Podcast: The Philosopher Who Reads the Talmud

This Week’s Guests: Jacob Howland

“What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?”

Oceans of ink have been spilled in seeking to answer this question, first posed by the early Church father Tertullian. How do the two intellectual pillars of Western civilization—Scripture and the philosophical tradition born in ancient Athens—relate to one another? Some thinkers like Maimonides have sought to reconcile Greek wisdom and Jewish thought. Others have focused on the radically different grounds—reason versus revelation—upon which the insights of each tradition are founded. Yet whatever the focus, the vital tension between these two modes of thought has proved to be one of the most fruitful sources of intellectual creativity in our culture. And it’s that vital tension that inspires the work of this podcast’s guest.