meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
On Being with Krista Tippett

Marilynne Robinson and Marcelo Gleiser — The Mystery We Are

On Being with Krista Tippett

On Being Studios

Sociology, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality, Krista Tippett, Arts, Culture, On Being, Society, Society & Culture, Science, Social Sciences

4.710.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2019

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Novelist Marilynne Robinson and physicist Marcelo Gleiser are both passionate about the majesty of science, and they share a caution about what they call our modern “piety” toward science. They connect thrilling dots among the current discoveries about the cosmos and the new territory of understanding our own minds. We brought them together for a joyous, heady discussion of the mystery we are.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Support for on-being with Christa Tippett comes from the Fetzer Institute, helping build the

0:04.4

spiritual foundation for a loving world. Fetzer envisions a world that embraces love as a guiding

0:10.3

principle and animating force for our lives, a powerful love that helps us live in sacred

0:15.2

relationship with ourselves, others, and the natural world. Learn more by visiting Fetzer.org.

0:22.5

Novelist Marilyn Robinson and physicist Marcelo Glizer are both passionate about the majesty

0:29.0

of science and they share a caution about what they call our modern piety towards science.

0:34.8

They connect thrilling dots among the current discoveries about the cosmos and the new

0:39.8

territory of understanding our own minds. We bring them together for a joyous,

0:44.8

heady discussion of the mystery we are. I tell my students actually that the mind continuously

0:52.4

creates hypotheses and when you're writing fiction you're doing something of the same kind.

0:57.9

This is the best model I can create of what this reality would be. Do you feel when you write

1:03.2

and you create characters, do you feel like they drive you in a certain way? Absolutely.

1:08.5

And thank God when they do. Because we do too, we're not always in control. We're just making

1:17.0

sure all the minus signs and the plus signs match. But it really has a way that it wants to go.

1:24.4

And when you find a solution or something that looks like a solution, you get emotionally moved.

1:31.8

I'm Christa Tippett and this is on Being.

1:39.2

I interviewed Marcelo Glizer and Marilyn Robinson in 2012 at the National Constitution Center

1:45.2

in Philadelphia. We were there at the invitation of the Princeton Center for Theological Inquiry

1:50.6

and its director, Will Storer.

1:55.2

Well, I did not prepare an introduction to these two. I don't think Marilyn Robinson

2:01.0

needs any introduction. Can I say that you are one of the most requested names that comes through

2:06.4

our email inbox of my program year after year. So finally, you are the author of Haskeeping,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from On Being Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of On Being Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.