Famed former British Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament Jonathan Aitken examines the concepts of “Ruin, Rehabilitation, and Redemption” in the lives of Richard Nixon and Charles Colson, with an astonishing twist — that of his own experience with ruin, rehabilitation, and redemption — at Socrates in the City in New York City in 2004.

British theoretical physicist Sir John Polkinghorne examines how scientific discoveries of the 20th century, particularly quantum theory and chaos theory, disrupted the “clockwork universe” view of the world that prevailed for about 200 years after Newton. Polkinghorne explores how a world that does not behave in a reliable way, that is described not deterministically but rather probabilistically, might comport better with the notion of prayer than the mechanical view of the world that preceded it. This event took place in New York City in 2004.

Named one of the “25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America” by TIME MAGAZINE in 2005, the late Richard John Neuhaus was a prominent cleric, writer, and unofficial advisor to George W. Bush. In this 2005 lecture, he argues that a good citizen does more than abide by laws, but must give a moral account of the constitutional order and recommend its virtues to the next generation.

Longtime New York University Professor of Psychology Paul Vitz offers a psychological basis for what has for centuries been considered wisdom by taking a fascinating look at the parent-child relationships of influential thinkers such as Feuerbach, Nietzsche, and Freud. This talk was given in New York City in March 2004.

Thinker and writer Frederica Mathewes-Green poses the question: can we have direct access to God? Based on her study and personal experience with Eastern Christian Spirituality, Mathewes-Green suggests that we all have a latent capacity that links us to the divine, in relationship and also in identity. This lecture takes place in New York City in 2004.