233. Jerry and Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue | Philosophers Answer: What Is Love

233. Jerry and Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue | Philosophers Answer: What Is Love

Author: Jerry L. Martin May 29, 2025 Duration: 46:46

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Welcome to the debut of a new series: Jerry and Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue, a conversation between two philosophers who are also deeply in love. 

This is not just a love story. It is an exploration of what love means at the level of reality itself.

In this episode, Dr. Abigail L. Rosenthal and Dr. Jerry L. Martin ask a question deeply human and spiritually profound: 

What is love and what does it reveal about the nature of the world we live in?

Through personal recollection, philosophical reflection, and cultural insight, they explore:

  • The stroke of lightning: Romantic love as a break in the surface of reality
  • Why biblical love stories begin the work of God
  • Rachel as the sine qua non of sacred history
  • Love as an ontological force more than emotion, embedded in being
  • Spiritual meaning beyond religion, through feeling, intuition, and integrity
  • Cultural contrasts: European vs. American views on love, purpose, and compatibility
  • The role of gratitude, authenticity, and moral seriousness in real connection
  • What it means to live in a disenchanted world and how love re-enchants it

"Love is not a delusion. It is what moves the sun and the other stars.” – Abigail L. Rosenthal

Jerry and Abigail remind us that truth is not always found in the dominant worldview. Often, it comes from moments that break through: a glance, a conversation, a shared fight for something that matters.

This intimate dialogue speaks to those who live at the edge of conventional categories, those who are spiritual but not religious, seekers of meaning, lovers of wisdom.

If you’ve ever felt there must be more to love than psychology, more to life than surface logic, this is your episode.

Begin here. With feeling. With thought. With two philosophers, in love.

Other Series:

The podcast began with the Dramatic Adaptation of the book and now has several series:

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Imagine a philosopher, a dedicated scholar who spent his life in the realm of ideas without a trace of faith, suddenly finding himself in a dialogue he never sought. GOD: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher-The Podcast is the unfolding account of Dr. Jerry L. Martin, a lifelong agnostic and former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities, who one day offered a prayer and received a clear, verbal response. This isn't a theoretical exercise or a sermon; it's a personal chronicle of what happened next, as a trained thinker with deep skepticism began asking the big questions about existence, purpose, and human nature, and recorded the answers he received. Each episode moves this extraordinary narrative forward, blending the disciplines of philosophy, spirituality, and raw personal experience. You'll hear Dr. Martin's thoughtful reflections on these conversations, which span topics from the nature of the divine to the practical challenges of living an ethical life, all grounded in his academic background. This podcast invites you into a story that challenges preconceptions, not to persuade but to present a profound and documented experience. It's for anyone curious about the intersection of intellect and the ineffable, where a philosopher's quest for truth took an utterly unexpected turn. The journey detailed here resonates across categories of religion, culture, and society, offering a unique perspective that is both deeply human and mysteriously transcendent.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 278

GOD: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher - The Podcast
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