BQ42-TWM: Thinking with Matt #1

14/11/2025 1h 33min Temporada 1 Episodio 42
BQ42-TWM: Thinking with Matt #1

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Episode Synopsis

In this powerful and provocative lecture-style episode of Better Questions, Kevin Hohe is joined by his longtime friend and intellectual sparring partner Matt for a conversation that blurs the lines between theology, philosophy, and moral reckoning. What begins as a deep-dive into three literary texts: Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Camus’ The Plague, and Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, evolves into a sweeping exploration of God, suffering, and the true meaning of sacrifice.The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor DostoevskyRead PDF pages 299-313 (from "'Yes, for the real Russians..." to "murmured Alyosha, looking down."- Dmitri, Ivan, and Alyosha are brothers in mid-19th century Russia.- Only Ivan and Alyosha are featured in this excerpt.- Ivan is a rational materialist, he believes in reason, and that even God must be rationally explainable- Alyosha is his younger brother, maybe 20 years old, a devout Christian and has decided to devote his life to God as a monk. He has enrolled as the student of the mystic Christian monk Father Zosima. - This scene follows a dinner scene from the previous night during which Ivan seems to profess his atheism. Alyosha is concerned for his older brother, and invites him to explain himself. - Ivan explains to Alyosha that he is NOT an atheist, because he believes in God, or at least, he has no rational reason not to believe in God. However, he REJECTS God on moral grounds. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/28054/old/28054-pdf.pdfThe Plague, Albert Camus- In early 1940s, an outbreak of bubonic plague as hit the north-African coastal city of Oran, inhabited mainly by bourgeoise European businessmen and merchants and their families, along with the native Arab population who live in the poor outskirts of the town- After the outbreak sets in, the town is sealed off from the rest of the world in an attempt to quarantine the spread of the disease- The main character is Dr. Rieux, a physician who immediately takes up his duty to tend to the sick as best he can, though this is mainly futile efforts to ease the suffering of those who will inevitably die, as there is no cure for the disease- Other characters are Grand, a shy middle aged divorcee, Father Panaleax, a fervent Jesuit Catholic priest, Rambert, a journalist who is sent to Oran on a story and gets stuck there, and Tarrou, who's background at this point is a mystery; all of these, for various reasons and despite their ideological and cultural differences, eagerly volunteer to assist Rieux in his crusade against the disease- This passage takes place after the city magistrate's, Monsieur Othon's, young son is infected- Rieux and his team decide to try a newly developed drug on the boy, who will surely die unless the new drug worksRead PDF pages 102-106 (from "Toward the close of October..." to "'God Himself can't part us now.'")https://ratical.org/PandemicParallaxView/ThePlague-Camus.pdfThe Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, Ursula Le Guinhttps://shsdavisapes.pbworks.com/f/Omelas.pdfProduced by Pineapple Audio Production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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