GOD: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher - The Podcast

Jerry L. Martin
  • 5.0 (9)
  • Spirituality
  • Updated Weekly

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

  1. 3d ago

    303. Joan of Arc, Divine Voices, and Spiritual Experience- From God to Jerry to You

    Questions? Comments? Text Us! Joan of Arc heard divine voices that changed the course of her life. Centuries later, writer Reynolds Price described his own encounter with Jesus during a devastating battle with cancer and chronic pain. Jerry L. Martin places these experiences alongside his own unexpected experience of hearing God and considers what happens when extraordinary spiritual encounters do not fit our usual categories. Why are people so reluctant to talk about mystical or spiritual experiences? What might be missed when they are dismissed simply because they do not fit within a modern scientific worldview? Jerry draws on Joan of Arc, Reynolds Price, William James, Eric Voegelin, and Shakespeare’s Hamlet to make the case for taking reports of divine encounters seriously. That does not mean accepting every spiritual claim without question. It means remaining open to the possibility that reality may contain more than our existing categories can explain. This From God to Jerry to You reflection explores hearing God, mystical experience, divine encounters, spiritual philosophy, and the hidden experiences people rarely tell anyone about. Get the books: Radically Personal: God and Ourselves in the New Axial Age God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher *** Continue the conversation with Ultimate Questions on calling, divine guidance, and how we recognize what is ours to do: https://substack.com/@ultimatequestions *** Other Series: The podcast began with the Dramatic Adaptation of the book and now has several series: The Life Wisdom Project – Spiritual insights on living a wiser, more meaningful life. From God to Jerry to You – Divine messages and breakthroughs for seekers. Two Philosophers Wrestle With God – A dialogue on God, truth, and reason. Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue – Love, faith, and divine presence in partnership. What’s Your Spiritual Story – Real stories of people changed by encounters with God. What’s On Our Mind – Reflections from Jerry and Scott on recent episodes. What’s On Your Mind – Listener questions, divine answers, and open dialogue.  Stay Connected Share: questions@godanautobiography.comUltimate Questions SubstackGet the books: God: An Autobiography, Radically PersonalShare Your Story | Site | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

  2. Sep 24

    302. Why Are We Afraid of Love? Jesus, God’s Love, and the Fear of Intimacy- What’s On Our Mind?

    Questions? Comments? Text Us! Why are we sometimes afraid of love, even when love is exactly what we want? In this episode of What’s On Our Mind?, Scott Langdon and Jerry L. Martin explore one of the most personal questions Jesus asks Jerry in God: An Autobiography: “Why are you afraid of love?” Jerry reflects on his unexpected encounter with Jesus, his resistance to letting love fully enter his heart, and the vulnerability that comes with allowing another person - or the divine - into our most intimate inner space. Scott connects Jerry’s experience with his own questions about trust, disappointment, control, and the fear that love may be withdrawn. Their conversation moves from Jesus and God’s love to intimacy, human relationships, spiritual vulnerability, and the idea that “love is always the love of something incomplete.” What does love ask of us when we feel separate, wounded, unfinished, or afraid? Scott and Jerry also discuss the heart as a spiritual symbol, the difference between separateness and connection, and how love may draw us toward healing, wholeness, and a deeper relationship with God and one another. Listen for a thoughtful conversation about Jesus, fear of love, God’s love, vulnerability, intimacy, spiritual growth, and what it may really mean to let love in. Related Episodes: 301. Special Episode: Finding God Beyond Religion- Spiritual Discernment in Everyday Life 300. Special Episode: Who Are We to God? 299. Jesus, Love, and the Reality of Evil | Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue 298. When You Feel Unworthy of Love: A Message from Jesus- From God to Jerry to You Get the books: Radically Personal: God and Ourselves in the New Axial Age God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher ***Ultimate Questions*** Listen to the full episode and explore the question with a community of philosophers and seekers. Join the Ultimate Questions conversation on calling and divine guidance: https://substack.com/@ultimatequestions Other Series: The podcast began with the Dramatic Adaptation of the book and now has several series: The Life Wisdom Project – Spiritual insights on living a wiser, more meaningful life. From God to Jerry to You – Divine messages and breakthroughs for seekers. Two Philosophers Wrestle With God – A dialogue on God, truth, and reason. Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue – Love, faith, and divine presence in partnership. What’s Your Spiritual Story – Real stories of people changed by encounters with God. What’s On Our Mind – Reflections from Jerry and Scott on recent episodes. What’s On Your Mind – Listener questions, divine answers, and open dialogue.  Stay Connected Share: questions@godanautobiography.comGet the books: God: An Autobiography, Radically PersonalShare Your Story | Site | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

  3. Sep 17

    301. Special Episode: Finding God Beyond Religion- Spiritual Discernment in Everyday Life

    Questions? Comments? Text Us! A piece of music, a friendship, a moment in nature, a struggle with suffering, a quiet stretch of contemplation, or a remark made almost in passing can become a point of contact with something larger than ourselves. In this special episode, Jerry L. Martin considers theology as an inquiry into divine or ultimate reality. Particles are ultimate in physics. Leibniz had his monads. Jerry is interested in the kind of ultimate reality that has, or ought to have, a gravitational pull on our lives. Religious traditions offer rich glimpses of that reality, alongside philosophy, literature, depth psychology, art, music, love, friendship, suffering, and the demands that arise unexpectedly in the course of a life. A calling may be one of those moments. So may a clue, a nudge, or something said by a friend at exactly the right time. Spiritual discernment means learning to notice those glimmers and take them seriously without losing the ability to question them. Jerry considers projection, fantasy, groupthink, and the assumptions we bring to our own experience, while also asking what can be missed when doubt becomes the starting point for everything. His “epistemics of trust” offers another possibility: an open mind, an open heart, and a willingness to let experience teach us. No one can take in everything. The task is more personal than that: to recognize the breadcrumbs along your own path and follow them as faithfully as you can. Jerry L. Martin is the founder of Theology Without Walls, a cooperative, constructive, trans-religious theological project devoted to understanding ultimate reality as fully as possible. Its premise is that revelation, enlightenment, and insight into the divine are not confined to a single tradition, so theology should be willing to learn from the insights found across religious traditions. Get the books: Radically Personal: God and Ourselves in the New Axial Age God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher *** Continue the conversation with Ultimate Questions on calling, divine guidance, and how we recognize what is ours to do: https://substack.com/@ultimatequestions *** Other Series: The podcast began with the Dramatic Adaptation of the book and now has several series: The Life Wisdom Project – Spiritual insights on living a wiser, more meaningful life. From God to Jerry to You – Divine messages and breakthroughs for seekers. Two Philosophers Wrestle With God – A dialogue on God, truth, and reason. Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue – Love, faith, and divine presence in partnership. What’s Your Spiritual Story – Real stories of people changed by encounters with God. What’s On Our Mind – Reflections from Jerry and Scott on recent episodes. What’s On Your Mind – Listener questions, divine answers, and open dialogue.  Stay Connected Share: questions@godanautobiography.comUltimate Questions SubstackGet the books: God: An Autobiography, Radically PersonalShare Your Story | Site | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

  4. Sep 10

    300. Special Episode: Who Are We to God?

    Questions? Comments? Text Us! For the 300th episode of God: An Autobiography, The Podcast, Scott Langdon returns to the first 44 episodes and asks three questions that reach to the heart of the entire series: Who are we to God? What are we to God? And why are we to God? The episode begins with Jerry L. Martin’s unexpected relationship with God. A lifelong agnostic and philosopher, Jerry never set out looking for God, but after praying in gratitude, he received an answer in words. From there, his conversations with God opened into questions about divine presence, human responsibility, creation, and the purpose of our lives. Looking back at key moments from the original dramatic adaptation, Scott explores what it means when God tells Jerry that He wants to be “co-present and a co-participant” in ordinary life. The relationship is not passive or one-sided. Human response matters, and God describes His own development as being connected to the development and choices of human beings. That leads to the second question: What are we to God? In one of the clearest answers from the book, Jerry is told that “human effort completes creation.” Our actions, relationships, choices, acts of love, failures, forgiveness, and attempts to repair what has been broken all become part of something larger. We are participants in creation, not simply observers of it. The final question is the largest of all: Why are we to God? As Jerry wrestles with the scale of existence, God tells him that there is “a meaning to the whole.” That meaning points toward completeness, connectedness, and the movement of the many back into the one. Episode 300 is not simply a look back. It is a return to the questions that have shaped God: An Autobiography, The Podcast from the beginning and continue to guide its exploration of God, human purpose, spiritual experience, and our place in the larger story of creation. Related Episodes: 10. I Learn How God Reveals Himself To Humans | Dramatic Adaptation Of God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher 18. God Explains Polytheism In A Way I Understand | Dramatic Adaptation Of God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher 27. I Learn Human Effort Completes Creation | Dramatic Adaptation Of God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher 39. Upset By God, I Stop Praying | Dramatic Adaptation Of God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher 40. God Explains Infinite Worlds And Their Purpose | Dramatic Adaptation Of God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher Get the books: Radically Personal: God and Ourselves in the New Axial Age God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher ***Ultimate Questions*** Listen to the full episode and explore the question with a community of philosophers and seekers. Join the Ultimate Questions conversation on calling and divine guidance: https://substack.com/@ultimatequestions Other Series: The podcast began with the Dramatic Adaptation of the book and now has several series: The Life Wisdom Project – Spiritual insights on living a wiser, more meaningful life. From God to Jerry to You – Divine messages and breakthroughs for seekers. Two Philosophers Wrestle With God – A dialogue on God, truth, and reason. Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue – Love, faith, and divine presence in partnership. What’s Your Spiritual Story – Real stories of people changed by encounters with God. What’s On Our Mind – Reflections from Jerry and Scott on recent episodes. What’s On Your Mind – Listener questions, divine answers, and open dialogue.  Stay Connected Share: questions@godanautobiography.comGet the books: God: An Autobiography, Radically PersonalShare Your Story | Site | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

  5. Sep 3

    299. Jesus, Love, and the Reality of Evil | Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue

    Questions? Comments? Text Us! Jerry was driving home from work when Jesus appeared to him. What he remembers most is the love. It was so direct and overwhelming that his first reaction was resistance. In this episode of Jerry and Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue, Jerry and Abigail talk about that encounter, what it means to receive love, and why being loved can sometimes feel exposing. Abigail brings a very different perspective to Jesus. As a Jewish philosopher, she has never understood Jesus as necessary to a relationship with God. She talks about the difference between the historical Jesus and the Christian doctrines that came later, including Original Sin and the idea of Jesus as an intermediary. They also take on Freud, Darwin, human nature, and the kinds of theories people absorb so deeply that they can start to feel more real than experience itself. Abigail returns to the subject of evil, something she explored in A Good Look at Evil. She argues that evil cannot always be explained away as deprivation, misunderstanding, or psychological dysfunction. Sometimes it has to be recognized plainly for what it is. Nietzsche, skepticism, self-trust, and cultural fashion all come into the picture as Jerry and Abigail ask what helps us stay connected to reality instead of getting lost in theories about it. Throughout the episode, love keeps coming back as something more demanding than a feeling. It means paying attention, using judgment, taking responsibility, and trying to do right by the people in front of you. Get the books: Radically Personal: God and Ourselves in the New Axial Age God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher Confessions of a Young Philosopher A Good Look at Evil ***Ultimate Questions*** Listen to the full episode and explore the question with a community of philosophers and seekers. Join the Ultimate Questions conversation on calling and divine guidance: https://substack.com/@ultimatequestions Other Series: The podcast began with the Dramatic Adaptation of the book and now has several series: The Life Wisdom Project – Spiritual insights on living a wiser, more meaningful life. From God to Jerry to You – Divine messages and breakthroughs for seekers. Two Philosophers Wrestle With God – A dialogue on God, truth, and reason. Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue – Love, faith, and divine presence in partnership. What’s Your Spiritual Story – Real stories of people changed by encounters with God. What’s On Our Mind – Reflections from Jerry and Scott on recent episodes. What’s On Your Mind – Listener questions, divine answers, and open dialogue.  Stay Connected Share: questions@godanautobiography.comGet the books: God: An Autobiography, Radically Personal, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, A Good Look at Evil Share Your Story | Site | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

  6. Aug 27

    298. When You Feel Unworthy of Love: A Message from Jesus- From God to Jerry to You

    Questions? Comments? Text Us! What happens when love is offered, but part of you still feels unworthy of receiving it? In this episode of God: An Autobiography, The Podcast, Jerry L. Martin shares a deeply personal encounter with Jesus that challenged his resistance to love. Reflecting on childhood shame, fear of being seen, and the feeling that there are parts of ourselves that make us undeserving, Jerry recounts Jesus telling him to let down his defenses and accept a love that is “full, unreserved, unrelenting.” Jerry explores why accepting love can sometimes be harder than giving it, how shame can shape the way we see ourselves, and what it might mean to believe that divine love does not depend on perfection. Rather than offering simple reassurance, the experience becomes a continuing challenge: to stop guarding against love and allow God’s love to reach the places we are most inclined to hide. A moving reflection on Jesus, shame, self-worth, vulnerability, and learning to receive unconditional love. Get the books: Radically Personal: God and Ourselves in the New Axial Age God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher *** Continue the conversation with Ultimate Questions on calling, divine guidance, and how we recognize what is ours to do: https://substack.com/@ultimatequestions *** Other Series: The podcast began with the Dramatic Adaptation of the book and now has several series: The Life Wisdom Project – Spiritual insights on living a wiser, more meaningful life. From God to Jerry to You – Divine messages and breakthroughs for seekers. Two Philosophers Wrestle With God – A dialogue on God, truth, and reason. Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue – Love, faith, and divine presence in partnership. What’s Your Spiritual Story – Real stories of people changed by encounters with God. What’s On Our Mind – Reflections from Jerry and Scott on recent episodes. What’s On Your Mind – Listener questions, divine answers, and open dialogue.  Stay Connected Share: questions@godanautobiography.comUltimate Questions SubstackGet the books: God: An Autobiography, Radically PersonalShare Your Story | Site | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

  7. Aug 20

    297. Signs, Coincidences, and Divine Guidance- What's On Our Mind?

    Questions? Comments? Text Us! Scott shares a story about his brother Lee, a simple text message, and a dream that made the timing feel almost impossible to ignore. In this episode of What’s On Our Mind, Jerry L. Martin and Scott Langdon talk about signs, coincidences, and divine guidance in everyday life. They reflect on the ways God may come to us through other people, intuition, prayer, art, and unexpected moments that seem to carry a meaning of their own. Scott also talks about the anxiety that can come with trying too hard to figure out what God wants, while Jerry considers the importance of becoming quiet enough to listen and notice what is already in front of us. Are some coincidences more than coincidence? And how do we know when a passing moment, a sudden nudge, or an unexpected connection might be pointing us toward something more? Related Episodes: 296. What's Your Spiritual Story? The Search for Truth with Alex Woollends 295. God’s Reason for Being - Radically Personal Finale 294. Romantic Love, God’s Love, and What Makes Love Real | Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue 293. Feeling God’s Love Through Other People- From God to Jerry to You 288. You’re Not Alone: How God Speaks Through Other People- From God to Jerry to You Get the books: Radically Personal: God and Ourselves in the New Axial Age God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher ***Ultimate Questions*** Listen to the full episode and explore the question with a community of philosophers and seekers. Join the Ultimate Questions conversation on calling and divine guidance: https://substack.com/@ultimatequestions Other Series: The podcast began with the Dramatic Adaptation of the book and now has several series: The Life Wisdom Project – Spiritual insights on living a wiser, more meaningful life. From God to Jerry to You – Divine messages and breakthroughs for seekers. Two Philosophers Wrestle With God – A dialogue on God, truth, and reason. Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue – Love, faith, and divine presence in partnership. What’s Your Spiritual Story – Real stories of people changed by encounters with God. What’s On Our Mind – Reflections from Jerry and Scott on recent episodes. What’s On Your Mind – Listener questions, divine answers, and open dialogue.  Stay Connected Share: questions@godanautobiography.comGet the books: God: An Autobiography, Radically PersonalShare Your Story | Site | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

  8. Aug 13

    296. What’s Your Spiritual Story? The Search for Truth with Alex Woollends

    Questions? Comments? Text Us! What happens when the search for truth becomes a search for God? In this episode of What’s Your Spiritual Story?, philosopher Alex Woollends joins Jerry L. Martin to share an intellectual and deeply personal journey shaped by conscience, philosophy, spiritual discernment, and the desire to become a better person. Alex describes growing up around religious belief while struggling with explanations that did not satisfy his questions. His search led him through libertarianism, ethical intuitionism, philosophical idealism, and the work of thinkers including Eric Voegelin, Michael Oakeshott, George Berkeley, Plato, Carl Jung, Michael Huemer, Gene Callahan, and J. Budziszewski. Along the way, Alex began to see conscience not merely as a feeling, but as a genuine source of moral knowledge. He came to question ideology itself, explore the spiritual nature of reality, and consider whether truth must ultimately be discovered through lived experience. That journey eventually brought him to God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher. In its account of divine reality, interconnectedness, transformation, and human participation in God’s ongoing action, Alex encountered ideas that closely reflected the path he had already been following. Together, Jerry and Alex explore the relationship between philosophy and religion, the meaning of conscience, the limits of ideology, the nature of ultimate mind, the significance of Jesus, and the possibility that becoming a better person can help make the world itself better. This is a thoughtful conversation for anyone searching for truth, wrestling with belief, questioning inherited religion, or wondering how philosophy can become a lived spiritual path. Join the conversation on the Ultimate Questions Substack: Does each of us have a personal calling that responds to something beyond ourselves? Get the books: Radically Personal: God and Ourselves in the New Axial Age God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher Other Series: The podcast began with the Dramatic Adaptation of the book and now has several series: Radically Personal: Reflections on lived experience, divine encounter, and personal vocation, drawing on a seeker-centered approach to spirituality in a new Axial Age.From God to Jerry to You: Divine messages and breakthroughs for seekers.Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue: Love, faith, and divine presence in partnership.What’s Your Spiritual Story: Real stories of people changed by encounters with God.What’s On Our Mind: Reflections from Jerry and Scott on recent episodes.Two Philosophers Wrestle With God: A dialogue on God, truth, and reason.The Life Wisdom Project: Spiritual insights on living a wiser, more meaningful life.What’s On Your Mind: Listener questions, divine answers, and open dialogue. Share Your Story | Site | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

See All (303)

5
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

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

Information