Scientist and attorney Casey Luskin sits down with Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas to explore these big questions: Is science objective? How did humans come into existence? How do you reconcile faith and science? Luskin is the editor of The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith and co-author of Science and Human Origins and Associate Director of the Center for Science and Culture.

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English Professor at Houston Baptist University, Louis Markos, returns for a second conversation with Socrates in the City’s Eric Metaxas. For this entertaining Studio conversation, the duo illustrate how ancient myths point to Christ, discussing C.S. Lewis, Pandora’s Box, Genesis, and much else along the way.

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Louis Markos, English Professor at Houston Baptist University, joins host Eric Metaxas for a fascinating conversation on how the work of Plato —  Socrates’s student and Aristotle’s teacher — has shaped the Christian faith. In this lively discussion, the two look at Plato’s best-known texts and talk about how it affected figures like Augustine, Dante, and C. S. Lewis.

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The Stream’s John Zmirak and host Eric Metaxas sit down to discuss Zmirak’s new book: No Second Amendment, No First. No Second Amendment, No First is nothing less an urgent call for moral clarity, and a full-throated reminder of what is at stake in the war for our nation’s soul.

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Writer and cultural commentator Andrew Klavan returns for an in-depth conversation with host Eric Metaxas on his nonfiction book, The Truth and Beauty. The two discuss the Romantic’s response to the collapse of European thought and belief and what that means for us today.

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Is there a “law” hidden beneath the written law? Hadley Arkes, professor of law for nearly fifty years, and host Eric Metaxas sit down to discuss how the framers of the Constitution regarded the “self-evident” truths of the Natural Law as foundational.

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What does truth have to do with beauty, and what does beauty have to do with goodness? Princeton Theological Seminary’s Margarita Mooney Clayton and host Eric Metaxas sit down to discuss the meaning of beauty as defined by figures such as St. Augustine, Plato, and C.S. Lewis, and its great significance for a materialistic generation.

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Medical doctor, public health policy expert, and senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute Dr. Scott Atlas joins host Eric Metaxas to share details from his time on the White House’s COVID-19 Task Force.

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Dr. Anthony Bradley and host Eric Metaxas discuss the unique position of fraternities to provide men with support, friendship, and mentors, and create opportunities for heroism and hope in an age of anxiety and socioeconomic change.

To watch the full interview, head to Socrates+ at socratesinthecityplus.com.

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Public intellectual and author Heather Mac Donald and host Eric Metaxas discuss ideologies that are infecting Western institutions. The two argue that lowering standards in the name of inclusion leads to mediocrity, and worse, and offer some solutions.

For the full interview, head to Socrates+ at socratesinthecityplus.com.

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Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas sits down with investigative journalist James O’Keefe and founder of O’Keefe Media Group, for a conversation on the cost of truth telling. The two discuss many things including the history of whistleblowing, why O’Keefe has hope for the future of journalism, and his recent work with stories that include a fleeing IRS agent, an FBI raid, and getting banned from all Equinox gyms.

This conversation took place in February 2024 in New York City.

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Beloved for the Chronicles of Narnia and his books of Christian apologetics, C.S. Lewis was also was a prophetic critic of the growing power of scientism in modern society, the misguided effort to apply science to areas outside its proper bounds. In this wide-ranging interview, Eric Metaxas speaks with John West about his book “The Magicians Twin: C.S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society.” They discuss Lewis’ warnings about the dehumanizing impact of scientism on ethics, politics, faith, reason, and science itself. Issues explored include Lewis’s views on bioethics, eugenics, evolution, intelligent design, and what he called “...

It was on October 7, 2023 when Hamas terrorists brutalized Israelis in the deadliest attack since the Holocaust. The whole world watched in horror as millions tried to process what took place and why. Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas and guest — and dear friend — Dennis Prager sat down together to process and discuss Israel’s place in the world and the Middle-East crisis. Despite the topic, this conversation is not without light-hearted moments, and you’ll see why this duo — a Jew and a Greek — have been friends for many years.

This Socrates in the City event took place o...

The stunning details of the discovery of biblical Sodom, including the moment archeologist Dr. Steven Collins first kneeled at the site to finding Trinitite-like glass to unearthing the gates where Lot sat, is full of dramatic twists and turns.

This interview took place at Socrates in the City in Fort Worth, Texas, October 12th, 2023.

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On the eve of his 59th wedding anniversary, the tenth man to walk on the Moon, astronaut Charlie Duke is interviewed by Eric Metaxas for a special Socrates in the City event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 16 Moon landing. The two discuss General Duke’s career leading up to his momentous trip to the Moon, details and dangers that nearly derailed the historic event, and then Metaxas asks — to the 36 year-old Charlie Duke who has just returned from the Moon in 1972 — “you’ve just returned from the Moon, now what are you going to do?” General Charlie Duke ends th...

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 En...

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.

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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 Que...

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 an...

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, glorious...

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 ind...

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.

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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 dramat...

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.

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Eric Metaxas takes the role of panelist, joining professor and journalist David Batstone in talking about the issue of slavery with guest-host Scot Sherman. Metaxas discusses his hero William Wilberforce, whose story he tells in the bestseller AMAZING GRACE: WILLIAM WILBERFORCE AND THE HEROIC CAMPAIGN TO END SLAVERY, and Batstone retells the harrowing true story that led him to write NOT FOR SALE: THE RETURN OF THE GLOBAL SLAVE TRADE–AND HOW WE CAN FIGHT IT, in this 2007 conversation in New York City.

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Famed former British Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament Jonathan Aitken examines the concepts of “Ruin, Rehabilitation, and Redemption” in the lives of Richard Nixon and Charles Colson, with an astonishing twist — that of his own experience with ruin, rehabilitation, and redemption — at Socrates in the City in New York City in 2004.

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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.

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