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Education
**Let’s Talk Religion**

This podcast aims to educate on the subject of religion from an academic perspective and to open up for informed discussions on the subject. You will find episodes discussing the big religions of the world and historical overviews of important figures from different religious traditions.

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Latest Episodes:

Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia Dec 20, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, we finally explore the vast and important religious tradition of ancient Mesopotamia!

Sources/Suggested Reading:

Bottéro, Jean (2004). "Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia". Translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan. University of Chicago Press.
Michalowski, Piotr (2012). "The Mortal Kings of Ur: Short Century of Divine Rule in Ancient Mesopotamia". In Religion and Power: Divine Kingship in the Ancient World and Beyond (ed. Nicole Brisch). Chicago: The Oriental Institute.
Tzvi Abusch, I. (2020). "Mesopotamian Religion". In Essays on Babylonian and Biblical Literature and Religion, Vol. 65: 5-23. Brill.
Van De Mieroop, Marc (2015). A History of the Ancient Near East, ca. 3000-323 BC. Wiley-Blackwell.

#Sumeria #Mesopotamia #Religion

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Music in Jewish Mysticism Dec 16, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, we explore the history of music in Jewish mysticism, from the ancient prophets to the Hasidim of today.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

Idel, Moshe (1987). "The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia". State University of New York Press.
Idel, Moshe (1988). "Studies in Ecstatic Kabbalah". State University of New York Press.
Idel, Moshe (1988). "Kabbalah: New Perspectives". Yale University Press.
Idel, Moshe (1997). "Conceptualizations of Music in Jewish Mysticism". In "Enchanting Powers: Music in the World's Religions" (ed. Lawrence E. Sullivan). Harvard University Press.
Idel, Moshe (2002). "Music in Sixteenth-Century Kabbalah in Northern Africa". In "Yuval: Studies of the Jewish Music Research Centre", Vol. 2. The Hebrew University Magnes Press, Jerusalem.
Kraemer, Joel L. (2010). "Maimonides: The Life and World of one of Civilization's Greatest Minds". Doubleday & Co Inc.
Russ-Fishbane, Elisha (2015). "Judaism, Sufism, and the Pietists of Medieval Egypt: A study of Abraham Maimonides and his times". Oxford University Press
Scholem, Gershom (1995). "Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism". Schocken Books.

Internet Sources:

http://www.nigun.info/chassidic.html

#Judaism #Kabbalah #Music

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Ahmadou Bamba & The Mouridiyya Dec 13, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, we explore the life and teachings of the Senegalese Sufi saint and social reformer Ahmadou Bamba (d. 1927), who led a movement of resistence against French colonialism through nonviolence.

Thank you to Brahdamon for kindly allowing me to use his footage. Check out his channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/Brahdamon

Videos used:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ovb44sbHR8&t=221s

Sources/Suggested Reading:

Babou, Cheikh Anta (2007). "Fighting the Greater Jihad: Amadu Bamba and the founding of the Mouridiyya of Senegal, 1853-1913". Ohio University Press.
Clark, Andrew Francis (1999). "Imperialism, Independence, and Islam in Senegal and Mali". Africa Today, Volume 46, Number 3/4, Summer/Autumn. Indiana University Press.
Creevey, Lucy E. (1985). "Muslim Brotherhoods and Politics in Senegal in 1985". The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 23, No. 4. Cambridge University Press.
Holm, Filip (2018). "The Architecture of Pilgrimage: a study on the Ziyara Bogal and charismatic authority in the Tijaniyya". Master's Thesis. Södertörn University.
Kimball, Michelle R. (2018). "Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba: A Peacemaker for Our Time". The Other Press Sdn. Bhd.
Mbacké, Khadim (2005). "Sufism and Religious Brotherhoods in Senegal". Markus Weiner Publishers.
McLaughlin, Fiona (1997). "Islam and popular music in Senegal: The emergence of a new tradition". Africa: Journal of the international African Institute.
Van Hoven, Ed (2000). "The nation turbaned? The construction of nationalist identities in Senegal. Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. 30, Fasc. 2. Brill.

#Senegal #Sufism #Islam

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The Eleusinian Mysteries Dec 09, 2022

Show notes

A healthy level of speculation is required this time as we dive into the fascinating Eleusinian mysteries and its transformative rituals of consciousness-alteration.

Sources/Suggested reading.

Bowden, Hugh (2010). "Mystery cults in the Ancient World". Thames and Hudson Ltd.
Burkert, William (1982). "Greek Religion". Harvard University Press.
Burkert, William (1988). "Ancient Mystery Cults". Harvard University Press.
Evans, Nancy A. “Sanctuaries, Sacrifices, and the Eleusinian Mysteries.” Numen, Vol. 49, No. 3 (2002): 227-254.
Mylonas, George E. “Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries.” The Classical Journal, Vol. 43, No. 3 (1947): 130-146.
Ustinova, Yulia (2017). "Divine Mania: Alterations of Consciousness in Ancient Greece". Routledge.

#Eleusinianmysteries #Greece #Mythology

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Are all things empty? - Nagarjuna & The Buddhist Middle Way Dec 06, 2022

Show notes

We're finally doing Buddhism! In this episode, we explore the teachings of the Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna and his school, known as Madhyamika, or "The Middle Way".

Sources/Suggested Reading:

Siderits, Mark & Shoryu Katsura (Translated by) (2013). "Nagarjuna's Middle Way: The Mulamadhyamakakarika". Classics of Indian Buddhism. Wisdom Publications.
Westerhoff, Jan (2009). "Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction". Oxford University Press.
Ziporyn, Brook (2016). "Emptiness and Omnipresence: An essential introduction to Tiantai Buddhism". Indiana University Press.

#Nagarjuna #Buddhism #Emptiness

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Attar's "Conference of the Birds" - The Greatest Sufi Masterpiece? Dec 02, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, we explore the famous persian sufi poem "Mantiq al-Tayr" or The Conference of the Birds, written by Fariduddin Attar.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

'Attar, Fariduddin. "The Conference of the Birds". Translated by Afkham Darbandi & Dick Davis. Penguin Classics. 1984.
"Farid ad-Din 'Attar's Memorial of God's Friends: Lives and sayings of Sufis". Translated by Paul Losensky. Classics of Western Spirituality Series. Paulist Press.

#attar #sufism #mysticism

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Who were the Ebionites Nov 29, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, we explore what little we know of the mysterious group of Jewish Christians known as the Ebionites.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

Brakke, David (2012). "Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity". Harvard University Press.
Chilton, Bruce & Craig A. Evans (ed.) (1998). Studying the historical Jesus: Evaluations of the state of Current Research. Brill.
Ehrman, Bart (2005). "Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew". OUP USA.
Holmén, Tom & Stanley E. Porter (ed.) (2011). Handbook for the study of the historical Jesus. Volume 1. Brill.
Levine, Amy-Jill; Dale C. Allison Jr. & John Dominic Crossan (2006). The Historical Jesus in Context. Princeton University Press.

#Ebionites #Jesus #Christianity

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What is Salafism? Nov 25, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, we explore the history and key features of the movement known as Salafism, which has become a significant force in modern Islam.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

Crawford, Michael (2014). "Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab". Oneworld Academic.
Hamid, Sadek (2016). "Sufis, Salafism and Islamists: The Contested Ground of British Islamic Activism". I.B. Tauris.
Hoover, Jon (2019). "Ibn Taymiyya". Oneworld Academic.
Meijer, Roel (ed.) (2009). "Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement". C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
Winter, Tim (ed.) (2008). "The Cambridge Companion to Islamic Theology". Cambridge University Press.

#Salafism #Islam #Religion

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The "One God" in Ancient Egypt Nov 22, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, we explore whether or not we can find the conception of a single, absolute god in ancient Egyptian theology.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

Assmann, Jan (2001). "The Seach for God in Ancient Egypt". Translated by David Lorton. Cornell University Press.
Copenhaver, Brian P. (ed.) (1995). "Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation, with Notes and Introduction". Cambridge University Press.
Hornung, Erik (1982). "Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many". Translated by John Baines. Cornell University Press.
Hornung, Erik (2001). "Akhenaten and the Religion of Light". Translated by David Lorton. Cornell University Press.
Simpson, William Kelley (ed.) (2003). "The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry". Yale University Press.
Teeter Emily (2011). "Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt". Cambridge University Press.

#Egypt #Antiquity #Religion

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Pythagoras & His Weird Religious Cult Nov 18, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, we explore the life and movement of Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, and discover that the common image of him as an ancient mathematician isn't entirely supported by the evidence.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

Huffman, Carl A. (2008). "Philolaus of Croton: A Commentary on the Fragments and Testimonia with Interprative Essays". Cambridge University Press.
Huffman, Carl A. (ed.) (2017). "A History of Pythagoreanism". Cambridge University Press.
Kirk, G.S., J.E. Raven & M. Schofield (1983). "The Presocratic Philosophers". Second Edition. Cambridge University Press.
Zhmud, Leonid (2012). "Pythagoras and the Early Pythagoreans". Translated by Kevin Windle & Rosh Ireland. OUP Oxford.

#Pythagoras #Pythagoreanism #Philosophy

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