Socrates in the City

It’s always good news when Socrates in the City opens registration for its latest “Conversation on the Examined Life.” Already this fall, SITC has presented an evening with British journalist Peter Hitchens (“The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith”) and the first-ever “Great SITC Debate,” between Dinesh D’Souza and Peter Singer, on the topic “Is God the Source of Morality?” (You can view a video excerpt from the debate here .)

The event just announced for Wednesday, November 17, looks like another winner. On that evening, at New York’s Union Club, Dr. Jean Bethke Elshtain will speak on the topic of  ”Who Gets the Final Say: God, Government, or Me?” Elshtain is, as the Socrates in the City website notes, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics at the University of Chicago Divinity School and holder of the Leavey Chair in the Foundations of American Freedom at Georgetown University. She is also a longtime member of First Things’ editorial and advisory board. In a message to Facebook friends of Socrates in the City , founder and host Eric Metaxas notes, “With all that is going on with the current election cycle, Jean Bethke Elshtain’s talk is more timely than ever. She’s amazing, and we are truly thrilled to have her back with us.”

As the SITC website says, “These events are meant to be both thought-provoking and entertaining, because nowhere is it written that finding answers to life’s biggest questions shouldn’t be exciting and even, perhaps, fun.” That said, early registration for SITC events is always well advised: Regulars tend to sign up early, space often fills up quickly, and the price rises for late deciders. (The lower priced early-registration deadline for the November 17 event is before November 2.) You can read more—and register—at the Socrates in the City website .