Maxwell Institute Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Reconceiving infertility in the Bible, with Candida Moss and Joel Baden [MIPodcast #52] Aug 30, 2016

Show notes

“Be fruitful and multiply.” According to the book of Genesis, these are the first words God speaks to humanity. People have understood these words over the centuries as a commandment to procreate, and the ability to bear and raise children has been understood as a divine blessing. But what about people who can’t bear children due to biology or circumstance? Biblical scholars Candida Moss and Joel Baden teamed up to write a book about the different views on infertility and families found in the Bible. From the apparently barren matriarchs of the Old Testament like Sarah and Rachel to Paul’s efforts to forge a new family in Christ, biblical views are more diverse than you might expect. Moss and Baden tell the story in their book Reconceiving Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness. Not only do they clarify ancient perspectives on infertility, they also provide ways to create a more supportive religious environment for women and men experiencing infertility today. About the Guests Candida R. Moss is professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame. Joel S. Baden is professor of Hebrew Bible at Yale Divinity School. Together they wrote the book Reconceiving Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness (Princeton University Press, 2015).

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The Work of the Dead, with Thomas W. Laqueur [MIPodcast #51] Aug 16, 2016

Show notes

What good is a dead body? How have humans cared for dead bodies through the ages and why do we do it? What do dead bodies tell us about the things we value most and about the things we’re afraid of? All of us will be dead bodies someday, so these questions are relevant for everyone. The answers constitute what cultural historian Thomas Laqueur calls “the work of the dead.” Laqueur dug into records both ancient and contemporary to craft his fascinating new book The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains. About the Guest Thomas W. Laqueur is the Helen Fawcett Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley. He’s written histories about the human body and gender. His latest book is The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains.

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The Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture, 2015 [MIPodcast #50] Aug 02, 2016

Show notes

In some ways it’s been a lonelier than usual summer at the Maxwell Institute. Since it was founded in 2006 we’ve had the privilege of hosting the Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture, a remarkable research opportunity that is somewhat legendary for the people that have passed through it, like Reid Neilson of the Church History Library, Patrick Mason and Kathleen Flake who hold chairs in Mormon Studies at universities on the east and west coast, and the Institute’s brand new executive director, Spencer Fluhman. Students, scholars, junior faculty—a variety of different people come together to study a particular aspect of Mormon culture or history and then write working papers to share some of the things they discovered and prompt further research. In lieu of the seminar this year the Institute hosted a scholars’ colloquium in honor of Richard Bushman, the Mormon historian who started the Summer Seminar back in 1997 when he was working on his acclaimed biography of Joseph Smith. Richard is still active in his studies, but he’ll be leaving the direction of summer seminars in the capable hands of Terryl Givens and possibly others going forward. This 50th episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast will give you a sense of what the Summer Seminar is all about. Last summer I sat down with some of the participants to talk about their experiences and the papers they were working on. Their papers are now available—along with most of the seminar papers going back to 2006 when the seminar came to the Maxwell Institute—at mi.byu.edu/summerseminar.

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#49—The unexpected life of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, with Bruce Gordon [MIPodcast] Jul 12, 2016

Show notes

When the Protestant Reformer John Calvin published his book Institutes of the Christian Religion in the 1500s, he couldn’t have anticipated the incredibly different purposes his book would come to serve long after he died and was buried somewhere in an unmarked grave by his own request. The Institutes was a blockbuster in Calvin’s day, but why, hundreds of years later, did it wind up playing a part in debates about apartheid in South Africa? How did the exact same book manage to help some people justify racial discrimination, but also help others powerfully oppose it? Bruce Gordon answers that and other questions in this episode about his new biography of John Calvin’s Institutes. Special Episodes: “Lives of Great Religious Books” This ongoing series of MIPodcast episodes features interviews with authors of volumes in Princeton University Press’s impressive “Lives of Great Religious Books” series. Leading experts examine the origins of books like the Book of Mormon, the Bhagavad Gita, Augustine’s Confessions, and C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity. They trace shifts in the reception, influence, and interpretation of these landmark texts. By looking at other religious texts from a variety of perspectives—worthwhile in their own right—we come to understand other faiths better, as well as our own. About the Guest Bruce Gordon is the Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale Divinity School. His books include Calvin, a biography of the reformer, and The Swiss Reformation. His latest book is a biography of John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. It is part of Princeton University Press’s Lives of Great Religious Books series.

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#48—(Almost) all about African American religious history, with Julius H. Bailey [MIPodcast] Jun 21, 2016

Show notes

What do you know about African American religious history? Julius H. Bailey joins us in this episode to talk about his new overview, Down in the Valley: An Introduction to African American History. Bailey’s book operates on a few different levels. The ground floor contains a general story beginning with African traditional religions. It moves through slavery and religion, the rise of Christian black churches and other religious movements like Islam, through the Civil Rights movement and up to the present time. Another level of the book focuses on how that historical story has been told in different ways. This episode is about the diverse history of African American religions and the diverse histories of that history. About the Guest Julius H. Bailey is professor of religious studies at the University of Redlands in California. His books include Around the Family Alter: Domesticity in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and Down In the Valley: An Introduction to African American Religious History.

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#47—The spiritual lives of America’s “Nones,” with Elizabeth Drescher [MIPodcast] Jun 07, 2016

Show notes

If you surveyed Americans, asking them to identify themselves as:

A) Catholic B) Muslim C) Evangelical D) Mormon

…and so on, an increasing number will select the very last option—none of the above. Study after study has shown a steady decline in religious affiliation, with one in five Americans identifying as “None.” Traditional religious believers watch these numbers with a bit of uneasiness, wondering why fewer people are connecting with institutional religions. But many Nones continue to value religion and spirituality even though they don’t want to belong to an organized church. In this episode, Elizabeth Drescher joins us to talk about her new book on this subject, Choosing Our Religion: The Spiritual Lives of America’s Nones (Oxford University Press, 2016). Drescher surveyed thousands of people and directly interviewed around a hundred Nones to learn about their backgrounds, hopes, morals, and spiritual sensibilities. Her work allows us to become more familiar with some Nones in this episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast. About Elizabeth Drescher Elizabeth Drescher is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University in California. Her work on American spirituality has been published in periodicals like America, Salon, and The Washington Post. Her books include Tweet If You Jesus: Practicing Church in the Digital Reformation and Choosing Our Religion: The Spiritual Lives of America’s Nones.

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#46—Marilynne Robinson on The Givenness of Things [MIPodcast] May 24, 2016

Show notes

The New York Times Review of Books says Marilynne Robinson “is not like any other writer. She has created a small, rich, and fearless body of work in which religion exists unashamedly, as does doubt, unashamedly.” Robinson is perhaps best known for her Pulitzer Prize winning novel Gilead (2004). This year she received the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. Her latest book is a non-fiction collection of essays on topics like science and religion, grace, and Christology. It’s called The Givenness of Things. In this episode we talk about writing, reading, faith, science, and theology. A complete transcript of this interview is available HERE. About Marilynne Robinson Marilynne Robinson is a critically acclaimed American novelist and essayist. She is currently completing her final year as Professor of English and Creative Writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her four novels are Housekeeping, Home, Lila, and Gilead, for which she received the Pulitzer Prize. She has published multiple collections of essays including When I Was a Child I Read Books and her latest, The Givenness of Things. (Photo courtesy of The Nation.)

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#45— How (Not) to Be Secular, with James K. A. Smith [MIPodcast] May 10, 2016

Show notes

Why was it virtually impossible not to believe in God in, say, 1500 in our Western society, while in 2016 many people find it more difficult to believe than not? This is the question that Charles Taylor tackles in his massive book A Secular Age.

In this episode, James K. A. Smith joins us to talk about Taylor’s work. What was it like to believe in God in the past and what is it like for many believers today—and how did we get from there to here? Whether you find it easy or difficult to believe in God today, you’ll find much food for thought in Smith’s book How (Not) to be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor.

About James K. A. Smith

James K. A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin College and author of How (Not) to be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor. His latest book is called You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit. He recently visited Brigham Young University to deliver a guest lecture sponsored by the Wheatley Institution.

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#44—Kate Bowler’s history of the prosperity gospel movement [MIPodcast] Apr 26, 2016

Show notes

Even if you’ve never heard of a Christian movement scholars call “the prosperity gospel,” chances are you know some of its most famous proponents, like Joel Osteen or Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. “The prosperity gospel” is not officially associated with any particular denomination. It’s more a style of Christianity, one that emphasizes God’s desire to bless people—particularly and literally when it comes to wealth and health. Through your faith, you can become healthy and rich. When historian Kate Bowler set out to write the book Blessed: A History of the Prosperity Gospel Movement she found herself being pulled into the book’s narrative in surprising ways. Bowler recently published a powerful follow-up column to Blessed in the New York Times called “Death, the Prosperity Gospel, and Me.” She’s here to help us understand the frequently lampooned and incredibly influential prosperity gospel movement. About Kate Bowler Kate Bowler is assistant professor of American Religion at Duke Divinity School. She is the author of Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel.

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#43—The life of C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, with George Marsden [MIPodcast] Apr 12, 2016

Show notes

C. S. Lewis died in 1963 on the same day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Before the decade was over, few expected his works to last. “We think Lewis’s star has risen and is about to set,” said one Catholic publisher. “His day is over. No one will be reading C. S. Lewis twenty years from now.” Even Lewis believed his apologetic works would soon go out of style. He’d be surprised to learn that over 3.5 million copies of Mere Christianity have sold since 2001. It’s one of the most beloved Christian books of the twentieth century, and it wasn’t originally intended to be a book at all. In this episode, award-winning Christian historian George M. Marsden tells the story of Mere Christianity‘s birth and explains its tenacious popularity since its publication in 1952. Marsden recently wrote the biography of C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity for Princeton University Press’s “Lives of Great Religious Books” series. Special Episodes—“Lives of Great Religious Books” This ongoing series of MIPodcast episodes features interviews with authors of volumes in Princeton University Press’s impressive “Lives of Great Religious Books” series. Leading experts examine the origins of books like the Book of Mormon, the Bhagavad Gita, and Augustine’s Confessions. They trace shifts in the reception, influence, and interpretation of these landmark texts. By looking at other religious texts from a variety of perspectives—worthwhile in their own right—we come to understand other faiths better, as well as our own. About George M. Marsden George M. Marsden is the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History Emeritus at The University of Notre Dame. He specializes in American religion and culture, evangelicalism, and the role of Christianity in higher education. His critically-acclaimed books include The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship (Oxford University Press, 1997), The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief (OUP, 1994), and the Bancroft award-winning biography of Jonathan Edwards. His new book is called C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity: A Biography.

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