David Bentley Hart: The Hardest Question No Religion Can Answer

Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

Curt Jaimungal

Physics, Philosophy, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 606 Ratings

🗓️ 11 January 2025

⏱️ 114 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

David Bentley Hart confronts the problem of evil, arguing it is the strongest case against theism while also exploring the hopeful implications of Christ’s resurrection. He weaves Stoic metaphysics, early Christian thought, and unconventional readings of John 1:1 into a deep philosophical discussion about suffering, spirituality, and reality.- 00:00 - Evil- 08:50 - New Testament- 15:02 - Stoic Metaphysics- 24:51 - The Spirit- 31:12 - Books of the Bible- 39:24 - John 1:1- 47:55 - Jesus- 54:14 - Language- 01:02:45 - Neo-Platonism- 01:08:53 - Self Awareness- 01:14:35 - Consciousness- 01:18:05 - God- 01:19:51 - Spirituality- 01:27:36 - Perennialism- 01:36:55 - Belief- 01:39:44 - Episode Recap!- 01:50:50 - OutroSPONSORS:- I personally subscribe to The Economist. TOE listeners get 35% off the annual subscription. No other podcast has this! https://economist.com/TOERESOURCES:- Johnathan Bi's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@bi.johnathan/featured- David Bentley Hart's bibliography: https://amzn.to/3C9vIqA- The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss (book): https://amzn.to/3DOuNMO- The New Testament: A Translation (book): https://amzn.to/427Dzzv- All Things Are Full of Gods: The Mysteries of Mind and Life (book): https://amzn.to/4h525pm- A Conversation Between Iain McGilchrist and David Bentley Hart (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vooDJQ3fdug&pp=ygUjaWFpbiBtY2dpbGNocmlzdCBkYXZpZCBiZW50bGV5IGhhcnQ%3D- Curt's OSV profile: https://www.osv.llc/fellows-grantee/curt-jaimungal-95763- Michael Levin's blog: https://thoughtforms.life/- The Atheist's Guide to Reality (book): https://amzn.to/4h4U97n- Psychology from An Empirical Standpoint (book): https://amzn.to/3DHRzWA- Iain McGilchrist on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9sBKCd2HD0- Donald Hoffman on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmieNQH7Q4w&t=7139s- New Substack! Follow my personal writings and EARLY ACCESS episodes here: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com- Enjoy TOE on Spotify! https://tinyurl.com/SpotifyTOE- Become a YouTube Member Here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/join- Support TOE on Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal (early access to ad-free audio episodes!)- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt- Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs- Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeverything Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal features long-form, technically detailed interviews with leading researchers in physics, mathematics, consciousness, and philosophy, exploring topics at the level of active research. For academics, graduate students, and anyone seeking depth beyond popular science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I've heard you mention that the problem of evil is the most compelling and coherent argument against theism,
0:06.7	especially in its challenge to the idea of a benevolent and omnipotent God.
0:11.2	So what is the problem of evil?
0:14.4	Why is this such a powerful critique?
0:17.0	And then what is your response to said powerful critique?
0:22.3	I see.
0:24.6	We are starting at the deep end, or at least the...
0:29.2	Oh, the problem of evil is simply the obvious one, the suffering of the innocent,
0:36.0	the pestilence, famine, war, children dying of
0:41.1	cancer, the suffering of all creatures. I, you know, I have never been able to accept any of the
0:54.1	sort of standard arguments from modal logic or, you know,
1:00.5	English analytic philosophy regarding materialism.
1:06.3	I've never been able to, to accept the notion that the materialist picture of reality conforms either to logic or
1:19.3	experience, but the argument against belief in at least a benevolent good or God or belief in any sort of rational order to the cosmos at all
1:32.8	from the sheer suffering of the innocent, from the sheer darkness of this world I've never taken issue with.
1:43.4	I find it the most powerful,
1:45.7	and to be honest, unanswerable repost to theism, at least as conventionally conceived.
1:54.0	The normal gesture of the religious imagination, of course, is simply to say there's more to it than we understand you know
2:04.5	there's a good ending beyond it all but uh you know um as ivan kar Matzov argued given the
2:15.7	sheer enormity of the evils we're talking about and their reality within
2:25.8	the present, deferring the justification to this to some presumed eschatological future
2:33.6	doesn't make the cost any more morally
	...

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