In this interview with author, theologian and pastor, C.R. Wiley, I had the pleasure of discussing the theological views of one of the world’s most powerful men, Peter Thiel. For those unfamiliar with Thiel, Thiel is the founder of PayPal, co-founder of Palantir, and one of the early investors in Facebook. He is one of the world’s richest men, but, at the same time, a genuinely iconoclastic figure among the global economic elite. Unlike so many in his circles, Thiel is not a dyed-in-the-wool political or social Leftist, but a genuine libertarian, one with real conservative leanings, at least with regard to economic issues of our day. Nor is Thiel, like so many others, an atheist or agnostic secularist. He is deeply religious. Or, at least, he presents himself as such.
Thiel identifies himself religiously as a Christian, of the broadly Protestant variety. He is an avid reader, a student of the philosopher Rene Girard, a master of the canon of western literature, which, for Thiel, includes the Bible. According to Wiley, who recently had the privilege of witnessing Thiel’s famous (or infamous) lectures on eschatology and the end-times, Thiel adroitly and with little hesitation answered questions from an audience consisting primarily of Protestant and Catholic intellectuals, men and women well-versed in theology, philosophy, history and the sciences.
Thus, when powerful and influential men like Thiel begin to wax eloquent about topics of ultimate importance: the end of time, the Antichrist, and our human potential to transform ourselves, it behooves the Church to sit up and take note. Faulty views of the end-times lead by charismatic leaders have never gone well for the Church. In this interview with Wiley, we discuss the good, the bad, and the unnerving of Peter Thiel’s Lectures on the End of the World. To watch the entire interview, click on the video below or on this link.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In