Explore Literature, Philosophy and Christianity.
Whether you’re a believer or a non-believer, we hope the conversations and ideas offered will stimulate and encourage thoughtful and interesting dialogue. Our goal is not primarily to preach (although we want to be upfront about our biases), but to engage the foundational questions with critical thought and analysis. We believe, as Socrates famously said, that “the unexamined life is not worth living.”
Why Literature?
In Sir Philip Sidney’s classic, The Defense of Poesy (1595), Sidney argued that the chief end of fiction is “to teach and delight.” Our aim here at Well Read Christian can be summed up by the pursuit of this ideal. Literature can inform our intuitions and enrich our lives like no other medium can.
Every writer has their own purpose for writing. Literature can be the laboratory of the philosopher, the canvas of the thinker, the eyes of the seer, the expressions of an artist, or just the mind of a human. Asking why you should read is––as C. S. Lewis pointed out––like asking why you should listen. If you’re going to listen, to whom should you listen if not the best and brightest? Reading enables you to “listen” to the greatest voices who ever spoke. Truly great literature lets you see, hear, think and experience the perspective of another mind. What could be more important than that?
Why Philosophy?
How different would your views be if you were born 300 years ago on the other side of the world? The answer: completely different. The reason? Because thinkers, writers and philosophers have influenced your culture and time era––many of whom you have never even heard. If you want your beliefs to be defined by more than a geographical, cultural and chronological accident, you have to understand your own presuppositions inherited and imprinted from youth and challenge them. Philosophy is the means by which we study the prominent thinkers in the past to understand what the masses believe at the present, and why they believe it.
Why Christianity?
The Bible, in my view, is the pinnacle of literature and philosophy. As Justin Martyr put it in the 2nd century, “I fell in love with the prophets and these men who had loved Christ; I reflected on all their words and found that this philosophy alone was true and profitable.” I, too, have fallen in love with the person and teachings of Jesus and believe the Bible to be true and profitable. I am not ashamed of my Christianity, although it is important to me that alternate views expressed on the podcast are represented fairly, and engaged with respect. My goal is for non-Christians to feel at home because of an objective presentation of opposing views, for Christians to become educated and edified on crucial questions from every perspective, and for both sides to experience a thoughtful, interesting and beautiful Christianity.