A philosopher takes on religious life

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, News, Politics, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.6 • 10.8K Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2023

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What would drive someone to renounce all their possessions, relationships, and ambitions to join a religious community? Sean talks with Zena Hitz, whose new book A Philosopher Looks at the Religious Life explores this question — drawing from her own experience. They discuss the occasionally perplexing relationship between faith and reason, why Hitz thinks the act of renunciation is the pinnacle of Christian belief, and why the radicalism at the heart of Christianity seems so absent from mainstream practice. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area Guest: Zena Hitz, (@zenahitz) author; tutor, St. John's College References: A Philosopher Looks at the Religious Life by Zena Hitz (Cambridge; 2023) Lost In Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life by Zena Hitz (Princeton; 2020) The Madonna House in Combermere, Ontario, Canada Confessions by St. Augustine (401 AD) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1866) Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Help keep this show and all of Vox's journalism free by making a gift to Vox today: bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Engineer: Patrick Boyd Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for this podcast comes from another podcast.
0:03.7	Did you know that the vast majority of Americans believe in some sort of higher power,
0:08.0	no matter their political affiliation?
0:10.7	So, with so much political divide, how is this the one thing most Americans agree on?
0:16.9	The new podcast Yee Gods with Scott Carter is looking to find out.
0:21.5	The podcast brings together comedians like Susie S. Men of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm,
0:27.4	musician and activist Killer Mike, filmmaker Ken Burns,
0:30.9	and many others to share their heavenly beliefs and or disbelief.
0:35.2	Listen to Yee Gods with Scott Carter, wherever you get your podcast.
0:41.0	Support for this show comes from the Genesis GB70 Performance SUV.
0:45.8	Every Genesis is a reminder to try something bold to keep growing, keep hustling.
0:52.9	At Genesis, they've harnessed all that excitement of beginnings into their performance SUV,
0:59.3	the GB70. It's a car built to turn heads, with stunning design inside and out.
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1:24.0	What will you begin? Learn more at Genesis.com. Genesis, keep beginning.
1:36.4	Personally, I've always been a little skeptical of religion.
1:39.7	I was raised Catholic. I did the whole Sunday school thing. I went to Mass on holidays. I received
1:49.6	communion, but the faith never really stuck. I'm still not a conventional believer,
2:00.0	but as I've gotten older, I've become more open to the best of what faith has to offer.
2:06.8	It's such a big part of the human story, and that alone makes it worthy of our attention.
	...

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