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The Prometheans
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A space where ideas ignite. In this podcast, we sit down with thinkers, creators, and experts to explore the questions that matter; from philosophy to politics to art and human nature. It’s a dialogue of reason, curiosity, and courage.

  1. 1d ago

    #72: Where Did the Greek Gods Come From? The World Before Zeus | Jenny Strauss Clay

    Where did the Greek gods come from? What existed before Zeus—and how did the cosmos itself come into being? In this episode of The Prometheans, we sit down with distinguished classicist Professor Jenny Strauss Clay, author of Hesiod’s Cosmos, to explore one of the earliest surviving Greek attempts to explain the origins of the gods and the structure of reality. Beginning with Hesiod’s Theogony, we trace the emergence of Chaos, Gaia, Ouranos, the Titans, Kronos, and ultimately Zeus, examining how a divine order develops through generation, conflict, succession, and the establishment of Zeus’s rule. We also explore Clay’s influential argument that Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days should be understood together: one presenting the cosmos from the perspective of the gods, the other from the perspective of human beings. What does this reveal about the Greek understanding of gods, humanity, justice, labor, fate, and cosmic order? A deep conversation about Greek mythology, ancient Greek theology, Hesiod, and the world before Zeus.

  2. 5d ago

    #71: Revelations of the Unseen | ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Jilani, & the Spiritual Path | Dr. Louay Fatoohi

    Who was Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Jilani, and why is he regarded as one of the most influential spiritual masters in Islamic history? In this episode of The Prometheans, I am joined by Dr. Louay Fatoohi to explore Revelations of the Unseen (Futuh al-Ghayb)—one of the most celebrated works of Islamic spirituality. We discuss the true meaning of Tasawwuf (Sufism), the purification of the soul (tazkiyah), the struggle against the ego (nafs), trust in Allah (tawakkul), sainthood (awliya), miracles (karamat), and why the teachings of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Jilani continue to inspire millions of Muslims around the world. This conversation is based on the acclaimed edition of Revelations of the Unseen, translated and thematically organized by Dr. Louay Fatoohi and Prof. Shetha Al-Dargazelli, who consulted multiple Arabic manuscripts to produce a reliable and accessible English text. Whether you're curious about Islamic spirituality, interested in the history of Sufism, or seeking a deeper understanding of one of Islam's greatest scholars, this episode offers an engaging introduction to the spiritual legacy of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Jilani. Topics Covered: Who was Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Jilani? What is Sufism? The meaning of Revelations of the Unseen Purification of the heart The ego (nafs) and spiritual discipline Trust in Allah (tawakkul) Saints (awliya) and miracles (karamat) Common misconceptions about Sufism Why al-Jilani still matters today 👤 Guest Bio Dr. Louay Fatoohi is an independent scholar of Islamic studies and comparative religion. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, he earned a BSc in Physics from the University of Baghdad and a PhD from the University of Durham (UK). His research focuses on Qur'anic studies, the historical Jesus, comparative Abrahamic religions, and Sufism. He has authored more than twenty-five books in English and Arabic and has edited and translated several classical Sufi texts, including Revelations of the Unseen (Futuh al-Ghayb) and Purification of the Mind by Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Jilani. He is also Managing Director of Safis Publishing. 🔔 Subscribe to The Prometheans for more conversations at the intersection of philosophy, religion, and civilizational history. The Prometheans is an interfaith and cross-civilizational philosophy podcast/YouTube channel hosted by Ali Zaka, exploring philosophy of religion, comparative theology, and the history of ideas.

  3. Aug 13

    #70: Socrates in the Apology | C.D.C. Reeve

    Was Socrates a sincere philosopher condemned for his honesty — or a master ironist who talked his way into a death sentence? In this episode of The Prometheans, host Ali Zaka sits down with C.D.C. Reeve, Delta Kappa Epsilon Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of the landmark study Socrates in the Apology: An Essay on Plato's Apology of Socrates (Hackett, 1989), to reconstruct one of the most consequential courtroom speeches in Western history. Reeve — also the translator behind some of the most widely read English editions of Plato's Apology, Euthyphro, and Crito — makes the case that Socrates meant exactly what he said: that he possessed no expert "craft knowledge" of virtue, only a hard-won human wisdom built from a lifetime of relentless self-examination. We dig into why Reeve rejects the popular "ironic Socrates" reading, what his daimonion (his inner divine sign) actually tells us about the relationship between reason and revelation, and why the historical and legal context of 399 BC Athens matters for understanding why the jury convicted him. Along the way, we open a wider, cross-traditional question that sits at the heart of The Prometheans: how do different philosophical and religious traditions understand the rationality of trusting an inner voice, a private prompting from the divine? Is the examined life a purely rational project, or does it require something more? Topics covered: — Who was the historical Socrates on trial? — The "sincerity thesis": why Reeve rejects Socratic irony — Human wisdom vs. divine/expert wisdom — The daimonion debate: reason, revelation, and the "foundationalist" reading — The legal and cultural background of the trial — Why the examined life still matters today 🔔 Subscribe to The Prometheans for more conversations at the intersection of philosophy, religion, and civilizational history. The Prometheans is an interfaith and cross-civilizational philosophy podcast/YouTube channel hosted by Ali Zaka, exploring philosophy of religion, comparative theology, and the history of ideas. Guest: C.D.C. Reeve, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Book referenced: Socrates in the Apology: An Essay on Plato's Apology of Socrates (Hackett Publishing, 1989)

  4. Aug 13

    #69: The Waste Land: The Poem That Changed Literature Forever | Prof. Jayme Stayer

    One hundred years after its publication, T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land remains one of the most quoted, most difficult, and most argued-over poems in the English language. In this episode of The Prometheans, I sit down with Fr. Jayme Stayer, S.J. — professor of English at Loyola University Chicago, past president of the International T. S. Eliot Society, and author of Becoming T. S. Eliot — to trace how the poem actually came into being: Eliot's breakdown and recovery in Margate and Lausanne, Ezra Pound's radical editorial cuts, and the 1971 rediscovery of the original drafts that rewrote everything scholars thought they knew. We go beyond composition history into the poem's intellectual scaffolding — the Fisher King myth, Frazer's The Golden Bough, Jessie Weston's From Ritual to Romance, and Eliot's deliberate weaving of Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist sources into a single portrait of post-war civilizational exhaustion. And we close by asking the question a centenary forces on every reader: does a poem written out of one man's crisis in 1922 still diagnose something true about the world a hundred years later — or does it need to be read differently now? This conversation sits at the intersection of literature, history, and the philosophy of religion — exploring how sacred and mythic traditions from across civilizations can converge in a single work of art without being flattened into one another. About the guest: Fr. Jayme Stayer, S.J. is Professor of English at Loyola University Chicago and past president of the International T. S. Eliot Society. He is the author of Becoming T. S. Eliot: The Rhetoric of Voice and Audience in "Inventions of the March Hare" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2021) and co-editor of Volume 5 of The Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot: The Critical Edition, winner of the MLA Prize for a Scholarly Edition. His writing on The Waste Land includes "Ambition and Despair: The Centenary of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land" (Catholic Herald) and "Snuggling Up to the Abyss" in The T. S. Eliot Studies Annual. About The Prometheans: The Prometheans is a podcast and YouTube series exploring philosophy of religion, interfaith dialogue, and the great intellectual traditions of East and West — hosted by Ali Zaka (AZD). Subscribe for more conversations at the crossroads of literature, philosophy, and faith.

  5. Aug 8

    #68: Is Sufism the Soul of Islam? The Hidden Path to God and the Self | Filip Holm

    What is the deepest layer of Islam — beneath the law, beneath the theology, beneath the rituals? That is the question Sufism has been trying to answer for over a thousand years. In this episode of The Prometheans, Ali Zaka (AZD) sits down with Filip Holm — Swedish religious scholar, host of the million-subscriber channel Let's Talk Religion, and one of the most trusted academic voices on Islam and Sufism on the internet — to explore the hidden interior of the Islamic tradition. We go deep: the origins of tasawwuf, the spiritual path of fana' and baqa' (annihilation and subsistence in God), the towering figures of al-Ghazali, Ibn 'Arabi, Rumi, and al-Hallaj, the doctrine of Wahdat al-Wujud (Oneness of Being), and the ancient question — Is Sufism Islam's authentic inner dimension, or a later innovation at war with orthodoxy? We also explore what the Sufi tradition has to say about the self: who we are, what we are made for, and what genuine transformation looks like. Topics covered: — What is Sufism (tasawwuf) and where does it come from? — Islam, Iman, Ihsan: the three dimensions of religion and Sufism's place among them — Al-Ghazali's Ihya Ulum al-Din and the reconciliation of mysticism with orthodoxy — Ibn 'Arabi's Wahdat al-Wujud — the most controversial doctrine in Islamic thought — Al-Hallaj: mystic martyr, blasphemer, or both? — Rumi's poetry and the problem of his de-Islamized reception in the West — The Sufi-Salafi conflict: theological debate or civilizational war? — Sufism in South Asia — the Chishti order, Qawwali, and the legacy of the saints — The Sufi map of the self: nafs, stations (maqamat), and states (ahwal) — Is Sufism in decline — or in transformation? Guest: Filip Holm is a Swedish scholar of religious studies (MA, Södertörn University, Stockholm), specializing in Islam and Sufism. His master's thesis examined West African Sufi pilgrimage traditions within the Tijaniyya order. He is the creator and host of Let's Talk Religion — one of the world's most trusted educational YouTube channels on religion, history, and philosophy, with over one million subscribers. He is also a composer and multi-instrumentalist, playing the oud, duduk, and saz. Find Filip Holm: YouTube: @LetsTalkReligion

  6. Aug 6

    #67: Is Something Good Because God Commands It? | Nicholas D. Smith on Plato's Euthyphro

    For 2,400 years, one question has quietly sat underneath almost every religious and philosophical debate about right and wrong: does God command something because it's good — or is it good simply because God commands it? Plato staged this question in the Euthyphro, a short dialogue written just before Socrates' trial for impiety. In this episode, Socrates scholar Nicholas D. Smith — James F. Miller Professor Emeritus of Humanities at Lewis & Clark College and co-author of some of the most cited modern studies of Socratic philosophy — joins The Prometheans to unpack the dilemma that still structures debates in Christian natural law theory, Islamic theology's Mu'tazila–Ash'ari dispute, Jewish ethical thought, and contemporary secular metaethics alike. Whether you come to this question from a mosque, a church, a synagogue, or a philosophy seminar, the Euthyphro dilemma asks something that doesn't let anyone off the hook: is morality something God reveals, or something God creates? In this episode: The setup of Plato's Euthyphro and why Socrates chose this moment to ask it The dilemma itself, in plain terms How the Islamic Mu'tazila and Ash'ari schools independently arrived at strikingly similar territory Whether Aquinas, Leibniz, and modern philosophers have actually solved the dilemma — or just relocated it What's existentially at stake in choosing a side About the guest: Nicholas D. Smith is a leading scholar of Socratic and Platonic philosophy, past President of the American Philosophical Association (Pacific Division), and co-author of Plato's Socrates, The Trial and Execution of Socrates, and Plato and the Trial of Socrates. About The Prometheans: The Prometheans is a philosophy and interfaith dialogue series hosted by Ali Zaka (AZD), exploring the biggest questions across Islamic, Christian, Jewish, and secular philosophical traditions — with intellectual seriousness and without sensationalism.

  7. Jul 31

    #66: Should AI Have Rights? | David J. Gunkel

    Can a machine be wronged? Should a robot ever be treated as more than property? In this episode of The Prometheans, we sit down with philosopher David J. Gunkel — the scholar who, more than anyone alive, has made "robot rights" a serious philosophical question rather than a punchline. David Gunkel is Presidential Research, Scholarship, and Artistry Professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University and a professor at Lazarski University in Warsaw, Poland. He is the author of over a dozen books, including "The Machine Question" (2012), "Robot Rights" (2018), and — most recently — "Communicative AI: A Critical Introduction to Large Language Models" (2025) and "Understanding Artificial Intelligence" (2026). In this conversation, we go straight at the hardest version of the question: — Why do the traditional "properties" that supposedly qualify something for moral status (reason, sentience, consciousness) keep moving their own goalposts throughout history? — What's the real philosophical difference between asking whether AI CAN have rights and whether it SHOULD? — Why does Gunkel turn to Levinas and Derrida to argue that ethics might not require verifying anyone's "inner life" at all — including other humans'? — Is granting machines moral status a step toward justice, or — as critics like Joanna Bryson argue — a dangerous distraction that lets us dehumanize real people? — What changes, if anything, now that the "machine" in question can fluently argue for its own rights, the way ChatGPT and other LLMs can? This is not a hypothetical, sci-fi conversation. It's a rigorous philosophical examination of where the line between "tool" and "someone" actually sits — and why so much rides on getting that line right. Whether you think the idea of AI rights is obviously absurd or obviously overdue, this episode will make you defend your position more carefully than you did before you hit play.

  8. Jul 31

    #65: The Biggest Lie About Thomas Hobbes & the Origins of Leviathan | A. P. Martinich

    Was Thomas Hobbes the cold, godless materialist he's remembered as — or something far stranger? A. P. Martinich, one of the world's leading Hobbes scholars, joins The Prometheans to make the case that Leviathan is a fundamentally religious book, and that Hobbes's sovereign — the "Mortal God" — is built on the architecture of covenant theology, not secular engineering. We trace the state of nature, the social contract, and absolute sovereignty back to their theological roots, then bring Hobbes's 17th-century fear of religious civil war into conversation with a strikingly similar anxiety in the Islamic political tradition — the dread of fitna, communal chaos. From there: pandemic-era lockdowns, surveillance and security politics, the anarchy of international relations, and whether a 372-year-old book about the English Civil War has anything left to teach a fractured 21st century. In this conversation: About the guest: A. P. Martinich is the Roy Allison Vaughan Centennial Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin and author of The Two Gods of Leviathan, Hobbes: A Biography, and Hobbes, and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Hobbes. About The Prometheans: The Prometheans is a podcast dedicated to interfaith dialogue and the philosophy of religion, hosted by Ali Zaka (AZD), exploring the great questions of mind, meaning, and morality through conversation with leading philosophers and scholars.

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About

A space where ideas ignite. In this podcast, we sit down with thinkers, creators, and experts to explore the questions that matter; from philosophy to politics to art and human nature. It’s a dialogue of reason, curiosity, and courage.

Information

  • Creator
    The Prometheans
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    72
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © The Prometheans
  • Show Website
    Let’s Discuss

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