In a lecture given in September 2009, English literature scholar Alan Jacobs introduces us to the world of original sin, which he describes as not only a profound idea but a necessary one.

Former California Poet laureate and Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts Dana Gioia diffuses the widely-held notion that poetry is a sophisticated, intellectual art for the elite. Mr. Gioia offers a personal and accessible look at how art does something for us that nothing else will do, and how poetry is a human universal, “a way of remembering those things it would impoverish us to forget,” in this lecture from 2008 in New York City.

NIH director and eminent physician-geneticist Francis Collins offers a mind-blowing and entertaining look at two categories that, as he puts it, “don’t always get along well:” science and faith. Or do they? Starting with the facts of genetics, Collins manages to weave in stories from his own faith journey, replay a conversation with Stephen Colbert, discuss Richard Dawkins’s perspective, and conclude with a proposal, in this 2008 Socrates in the City lecture hosted by Eric Metaxas in New York City.

Gerald Schroeder discusses Genesis, the Big Bang, and other small topics.

Author and social critic Os Guinness discusses the plea he offers up in his book by the same title — a plea to end the polarization of American politics and culture, which he says threatens to reverse the very principles our founders set into motion that have long preserved liberty, diversity, and unity in the U.S. This 2008 lecture takes place in New York City.

N.T. Wright, one of the world’s leading New Testament scholars, discusses his book SURPRISED BY HOPE: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church.

The legendary Roger Scruton explores the ideas, perspectives, and implications of the “New Atheism” at this New York City Socrates in the City event hosted by Eric Metaxas in 2008.