Brian Greene is a Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Columbia University in the City of New York, where he is the Director of the Institute for Strings, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics, and co-founder and chair of the World Science Festival. He is well known for his TV mini-series about string theory and the nature of reality, including the Elegant ... Show More
Jan 27
David Albertson, "The Geometry of Christian Contemplation: Measure Without Measure" (Oxford UP, 2025)
The writings of ancient and medieval Christian mystics were rediscovered in the twentieth century, and today they are read more widely than ever before. But do modern assumptions about religious experience influence how we hear those premodern voices? Do we do them justice by thi ... Show More
1h 4m
Jan 22
Lauren D. Sawyer, "Growing Up Pure: White Girls, Queer Teens, and the Racial Foundations of Purity Culture" (NYU Press, 2025)
Gaining mass popularity in the mid-1990s with the True Love Waits rally on the Washington Mall, purity culture began as an urge from evangelical conservatives for Christian adolescents to publicly commit to practicing abstinence until marriage. Throughout this decade and the next ... Show More
44m 5s
Jan 19
Christopher J. Bonura, "A Prophecy of Empire: The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius from Late Antique Mesopotamia to the Global Medieval Imagination" (U California Press, 2025)
The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius was one of the medieval world’s most popular and widely translated texts. Composed in Syriac in Mesopotamia in the seventh century, this supposed revelation presented a new, salvific role for the Roman Empire, whose last emperor, it prophesied, ... Show More
1h 16m
Oct 2024
486. The Intersection of Science and Meaning | Dr. Brian Greene
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down with physicist and author, Dr. Brian Greene. They discuss the strange conceptualization of “before” the Big Bang, how time might be a microscopic phenomenon, how order existed at the point of the universe's creation, what would happen if you fell ... Show More
1h 33m
Apr 2025
#101 Brian Greene - String Theory, Fine Tuning, and Divine Design
<p>Brian Greene is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, director of its centre for theoretical physics, and the chairman of the World Science Festival. He is best known for his work on string theory, especially in his book “<a href="https://amzn.to/43ELe ... Show More
1h 20m
Jan 2025
512. Time, Space, and the Miraculous | Dr. Brian Keating
Jordan Peterson sits down with experimental cosmologist Dr. Brian Keating. They discuss the importance of awe for the human spirit, the fundamental ethos behind all true science, the idea of the useless genius, and the necessity of sacrifice for improvement of the self and the br ... Show More
1h 42m
May 2017
100. Neil deGrasse Tyson (Astrophysicist) – The Only "-ist" I Am
Since 2008, Big Think has been sharing big ideas from creative and curious minds. Since 2015, the Think Again podcast has been taking us out of our comfort zone, surprising our guests and Jason Gots, your host, with unexpected conversation starters from Big Think’s interview arch ... Show More
47m 31s
Jul 2023
Episode 120, The Mystery of Existence (Part II - Further Analysis and Discussion)
<p class=""><strong>Introduction</strong></p> <p class="">This episode features Jack Symes in conversation with four of the biggest names in philosophy: Richard Dawkins (representing science and atheism), Jessica Frazier (on Hinduism), Silvia Jonas (speaking on Jewish philosophy) ... Show More
54m 25s
<p>Get tickets for our event: <a href= "https://www.skeptic.com/event" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">skeptic.com/event</a></p> <p>Daniel Dennett, preeminent philosopher and cognitive scientist, has spent his career considering the thorniest, most fundamental mysteries of the mi ... Show More