Explore themes of Philosophy of Religion:

Concepts of God

Cover image for Thinking about God (Part 2)

How to think about God afresh? Can we consider God—God’s possible existence, God’s essence and nature—without preconceived assumptions or biases? What...

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Thinking about God (Part 2)

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5 videos

45:07

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To assess whether God exists, we must ask what kind of God is supposed to exist? But can humans probe God? Can we inquire into God’s essence and nature? Is God at all...

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What is God? (Part 3)

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5 videos

45:15

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In searching, striving to know God—if there is a God—we discover contrasting ways that God could be. It is good to wonder about God, see a landscape of possibilities, get...

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Speculating About God?

Episode 05

Season 15

26:47

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We dig into issues and arguments about God’s existence—and, if God exists, about God’s nature or traits. We explore competing ideas about God and assess divine...

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What is It About God?

Episode 04

Season 15

26:47

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Can humans probe God? Can we inquire into God’s essence and nature? Is God at all knowable? Or forever beyond human understanding? Let’s be bold in questioning God.

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Is This God?

Episode 03

Season 13

26:46

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To assess whether God exists, we must ask what kind of God is supposed to exist? But can humans probe God? Can we inquire into God’s essence and nature? Is God at all...

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What is God? (Part 2)

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6 videos

55:39

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Alternative Concepts of God

Cover image for What can we Learn from Alternative Gods?

Novel concepts of God challenge theism—rejecting the God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Is this ‘heresy’? Or enlarging our vision of what the Ultimate can...

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What can we Learn from Alternative Gods?

Episode 10

Season 13

26:46

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Cover image for Alternative Concepts of God? (Part 2)

Is God, if there is a God, a personal, conscious, all-powerful Supreme Being? Some offer radically different concepts of ‘God’, exploring novel ideas of what God...

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Alternative Concepts of God? (Part 2)

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10 videos

1:45:27

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Cover image for Pantheism: Is God All Reality?

Is our search for God too narrow? Why do some philosophers espouse ‘pantheism’? Pantheism’s claim is not shy: God is the Cosmos and the Cosmos is God. But...

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Pantheism: Is God All Reality?

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7 videos

1:10:47

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Cover image for Alternative Concepts of God? (Part 3)

Is God, if there is a God, a personal, conscious, all-powerful Supreme Being? Some offer radically different concepts of ‘God’, exploring novel ideas of what God...

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Alternative Concepts of God? (Part 3)

Topic Series

11 videos

1:44:33

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Cover image for Alternative Concepts of God? (Part 1)

Is God, if there is a God, a personal, conscious, all-powerful Supreme Being? Some offer radically different concepts of ‘God’, exploring novel ideas of what God...

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Alternative Concepts of God? (Part 1)

Topic Series

9 videos

1:42:21

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Cover image for New Visions of the Divine?

Western religions have a specific image of the divine. For example, God is not only a person but also seems to have gender—and it is always masculine. Some are now...

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New Visions of the Divine?

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7 videos

43:32

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Faith and Belief

Art is deeply involved in the practice of religion, embedded in the rituals and liturgy of almost every religion. But how could the ubiquity of the arts in religion affect...

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Arts and Religious Reality

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6 videos

47:26

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What is the relationship between experiencing art and experiencing God? Can the arts generate or trigger religious experience? If so, can it be validated?

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Arts and Religious Experience

Topic Series

9 videos

50:40

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Is there a relationship between diverse arts and belief in God? Can the arts express or encourage religious belief? If so, can it be validated?

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Arts and Religious Belief

Topic Series

9 videos

59:17

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Why are the arts so deeply embedded in religious settings and services? How do the arts work in religious spaces and activities? What are differences among the arts, say...

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Arts and Religious Practice (Liturgy)

Topic Series

7 videos

1:03:37

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Cover image for What Causes Religious Belief? (Part 2)

Religious belief is everywhere. Why so pervasive, ubiquitous across diverse human cultures? What motivates the universal belief in things we cannot see? Some say the reason...

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What Causes Religious Belief? (Part 2)

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6 videos

49:00

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Can God be known only by faith? What is faith? What does faith feel like? Can faith be actionable, practical? Describing faith is one thing; having faith, quite another.

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How Does Faith Work?

Episode 02

Season 17

26:48

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Conflict Among Religions

Cover image for Do Major Religions Worship the Same God?

The many different religions of the world proclaim radically different, often opposing and contradictory doctrines about God. How then can their believers be worshipping the...

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Do Major Religions Worship the Same God?

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6 videos

52:12

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Cover image for A Tribute to Huston Smith

Huston Smith, world religion scholar and seeker of the Divine in diverse religions, died on December 30, 2016. We had the privilege of discussing God, spirit, soul, eternal...

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A Tribute to Huston Smith

Episode 07

Season 17

26:48

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Cover image for Do Diverse Religions Give Complementary Insights?

If we’d like to believe in God, do conflicting religions trouble us? All the doctrinal disputes are wearying. Perhaps each religion complements and enhances the others....

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Do Diverse Religions Give Complementary Insights?

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8 videos

1:21:10

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Cover image for Do Religions Complement or Contradict?

Religions clash and compete—that’s a problem for those who believe. Some claim that the similarities of diverse religions—such as seeking transcendence beyond the...

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Do Religions Complement or Contradict?

Topic Series

6 videos

42:37

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Cover image for Can Many Religions All Be True?

Conflicting religions fill the world. Doctrines about God contradict one another. No one denies the diversity of religions and the apparent incompatibility of their core...

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Can Many Religions All Be True?

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11 videos

1:51:34

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Cover image for Pluralistic Hypothesis of Religion

Conflict among religions troubles believers and well it should. How to reconcile contradictory doctrines and beliefs with competing claims of ultimate truth? One approach is...

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Pluralistic Hypothesis of Religion

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6 videos

47:00

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Theology

Cover image for Salvation – A Philosophical Inquiry

It’s intended as ultimate purpose: salvation means eternal life with God. For believers, what actually happens, what kind of life? For non-believers, what can we learn...

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Salvation – A Philosophical Inquiry

Episode 13

Season 19

26:48

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Cover image for Atonement – A Philosophical Inquiry

Can atonement absolve sin? For believers, how could The Atonement work? What’s the process? For non-believers, what does The Atonement say about the kind of God that...

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Atonement – A Philosophical Inquiry

Episode 12

Season 19

26:48

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Cover image for The Incarnation – A Philosophical Inquiry

It’s a staggering idea: God became flesh. Why would the Creator become human? For believers, how could Divine and Human natures interact? For non-believers, how do beliefs...

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The Incarnation – A Philosophical Inquiry

Episode 11

Season 19

26:48

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Cover image for The Trinity – A Philosophical Inquiry

It seems the ultimate riddle: How could One God be Three Persons? How could One be Three? Or Three be One? And why three? Non-believers and believers can both enjoy the logic...

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The Trinity – A Philosophical Inquiry

Episode 10

Season 19

26:48

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Cover image for Jesus as God – A Philosophical Inquiry

Why the astonishing claim that Jesus is God? Not like God. Not representing God. But literally God? One need not be a Christian, or even a theist, to appreciate the...

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Jesus as God – A Philosophical Inquiry

Episode 09

Season 19

26:48

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Cover image for How Does Atonement Work?

Christians are accustomed to hearing that “Jesus died for our sins”. But what would that mean literally? How would atonement work? What would be happening? Is there a...

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How Does Atonement Work?

Topic Series

3 videos

28:03

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How Philosophy Informs Religion

Cover image for Women in Philosophy of Religion

Closer To Truth is highlighting remarkable women in philosophy of religion.

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Women in Philosophy of Religion

Curated, Topic Series

12 videos

1:39:30

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Can art inform topics in philosophy of religion? Can the existence and varieties of art address or affect theological questions about God, faith, belief, worship?

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Can Art Engage Philosophy of Religion?

Episode 05

Season 20

26:47

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Can art inform topics in philosophy of religion? Can the existence and varieties of art address or affect theological questions about God, faith, belief, worship?

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Art and the Philosophy of Religion

Topic Series

7 videos

55:17

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Cover image for Can the Bible Address Philosophical Questions?

Philosophy of religion poses numerous questions about God: “proof” or “disproofs” of existence, nature and attributes, personhood, relation to time, relation to...

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Can the Bible Address Philosophical Questions?

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5 videos

38:24

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The philosophy of fields applies analytical methods and tools of philosophy to areas of knowledge, from science and mathematics to law and aesthetics. What happens when...

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Philosophy of the Bible

Topic Series

7 videos

54:59

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Cover image for Can Metaphysics Discern God? (Part 2)

Metaphysics is the deepest probe of reality. It is the branch of philosophy that discerns the most general features of the world. When focused on God, metaphysics seeks...

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Can Metaphysics Discern God? (Part 2)

Topic Series

6 videos

44:15

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Religion Without God

Cover image for Does Evolutionary Psychology Undermine Religion?

Evolutionary psychology naturalizes religion. It seeks to explain elements of mind by selection and survival over time. Take altruism—individuals sacrificing themselves for...

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Does Evolutionary Psychology Undermine Religion?

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9 videos

1:24:19

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Cover image for Can Religion Be Explained Without God? (Part 1)

Religion without God? Most people believe that God exists and religion is God’s revelation. But some say religion, partcularly the organization of religion into...

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Can Religion Be Explained Without God? (Part 1)

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8 videos

1:17:04

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Cover image for Can Religion Be Explained Without God? (Part 2)

Religion without God? Most people believe that God exists and religion is God’s revelation. But some say religion, particularly the organization of religion into...

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Can Religion Be Explained Without God? (Part 2)

Topic Series

7 videos

1:12

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Cover image for Can Religion be Explained Without God?

Most people believe that God exists and religion is God’s revelation. But some claim that religion needs nothing supernatural; that religion, without God, can flourish...

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Can Religion be Explained Without God?

Episode 09

Season 05

26:46

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Philosophy of Religion

Explore themes of Philosophy of Religion:

Thinking about God (Part 2)

What is God? (Part 3)

Speculating About God?

What is It About God?

Is This God?

What is God? (Part 2)

What can we Learn from Alternative Gods?

Alternative Concepts of God? (Part 2)

Pantheism: Is God All Reality?

Alternative Concepts of God? (Part 3)

Alternative Concepts of God? (Part 1)

New Visions of the Divine?

Arts and Religious Reality

Arts and Religious Experience

Arts and Religious Belief

Arts and Religious Practice (Liturgy)

What Causes Religious Belief? (Part 2)

How Does Faith Work?

Do Major Religions Worship the Same God?

A Tribute to Huston Smith

Do Diverse Religions Give Complementary Insights?

Do Religions Complement or Contradict?

Can Many Religions All Be True?

Pluralistic Hypothesis of Religion

Salvation – A Philosophical Inquiry

Atonement – A Philosophical Inquiry

The Incarnation – A Philosophical Inquiry

The Trinity – A Philosophical Inquiry

Jesus as God – A Philosophical Inquiry

How Does Atonement Work?

Women in Philosophy of Religion

Can Art Engage Philosophy of Religion?

Art and the Philosophy of Religion

Can the Bible Address Philosophical Questions?

Philosophy of the Bible

Can Metaphysics Discern God? (Part 2)

Does Evolutionary Psychology Undermine Religion?

Can Religion Be Explained Without God? (Part 1)

Can Religion Be Explained Without God? (Part 2)

Can Religion be Explained Without God?