Peter Kreeft and Eric Metaxas: Charlie Kirk, Martyrdom, and Dying for the Truth

Socrates in the City

Society & Culture

4.7 • 537 Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2026

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it mean to speak the truth in an age hostile to the Truth? And why is it that those who dare to do so — whether Socrates, Jesus Himself, or our own contemporary, Charlie Kirk — find themselves at odds with the powers that be? In this Socrates in the Studio conversation, professor of philosophy Peter Kreeft joins host Eric Metaxas to reflect on the cost of truth-telling. Throughout the conversation, Dr. Kreeft shares his own remarkable journey from Calvinist to Catholic, gives insights into why a good God allows suffering, and reminds us that history tells the story of martyrdom as the seed of the Church. The two make the case for why Socrates merits recognition as a martyr, and how, although some may disagree theologically, we can find common ground in Truth.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The difficulty of making sense of a God who is infinitely good, but who allows evil, is able to take things like suffering, like the murder of someone, and out of it to bring something beautiful.
0:14.4	You know, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
0:18.3	So that's kind of at the heart of the conundrum that we're talking about when
0:22.1	we talk about how does God allow suffering? Our ultimate good is union with God. Christ is our
0:27.8	union with God. So our union with God is our union with Christ. Christ was murdered. That's why
0:33.7	many Christians were murdered. That's why Charlie Kirk was murdered, because his Lord was murdered.
0:39.3	Suffering unites us with Christ.
0:41.3	It's like welding.
0:43.3	It's hot. It hurts. It's painful.
0:47.3	But it unites us with our Lord.
0:49.3	And with His work, with His kingdom, which is in souls, which is salvation.
0:56.0	So the martyrs are indeed the seed of the church.
0:59.0	They're alive.
1:00.4	A seed is an amazing thing.
1:03.2	It generates new life, and you can't stop it.
1:10.0	Hey there, folks.
1:11.0	Welcome to Socrates in the studio, which falls under the rubric and sometimes also under
1:17.5	the aegis of Socrates in the city.
1:21.2	Some of you know about Socrates in the city, but what you might not know is that my guest
1:27.1	today, and perhaps my guest today himself
1:29.5	doesn't know, was instrumentally involved in my creation of Socrates in the city. I discovered my guest
1:43.2	today, Dr. Peter Craft, really in 1998.
	...

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