GOD: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher - The Podcast
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GOD: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher - The Podcast is a true story of a philosopher’s conversations with God. Dr. Jerry L. Martin was a lifelong agnostic. But one day he had occasion to pray. To his vast surprise, God answered - in words. Being a philosopher, he had a lot of questions. And God had a lot to tell him. Dr. Martin served as head of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the University of Colorado philosophy department. Find out more at www.GodAnAutobiography.com
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Questions? Comments? Text Us! What do we mean when we speak of human experience? In this fourth installment of the Radically Personal series, Jerry Martin takes up that question and follows it carefully. Modern philosophy and science often frame experience in terms of sensations, data, or brain activity. Yet the way we actually live and perceive suggests something more expansive. Drawing on William James, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Hilary Putnam, Martin Buber, Edith Stein, and others, Jerry refle...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! Can multiple religions be true at the same time? Married philosophers, Jerry L. Martin and Abigail L. Rosenthal, explore one of the most challenging questions about God and ultimate reality. They reflect on the idea that different cultures are given different spiritual tasks. The Hebrew focus on history and covenant stands alongside India’s inward contemplative traditions, showing that divine truth unfolds in different ways across civilizations. Jerry explains th...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! Can God speak through more than one religion? In this episode of From God to Jerry to You, philosopher Jerry L. Martin explores a central insight from God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher: that divine wisdom may be working through many religious traditions across history, not just one. Drawing from his recorded conversations with God, Jerry reflects on the idea that different religions may carry distinct spiritual assignments for different cultures and...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! In this episode of God: An Autobiography, The Podcast, Jerry L. Martin and Scott Langdon reflect on what it means to live in partnership with God in a world where evil persists and meaning is still unfolding. Drawing on biblical scholar John D. Levinson, they explore order and chaos, the idea of a developing God, and how discernment shows up in lived experience. Referencing William James, the conversation turns to faith as embodied wisdom rather than rule-followi...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! In this special edition of What’s Your Spiritual Story?, philosopher Abigail Rosenthal sits down with her husband, Jerry L. Martin, for the most extended and personal telling of her spiritual story to date. Drawing on her memoir, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, Abigail traces the formation of her inner life from an Edenic childhood and early encounters with loss, to adolescent philosophical crisis, homesickness, and the search for a reality that could withsta...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! In this episode of Radically Personal, Jerry L. Martin turns to the work of American philosopher and psychologist William James to explore how divine reality is encountered in lived experience. Drawing from The Varieties of Religious Experience, Jerry reflects on James’s influence on the philosophy of religion and his claim that religion begins not with doctrines or institutions, but with personal experience—with what happens in the depths of a human life. This ...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! In this year-end intimate dialogue, philosophers Jerry L. Martin and Abigail L. Rosenthal return to one of the most enduring questions in philosophy and theology: why evil persists, and what that persistence reveals about God. Drawing on Jerry’s prayer experiences and Jon Levenson’s Creation and the Persistence of Evil, the conversation explores the idea of an evolving God—not as a denial of divinity, but as a way of understanding divine struggle, incomplet...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! In Episode 263 of God: An Autobiography, The Podcast, philosopher Jerry L. Martin reflects on one of the most enduring and difficult questions in philosophy and theology: the problem of evil. In this From God to Jerry to You episode, Jerry describes a pivotal moment near the end of his spiritual journey, when what he calls the “impossible puzzle” finally came together. Drawing on John D. Levinson’s Creation and the Persistence of Evil, Jerry explains how God affi...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! In this episode of What’s On Our Mind, Scott Langdon and Jerry L. Martin explore truth-seeking beyond reductionism. Drawing on Radically Personal, lived experience, acting, spiritual stories, and prayer, they ask how we know what’s real—and why meaning cannot be reduced to just chemistry. The conversation ranges from new atheism and scientific exclusivism to Stoicism, human fulfillment, empathy, and a developing God who suffers with us. An invitation and re...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! What’s Your Spiritual Story? is a continuing series from God: An Autobiography, The Podcast that invites real people to share the journeys that shaped their spiritual lives. Each episode explores how the search for meaning, identity, and connection unfolds through personal experience—and how God meets us in surprising ways. In this week’s conversation, Amanda joins Dr. Jerry L. Martin to reflect on the path that brought her from a childhood marked by instability ...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! What if theology is not a set of inherited doctrines, but life seeking understanding? Learn more in Jerry’s latest book, Radically Personal: God and Ourselves in the New Axial Age, and subscribe for weekly episodes that explore God, spiritual experience, and the ongoing journey of the soul. In this second installment of Radically Personal, philosopher Dr. Jerry L. Martin explores what he calls Theology Without Walls — a seeker-centered approach that begins ...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! In this week’s episode of Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue, Jerry L. Martin and Abigail L. Rosenthal explore how God communicates through intuition, dreams, insights, and the quiet promptings that redirect a life. Their conversation speaks directly to listeners who wonder why God can feel hidden and how to recognize a true divine nudge. Jerry reflects on the moment he heard the message “Your work here is over,” a turning point that led him away fro...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! In this week’s episode of God: An Autobiography, The Podcast, Jerry L. Martin explores one of the most practical and urgent spiritual questions we face: How do we know what we’re meant to do with our lives—and how do we tell when God is guiding us? Drawing on the Hindu concepts of dharma and swadharma, Jerry explains the difference between our role-based responsibilities and our deeply personal calling; the tasks that “have your name on them.” From there, he turn...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! In this deeply moving episode of God: An Autobiography, The Podcast, philosopher Richard Oxenberg—co-author of Two Philosophers Wrestle With God—shares his full spiritual story for the first time. His journey begins with childhood tragedy: witnessing the sudden death of his seven-year-old sister. The shock shattered his early understanding of God, safety, and reality. From that moment, Richard became a lifelong seeker. He describes moving through secular Judaism,...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! How do we recognize when God is gently guiding us? Is it a voice, a feeling, or a moment of connection we might almost overlook? Scott shares a simple encounter at a bagel shop that turned into a surprising moment of synchronicity — a reminder that a radically personal God often reaches us through quiet intuition and ordinary experiences. Jerry reflects on why these subtle encounters matter, how spiritual discernment develops through humility rather than eg...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! What does it feel like when God guides you from within? For Laura Buck, that quiet voice has been there all along, leading, nudging, comforting. In this intimate spiritual story, Laura opens up about growing up between religious worlds, learning to trust intuition over expectation, and discovering that God speaks through the feelings we often overlook. She shares powerful moments of being held by grace during panic, the breathtaking sign that appeared after...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! Radically Personal is a new series exploring how divine reality reveals itself within the lives of individual seekers. Based on Dr. Jerry L. Martin’s newest book, Radically Personal: God and Ourselves in the New Axial Age, the series invites listeners to rethink what it means to encounter the divine as intimately present and personally responsive. Each episode follows the unfolding conversation between human experience and transcendent reality, uncovering how the...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! When can love—and even pain—become a form of revelation? In this powerful dialogue, Dr. Jerry L. Martin and Dr. Abigail L. Rosenthal trace the mysterious link between romantic love, moral conscience, and divine communication. Abigail shares two defining experiences of spiritual discernment: a moral act that cost her a lifelong family bond, and the unexpected moment she realized she was falling in love. Both called for the same inner movement—trusting what had her...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! What happens when a lifelong agnostic philosopher prays for the first time—and God answers? In this episode, Jerry L. Martin reflects on the experience that transformed his life and inspired God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher. Through love, gratitude, and trust, Jerry moves from intellectual doubt to an intimate conversation with the Divine. He shares how falling deeply in love opened him to the reality of spiritual experience, leading to his first a...
Questions? Comments? Text Us! In this What’s On Our Mind episode, we ask: how do you know when a task has your name on it? In a noisy world full of choices, it can be hard to discern your true path. Is it just hard work, or a sign you’re on the wrong road? We explore stories of callings, intuition, and spiritual discernment, and how energy, peace, and prayer become signposts for purpose. Through everyday examples — from saying no with clarity, to receiving encouragement from others, to ...
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