What is truth? As humans, how can we know what is real? How can the philosophies of science, cosmology, and biology help us understand the mysteries of our existence? In this compelling audio series, Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, creator and host of the hit PBS series Closer to Truth, probes the nature of truth and other heady philosophical questions in intimate conversations with 13 of the world’s greatest thinkers.

How, Dr. Kuhn asks his interlocutors, can consciousness be explained? How do the microscopic particles that make up our brains cause us to experience the tranquil beauty of a setting sun, the haunting strains of Mozart’s "Requiem", or the flush of romantic love? These interviews - with cosmologists, computer scientists, philosophers, paranormal researchers, and more - explore key questions such as these about the nature and mystery of consciousness.

Is time travel possible? What does it mean to say the universe is fine-tuned? Could our universe be fake? Or, if it is real, is it part of a multiverse? In an attempt to solve such mysteries, leading experts attempt to break the world down to its smallest particles and build it back up - to understand the universe by understanding the atom. In this compelling audio course, Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, creator and host of the PBS series Closer to Truth, examines the riddles of the universe with 13 luminaries in physics, cosmology, astronomy, philosophy, mathematics, and chemistry.

Join Deepak Chopra and 12 other brilliant minds in answering the universe’s most confounding questions. Among Kuhn’s interviewees are Templeton Prize-winning physicist and cosmologist George Ellis, coauthor with Stephen Hawking of The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time; renowned physician, author, and alternative medicine practitioner Deepak Chopra; and Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek, a theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his research in particle physics, astrophysics, and condensed matter physics.

Whether you’re a devoted believer, a staunch atheist, or a wavering skeptic, you likely have unanswered questions about religion. If you adhere to a certain religion, you may wonder how the tenets of a different faith may intersect or conflict with yours. If you are a nonbeliever or agnostic, you may wonder how others can have such unwavering faith. In this riveting audio series, Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn welcomes 13 esteemed guest experts to help him tackle religion’s most confounding questions.

America’s first settlements, founding documents, and most important traditions are replete with religious sentiment. Today, religion continues to play an important role in the lives of American people - nearly 80 percent are religiously affiliated - and institutions. These audio lectures bring you face to face with the fascinating people, movements, groups, beliefs, and practices that have made the US one of the most religiously diverse nations in the history of the world.

What happens when we die? There is no bigger question, and no shortage of potential answers. In this series of three episodes, your host, Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, holds 16 engaging interviews with an eclectic lineup of experts. Bursting at the seams with high-caliber thinkers, these three episodes promise to expand your view of the afterlife.

In a conversation with Robert John Russell, founder and director of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, Kuhn asks how Russell reconciles his roles as a physicist and an ordained minister. As you listen to a fascinating array of perspectives, you’ll understand Kuhn’s claim that “the nexus of science and theology is the place where we explore human reality.”

Have you ever wondered what’s “new” about New Atheism? Coined in 2006, the term New Atheism has been used to describe the shared sentiments of prominent 21st-century atheists - perhaps most notably the “Four Horsemen” and talk-show host Bill Maher. In popular perception, the term has also garnered a negative connotation - implying hostility towards religion at large. Now, in this series of 14 one-on-one interviews, you have the rare opportunity to listen in on conversations with some of the leading actors in New Atheism.

Is there other intelligent life in the universe, or are we all alone? Now you can explore this question through 17 compelling conversations with leading experts on extraterrestrial life. The prospect of alien intelligences has long captivated cosmologists, perplexed theologians, and provided rich fodder for science fiction writers. While we may doubt that the large-eyed, green-skinned figures of sci-fi films will one day descend to Earth in UFOs, it is far harder to reject wholesale the possibility that intelligent life - in some form yet unknown - exists.

The Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles are two parts of a single triumphant work. Each an epic work in its own right, together they proclaim the gospel message and narrate the gripping story of the Church’s early days. Using the metaphor of a double helix, Fr. William Burton asks you to imagine Luke’s gospel and Acts as a single account with many parallels or rungs connecting the two sides of the twisted ladder.

How do the microscopic particles that make up our brains cause us to experience the tranquil beauty of a setting sun, the haunting strains of Mozart’s "Requiem", or the flush of romantic love? How, in short, can consciousness be explained? In this three-part series, neuroscientist Robert Lawrence Kuhn interviews 18 guest experts about the nuts and bolts of consciousness as well its illusory aspects.

Can our physical brains fully explain the phenomenon of our minds? The same question that Descartes pondered in the 17th century continues to fascinate philosophers, theologians, and scientists in the 21st. Now, in this engaging three-part series, your host, Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, conducts wide-ranging interviews with 13 leading experts about the relationship between brain and mind. Each episode is crafted as a series of one-on-one interviews that respond to the title question.

In this electrifying social and intellectual history, Paula Fredriksen answers the question of how Jewish missionaries ended up inaugurating a movement that would grow into the gentile church by reconstructing the life of the earliest Jerusalem community. As her account arcs from this group’s hopeful celebration of Passover with Jesus, through their bitter controversies that fragmented the movement’s midcentury missions, to the city’s fiery end in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, she brings this vibrant apostolic community to life.

In his first major work since The Universal Christ, one of our most prominent spiritual voices offers a wholehearted and hope-filled model for the world today, grounded in the timeless wisdom of the Hebrew prophets. How do we live compassionately in a time of violence and despair? What can we do with our private disappointments and the anger we feel in such an unjust world? In his most personal book yet, Richard Rohr turns to the writings of the Jewish prophets, revealing how some of the lesser-read books of the Bible offer us a crucial path forward today.