Closer to Truth Podcasts

Latest Episodes:

Can the Brain Explain Art? Mar 09, 2020

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CONSCIOUSNESS — What is happening in our brains when we perceive and appreciate the arts? What are the neural substrates of artistic sensations, feelings, and emotions? How do diverse arts affect the brain?

Challenges of Analytic Theology Jul 26, 2018

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MEANING - Is analytic theology for the better, clarifying beliefs? Or for the worse, undermining faith? How does it compare with philosophy of religion, biblical studies and exegesis, and systematic theology?

Cosmology and Creation? Jul 10, 2018

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COSMOS - To most physicists, mindless laws generated the universe. A few believe that a supreme being is the creator. But don’t the discoveries of cosmology eliminate the need for supernatural causes?

Do Science & Religion Conflict? Jul 10, 2018

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COSMOS - Don't let the heated argument or the smooth talk fool you: the struggle between science and religion carries deep significance. Meaning and Purpose hang in the balance as battle rages on many fronts.

Can the Cosmos Have a Reason? Feb 14, 2018

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COSMOS - Perhaps we cannot know the reason for the universe, if there is any. But is it even possible for the universe to have a reason? If yes, how would natural regularities and rules compare with some kind of goal or God?

Death Disrupted? Jan 02, 2018

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CONSCIOUSNESS - Religions offer life after death. Many people are skeptical. Evidence for post-mortem survival? Again, skeptics abound. Can death ever be defeated? Are these possible ways?

Can the Mind Heal the Body? Oct 12, 2017

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CONSCIOUSNESS - It is standard medicine that mental states can affect physical states. That's how placebos work—when sham drugs improve health, working by inducing the body to generate hormones. But some claim that the mind goes even further in healing the body, operating through consciousness in some nonphysical manner. Can this make sense?

Does Cosmic Fine-Tuning Demand Explanation? Sep 18, 2017

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COSMOS - The universe works for us because of deep physical laws. But if the values of these laws would much change, then all we see and know could not exist.

Did God Create Evil? Sep 25, 2015

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MEANING - Whoever believes in the existence of God must explain the presence of evil. To theists, it's "the problem of evil," which they struggle to resolve. To atheists, it's "the argument from evil," which they wield like a sword. Moreover, if God is all-powerful and all-knowing, how could God not have created evil?

Did The Universe Have A Beginning? May 19, 2015

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COSMOS - Some scientists claim that the universe did not have a beginning. Some theologians contend that the universe did not need a beginning.