Since 2002, Dr. Brian Leftow has been the Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion at Oriel College, Oxford University. He taught for many years at Fordham University in New York City before moving to Oxford. Dr. Leftow has written over 90 professional articles and book chapters on metaphysics, medieval philosophy, and philosophical theology.

In this wide-ranging interview, we discuss

his Jewish upbringing in Brooklyn

his conversion

his views on the roles that reason can play in the spiritual lives of Christians

why he believes in God

what would make him quit believing in Christianity

whether he would still believe in God were he to cease believing in Christianity

why he is drawn to medieval philosophy

how recent militant secularized philosophy is untraditional

whether medieval philosophy is fundamentally “backward-looking.”

the odd estrangement between most recent academic theology from analytic philosophy, and what this has to do with the work of the famous early modern philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804).

We end with his metaphor of humans as mirrors of God, how even a philosophy professor can reflect the character of God, and how philosophers are like friendly piranhas or maggots. (To clarify these two analogies, the flesh or dead and rotting flesh would be our false beliefs.)

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