About this episode

Ilia Delio discusses the rise of monotheism and the implications of the Axial Age in a conversation with Dr. Tripp Fuller.

Ilia delivered the Axial Age lecture this past week from her temporary post in Germany, and the questions came in fast enough that we ended up touching the third rail of the whole class — the rise of monotheism. Yes, there was a time when God was not. Yes, there was a time when God was gods. Yes, Psalm 82 is in your Bible, and yes, Yahweh shows up at the divine council to judge the other deities. If that sounds sacrilegious, you might be exactly the right person to take this class. The Axial Age is when the I gets invented, the score gets written, the disengaged knowing that becomes science comes online, and 60,000 denominations begin arguing over whose copy of the score is correct. We are still inside its inertia. We are also — Ilia argues, and I think she is right — already past its hinge. You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube Ilia Delio, OSF, PhD is a Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC, and American theologian specializing in science and religion, with interests in evolution, physics, and neuroscience and the import of these for theology. Previous Episodes with Ilia Delio Religion Has a Physiology: Ilia & Tripp on Why Rituals Come Before Beliefs The Machine Is a God Image…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Tripp Fuller

Guest: Ilia Delio

Topics covered

• monotheism
• Axial Age
• theology
• science and religion
• evolution
• neuroscience

Keywords

• monotheism
• Axial Age
• theology
• science
• religion
• Ilia Delio
• Dr. Tripp Fuller

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC

Books & works: Psalm 82

Places: Germany

More episodes of Homebrewed Christianity

• Religion Has a Physiology: Ilia & Tripp on Why Rituals Come Before Beliefs · June 2, 2026 · 1h 21m
• The Machine Is a God Image with Ilia Delio · May 30, 2026 · 1h 30m
• The Problem Is Not Poverty. It Is Wealth. w/ Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty · May 28, 2026 · 1h 21m
• Preaching in the WTF Zone: Leah Schade on Saying Something True When the News Will Not Stop · May 25, 2026 · 1h 10m
• The Darkly Radiant Struggle with Gary Dorrien · May 23, 2026 · 1h 27m
• Religion Before Belief: What's actually dying and what was always the deeper thing · May 18, 2026 · 24 min

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