The Lord, Liar, Lunatic Trilemma–After Hours with Jimmy Akin (Pints With Jack S5E46)

On this episode of Pints With Jack, I discuss the famous "Lord, Liar, Lunatic" trilemma popularized by C. S. Lewis.

Although it didn't originate with him, one of the arguments for which C.S. Lewis is best known is the "Trilemma" which asks "Who is Jesus?" Is he just a good teacher...or something else? Apologist Jimmy Akin walks us through the argument and the various options available to us.

* Timestamps *
00:00 – Quote-of-the-week
00:15 – Episode Header
00:57 – Biographical Information
01:23 – Chit-Chat
03:39 – Beverage and Toast
04:14 – 1. "Background"
06:19 – 2. "Close encounters of the Lewis kind"
08:44 – 3. "The Trilemma"
14:29 – 4. "He was a liar!"
20:39 – 5. "He was a lunatic!"
24:35 – 6. "...or just mistaken?"
27:20 – 7. "He wasn't Lord!"
34:32 – 8. "The New Testament is unreliable and He's just a legend!"
43:10 – 9. "He was Lucifer?!"
44:58 – 10. "Minimal Facts Hypothesis"
50:17 – "Last Call" Bell, More Information and Sign-Off

[CatholicismwithCommentary]

The best Jimmy Akin content is the unexpected Jimmy Akin content. It’s like a happy little surprise present.

[JH_Phillips]

Fantastic chat! This is my first time finding your channel and coincidentally a box set of C.S. Lewis books I ordered just arrived at my door step. I plan to read my first C.S. Lewis book soon and check out the other episodes of your podcast!

[tonyl]

It makes me happy you thought Miracles was fantastic too. Probably his best in some ways, even though more technical and less accessible.

[ericfaith]

Just an idea for Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World. Could there be a discussion about Hollywood's portrayal of Angels such as in 'The Prophecy' series of movies beginning with Christopher Walken in three of them?
Then other movies like 'Legion" with Paul Bettany played an angel named Michael rebelling against God and Gabriel who want to genocide the human race. Another would be Constantine with Keanu Reeves that, while having great special effects and an interesting concept, has a convoluted story and is very snarky in it's Anti-Catholicism. It's was written by Lutherans after all. It seems the further we go when it comes to movies in Hollywood, the Anti-Catholic nastiness in culture is becoming more and more prevalent, especially in Netflix movies and HBO Cinemax series. Quite sad actually. 😢

[Compulsive-Elk]

Hey Jimmy, what was your email?

I remember a whole back that you included your email in a comment, I would like to ask you a question. Thanks

[carlsnook]

Does anyone call the twin hypothesis the Life of Brian Hypothesis?

[billyhw]

In the orginal, Greedo didn't even shoot. He never got the chance to get a shot off at all.

[stephencuskley]

There's someone else about whom similar questions can be asked.

Is he a liar?
Is he a lunatic?
Or does he actually talk with demons?

Father Chad Ripperger!

[paulgeorge]

Lord, liar, lunatic or literary invention? Answer: literary invention.