No Brain Left Behind

What can Aristotle teach us about living a good life—and where does virtue ethics meet Christianity? In this episode of the No Brain Left Behind podcast, we explore Aristotle’s virtue ethics, human flourishing (eudaimonia), and the relationship between moral character, purpose, and Christian faith.Moving beyond “What should I do?” to “What kind of person should I become?”, we discuss how courage, prudence, and repeated habits shape our lives. We also debate whether virtue ethics needs a foundation in God, why knowing the right thing doesn’t always mean doing it, and how the Christian understanding of the Holy Spiri...

What makes something right or wrong?In this episode of No Brain Left Behind, we begin a serious conversation about ethics: moral relativism, objective morality, divine command theory, the Golden Rule, and the question of whether a coherent moral framework needs a source beyond personal preference.We explore the unsettling story of Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah, asking what it means to trust God when obedience appears ethically impossible. From there, the conversation connects Genesis 22 to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, biblical interpretation, the Mosaic Law, and the claim that Christian ethics must be grounded in the...

The state and future of evangelism and apologetics — why a new generation is rediscovering Christian witness, and what comes next.In episode 7 of the No Brain Left Behind podcast, we step away from our Islam and the rise of modern science series to ask a bigger question: where are evangelism and apologetics actually headed? We look at the data, the history, and what we've each seen firsthand on college campuses, in the local church, and at a Cambridge summer seminar with some of the leading figures in intelligent design.

CHAPTERS

(00:00) Intro & school updates

(08:36) A...

Explore how medieval Islamic civilization shaped not only the foundations of modern science, but also contemporary debates about politics, religious freedom, and human flourishing. In this episode, we examine the Islamic Golden Age, the rise of the Abbasid dynasty in Baghdad, and how Islamic thought continues to influence global culture, law, and online discourse today.This is Part 3 of a series tracing Islamic thought from the Golden Age to our present moment, with a focus on natural theology, political theology, and the coherence of the Islamic worldview. Far from being a “distant” or purely historical chapter, Islamic ideas about reve...

Explore how medieval Islamic civilization shaped not only the foundations of modern science, but also contemporary debates about politics, religious freedom, and human flourishing. In this episode, we examine the Islamic Golden Age, the rise of the Abbasid dynasty in Baghdad, and how Islamic thought continues to influence global culture, law, and online discourse today.This is Part 2 of a series tracing Islamic thought from the Golden Age to our present moment, with a focus on natural theology, political theology, and the coherence of the Islamic worldview. Far from being a “distant” or purely historical chapter, Islamic ideas about reve...

Explore how medieval Islamic civilization laid the intellectual foundations for the rise of modern science. In this episode, we examine the translation movement, the preservation and expansion of Greek philosophy, and the groundbreaking contributions of scholars such as Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), and Ibn al-Haytham.This is Part 1 of a series tracing the deep connections between Islamic intellectual history and the Scientific Revolution. Far from being a “lost” chapter, the Islamic Golden Age played a central role in shaping rational inquiry, experimental methods, and the transmission of knowledge to Europe.Topics covered include:The Abbasid translation movement and Bayt...

Dive into the deep roots of the Scientific Revolution and how they still shape what we call “reality” today.In this episode, Igor Sobkowicz, Taylor Lankford, and Joe Penrod explore how early modern thinkers shattered inherited worldviews, why our perception of reality is more fragile than we like to admit, and what this means for knowledge, truth, and the future of science itself. We trace the shift from pre-modern metaphysics to experimental method, the birth of modern epistemology, and the tension between faith, reason, and empirical evidence. Along the way, we wrestle with questions like: What can we really know...

Is theology still the “Queen of All Sciences,” or has it become just a private religious feeling? In this episode, Igor Sobkowicz, Taylor Lankford, and Joe Penrod trace the rise and fall of theology’s status in the history of ideas. They follow the story from Aquinas and the medieval university, through Descartes and the birth of modern philosophy, into Kant’s critical project, and finally to Schleiermacher’s subjective turn toward inner religious experience.Along the way, they explore questions like: What did it mean to call theology a “science”? How did changing views of reason, experience, and subjectivity r...

In this episode of the No Brain Left Behind podcast, Igor Sobkowicz, Taylor Lankford, and Joe Penrod unpack the new documentary The Story of Everything featuring Dr. Stephen Meyer, exploring science, faith, and the big questions about our origins.We talk about how a fledgling podcast ended up with a press pass to the Brentwood, TN premiere, and why we believe this may be one of the most significant apologetics films of our generation. Along the way we share stories from years of traveling with Dr. Rice Broocks for “God’s Not Dead” campus events and our friendship with Dr. St...