Portrait of Lord Melvyn Bragg, host of In Our Time

Gnosticism

Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist."The English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the word agnostic in 1869, and said "It simply means that a man shall not say he knows or believes that which he has no scientific grounds for professing to know or believe." Earlier thinkers, however, had written works that promoted agnostic points of view, such as Sanjaya Belatthaputta, a 5th-century BCE Indian philosopher who expressed agnosticism about any afterlife; and Protagoras, a 5th-century BCE Greek philosopher who expressed agnosticism about the existence of "the gods".

2 episodes

Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:

  1. Gnosticism

    Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Gnosticism, a religious sect associated with early Christianity.

    2 May 2013

    listen ↗

    Featuring: Martin Palmer, Caroline Humfress, Alastair Logan

     
  2. The Fall

    Melvyn Bragg discusses the idea of original sin and its impact on politics, gender and notions of morality in western culture, examining Augustine, Milton, the Masaccio frescoes and Charles Darwin.

    8 April 2004

    listen ↗

    Featuring: Martin Palmer, Griselda Pollock, John Carey