This is an electrifying conversation between ID theorist Meyer and radio host Medved about providence — aka, intelligent design — in American history. It’s a new episode of Great Minds with Michael Medved in which Dr. Meyer takes a swing at interviewing Mr. Medved, instead of the other way around. It’s a pleasing turnabout. They should do it more often! The podcast is up now in video and audio forms at the Great Minds website.

The focus is on a pair of giants, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, who dazzle the student of our country’s history with evidence of a special guidance at work at numerous key junctures in their lives. The outcome of two great conflicts, the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, seem to have turned, in remarkable ways, upon bizarre providential twists. The consequences have been profound not just for the United States but for the world.

Just a Trick of Perspective?

What’s behind it? Just a trick of perspective, like seeing shapes in clouds? I don’t think anyone is claiming that design in history is a matter for objectively confirmable investigation, like design in biology or cosmology. And yes, ID in any context is bound to rub some the wrong way. Still, this interview is very much worth watching. The subject is impressionistic by nature, but the impression of intelligent direction in these historical events is very hard to resist.

The context is the recent paperback release of Medved’s book The American Miracle. If you’ve missed past episodes of Great Minds, you can find them all at the website — where I also encourage you to donate to keep great, commercial-free content like this going strong!

Photo credit: Stephen Meyer interviewing Michael Medved, by Nathan Jacobson.