One of the persistent heroes of philosophically minded folks is Socrates, the godfatherof question-askers, the Athenian philosopher, the drinker of hemlock. Although the Platonic dialogues never present him as entirely averse to speech-making, nonetheless, Socrates, in the Apology, famously describes himself as one who doesn’t relay divine wisdom to mortals so much as he asks questions of mortals who claim to be wise. As he calls the wisdom of rhetoricians, poets, statesmen, and all sorts of men in Athens into question, Socrates sets the table for his own demise, making himself perhaps the most famous martyr for question-asking.

Matthew Lee Anderson, who is the author of Earthen Vessels and more recently of The End of Our Exploring, which we’ll be talking about today, wants to maintain the honor of the good question by calling into question the questions of questionable character. So as he joins us today on Christian Humanist Profiles, we’ll be the ones asking questions, and he’ll just have to answer them. Thanks for listening!