About this episode
Miroslav Volf on how to rightly love a radically ambivalent world.“The world, our planetary home, certainly needs to be changed, improved. But what it needs even more is to be rightly loved.”Miroslav Volf begins his 2025 Gifford Lectures at the University of Aberdeen with a provocative theological inquiry: What difference does belief in God make for our relationship to the world? Drawing deeply from Nietzsche’s “death of God,” Schopenhauer’s despair, and Hannah Arendt’s vision of amor mundi, Volf explores the ambivalence of modern life—its beauty and horror, its resonance and alienation. Can we truly love the world, even amidst its chaos and collapse? Can a belief in the God of Jesus Christ provide motivation to love—not as appetite or utility, but as radical, unconditional affirmation? Volf suggests that faith offers not a retreat from reality, but an anchor amid its disorder—a trust that enables us to hope, even when the world’s goodness seems impossible. This first lecture challenges us to consider the character of our relationship to the world, between atheism and theism, critique and love.Episode Highlights“The world, our planetary home, certainly needs to be changed, improved. But what it needs even more is to be rightly loved.”“Resonance seems both indispensable and insufficient. But what should supplement it? What should underpin it?”“Our love for that lived world is what these lectures are about.”“We can reject and hate one form of the world because we love the world as such.”“Though God is fully alive… we often find the same God asleep when our boats are about to capsize.”Helpful Links and ReferencesResonance by Hartmut RosaThe Human Condition by Hannah ArendtThis Life by Martin HägglundThe Home of God by Miroslav Volf and Ryan McAnnally-LinzThe City of God by AugustineDivine Comedy by DanteShow NotesPaul Nimmo introduces the Gifford Lectures and Miroslav Volf’s themeVolf begins with gratitude and scope: belief in God and our worldIntroduces Nietzsche's “death of God” as cultural metaphorFrames plausibility vs. desirability of God's existenceIntroduces Hartmut Rosa’s theory of resonanceProblem: resonance is not enough; what underpins motivation to care?Introduces amor mundi
