The Classical Ideas Podcast

EP 316: Pagan Religions w/Dr. Angela Puca Dec 16, 2024

Dr Angela Puca is an academic and a university lecturer who has taught at several universities worldwide and has been based at Leeds Trinity University since 2016.

She holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in philosophy. In 2021, The University of Leeds awarded her a PhD in Religious Studies on Italian Witchcraft and Shamanism, published by Brill. Her research focuses on magic, witchcraft, Paganism, esotericism, shamanism, and related currents.

Author of several peer-reviewed publications and co-editor of the forthcoming ‘Pagan Religions in five Minutes’ for Equinox, she hopes to bridge the gap between academia and the communities of magic practitioners by delivering related scholarly content on her YouTube Channel and other social media platforms. CONNECT & SUPPORT💖

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EP 315: Is the Black Church Dead? w/Dr. Shaonta' Allen Sep 25, 2024

Shaonta’ Allen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Dartmouth College. She also holds affiliations with the African and African American Studies Department and the Consortium of Studies in Race, Migration, and Sexuality. She received her B.A in Sociology from the University of Washington, her M.A. in Sociology and a graduate certificate in Women and Gender Studies from Middle Tennessee State University, and her PhD in Sociology from the University of Cincinnati. Her scholarship draws on Race, Religion, Social Movements, and Intersectionality literatures to explore how identity markers like religion inform Black political ideology construction. Shaonta’s current book project examines the experiences of Black Christian Millennials during Black Lives Matter. Her research has been published in Sociology Compass, Humanity & Society, and Religions.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2024

Visit Dr. Shaonta' Allen: https://linktr.ee/ShaontaTheSociologist

EP 314: Liminal Spaces of Indian American Christianity and Indian Flag at the Capitol Insurrection w/Binu Varghese Sep 19, 2024

Binu 'Ben' Varghese is a PhD student in religion and society at Princeton Theological Seminary. His research focuses on intersections of race, politics, and religion among Indian diasporas in transnational contexts. He draws his theoretical formulations from the colonial history of Dutch slavery in India and alternative readings of Indian American history and memories. In addition to his research project, Binu is also interested in religion and capitalism, and religious nationalisms in India and America. He is currently serving as the editorial assistant of the Journal of World Christianity. His upcoming research essay is titled “Liminality as Decoloniality: Decolonizing Indian American Christianity,” which will be published in The Routledge Handbook of Politics and Religion in Contemporary America. We also discuss “Indian Flag at the Capitol Insurrection and ANti blackness among Indian Christians” from the Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2024

EP 313: Misreading Calvin, Settler Colonialism, and Theology w/Dr. Suejeanne Koh Sep 11, 2024

SueJeanne Koh is the Graduate Futures Program Director of the Humanities Center at the University of California, Irvine. She develops programming for humanities doctoral students focusing on professional development and diverse career pathways. She is also the Director of Adult Education and Resident Theologian for St. Mark and New Hope Presbyterian Churches (PC(USA)). In this capacity, she creates opportunities for both churches to collaborate on racial justice and other pressing social issues. She has written articles and book chapters on settler colonialism and theology, Asian American theology, as well as co-written a piece on contingent labor with Franklin Tanner Capps (JAAR). With Capps, she is currently working on a book project on Christian nationalism, informed by blood discourses and legal proceedings significant for Asian American racial formation.

Visit Suejeanne Koh: https://x.com/suejeannekoh

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2024

EP 312: Faith and Food Networks: Muslim women’s acts of resistance and resilience in the American Diaspora with Dr. Farha Ternikar Sep 04, 2024

Farha Ternikar (Ph.D., Sociology, M.A. Religious Studies) is the director of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies at Le Moyne College, Syracuse. Her current manuscript “Faith and Food Networks: Muslim women’s acts of resistance and resilience in the American Diaspora” examines how in addition to race and gender, global Islamophobia continues to play an important role in how we can understand the role of food for Muslim communities both in the United States and India. She teaches courses in feminist theory, and race, gender and pop culture. She is the author of Intersectionality and the Muslim South Asian Middle Class: Beyond Hijab and Halal (2021), and several articles including “Beyond Hijab and Modest Fashion”, “Feeding the Muslim South Asian American Family”, and “Hijab and the Abrahamic Traditions”. Her piece “Muslim American Women,” co-authored with Inaash Islam, was recently published in Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures.

Links:

Book: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793649393/Intersectionality-in-the-Muslim-South-Asian-American-Middle-Class-Lifestyle-Consumption-beyond-Halal-and-Hijab

Article: https://fisherpub.sjf.edu/gatherings/vol1/iss1/9/

Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2024

EP 311: BLACK DISABLED BODIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE w/Robert Monson Aug 28, 2024

Robert Monson is a writer, musician, and scholar that looks closely at Black and womanist theologies as well as Black disability theology. His work engages Black religious identities, Christian nationalism, disability, and more. He is currently a PhD student and is a host for two podcasts: Black Coffee and Theology and Three Black Men: Theology, Culture, and the World Around Us.

Visit Robert Monson online:

https://www.threads.net/@robert_the_contemplative

https://musingsfromabrokenheart.substack.com/

Visit Sacred Writes online: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2024

EP 310: Indigenous Plant Medicines w/Dr. Natalie Avalos Aug 21, 2024

Natalie Avalos is an assistant professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies in the Ethnic Studies department at University of Colorado Boulder. She is an ethnographer of religion whose teaching and research examine Indigenous religious life, land-based ethics, healing historical trauma, and decolonization. She received her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a special focus on Native American and Indigenous Religious Traditions and Tibetan Buddhism and is currently working on her manuscript titled Decolonizing Metaphysics: Transnational Indigeneities and Religious Refusal, which explores urban Indigenous and Tibetan refugee religious life as decolonial praxis. She is a Chicana of Mexican Indigenous descent, born and raised in the Bay Area.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2024

Visit Natalie Avalos: https://natalieavalos.wordpress.com

EP 309: Queer Activism in India w/Emma Thompson Aug 14, 2024

Emma Thompson is a Ph.D. candidate in the Islam subfield of the Department of Religion at Princeton University. They are also pursuing a graduate certificate from the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies. Their work focuses on Islam in South Asia along with Islam, Gender, and Sexuality. Their research draws on anthropological fieldwork and social media archives to examine how queer activists in Northern India navigate religion and secularism, especially situated within the context of rising Hindu nationalism. In addition to the dissertation project, Emma’s interests include secularism studies, religious racialization and identity, queer and trans studies in religion, and religious nationalisms.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2024

EP 308: Afro-Futurism, Afro-Pessimism, and Black Joy as Resistance with Dr. Michael Brandon McCormack Aug 07, 2024

Dr. Michael Brandon McCormack is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Pan-African Studies, Associate Professor of Comparative Humanities , and former Director of the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research at the University of Louisville. He earned his Ph.D. in Religion in 2013 from Vanderbilt University. His research explores the intersections between Black religion, popular culture, the arts, and activism. His work has been published in Black Theology: An International Journal, the Journal of Africana Religions, the Black Scholar, and the recent volume, Moved By the Spirit: Religion and the Movement for Black Lives. His most recent research focuses on the relationships between religion and discourses of afro-pessimism, afro-futurism, “Black optimism,” and notions of “Black joy” as resistance.

Moved By the Spirit: Religion and the Movement for Black Lives

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793647771/Moved-by-the-Spirit-Religion-and-the-Movement-for-Black-Lives

Visit Sacred Writes:

https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2024

EP 307: Coptic Orthodox Christianity with Phoebe Farag Mikhail Jul 23, 2024

Phoebe Farag Mikhail is a Coptic Orthodox Christian and the author of Putting Joy into Practice: Seven Ways to Lift Your Spirit from the Early Church (Paraclete Press). She holds an M.A. in International Education and is a lifelong learner of theology, currently taking courses at Pope Shenouda III Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary in New Jersey. Her writing has appeared in Sojourners, Plough, Christianity Today, and other publications.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2023

Visit Phoebe Farag MIkhail: https://beingincommunity.com/

EP 306: Black Women’s Maternal/ Reproductive Health w/Dr. Ashlyn Strozier Jul 16, 2024

Dr. Strozier is a lecturer at Georgia State University. She is continuing her research in the areas of religion, gender, sexuality, and health focusing the disproportionality of black women's maternal mortality, and women's reproductive decisions, using digital platforms. Her pedagogical focus is anti-racist and decolonial teaching strategies, while shifting humanities curriculum to focus on professional skill development within the gaze of critical skills. Dr. Strozier is dedicated to research and teaching as forms of activism.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-fall-2023

Visit Dr. Ashlyn Strozier: https://www.instagram.com/gapeach82/

EP 305: Swāmīnī Vāto in the Swaminarayan Sampraday w/Dr. Bhakti Mamtora Jul 09, 2024

Bhakti Mamtora (Ph.D., Religion, University of Florida) is Assistant Professor of South Asian Religions in the Department of Religious Studies and Classics at the University of Arizona. Broadly, her research interests include print culture, book history, migration, and transnational religion. Her current book project employs archival, textual, and ethnographic methods to examine the genesis and reception of the Swāmīnī Vāto in the Swaminarayan Sampraday during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She has published journal articles in Fieldwork in Religion and Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, and entries in Hinduism in Five Minutes and Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/acls-cohort-winter-2024

EP 304: The Racism of People Who Love You w/Dr. Samira Mehta Jul 02, 2024

Samira Mehta is an Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies and Jewish Studies at CU Boulder. Her research focuses on the intersections of religion, culture, and gender, including the politics of family life and reproduction in the US. Her first book, Beyond Chrismukkah: The Christian-Jewish Interfaith Family in the United States (UNC, 2018) was a National Jewish Book Award finalist. Her book of personal essays, The Racism of People Who Love You (Beacon Press, 2023) was called “the epitome of a book meeting a moment” by Oprah’s “Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2023.” Mehta’s current academic book project, God Bless the Pill: Sexuality and Contraception in Tri-Faith America examines the role of Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant voices in moral logics of contraception, population control, and eugenics in the mid-twentieth century. Mehta is the primary investigator for a Luce Foundation funded project, Jews of Color: Histories and Futures.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-fall-2023

Read Dr. Samira Mehta: https://www.beacon.org/cw_contributorinfo.aspx?ContribID=12658&Name=Samira+K.+Mehta

EP 303: The Divine Institution: White Evangelicalism’s Politics of the Family w/Dr. Sophie Bjork-James Jun 25, 2024

Sophie Bjork-James (Ph.D., Cultural Anthropology, City University of New York) is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University. She has over ten years of experience researching both the US based Religious Right and the white nationalist movements. She is the author of The Divine Institution: White Evangelicalism’s Politics of the Family (Rutgers 2021, winner of the Anne Bolin & Gil Herdt Book Prize) and the co-editor of Beyond Populism: Angry Politics and the Twilight of Neoliberalism (2020). She has been interviewed on the NBC Nightly News, NPR’s All Things Considered, BBC Radio 4’s Today, and in the New York Times. Her work has received support the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, the American Academy of Religion, the National Science Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation.

Visit Sophie Bjork-James online: https://sophiebjorkjames.com/

Visit Sacred Writes online: https://www.sacred-writes.org/acls-cohort-winter-2024

EP 302: Mestizo Poetics of Belonging: Deuteronomy’s Construction of Israelite Ethnicity w/Dr. Chauncey Handy Jun 18, 2024

Chauncey Handy is Assistant Professor of Religion at Reed College. As a Chicano scholar of the Hebrew Bible, Chauncey’s work focuses on the intersection of race/racialization, theories of ethnicity, Latinx theorization of identity, and the reception history of the Hebrew Bible (for example his Bible, Race, and Empire course at Reed). He earned his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary and is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion at Reed College. He is working on turning his dissertation, Mestizo Poetics of Belonging: Deuteronomy’s Construction of Israelite Ethnicity, into a published book. In this project, he considers the nature of ethnicity as presented in the text of Deuteronomy through the lens of Gloria Anzaldúa’s articulation of mestizaje (racial-ethnic intermixture). His argument emphasizes the value of socially located approaches to Hebrew Bible and seeks to theorize engagement with religious categories of belonging that advocate for a just society.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-fall-2023

EP 301: Chinese Nature Poetry and Ultrarunning w/Dr. Vic Thasiah Jun 04, 2024

Vic Thasiah is a professor of religion and a lead faculty member in the environmental studies program at California Lutheran University. He is also the founder and co-president of the nonprofit environmental organization Runners for Public Lands. His research focuses on Chinese nature poetry, Native American perspectives on land and running, and environmental philosophy and activism. He is currently working on a book titled Ground Truth: The Natural World, Outdoor Recreation, and Environmental Activism.

Read Drag Sun, Tiger Moon: https://www.irunfar.com/dragon-sun-tiger-moon-fastpacking-the-backbone-trail

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-fall-2023

EP 300: Race, Caste, and Indian Missionary Priests in Rural America w/Dr. Sonja Thomas May 28, 2024

Sonja Thomas is an associate professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Colby College, where she teaches courses on South Asian feminisms, transnational feminisms, gender and human rights, feminist theory, and postcolonial and native feminisms. Sonja is associate editor for South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, and the author of Privileged Minorities: Syrian Christianity, Gender, and Minority Rights in Postcolonial India. She has written articles on tap history and blackface abroad (specifically in Asia). She is currently researching and writing her second book on Catholic missionary priests from India serving in rural Montana and North Dakota. The project is titled Indians and Cowboys: Race, Caste, and Indian Missionary Priests in Rural America. She is also conducting research on the 1961 Babe Ruth World Series hosted in her hometown, Glendive, Montana.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-fall-2023

Read Wondering About the Appearance of the Indian Flag at the Capitol Riots? by Dr. Sonja Thomas

Check out Sonja Thomas' book: https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295743844/privileged-minorities/

EP 299: The Smithsonian, Settler Colonialism, and the Study of Indigenous Lifeways w/Dr. Sarah E. Dees May 21, 2024

Sarah Dees is a scholar of American and Indigenous religions and assistant professor of Religious Studies at Iowa State University. Her research focuses on the history of the study and representation of Native North American religious traditions, including the relationship between the production of knowledge about religion and policies limiting the free exercise of religion. Her first book manuscript examines the study of Native American religions in the assimilation era by a Smithsonian research agency. She has taught classes on American religions, Native American religions, religion and museums, method and theory in the study of religion, religious freedom and discrimination, and religion and health. She is also interested the intersections of religion, culture, art, and music. You can see what she’s up to at www.sarahedees.com.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-fall-2023

EP 298: Theopoetics and Octavia Butler w/Dr. Tamisha Tyler May 14, 2024

Tamisha A. Tyler (she/her/hers) is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture, and Theopoetics at Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Indiana. Her research interests include Theopoetics, Theology and the arts, Afrofuturism, Black popular culture, and Science Fiction. Her dissertation, Articulating Sensibilities: Methodologies in Theopoetics in Conversation with Octavia E. Butler, explores Butler’s work in the Parable Series as an embodied, artistic, and theopoetic response to the theological, economic, and ecological upheaval in Butler’s dystopic world. She is part of the Level Ground artist collective in Los Angeles, CA and her work can be seen in Feminism in Religion’s blog, and Fuller Magazine. Her latest project explores religion in the literary world of Octavia Butler.

Visit Tamisha Tyler online: https://www.tamishatyler.com/

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-fall-2023

EP 297: Practical Theology with Corwin Malcolm Davis May 07, 2024

Corwin Malcolm Davis is a PhD candidate at Emory University in Person, Community, and Religious Life, and earning a certificate in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Corwin earned a B.A. Degree from Belmont University and a M.Div. from Vanderbilt University Divinity School as the Dean's Scholar. At Emory, Davis has received the George W. Woodruff Fellowship, the Centennial Scholars Fellowship, and externally, fellowships from the Louisville Institute and the Forum for Theological Exploration. His work has also been recognized in scholarship through the receipt of Emory’s 2022 Studies in Sexualities Graduate Award, and in public writing through features in literary publications such as Columbia Journal.

Visit Corwin Malcolm Davis online: https://corwinmalcolm.com/about

Visit Sacred Writes online: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-fall-2023

EP 296: 3HO's Boarding Schools with Stacie Stukin and Philip Deslippe Apr 24, 2024

This episode discusses the article "3HO's Boarding Schools Were a Living Hell" from Baaz News with the authors Stacie Stukin and Philip Deslippe.

Read: https://www.baaznews.org/p/3hos-boarding-schools-abuse-yogi-bhajan?utm_medium=web

Visit Stacie Stukin online: https://www.staciestukin.com/

Visit Philip Deslippe online: https://philipdeslippe.com/

Read Stacie Stukin in Los Angeles Magazine: https://lamag.com/featured/yogi-bhajan

Read Stukin and Deslippe "How Siri SIngh Sabib Yogi Bhajan Created an Empire": https://www.baaznews.org/p/yogi-bhajan-siri-singh-sahib-expose

EP 295: Bones and Honey with Danielle Dulsky Apr 18, 2024

Danielle is a poet, painter, teacher, and word-witch. The author of Bones & Honey, The Holy Wild Grimoire, The Sacred Hags Oracle, Seasons of Moon and Flame, Woman Most Wild, and The Holy Wild (published by New World Library), she teaches internationally and has facilitated circles, embodiment trainings, communal spell-work, and seasonal rituals since 2007. Ever grateful to her many teachers, Danielle has most recently studied with Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes (Singing Over the Bones Training, 2019), Bayo Akomolafe (We Will Dance with Mountains, 2022), and John Cantwell and Dr. Karen Ward of Sli An Chroi (2018-2024). She holds a BA in painting from Arcadia University, is the founder of The Hag School, and believes in the emerging power of wild collectives and sudden circles of curious dreamers, cunning witches, and rebellious artists in healing our ailing world. She splits her time between the whiskey-soaked streets of a Pennsylvania steel-town and the wilds of upstate New York. Find her praying under pine trees, wandering through the haunted places, and whispering to her grandmothers’ ghosts.

https://danielledulsky.com/about/

EP 294: Teaching About Religion in Middle School w/Rebecca Cooper Apr 17, 2024

Rebecca Cooper teaches religion at the middle school level in the suburbs of Washington D.C.

EP 293: A Blackqueer Sexual Ethics: Embodiment, Possibility, and Living Archive w/Dr. Elyse Ambrose Apr 10, 2024

Elyse Ambrose (Ph.D., Religion and Society, Drew University) is a blackqueer ethicist, creative, and educator. Their forthcoming book, A Blackqueer Sexual Ethics: Embodiment, Possibility, and Living Archive (T&T Clark) offers a transreligious and communal-based sexual ethics grounded in blackqueer archive. Ambrose’s photo-sonic exhibition, “Spirit in the Dark Body: Black Queer Expressions of the Im/material,” explores black queer and trans spiritualities, identity, and poiesis. Currently Assistant Professor in the Departments for the Study of Religion and of Black Study at the University of California, Riverside, their commentary is featured in the Huffington Post, Vice, BMoreArt, and CBC Radio One’s Tapestry podcast. Their research has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, Columbia University's Center on African American Religion, Sexual Politics, and Social Justice, Henry Luce Foundation, and Yale University LGBT Studies Fellowship.

EP 292: Young Muslims Online and Religious Authority w/Dr. Sana Patel Apr 03, 2024

Dr. Sana Patel, (Ph.D., Religious Studies, University of Ottawa) has distinguished herself as a scholar specializing in Digital Islam. She is the recipient of the 2023 Digital Religion Research Award presented by The Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies. After completing a Postdoctoral Fellowship focused on systemic Islamophobia in Canada, Sana is keen on exploring how Islamophobia manifests in online spaces and how digital technology shapes global anti-Muslim experiences. Her research interests include studying digital religion, religious diversity, religious authority, religion and immigration, Islamophobia, and nonreligion. Sana’s recent publications include: “Religion and Media in Canada” (2021), “Hybrid Imams: Young Muslims and Religious Authority on Social Media” (2021), and “Islamophobia in North America” (2023).

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/acls-cohort-winter-2024

EP 291: Imam Professionalization w/Dr. Nancy Khalil Mar 27, 2024

Nancy A. Khalil is an Assistant Professor in the Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with an appointment in the Arab and Muslim American Studies Program. Her research broadly focuses on the politics of the idea of American Islam and her forthcoming manuscript is on the profession of the Imam in America. Her academic work has been supported by several foundations, including the National Science Foundation, Social Science Research Council, MSA National, IIIT, and the Islamic Scholarship Fund. She completed her PhD in anthropology at Harvard University, followed by postdoctoral fellowships at Yale’s Center on Race, Indigeneity and Transnational Migration and the University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science and the Arts.

Dr. Khalil previously served on the board of directors for Islamic Relief USA and the Muslim Justice League. Before academia, she was the Muslim Chaplain at Wellesley College. She is committed to serving the American Muslim community as a translator and bridge between academia and public service.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/acls-cohort-winter-2024

EP 290: Science Fiction and Dune w/Dr. Patrick J. D'Silva Mar 20, 2024

Patrick J. D’Silva (Ph.D., Islamic Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is a faculty member of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Denver. His current research projects include analyzing the intersection of race, religion, and cultural appropriation in contemporary science fiction, as well as the history of how Jews, Christians, and Muslims have engaged with yoga. His previous research examines the circulation of esoteric breathing practices between Hindus and Muslims in South Asia during the early-modern period. He is the co-author (with Carl Ernst) of the forthcoming Breathtaking Revelations: The Science of Breath from the Fifty Kamarupa Verses to Hazrat Inayat Khan. He lives in Boulder, CO with his family.

Visit Patrick D'Silva online: https://www.patrickjdsilva.com/

Visit Sacred Writes online: https://www.sacred-writes.org/acls-cohort-winter-2024

EP 289: The Cake Baker and the Coach w/Dr. Charles McCrary Mar 13, 2024

Charles McCrary (Ph.D., Religion, Florida State University) is an assistant professor of religious studies at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. He researches and teaches broadly on American religion, especially topics related to politics, race, secularism, and science. His first book, Sincerely Held: American Secularism and Its Believers (University of Chicago Press, 2022), examines the history of “sincerely held religious belief” and how that became a standard for legal understandings of religion in religious freedom cases. He is currently in the early stages of a project about a “crank,” in which he explores how religious, scientific, and political fringes are defined as such. McCrary has written in scholarly journals as well as popular outlets such as The Revealer, Religion & Politics, and The New Republic.

Read The Making of a Crass Religious Freedom Celebrity: https://newrepublic.com/article/175783/praying-coach-book-religious-freedom

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/acls-cohort-winter-2024

EP 288: Multiracial Cosmotheandrism w/Dr. Aizaiah Yong Mar 06, 2024

Rev. Aizaiah G. Yong (Ph.D., Practical Theology, Claremont School of Theology) serves as Assistant Professor of Spirituality at the Claremont School of Theology in Southern California, USA. He is an ordained Pentecostal Christian minister within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a recognized facilitator in the Compassion Practice and an Internal Family Systems Practitioner. Growing up in a multiracial and immigrant family, he is committed to sustaining transformational and collective efforts that address ongoing realities of social oppression with presence, passion, and peace.

Multiracial Cosmotheandrism: https://orbisbooks.com/products/working-title-multiracial-cosmotheandrism-a-practical-theology-of-multiraciality-inspired-by-the-life-philosophy-and-mysticism-of-raimon-panikkar-tentative

Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/acls-cohort-winter-2024

Spirited Renewal: https://www.spiritedrenewal.org/

EP 287: Moon of the Turning Leaves w/Waubgeshig Rice Feb 17, 2024

In this gripping stand-alone literary thriller set in the world of the award-winning post-apocalyptic novel Moon of the Crusted Snow, a scouting party led by Evan Whitesky ventures into unknown and dangerous territory to find a new home for their close-knit Northern Ontario Indigenous community more than a decade after a world-ending blackout.

For the past twelve years, a community of Anishinaabe people have made the Northern Ontario bush their home in the wake of the power failure that brought about societal collapse. Since then they have survived and thrived the way their ancestors once did, but their natural food resources are dwindling, and the time has come to find a new home.

Evan Whitesky volunteers to lead a mission south to explore the possibility of moving back to their original homeland, the “land where the birch trees grow by the big water” in the Great Lakes region. Accompanied by five others, including his daughter Nangohns, an expert archer, Evan begins a journey that will take him to where the Anishinaabe were once settled, near the devastated city of Gibson, a land now being reclaimed by nature.

But it isn’t just the wilderness that poses a threat: they encounter other survivors. Those who, like the Anishinaabe, live in harmony with the land, and those who use violence.

EP 286: Political Organizing and Teaching about Theology w/Reverend Naomi Washington-Leapheart Feb 15, 2024

Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart is a Black queer preacher, teacher, public administrator, and justice advocate. She is an adjunct professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University and the Government Fellow for Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School. In 2021, Rev. Naomi founded Salt | Yeast | Light, an organization that develops spaces of spiritual education, disruption, reflection, transformation, and public action.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2023

Visit Reverend Naomi Washington-Leapheart:

https://twitter.com/oholyshift

https://www.instagram.com/oholyshift/

https://linktr.ee/heartleaps?fbclid=IwAR0KBxltXNIzvz1JYA_CmaXLj425I-Rn2YZqcjBSu3Ay50yFH5om-fqtrB8

EP 285: Jewish Cemeteries at the US Border w/Dr. Maxwell Greenberg Feb 08, 2024

Maxwell Greenberg (he/they) | (Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies in the Department of Cultural Studies at Goucher College) is an interdisciplinary scholar and educator who researches and teaches about race, religion, gender, and place. He earned his PhD in Chicana/o and Central American Studies from UCLA (2021), before serving as the Friedman Postdoctoral Fellow in Jewish Studies at Washington University in St. Louis (2021-23). He works at the intersection of Jewish, Religious and Indigenous Studies, and is particularly interested in how Judaism and Jewish memory function as unstable tools of statecraft in the US. Greenberg is passionate about building community with a network of scholars, artists and organizers who engage with religion as a connective tool for coalition building with movements to end racism and transmisogyny.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2023

EP 284: Teaching, Curriculum, & Standards w/Dr. Elizabeth Jemison Feb 01, 2024

Elizabeth Jemison is Associate Professor of Religion at Clemson University where she teaches courses on American religion. She is the author of Christian Citizens: Reading the Bible in Black and White in the Postemancipation South, published by UNC Press in 2020. Her next book project, tentatively titled, Christian Motherhood: Race and Southern Churchwomen’s Organizing during Segregation, examines how women’s religious groups across racial lines mobilized to defend Christian motherhood with conflicting results. She has written for Patheos and Religion & Politics. At Clemson, Jemison received the Provost’s Outstanding Junior Teacher Award in 2022 and the College of AAH Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2020. She was a Young Scholar in American Religion in the 2015-2017 cohort.

Follow Elizabeth Jemison online: https://twitter.com/eljemison

Visit Sacred Writes online: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2023

EP 283: Racial Science of Protestant Missions w/Dr. Matthew J. Smith Jan 25, 2024

Matthew J. Smith (he/him/his) holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Northwestern University and is currently Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Alma College in mid-central Michigan. He is a transdisciplinary scholar of race, religion, and U.S. empire whose research and teaching also center on gender/sexuality, science & technology, and the environmental humanities. His first book project explores the biopolitics of conversion in U.S. Protestant Missions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, interrogating the missionary discourse of plasticity as a central grammar in the modern scientific production of race. Smith also serves as the Director of the Religious Studies Program at Alma College, teaching a wide range of course offerings on the study of religion as it is lived in people’s everyday lives.

Follow Dr. Matthew J. Smith https://twitter.com/smithmj303?lang=en

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2023

EP 282: Fabricating Founders in Early Modern England and Modern Traditional Catholics w/Dr. Lauren Horn Griffin Jan 18, 2024

Lauren Horn Griffin (PhD, University of California Santa Barbara) is assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Louisiana State University. Her first book, Fabricating Founders in Early Modern England (Brill 2023), showed how confessional debates played a critical role in the development of national identities. Her current project investigates contemporary negotiations of national, religious, and racial identities in Catholic communities online. Adding Catholicism to current conversations about what many are calling white Christian nationalism in the U.S., she shows that while Catholics have long imagined the nation in terms of religious identity, many currently mobilize ideas of Catholic tradition to construct images of a munti-national white Western Civilization.

Visit Sacred Writes Online: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2023

EP 281: Desegregation and Church Mission Statements w/Dr. Darius Benton Jan 11, 2024

Darius M. Benton, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Houston-Downtown, teaching courses in Organizational Communication and Religious Communication. He also serves as the inaugural program director for the MA in Strategic Communication degree. Dr. Benton earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Organizational Leadership from Regent University, his Master of Divinity degree with a certificate in Religious Education from Emory University, and Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communication from Norfolk State University. He is an interdisciplinary scholar and professional educator with varied experiences from Pre-K through collegiate levels, an ordained minister, executive leader, and social scientist. Dr. Benton’s research and publications focus on organizational culture; specifically examining issues of race and gender, religious leadership, and youth serving organizations.

Visit Darius Benton online: https://www.dmbenton.com

This episode is made possible with support from Sacred Writes.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2023

EP 280: New Thought, Hoodoo, and Beyonce w/Dr. Darnise Martin Jan 04, 2024

Darnise C. Martin, PhD is a Professor, Author and Life Transformation Coach with 15 years of training and experiences in helping people create Whole Life Abundance. Dr. Darnise has a life- long passion for helping people tap into their spiritual connections for authentic transformation in the areas of Relationships, Spirituality, Life Purpose and Career, Self-Worth, and Well-Being. Dr. Darnise is a scholar, professor, published author and speaker, with a doctorate in Religious Studies. Dr. Darnise was also featured on Tavis Smiley’s radio program on National Public Radio (NPR), and has appeared on KJLH radio in Los Angeles. She has consulted on feature length documentaries such as Dark Girls and Light Girls for the Oprah Winfrey Network. She continues to speak throughout the community offering empowerment and relationship workshops. Dr. Darnise is the author of Beyond Christianity: African Americans in a New Thought Church (New York University Press, 2005), coeditor of Women and New and Africana Religions, and the personal development book, 40 Something: 10 Radical Lessons for Women on How To Live and Love Without Losing Themselves. Visit Dr. Darnise at www.drdarnise.com

This episode made possible with support from Sacred Writes.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-summer-2023

EP 279: Indo-Trinidadian Hinduism w/Prea Persaud Nov 09, 2023

Prea Persaud is a doctoral candidate at the University of Florida and a Visiting Instructor in the Religion Department at Swarthmore College, PA. Her research focuses on Hinduism in the Caribbean and the intersection between race and religion. In her dissertation, “God Must be a Trini: The Transformation of Hinduism into a Caribbean Religion,” she uses Hinduism in Trinidad to challenge studies on diasporic Hinduism that center India as the homeland, scholarship on the Caribbean that ignores the influence of Asian migration, and the rigidness of categories within the study of religion. She is on the steering committees for the North American Hindu Unit and the Religion in South Asia Unit at the American Academy of Religion and a member of the Intersectional Critical Hindu Studies Group. Her recently publications include several chapters in the edited volume Hinduism in the 5 Minutes edited by Steven Ramey, and “Creolization, Caribbeanness, and Other Categories in the Study of Caribbean Hinduism” in American Examples: New Conversations about Religion edited by Michael Altman.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-spring-2023

EP 278: Lucumí Religion and Anthropology w/Dr. Eugenia Rainey Nov 02, 2023

Eugenia Rainey studies religion as negotiated process. She explores this process at the intersection of Lucumí, an Afro-Cuban religion, (also referred to as La Regla de Ochá or Santería) and medicine. Her work focuses on how the cultural competency paradigm that emerged out of Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society influenced the adaptation of Lucumí practice outside of Cuba and racial identity formation in south Florida. Rainey's identity as Cape Verdean and multiracial inform her scholarship on processes of racialization in the United States and Latin America. With her thorough grounding in religious practice, her work highlights devotees' experiences and perceptions of the medical encounter. Through this research she seeks to better understand how the healthcare infrastructure impacts lived religion and how Lucumí in the US accommodates the healthcare needs of devotees as well as the healthcare infrastructure. Her research is supported by the Mellon Foundation, the Reed Foundation, as well as Tulane University and Dartmouth College.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-spring-2023

EP 277: AfroLatiné Theology with Yolanda Santiago-Correa Oct 26, 2023

Yolanda M. Santiago Correa was born and raised in the archipelago of Puerto Rico as the only child of Miguel and Yolanda. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from la Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico, an M.Div. from Duke Divinity School, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Religion & Culture at Southern Methodist University. Her academic work and interests focus on Puerto Rico, Afro-Latinidad, music, and the relationship between racial and religious identity and imagination. Yolanda is a creator and co-host of Majestad Prieta: A Podcast on Blackness in Latin America, the Caribbean, y la Diáspora and is a team member of the AfroLatiné Theology Project.

EP 276: Reading Black Bodies from Galatiansw/Dr. Jennifer Kaalund Oct 19, 2023

Jennifer T. Kaalund (Ph.D., New Testament and Early Christianity, Drew University) is Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Her research focuses on Christian Scriptures, contextual Biblical hermeneutics, and African American history, culture, and religion. She is the author of Reading Hebrews and 1 Peter with the African American Great Migration: Diaspora, Place, and Identity (Bloomsbury T&T Clark Press, 2018). She currently serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion.

Follow Dr. Jennifer Kaalund: https://twitter.com/jkaalund

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-spring-2023

EP 275: Communication in Islamic State's Dabiq w/Dr. Soumia Bardhan Oct 12, 2023

Soumia Bardhan is Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver. Operating at the transdisciplinary intersection of intercultural communication, global communication, and Islamic studies, she explores the complex ways diverse communication practices associated with Islam/Muslims shape MENA (Middle East and North Africa) culture and politics, challenge Islamophobia, facilitate the deliberative capacities of Muslim minority groups, and influence U.S. foreign policy. Her first monograph, on the digital rhetoric of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, is under contract with the University of Alabama Press. This book nuances how we understand the rhetoric of Islamism and challenges U.S./Euro-centric narratives of the relationship between (and future of) religion and politics in the MENA region. Soumia was awarded the University of Notre Dame’s Global Religion and Research Initiative grant to develop an interdisciplinary course titled “Religion and Communication in the Middle East.” She teaches intercultural/critical intercultural communication; transnational rhetoric; religion, culture, and communication; gender, politics, and Islam; and directs Global Study courses focusing on Islam and intercultural dialogue in Spain, France, Morocco, and India.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-spring-2023

EP 274: The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye w/Dr. Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein Oct 05, 2023

Oluwatomisin "Tomi" Oredein is currently an Assistant Professor in Black Religious Traditions and Constructive Theology and Ethics and the Director of Black Church Studies at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, TX. Anchored in her American African identity, her scholastic and creative work engages theopoetics, womanist theology and ethics, postcolonial and decolonial thought, and Black theology from an African diasporic perspective. Tomi is most intrigued by how cultural, social, and religious liminalities can be sites of generative theological and ethical exploration. She has written academic, creative, and ecumenical pieces that foreground questions of care, modes of recognition, and cultural perception from her American African lens. She is the author of the forthcoming book with the University of Notre Dame Press (May 2023), The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Ecumenism, Feminism, and Communal Practice. Her future works include a solo-authored book on a theological ethics of care entitled Making a Human: A Theological Ethic of Care and co-editing a book on theopoetics exclusively featuring racially and ethnically minoritized scholars, entitled In Color: Embodied Approaches in Theopoetics.

Buy The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye here: The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP 273: Wu-Tang Forever w/Marcus Evans Sep 28, 2023

Marcus Evans is a Ph.D. Candidate in the department of Religious Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He earned his B.A. and M.A. in the department of Philosophy & Religion at Western Kentucky University. Marcus is currently interested in religion and spirituality in Afro-Asian encounters and arts (e.g., music, films, novels, graphic designs, performances, etc.). His dissertation explores Afro-Asian style and spirituality in the hip-hop productions of RZA and the Wu-Tang Clan. He has recently contributed an article titled “Buddhism and Afro-Asian Masculinities in RZA’s The Man with the Iron Fists” to a forthcoming volume titled Buddhist Masculinities, edited by Megan Bryson and Kevin Buckelew (Columbia University Press).

This episode sponsored by Sacred Writes.

Visit Sacred Writes online: https://www.sacred-writes.org/luce-cohort-spring-2023

Playlist discussed in this episode:

“Bring Da Ruckus” (1993) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRhRNgqPlyk
“Reunited” (1997) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40a5UNO5T44 (music-video)
“Second Coming” (1997) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V33vEEL4Peo
“One Blood Under W” (2000) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmmtW5cD6HI
“Chi-Kung” (2003) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjr3k882waE (music-video)
“Life Changes” (2007) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnLxyCHGB1M
“Ruckus in B-Minor” (2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-XwMytbaIE
“Fate of the World” (2022) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cKvJUka_VM (music-video)

EP 272: Ritual, Routine and Religion in the Brothels of New Delhi’s Red Light District w/Dr. Popy Begum Aug 18, 2023

Dr. Popy Begum is an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Saint Louis University. She received her B.A. in International Criminal Justice and a Certificate in Dispute Resolution from John Jay College of Criminal Justice; and her MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the Centre for Criminology, Oxford University. Her dissertation study of Hindu and Muslim sex workers in New Delhi combines ethnographic field observations of the red-light district and 102 in-depth interviews via respondent-driven sampling.

EP 271: Leadership w/Dr. Peter Stiepleman Jul 20, 2023

Episode 270: Evangelical Purity Culture w/Dr. Sara Moslener Jul 13, 2023

Sara Moslener is a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, Anthropology, and Religion at Central Michigan University, where she teaches courses on the history of religious and racial discrimination in the United States. She has been studying evangelical purity culture for over 15 years and has numerous publications, including the book Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence (Oxford University Press: 2015). Sara’s work has been featured in The Revealer, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Sojourners Magazine, Jezebel, Religion Dispatches, Religion & Politics, Religion News Service, and The Baffler. She has appeared on numerous podcasts and is a regular contributor to the podcast Straight White American Jesus.

EP 269: White Christian Nationalism, Social Media, and the New Apostolic Reformation w/Justin Friel Jul 06, 2023

Justin Friel (He/Him) is currently a Ph.D. student in the Joint Doctoral Program with the University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology. His research explores how religion, culture, and politics influence and affect one another and the ways these forces shape the formation and performance of Queer identities. Within that, Justin's research interests include white Christian nationalism, TikTok, popular culture, and utopia. Justin has an M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy and currently works time as a therapist focusing on sex, sexuality, spirituality, and identity.

Visit Justin Friel online: https://www.theholyqueer.com/

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/carpenter-cohort

EP 268: The Church of the Holy Apostle and the Gay Rights Movement w/Dr. Heather White Jun 29, 2023

Heather R. White is Visiting Assistant Professor in the Religious Studies Department and Gender and Queer Studies Program at the University of Puget Sound and a Research Associate at the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School. Her research focuses on religion, identity, and politics with an emphasis on queer, post-secular, and critical race theories as frameworks for interpreting recent U.S. history. White is the author of Reforming Sodom: Protestants and the Rise of Gay Rights (University of North Carolina Press, 2015).

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/carpenter-cohort

EP 267: Dawoodi Bohras in Montreal, public scholarship, and social media platforms w/Arwa Hussain Jun 22, 2023

Arwa Hussain is a Ph.D. candidate in Religions and Cultures and 2022-23 Public Scholar at Concordia University in Montreal. Her current research interests deal with Islamic communities, particularly her own community, the Dawoodi Bohras, gender and agency, and social media platforms. Her dissertation combines digital ethnography and personal experience to understand how pious Dawoodi Bohra women embed their agency within a religious community and represent themselves on social media, the first study of its kind to shed light on this dynamic community and its women. Her doctoral research is supported by Concordia University and the FRQSC, awarded by the government of Quebec. Arwa holds an M.A. and M.Phil. degree in History from the University of Karachi, Pakistan, where she received the Hamida Khuhro Gold Medal of Excellence. As a Concordia Public Scholar, Arwa has produced a number of pieces of public scholarship, including for the Montreal Gazette, The Conversation, and the Concordia blogs; as well as a spotlight roundtable discussion on the potentials and pitfalls of social media for Muslim women at 4th Space, Concordia University.

Follow Arwa Hussain on Twitter: https://twitter.com/arwahussainphd

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/carpenter-cohort

EP 266: Dr. Orit Avishai on Queer Judaism, LGBT Activism, and the Remaking of Jewish Orthodoxy in Israel Jun 15, 2023

Orit Avishai is an ethnographer at Fordham University, where she teaches in the Sociology Department and in the Program on Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her work considers how ideology and culture, broadly defined, shape social institutions, identities, political dialogue, and cultural practices. Her recent work has focused on Jewish Orthodoxy, and her book, Queer Judaism, LGBT Activism and the Remaking of Jewish Orthodoxy in Israel is forthcoming from NYU Press. Her other work has been published in a variety of venues, including Gender & Society, The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, and AJS Review. Her recent public-facing writing has appeared in The Conversation, The Katz Center Blog, and Religion Dispatches. Dr. Avishai has degrees from The University of California at Berkeley, the Yale Law School, and Tel Aviv University Law School.

Buy "Queer Judaism, LGBT Activism, and the Remaking of Jewish Orthodoxy in Israel https://nyupress.org/9781479810031/queer-judaism/

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP 265: The Apocryphal Acts of John w/Dr. Jeannie Sellick Jun 08, 2023

Jeannie Sellick is a recent graduate of the University of Virginia’s Religious Studies Ph.D. program. She defended her dissertation, “The Strongest Seed: Jerome’s Fashioning of an Ascetic Masculinity in Late Antiquity” in June 2022, and she is perpetually excited to share it with anyone who asks. She specializes in constructions of gender and sexuality in the religious traditions of the ancient and late antique Mediterranean, with a particular focus on queer masculinities. When she’s not teaching or writing, you can find Jeannie hanging out with her geriatric dog, Missy, critiquing Marvel movies, and perfecting her buffalo wing recipe.

Follow Dr. Jeannie Sellick on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheAtheistNun

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/carpenter-cohort

EP 264: Cancer, Survival, and the Future w/ Dr. M. Cooper Minister Jun 01, 2023

M. Cooper Minister is Associate Professor of Religion at Shenandoah University, where they teach courses on death, medicine, sex, gender, and theories of religion. Their books include Rape Culture on Campus and Cultural Approaches to Studying Religion: An Introduction to Theories and Methods (co-edited with Sarah Bloesch). Their current project is a memoir about being diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer at 33 and learning to persist in between life and death on the dance floor.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/carpenter-cohort

EP 263: Majorette Dance, HBCU's, and Idioms w/Dustin Gavin May 25, 2023

Dustin Gavin (he/him) is a Ph.D. candidate in the Departments of Religious Studies and African American Studies at Yale University. He received his B.A. in Journalism from Howard University, an M.A. in Media Studies from The New School, and completed his second M.A. in Religion and Visual Arts at Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music. Dustin's research examines the overlap and confluence of sacred and profane idioms to examine the histories, aesthetics, and embodied performances of black women, sissies, and femmes across U.S. Southern regions.

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Listen to the complete Sacred Writes-Classical Ideas collection:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0JzteHE3RIyOKA9xosmK6W

EP 262: Indhira Udofia on the impact of religious trauma on Black Millennials and Generation Z May 18, 2023

Indhira Udofia (she/they) is a Ph.D. candidate in the Joint Program in Social Work at NC A&T University and UNC Greensboro. Their dissertation project looks at the impact of religious trauma on Black Millennials and Generation Z, exploring the impact of institutional violence on gendered and sexual minorities within Black religious spaces. Her extensive experience providing therapeutic and spiritual services in clinical and community settings (since 2009) and faith communities (since 2014), shaped her deep passion for helping communities and individuals recover from trauma, especially in spaces of spiritual abuse and grief. Indhira believes that their work is a collaborative effort to empower others in their own healing journey. Using strengths-based methodologies and client-based appropriate rituals, restorative practices, and trauma-informed consultation, they work to address power dynamics, conflict resolution, self-care, and other issues that may arise within a healing framework, for the flourishing of the collective. Indhira’s love of the arts, especially music, and her travels all over the world, allow her a perspective that is inclusive, welcoming, and informed.

Follow Indhira Udofia:

-https://twitter.com/BlaQTraumaNerd

-https://linktr.ee/imudofia

Follow Sacred Writes:

https://www.sacred-writes.org/

https://twitter.com/Sacred_Writes

Listen to the complete Sacred Writes-Classical Ideas collection:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0JzteHE3RIyOKA9xosmK6W

EP 261: Dr. Anthony Siracusa on Nonviolence before King Apr 07, 2023

In the early 1960s, thousands of Black activists used nonviolent direct action to challenge segregation at lunch counters, movie theaters, skating rinks, public pools, and churches across the United States, battling for, and winning, social change. Organizers against segregation had used litigation and protests for decades but not until the advent of nonviolence did they succeed in transforming ingrained patterns of white supremacy on a massive scale. In this book, Anthony C. Siracusa unearths the deeper lineage of anti-war pacifist activists and thinkers from the early twentieth century who developed nonviolence into a revolutionary force for Black liberation. Telling the story of how this powerful political philosophy came to occupy a central place in the Black freedom movement by 1960, Siracusa challenges the idea that nonviolent freedom practices faded with the rise of the Black Power movement. He asserts nonviolence's staying power, insisting that the indwelling commitment to struggle for freedom collectively in a spirit of nonviolence became, for many, a lifelong commitment. In the end, what was revolutionary about the nonviolent method was its ability to assert the basic humanity of Black Americans, to undermine racism's dehumanization, and to insist on the right to be.

Buy the book: https://uncpress.org/book/9781469663005/nonviolence-before-king/

EP 260: God The Bestseller w/Dr. Stephen Prothero Mar 16, 2023

EP 259: The Saint Johns Bible, Song of Songs, and Calligraphy w/Jonathan Homrighausen Feb 27, 2023

The illuminations of The Saint John’s Bible have delighted many with their imaginative takes on Scripture. But many struggle to appreciate the calligraphy more deeply than merely noting its beauty. Does calligraphy mean something? How is it beautiful?

This book, written by a biblical scholar who has spent years working with this Bible, shows how calligraphic art powerfully interplays visual form, textual content, and creative process. Homrighausen proposes five lenses for this artform: gardens, weaving, pilgrimage, touching, and enfleshing words. Each of these lenses springs from the poetry of the Song of Songs, its illuminations in The Saint John’s Bible, and medieval ways of understanding the scribe’s craft. While these metaphors for calligraphic art draw from this particular illuminated Bible, this book is aimed at all lovers of calligraphy, art, and sacred text.

Jonathan Homrighausen, a doctoral candidate in Hebrew Bible at Duke University, teaches in Judaic Studies at the College of William & Mary. His research explores the intersection of Hebrew Bible, calligraphic art, and scribal craft. He is the author of Illuminating Justice: The Ethical Imagination of The Saint John's Bible (Liturgical Press, 2018) and articles in Religion and the Arts, Image, Teaching Theology and Religion, Transpositions, and Visual Commentary on Scripture.

BONUS EPISODE: A Guide to Eating in Buffalo w/Arthur Bovino Feb 15, 2023

Buffalo isn’t just a city full of great wings. There is a great hot dog tradition, from Greek- originated “Texas red hots” to year-round charcoal-grilling at Ted’s that puts Manhattan’s dirty water dogs to shame. This is also a city of great sandwiches. It’s a place where capicola gets layered on grilled sausage, where sautéed dandelions traditionally make up the greens in a comestible called steak- in-the-grass, and chicken fingers pack into soft Costanzo’s sub rolls with Provolone, tomato, lettuce, blue cheese dressing, and Frank’s RedHot Sauce to become something truly naughty.

Food and travel writer Arthur Bovino ate his research, taking the reader to the bars, the old-school Polish and Italian-American eateries, the Burmese restaurants, and the new-school restaurants tapping into the region’s rich agricultural bounty. With all this experience under his belt (and stretching it), Bovino has created the essential guide to food in Buffalo.

Arthur Bovino is a restaurant, food media, and travel writer. The Daily Meal’s founding Eat/Dine editor, Bovino is a graduate of New York City’s International Culinary Institute. He has appeared on the Today Show and ABC News.

Buy the book: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781682681220

Ep 258: Metamodernism: The Future of Theory w/Dr. Jason Josephson-Storm Jan 02, 2023

For decades, scholars have been calling into question the universality of disciplinary objects and categories. The coherence of defined autonomous categories—such as religion, science, and art—has collapsed under the weight of postmodern critiques, calling into question the possibility of progress and even the value of knowledge. Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm aims to radicalize and move beyond these deconstructive projects to offer a path forward for the humanities and social sciences using a new model for theory he calls metamodernism. Metamodernism works through the postmodern critiques and uncovers the mechanisms that produce and maintain concepts and social categories. In so doing, Storm provides a new, radical account of society’s ever-changing nature—what he calls a “Process Social Ontology”—and its materialization in temporary zones of stability or “social kinds.” Storm then formulates a fresh approach to philosophy of language by looking beyond the typical theorizing that focuses solely on human language production, showing us instead how our own sign-making is actually on a continuum with animal and plant communication. Storm also considers fundamental issues of the relationship between knowledge and value, promoting a turn toward humble, emancipatory knowledge that recognizes the existence of multiple modes of the real. Metamodernism is a revolutionary manifesto for research in the human sciences that offers a new way through postmodern skepticism to envision a more inclusive future of theory in which new forms of both progress and knowledge can be realized.

EP 257: The Varieties of Atheism w/Dr. David Newheiser Dec 17, 2022

This episode features a conversation with Dr. David Newheiser, editor of "The Varieties of Atheism." The Varieties of Atheism reveals the diverse nonreligious experiences obscured by the combative intellectualism of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens. In fact, contributors contend that narrowly defining atheism as the belief that there is no god misunderstands religious and nonreligious persons altogether. The essays show that, just as religion exceeds doctrine, atheism also encompasses every dimension of human life: from imagination and feeling to community and ethics. Contributors offer new, expansive perspectives on atheism’s diverse history and possible futures. By recovering lines of affinity and tension between particular atheists and particular religious traditions, this book paves the way for fruitful conversation between religious and non-religious people in our secular age.

EP 256: The Magi w/Dr. Eric Vanden Eykel Nov 26, 2022

George Tyrrell insisted that the quest for the historical Jesus was no more than scholars staring into a well to see their own reflections staring back. Jesus is the mirror image of those who study him. A similar phenomenon accompanies the quest for the historical Magi, those mysterious travelers who came from theEast, following a star to Bethlehem.

In this work, ancient historian and scholar Eric Vanden Eykel helps readers better understand both the Magi and the ancient and modern interpreters who have tried to study them. He shows how, from a mere twelve verses in the Gospel of Matthew, a varied and vast literary and artistic tradition was born. The Magi examines the birth of the Magi story;its enrichments, embellishments, and expansions in apocryphal writing and early Christian preaching;its artistic expressions in catacombs, icons, and paintings and its modern legacy in novels, poetry, and music.

Throughout, the book explores the fascination the Magi story elicits in both ancient and modern readers and what the legacy of the Magi story tells us about its storytellers--and ourselves.

EP 255: Preparing for War w/Dr. Bradley Onishi Nov 17, 2022

https://www.bradonishi.com/

The insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was not a blip or an aberration. It was the logical outcome of years of a White evangelical subculture's preparation for war. Religion scholar and former insider Bradley Onishi maps the origins of White Christian nationalism and traces its offshoots in Preparing for War.

Combining his own experiences in the youth groups and prayer meetings of the 1990s with an immersive look at the steady blending of White grievance politics with evangelicalism, Onishi crafts an engrossing account of the years-long campaign of White Christian nationalism that led to January 6. How did the rise of what Onishi calls the New Religious Right, between 1960 and 2015, give birth to violent White Christian nationalism during the Trump presidency and beyond? What propelled some of the most conservative religious communities in the country--communities of which Onishi was once a part--to ignite a cold civil war?

Through chapters on White supremacy and segregationist theologies, conspiracy theories, the Christian-school movement, purity culture, and the right-wing media ecosystem, Onishi pulls back the curtain on a subculture that birthed a movement and has taken a dangerous turn. In taut and unsparing prose, Onishi traces the migration of many White Christians to Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming in what is known as the American Redoubt. Learning the troubling history of the New Religious Right and the longings and logic of White Christian nationalism is deeply alarming. It is also critical for preserving the shape of our democracy for years to come.

EP 254: Epictetus and Stoicism w/Robin Waterfield Oct 28, 2022

Robin Waterfield is an independent scholar and translator living in southern Greece. In addition to thirty volumes of translations of works of Greek literature, he is the author of numerous books, ranging from children’s fiction to Greek history, most recently The Making of a King, also published by the University of Chicago Press

The complete surviving works of Epictetus, the most influential Stoic philosopher from antiquity. “Some things are up to us and some are not.” Epictetus was born into slavery around the year 50 CE, and, upon being granted his freedom, he set himself up as a philosophy teacher. After being expelled from Rome, he spent the rest of his life living and teaching in Greece. He is now considered the most important exponent of Stoicism, and his surviving work comprises a series of impassioned discourses, delivered live and recorded by his student Arrian, and the Handbook, Arrian’s own take on the heart of Epictetus’s teaching. In Discourses, Epictetus argues that happiness depends on knowing what is in our power to affect and what is not. Our internal states and our responses to events are up to us, but the events themselves are assigned to us by the benevolent deity, and we should treat them—along with our bodies, possessions, and families—as matters of indifference, simply making the best use of them we can.

Together, the Discourses and Handbook constitute a practical guide to moral self-improvement, as Epictetus explains the work and exercises aspirants need to do to enrich and deepen their lives. Edited and translated by renowned scholar Robin Waterfield, this book collects the complete works of Epictetus, bringing to modern readers his insights on how to cope with death, exile, the people around us, the whims of the emperor, fear, illness, and much more.

EP 253: Heathen w/Dr. Kathryn Gin Lum Oct 14, 2022

If an eighteenth-century parson told you that the difference between "civilization and heathenism is sky-high and star-far," the words would hardly come as a shock. But that statement was written by an American missionary in 1971. In a sweeping historical narrative, Kathryn Gin Lum shows how the idea of the heathen has been maintained from the colonial era to the present in religious and secular discourses--discourses, specifically, of race.

Americans long viewed the world as a realm of suffering heathens whose lands and lives needed their intervention to flourish. The term "heathen" fell out of common use by the early 1900s, leading some to imagine that racial categories had replaced religious differences. But the ideas underlying the figure of the heathen did not disappear. Americans still treat large swaths of the world as "other" due to their assumed need for conversion to American ways. Purported heathens have also contributed to the ongoing significance of the concept, promoting solidarity through their opposition to white American Christianity. Gin Lum looks to figures like Chinese American activist Wong Chin Foo and Ihanktonwan Dakota writer Zitkála-Sá, who proudly claimed the label of "heathen" for themselves.

Race continues to operate as a heathen inheritance in the United States, animating Americans' sense of being a world apart from an undifferentiated mass of needy, suffering peoples. Heathen: Religion and Race in American History (Harvard UP, 2022) thus reveals a key source of American exceptionalism and a prism through which Americans have defined themselves as a progressive and humanitarian nation even as supposed heathens have drawn on the same to counter this national myth.

EP 252: Dr. Arlene Sanchez-Walsh in conversation with Dr. Lloyd Barba Oct 05, 2022

Dr. Lloyd Daniel Barba is Assistant Professor of Religion and core faculty in Latinx and Latin American Studies at Amherst College. He has published essays on the history of race and religion, Pentecostalism, Catholicism, the Sanctuary Movement, and material religion.

Dr. Arlene Sánchez-Walsh guest hosts and the topic of conversation is Barba's new book, Sowing the Seed: Mexican Pentecostal Farmworkers in California, out from Oxford University Press.

EP 251: Stealing My Religion w/Dr. Liz Bucar Sep 13, 2022

Dr. Elizabeth Bucar is the Director of Sacred Writes, Professor of Religion, and Dean’s Leadership Fellow at Northeastern University. An expert in comparative religious ethics who has published on topics ranging from gender reassignment surgery to the global politics of modest clothing, Bucar’s current book, Stealing My Religion: Not Just Any Cultural Appropriation, is on the ethics of religious appropriation. She is also the author of the award-winning trade book, Pious Fashion: How Muslim Women Dress (Harvard University Press, 2017). Bucar’s public scholarship includes bylines in The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, Teen Vogue, and Zocalo Public Square as well as several podcasts. She has a PhD in religious ethics from the University of Chicago’s Divinity School. Follow her on Twitter @BucarLiz. Link to her Pious Fashion episode on NBN: https://newbooksnetwork.com/141-on-pious-fashion-and-muslim-women

EP 250: The History of the Single-Payer Medicare for All Movement w/Dr. Lindy Hern Aug 25, 2022

Book Description

The recent rise of “Medicare for All” in American political discourse was many years in the making. Behind this rise is a movement composed of grassroots activists and organizations that have been working for more than three decades to achieve the goal of establishing a single-payer healthcare system in the United States. In the past decade, the Single Payer Movement has grown and garnered more public and political support than ever before. This relative success cannot be attributed to any one political figure or political era. The story of how this happened, and how it is tied to a turn against establishment politics on both the left and right, as well as the rise of outsider politicians such as Senator Bernie Sanders, takes place during the Clinton, G.W. Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations. During each of these eras, activists experienced shifting opportunities that they interpreted through the telling of stories. These narratives of opportunity encouraged participation in particular forms of grassroots mobilization, which then affected the outcome of each era. This has had lasting effects on the development of healthcare policy in the United States. In this book, Hern conducts a political ethnographic analysis in which she uses historical records, interviews, and participant observation to tell the story of the Single Payer Movement, establish the lessons that can be learned from this history, and develop a framework―the Environment of Opportunity Model―that involves a holistic understanding of social movement activity through the analysis of narrative practice.

EP 249: Islamophobia: What Christians Should Know (and Do) about Anti-Muslim Discrimination w/Jordan Denari Duffner Aug 16, 2022

Arson and vandalism at houses of worship. Bullying at schools and harassment at the grocery store. Political scapegoating and institutionalized discrimination. Muslims in the United States--and beyond--have faced Islamophobia in a range of forms. This ground-breaking book argues that Christians should be at the forefront of efforts to end the prejudice, discrimination, and violence, that Muslims face. Writing for Christians of all denominations, Jordan Denari Duffner offers an introduction to Islamophobia, discusses the unfortunate ways that Christians have contributed to it, and offers practical steps for standing in solidarity with Muslims. Viewing Islamophobia as both a social justice and a religious freedom issue, Duffner makes the case that Christian faith calls us to combat religious discrimination even when it is not directed toward our own faith community. She weaves together insights from Catholic social teaching, examples from Protestant leaders, and expertise from Muslim scholars and activists, resulting in a compelling book that will be of interest to academic and lay audiences alike.

Visit Jordan Denari Duffner online: https://jordandenari.com/about/

EP 248: How Yogi Bhajan Created An Empire w/Stacie Stukin & Philip DeSlippe Jul 29, 2022

NOTES

Stacie Stukin is an arts and culture writer born and raised in Los Angeles. She has written about travel, design, women's health and food for publications like The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, Architectural Digest, W Magazine and Lucky Peach. She's also the West Coast Editor of Naturally, Danny Seo Magazine.

Philip DeSlippe is a historian of American religion with a background in American Studies and literature whose research focuses on Asian, metaphysical, and marginal religions in modern America. DeSlippe is currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara and writing a dissertation on the early history of yoga in the United States from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. His work includes a new and definitive edition of the metaphysical classic The Kybalion for Tarcher/Penguin in 2011, dozens of articles for popular audiences in such venues as Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Yoga Journal, Air & Space Smithsonian, the Indian news site Scroll.in, and Tides, the magazine of the South Asian American Digital Archive.

Relevant Reading:

https://www.baaznews.org/p/yogi-bhajan-siri-singh-sahib-expose https://twitter.com/StacieStukin https://twitter.com/PhilipDeslippe https://religionnews.com/2020/08/18/yogi-bhajan-yoga-guru-and-founder-of-3ho-more-likely-than-not-sexually-abused-followers-says-report/ https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/yogi-bhajan/ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271568190_From_Maharaj_to_Mahan_Tantric_The_Construction_of_Yogi_Bhajan%27s_Kundalini_Yoga https://rishiknots.com/

EP 247: Visions of Zion, Ethiopianness, and Rastari w/Dr. Erin MacLeod Jul 21, 2022

Dr. Erin MacLeod's work situates itself in the perspectives of postcolonial studies, social movements, intercultural communication, migratory processes and globalization through its investigation into issues of identity, gender, culture, class, race and space/geography. She is the author of Visions of Zion: Ethiopians and Rastafari in the Search for the Promised Land (NYU Press, 2014). MacLeod holds a PhD in Communications from McGill University and a Master's in English Literature from the University of Toronto, and has taught and lectured at both the college and university levels in Ethiopia, Canada and Jamaica.

Visit the book: https://nyupress.org/9781479882243/visions-of-zion/

EP 246: A Conversation on Teaching Religious Studies w/Dr. Carrie Duncan Jul 15, 2022

EP 245: Roman Catacombs w/Dr. William "Chip" Gruen Jul 02, 2022

Dr. William "Chip" Gruen is professor of religious studies at Muhlenberg College and is Director of the Institute for Religious and Cultural Understanding.

The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries (2019)

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/reception-of-jesus-in-the-first-three-centuries-9780567000194/

Religionwise Podcast: https://www.muhlenberg.edu/religionandculture/religionwisepodcast/

EP 244: The Other Side of Nothing w/Brad Warner Jun 26, 2022

http://hardcorezen.info/

Brad Warner was born in Ohio, grew up in Africa, and lived in Japan for eleven years, where he got ordained as a Zen monk. He now resides in the Hipsterville part of Los Angeles. He began sitting zazen when he was eighteen years old under the instruction of Tim McCarthy and was made a dharma heir of Gudo Nishijima Roshi in the futuristic year 2000. He also travels the world showing people how to sit down and shut up. He has given talks and led Zen meditation retreats in the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Poland, Israel, Belgium, Spain, and Japan. His books have been translated into fewer languages than those of anyone you’ve ever seen on the cover of a meditation magazine, but there are editions in Finnish, Polish, German, and Greek. And supposedly there’s one in Hebrew, but he’s never seen a copy. Or maybe he has but doesn’t know it because he can’t read Hebrew. He wishes someone would point it out to him somewhere if the book actually exists. He plays bass guitar in the hardcore punk band Zero Defex (0DFx). He has had major roles in several movies, including Zombie Bounty Hunter M. D. and Shoplifting from American Apparel. He also wrote, produced, and directed his own film, Cleveland’s Screaming. Plus, he made five albums for Midnight Records under the semi-fictional band name Dimentia 13. When he’s not doing zazen, Brad can be found at record stores all over the world searching for obscure psychedelia and songs to add to his incredible cheesy seventies playlist. He enjoys bad science fiction movies and cats, though dogs are okay too. He’s a vegetarian but tries not to be a total pain in the ass about it.

EP 243: Anarcho-Punk w/Dr. Edward Avery-Natale Jun 17, 2022

Dr. Avery-Natale specializes in race and racism, identity, social movements, and social theory. He is the author of the book, Ethics, Politics, and Anarcho-Punk Identifications: Punk and Anarchy in Philadelphia.

EP 242: The Dharma Bum's Guide to Western Literature w/Dean Sluyter Jun 08, 2022

Dean Sluyter (pronounced slighter) has taught meditation and led workshops and retreats since 1970, at venues ranging from Ivy League colleges to maximum-security prisons. A grateful student of sages in several traditions, he has completed numerous retreats and pilgrimages in India, Tibet, Nepal, and the West. Dean’s previous books include Natural Meditation, winner of the 2015 Nautilus Gold Award for best book on body, mind, and spirit practices. His media appearances have included Coast to Coast AM, National Public Radio, the New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, and USA Today. From 1977 to 2010, Dean taught English and developed the Literature of Enlightenment program at the Pingry School in New Jersey. He now lives in Santa Monica, where he teaches meditation, sings with the Westside Threshold Choir, plays old songs on the ukulele, and happily zips about on his Vespa. He is married to documentary filmmaker Yaffa Lerea.

Buy the book: https://www.newworldlibrary.com/Books/ProductDetails/tabid/64/SKU/87695/Default.aspx#.YobCOFjMJFw

EP 241: Dr. John Modern & Alison Renna discuss "Neuromatic: Or, A Particular History of Religion and the Brain May 23, 2022

John Lardas Modernis professor of religious studies at Franklin & Marshall College. He is the author of The Bop Apocalypse: The Religious Visions of Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs and Secularism in Antebellum America, the latter also published by the University of Chicago Press. Alison Renna is a PhD candidate studying the history of ideas. In her dissertation, “The Symbiotic Mind: A History of Religion, Ecology, and the Microbial World,” she writes about the ways that religion, social theory, philosophy, ecology, neuroscience, and psychology shaped one another through the twentieth century, beginning with the birth of information theory in the 1940s and ending with research into the human microbiome-brain connection in the 2010s.

Buy "Neuromatic" from Class 200 at the University of Chicago Press: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/N/bo105080439.html

EP 240: Awkward Rituals w/Dr. Dana Logan May 21, 2022

Buy Awkward Rituals: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo141943025.html

EP 239: Sincerely Held w/Dr. Charles McCrary May 12, 2022

Dr. Charles McCrary is a scholar of American religion, focusing on secularism, religious freedom, race, and science. He is the author of Sincerely Held: American Secularism and Its Believers. His work has been published in academic journals including the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Religion & American Culture, and Religion. He also has written for popular outlets such as Religion & Politics, The Revealer, and The New Republic, many of which are linked in the show notes of this episode. Before coming to ASU, he was a postdoctoral research associate at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis.

EP 238: "Buddhish" and the History of Buddhist Medicine w/Dr. C. Pierce Salguero May 02, 2022

C. Pierce Salguero is a transdisciplinary humanities scholar who is fascinated by the historical and contemporary intersections between Buddhism, medicine, and cross-cultural exchange. He has a PhD in the history of medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010) and teaches Asian history, medicine, and religion at Penn State University’s Abington College, located near Philadelphia. He is the author of many books on the history and practice of Buddhism and Asian medicine. Connect with him online at piercesalguero.com.

Visit "Buddhish": http://www.beacon.org/Buddhish-P1771.aspx

EP 237: Teaching About Religion and Astronomy w/Dr. Brent Landau Apr 28, 2022

Dr. Brent Landau is on faculty at the University of Texas at Austin in the Department of Religious Studies.

EP 236: Teaching About Religion in Las Vegas w/Corey Landon Wozniak Apr 19, 2022

Corey Wozniak is a teacher in Las Vegas.

Read "The Buddha at the Bellagio": https://therevealer.org/the-buddha-at-the-bellagio-teaching-religion-in-sin-city/

EP 235: New Rome: The Empire in the East w/Dr. Paul Stephenson Apr 07, 2022

Paul Stephenson is a historian of late antiquity and the author of New Rome: The Empire in the East and Constantine: Roman Emperor, Christian Victor.

EP 234: Borderlands Curanderos w/Dr. Jennifer Koshatka Seman & Dr. Arlene Sánchez-Walsh Mar 23, 2022

Jennifer Koshatka Seman is a lecturer in history at Metropolitan State University in Denver. Her work has appeared in Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses and the Journal of the West.

Visit "Borderlands Curanderos" at University of Texas Press:

https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/seman-borderlands-curanderos

Follow Dr. Jennifer Koshatka Seman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jenniferseman

Follow Dr. Arlene Sánchez-Walsh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmichelSW

EP 233: The Russian-Chinese Border w/Dr. Franck Billé Mar 15, 2022

Buy the book:

https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674979482

Dr. Franck Billé is Program Director at the Tang Center for Silk Road Studies, University of California, Berkeley. He is the author and editor of three books about East Asia, including Sinophobia: Anxiety, Violence, and the Making of Mongolian Identity.

EP 232: Kaya Oakes on "The Defiant Middle How Women Claim Life's In-Betweens to Remake the World" Mar 02, 2022

Visit Kaya Oakes online: https://www.oakestown.org/

Visit "On Religion with Greg Soden" at New Books Network: https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/academic-partners/on-religion

EP 231: Religion, Public Health, and Media w/Dr. Amanda Furiasse Jan 28, 2022

Amanda Furiasse received her PhD in Religion and Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Florida State University in 2018. Her research unfolds at the convergence of religion, health, and technology and explores how African communities use religious ritual as a mechanism to heal from violence and trauma. She is Co-Founder and Curator at the Religion, Art, and Technology Lab where she produces multi-sensory exhibitions for the public on the relationship between faith, aesthetics, and innovation. She has worked previously at the Museum of Florida History and Loyola University Museum of Art where she has produced public programming and educational curricula for K-12 learners and the general public. She maintains an active commitment to producing educational programming, public scholarship, and research which excites and inspires people to take an active role in their worlds and explore religion’s dynamic and evolving role in their lives and societies.

Visit The Religion, Art, and Technology Lab: https://www.ratlabmuseum.org/projects

RAT LAB Twitter: https://twitter.com/RatLabMuseum

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/2021-cohorts

EP 230: The Rise of the Muslim Sitcom w/Dr. Kristian Petersen Jan 16, 2022

Kristian Petersen is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies at Old Dominion University. He is the author of Interpreting Islam in China: Pilgrimage, Scripture, and Language in the Han Kitab (Oxford University Press in 2017), and editor of Muslims in the Movies: A Global Anthology (ILEX Foundation & Harvard University Press, 2021), and New Approaches to Islam in Film (Routledge, 2021). He also co-hosts the New Books in Islamic Studies podcast on the New Books Network.

Follow Dr. Kristian Peterson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/babakristian

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/2021-cohorts

EP 229: Migrational Religion and Latinx Diaspora w/Dr. João Chaves and Dr. Arlene Sánchez-Walsh Jan 02, 2022

In this episode, Dr. João Chaves and Dr. Arlene Sánchez-Walsh discuss Brazil and the book “Migrational Religion: Context and Creativity in the Latinx Diaspora,” out now from Baylor University Press.

EP 228: Mexican American Religions w/Dr. Brett Hendrickson and Arlene Sánchez-Walsh Dec 19, 2021

In this episode, Dr. Arlene Sánchez-Walsh is in conversation with Dr. Brett Hendrickson on the book "Mexican American Religions: An Introduction (Religion in America)," out now from Routledge!

Follow Dr. Hendrickson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bbhendrickson

Follow Dr. Sánchez-Walsh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmichelSW

Visit Dr. Hendrickson at Routledge: https://www.routledge.com/authors/i21462-brett-hendrickson

EP 227: Meatpacking, Migration, and Faith w/Dr. Kristy Nabhan Warren & Dr. Arlene Sanchez Walsh Dec 03, 2021

Dr. Kristy Nabhan-Warren is the V. O. and Elizabeth Kahl Figge Chair of Catholic Studies and a professor in the Departments of Religious Studies and Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Iowa. She is the author, most recently, of Meatpacking America: How Migration, Work, and Faith Unite and Divide the Heartland, out now from the University of North Carolina Press.

Follow Dr. Nabhan-Warren on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KristyNabhan

Arlene M. Sánchez-Walsh, PhD, is a professor of religious studies and the author of the award-winning book Latino Pentecostal Identity: Evangelical Faith, Self, and Society (Columbia University Press, 2003). She has authored more than a dozen articles and book chapters on the subject of Latino/a Pentecostalism, and has served as a media expert for outlets such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and On Being with Krista Tippett, and served as an expert on Latino/a religious history for the PBS series God in America. Sánchez-Walsh’s current writing projects include a textbook on Pentecostalism in America, and a monograph on Latinos/as and the prosperity gospel. Her current research is on the rise of nonbelief among Latinos/as.

Follow Dr. Arlene Sanchez-Walsh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmichelSW

EP 226: Jewish-Christian Dialogue w/Dr. Alana Vincent Nov 30, 2021

Dr. Alana M. Vincent is Associate Professor of Jewish Philosophy, Religion and Imagination at the University of Chester. She works on post-Holocaust Jewish thought, Jewish-Christian dialogue, and popular culture (primarily science fiction and fantasy).

Dr. Alana Vincent on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProfAMV

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP 225: Catholic Library, Muslim Books w/NA Mansour Nov 20, 2021

N.A. Mansour is a historian and a PhD candidate at Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies, where she is writing a dissertation on the transition between manuscript and print in Arabic-language contexts. She produces podcasts for different venues, co-edits Hazine.info, and works for different museums and archives. She also writes for the general public on culture, Islam and history.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/2021-cohorts

EP 224: Religious Pluralism in South Africa w/Dr. Lee Scharnick-Udemans Nov 13, 2021

Dr. Lee-Shae Salma Scharnick-Udemans is the Senior Researcher in the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice at the University of the Western Cape. With degrees in religious studies and media from the University of Cape Town, she also has extensive experience working in television production. Dr. Scharnick-Udemans researches, teaches, and supervises in the areas of religious diversity, pluralism, the political economy of religion, new religious movements, and the media.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LSudemans

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/2021-cohorts

EP 223: Muslim Religious Spaces and the Lives of Muslim College Students w/Dr. Krista Riley Nov 09, 2021

Dr. Krista Melanie Riley (she/her/hers) is a pedagogical advisor at a college in Montreal, Quebec. She holds a PhD in Communication Studies from Concordia University, where her research focused on discussions about gender, bodies, and sexuality on Muslim feminist blogs. She is the former Editor-in-Chief of Muslimah Media Watch.

EP 222: Working Beyond the Academy w/Dr. Shannon Trosper Schorey Nov 06, 2021

Dr. Shannon Trosper Schorey is a scholar, writer, and researcher in the tech industry. She is an expert in science and technology studies, American religious history, and new religious movements. After leaving higher education, she began working in the private sector and is focused on emerging and cloud technologies.

https://www.shannontrosperschorey.com/

https://twitter.com/STSchorey

https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP 221: The Two Faces of Religious Freedom w/Dr. Jolyon Thomas Oct 24, 2021

Jolyon Baraka Thomas (he/him/his) is assistant professor and interim graduate chair of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Faking Liberties: Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan and Drawing on Tradition: Manga, Anime, and Religion in Contemporary Japan. He is currently finishing a book on religion and public schooling in Japan and the United States, and his articles on religion and capitalism have appeared in Material Religion and the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. He also regularly writes for public-facing venues such as Killing the Buddha, Marginalia, The Revealer, Sacred Matters, and Tricycle.

Follow Dr. Thomas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jolyonbt

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/2021-cohorts

EP 220: Comedy and Islam w/Dr. Samah Choudhury Oct 18, 2021

Dr. Samah Choudhury is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Ithaca College. She speaks and writes about Islam, humor, and the politics that accompany what it means to be socially legible in the United States. Her current book manuscript looks at the ways that Islam and Muslims are articulated through standup comedy and how they speak back to broader transnational practices and discourses of race, masculinity, and secularism.

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

Follow Dr. Samah Choudhury: https://twitter.com/SamahChoudhury

EP 219: The Young Lords w/ Dr. Jorge J. Rodriguez V Oct 12, 2021

Jorge Juan Rodríguez V, the son of two Puerto Rican migrants, was raised by his mother, father, grandmother, and uncle in a small affordable housing community outside of Hartford, Connecticut. He has completed degrees in Biblical Studies, Social Theory, and Liberation Theologies and is currently completing a PhD in History at Union Theological Seminary. In addition to his academic work which explores the intersections of religion and progressive social movements, Jorge serves as the Associate Director for Strategic Programming at the Hispanic Summer Program—an organization that creates educational spaces focused on the academic study of religion and theology from a Latinx perspective. Jorge lives in Manhattan with his partner and very floofy Bernedoodle.

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JJRodV

Visit online: https://www.jjrodriguezv.com/

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/2021-cohorts

EP 218: Weddings, Marriage, and Divorce in Islam w/Dr. Kecia Ali Oct 06, 2021

Kecia Ali (Ph.D., Religion, Duke University) is Professor of Religion at Boston University, where she teaches a range of classes on Islam. Her research focuses on Islamic law; women and gender; ethics; and biography. Her books include Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur’an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence (2006, expanded ed. 2016), Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam (2010), Imam Shafi‘i: Scholar and Saint (2011), and The Lives of Muhammad (2014), about modern Muslim and non-Muslim biographies of Islam’s prophet. She co-edited the revised edition of A Guide for Women in Religion, which provides guidance for careers in religious studies and theology (2014). Her research also includes gender, ethics, and popular culture.

Download "Half of Faith: American Muslim Marriage and Divorce in the 21st Century" for free at:

https://www.keciaali.com

Visit Dr. Kecia Ali on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kecia_ali

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP 217: Religion, Science, and the Brain w/Dr. Andrew Ali Aghapour Sep 30, 2021

Andrew Ali Aghapour (he/him/his) is a scholar and comedian based in Durham, North Carolina. He is the Consulting Scholar of Religion and Science for the Religion in America Initiative at the National Museum of American History, and the co-author, with Peter Manseau, of the forthcoming Discovery and Revelation: Religion, Science, and Technology in America (Smithsonian Books, 2021). Andrew holds a Ph.D in religious studies from UNC Chapel Hill and an M.Phil in the history and philosophy of science from Cambridge University. He is the writer/performer of Zara, a one person show about immigration and the history of monotheism. Andrew was the co-founder, with Michael Schulson, of Religion Dispatches' The Cubit, and the managing editor, under Myrna Sheldon, of Harvard Divinity School's Cosmologics.

Follow Dr. Aghapour on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndrewAghapour

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/2021-cohorts

EP 216: The Unraveling of Nepal's Hindu Monarchy w/Dr. Anne Mocko Sep 24, 2021

Anne Mocko is Associate Professor of Asian Religions at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. She is a specialist in the religions of South Asia, and has spent several years living in Nepal, but has also spent time in India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. She is primarily interested in the ways ritual performances and ritual change can shape collective ideas and ideology. Her first book on the role of ritual in shaping and changing ideologies (Demoting Vishnu: Ritual, Politics, and the Unraveling of Nepal's Hindu Monarchy) was released by OUP in 2016, and was released in South Asia through Adarsh Books in 2020 under the title Unraveling the Crown. She is currently working on a popular-audience book (entitled Eco-Karma) about how the daily rituals and religious habits of India's Jains might help non-Jains to reimagine environmental impacts and responsibilities.

Follow Dr. Anne Mocko on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theMockOwl

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/2021-cohorts

EP 215: Transnational Online Shinto and Educational YouTube w/Kaitlyn Ugoretz Sep 18, 2021

Kaitlyn Ugoretz (she/her) is a digital anthropologist and Ph.D. candidate in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She earned a BA and MA in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Pennsylvania with a double concentration in Chinese and Japanese studies. Her research interests include Japanese religions, globalization, media, and digital technology. Supported by dissertation fellowships from the Social Science Research Council and Japan Foundation, she is conducting an ethnography of the growth of transnational, online Shinto communities based on social media. Kaitlyn hosts the educational YouTube channel Eat Pray Anime, which explores religion and history in Japanese pop culture, and writes on Asian religions for Religion For Breakfast.

Follow Kaitlyn Ugoretz on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KaitlynUgoretz

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/2021-cohorts

EP 214: Social Media and Hinduism w/Dr. Dheepa Sundaram Sep 12, 2021

Dr. Dheepa Sundaram (she/her/hers) is scholar of performance, ritual, yoga, and digital culture in South Asia at the University of Denver which sits on the unceded tribal lands of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe people. Her research examines the formation of Hindu virtual religious publics through online platforms, social media, apps, and emerging technologies such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence. Dr. Sundaram's current monograph project titled Globalizing Dharma examines how commercial ritual websites fashion a new, digital canon for Hindu religious praxis, effectively "branding" religious identities through a neoliberal "Vedicizing" of virtual spaces. Her most recent article explores how West Bengal’s Tourism initiatives use Instagram to foster virtual, ethnonationalist, social networks during Durga puja. Spotlighting issues of access/accessibility to religious spaces and the viability and visibility of online counter-narratives, especially those from minoritized/marginalized caste, gender, and class communities, Dr. Sundaram shows how Asur tribal groups who seek to recover an alternative history of their ancestor Mahisasura, are not only excluded, but, effaced through this kind of digital cultural marketing campaign. A forthcoming piece examines so-called YouTube yogis and how the commercial landscape of yoga as part of lifestyle "cures" becomes an unwitting partner in Hindu nationalist project of repatriating yoga as a national cultural artifact.

Follow Dr. Dheepa Sundaram on Twitter: https://twitter.com/themodsisyphus

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP 213: Ecological Ethics in the Jewish Community Farming Movement w/Dr. Adrienne Krone Sep 06, 2021

Dr. Adrienne Krone is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Director of Jewish Life at Allegheny College. She has a Ph.D. in American Religion from Duke University. Her research focuses on contemporary religious food justice movements in North America and her current project is an ethnographic and historical study of the Jewish community farming movement.

Follow Adrienne Krone on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AdrienneKrone

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP 212: Heaven Narratives w/Dr. Brook Wilensky-Lanford Aug 31, 2021

Brook Wilensky-Lanford is the author of Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden (Grove Press, 2011), and former editor-in-chief of the online magazine of religion, culture and politics Killing the Buddha. She received her PhD in American Religion from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her M.F.A. in Nonfiction Writing from Columbia. An Associate Editor of The Commons at the Association for Public Religion and Intellectual Life, Brook is fascinated by utopias, origin stories, religious liberalism, and spirituality.

Follow Dr. Wilensky-Lanford on Twitter: https://twitter.com/modmyth

Visit Sacred Writes online: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP 211: Paid Family Leave and the Catholic Church w/Dr. Annie Selak Aug 25, 2021

Annie Selak (she/her/hers) is a systematic theologian, specializing in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. She earned her Ph.D. from Boston College, and is also a proud graduate of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (M.Div) and Santa Clara University (BA, BS). Dr. Selak's dissertation, "Toward an Ecclesial Vision in the Shadow of Wounds," examined the wounds of racism and sexism in the Roman Catholic Church utilizing contemporary trauma theory and the ecclesiology of Karl Rahner. Her work has been featured in Modern Theology, Journal of Catholic Social Thought, Washington Post, America, and Commonweal. Dr. Selak currently serves as Associate Director of the Women's Center at Georgetown University.

Follow Dr. Annie Selak on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aselak

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

Follow Sacred Writes: https://twitter.com/Sacred_Writes

Read "What the Church Owes Families," here: https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/what-church-owes-families

EP 210: Muslim Women and French Anti-Separatism w/Sahar Ahmed Aug 19, 2021

Sahar Ahmed is a PhD candidate in the School of Law at Trinity College Dublin. Her research examines and offers a reinterpretation of the right to freedom of religion under International Human Rights Law and Islamic jurisprudence. Sahar is from Lahore, Pakistan, where she worked as a Barrister for many years.

Follow Sahar Ahmed on Twitter: here.

Visit Sacred Writes online: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP 209: Muslim Philanthropy and Pillars Fund w/Kashif Shaikh Aug 02, 2021

Kashif Shaikh is the Co-Founder and President of Pillars Fund. In 2010, Kashif and a small group of Muslim philanthropists founded Pillars to strategically organize wealth within their communities and support American Muslim civic institutions and leaders building a more just, equitable society. For the next five years, Kashif volunteered his time and resources to grow and lead Pillars. In 2016, he was asked to be Pillars’ first full-time executive director and transitioned Pillars from a volunteer-run fund to a fully operational foundation. Under his leadership, Pillars has invested more than $6 million in Muslim community organizations and initiatives to build collective power and transform what is possible for Muslims in the United States.

At the heart of Kashif’s career in philanthropy is a dedication to promoting racial equity and creating opportunities for Muslims and people of color to tell their stories through art. Prior to launching Pillars, Kashif was a program officer at the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, where he helped manage a portfolio of more than $20 million and helped scale a variety of Chicago nonprofits working at the intersection of racial justice, poverty, and education. He also managed the Foundation’s corporate partnerships and helped develop corporate social responsibility strategies for the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Blackhawks, and Chicago Bulls. His career began at the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, where he developed strategies to engage the organization’s largest corporate partners.

Kashif’s expert insight on Muslims in philanthropy has been cited in The New York Times, Buzzfeed, and Chicago Sun Times, among others. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Peabody Awards, Chicago Humanities Festival, and Mortar, a nonprofit based in his home town of Cincinnati that helps entrepreneurs from historically marginalized communities access resources to start and run successful businesses. He has been named a Philanthropy Forward Fellow by the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions and Neighborhood Funders Group, a New Profit Civic Lab Entrepreneur, and an Ambassadors for Health Equity Fellow. In 2017, Crain’s Chicago Business named him to their 40 Under 40 list.

Kashif holds a BA from Ohio State University and MA from Northwestern University

EP 208: Medieval Queer Magic w/Kersti Francis Jul 23, 2021

Kersti Francis is a writer, editor, and medievalist based in Tucson and Los Angeles. Francis’ works at the intersections between religion, magic, gender, and sexuality is so interesting. I loved this conversation, and I hope you enjoy it. She is on Twitter (@kerstifrancis), where she tweets about feminism, queerness, history, and much more.

EP 207: A conversation w/ Dr. Felipe Hinojosa and Dr. Arlene Sánchez-Walsh Jul 02, 2021

Dr. Arlene Sánchez-Walsh: https://twitter.com/AmichelSW Guest host Arlene M. Sánchez-Walsh, Ph.D., is a professor of religious studies and the author of the award-winning book Latino Pentecostal Identity: Evangelical Faith, Self, and Society (Columbia University Press, 2003). She has authored more than a dozen articles and book chapters on the subject of Latino/a Pentecostalism, and has served as a media expert for outlets such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and On Being with Krista Tippett, and served as an expert on Latino/a religious history for the PBS series God in America. Sánchez-Walsh’s current writing projects include a textbook on Pentecostalism in America, and a monograph on Latinos/as and the prosperity gospel. Her current research is on the rise of nonbelief among Latinos/as.

Dr. Felipe Hinojosa: https://twitter.com/fhinojosa71

Born and raised in Brownsville, Texas, Felipe Hinojosa received his Ph.D. from the University of Houston in 2009 and joined the faculty at Texas A&M that same year. His research areas include Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies, American Religion, Race and Ethnicity, and Social Movements. In addition to serving as Director of the Carlos H. Cantu Hispanic Education & Opportunity Endowment, Prof. Hinojosa serves as editor for the interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, and online moderated forum Latinx Talk. His work has appeared in Zócalo Public Square, Western Historical Quarterly, American Catholic Studies, Mennonite Quarterly Review, and in edited collections on Latina/o Studies. Dr. Hinojosa’s first book, Latino Mennonites: Civil Rights, Faith, and Evangelical Culture (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014) was awarded the 2015 Américo Paredes Book Award for the best book in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies by the Center for Mexican American Studies at South Texas College. His new book, Apostles of Change: Latino Radical Politics, Church Occupations, and the Fight to Save the Barrio (University of Texas Press, 2021) is set in four major cities (Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Houston) where in 1969 and 1970 Latino radical activists clashed with religious leaders as they occupied churches to protest urban renewal, poverty, police brutality, and racism in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

EP 206: How God Becomes Real w/Dr. Tanya Luhrman and Dr. Brian Carwana Jun 23, 2021

Dr. Tanya Luhrmann is the author of "How God Becomes Real" and is the Watkins University Professor in the Stanford Anthropology Department. She is a medical and psychological anthropologist, and also an anthropologist of religion.

Dr. Brian Carwana Brian has a PhD in religion, a business degree, and worked as a strategy consultant. He is the Executive Director of Encounter World Religions where he has been teaching people about ethno-religious communities and facilitating actual “encounters” for 20 years.

Purchase "How God Becomes Real" here.

Visit Dr. Tanya Luhmann online https://www.tanyaluhrmann.com/

Visit Dr. Brian Carwana online https://religionsgeek.com/

EP 205: Texts After Terror w/Dr. Rhiannon Graybill Jun 17, 2021

Dr. Rhiannon Graybill is Associate Professor of religious studies at Rhodes College and a scholar of the Hebrew Bible whose work brings together biblical texts and contemporary critical and cultural theory. Her latest book, Text After Terror: Rape, Sexual Violence, and the Hebrew Bible, is a study of sexual violence and rape in the Hebrew Bible and is out now from Oxford University Press.

Texts After Terror: Rape, Sexual Violence, and the Hebrew Bible from Oxford University Press

EP204: Roman Catholic Womanpriests w/Dr. Jill Peterfeso Jun 03, 2021

Download "Womanpriest" for free as an eBook from Fordham Press here: https://www.fordhampress.com/9780823288298/womanpriest/

Jill M. Peterfeso is Associate Professor in the Religious Studies Department at Guilford College. She is a cultural historian of American religion whose published scholarship focuses on gender and sexuality, resistance to authority, and social justice, specifically in Roman Catholicism and Mormonism.

While some Catholics and even non-Catholics today are asking if priests are necessary, especially given the ongoing sex-abuse scandal, The Roman Catholic Womanpriests (RCWP) looks to reframe and reform Roman Catholic priesthood, starting with ordained women. Womanpriest is the first academic study of the RCWP movement. As an ethnography, Womanpriest analyzes the womenpriests’ actions and lived theologies in order to explore ongoing tensions in Roman Catholicism around gender and sexuality, priestly authority, and religious change. In order to understand how womenpriests navigate tradition and transgression, this study situates RCWP within post–Vatican II Catholicism, apostolic succession, sacraments, ministerial action, and questions of embodiment. Womanpriest reveals RCWP to be a discrete religious movement in a distinct religious moment, with a small group of tenacious women defying the Catholic patriarchy, taking on the priestly role, and demanding reconsideration of Roman Catholic tradition. Doing so, the women inhabit and re-create the central tensions in Catholicism today.

EP 203: Early Christian Magic w/Dr. Shaily Patel Apr 22, 2021

Dr. Shaily Patel is Assistant Professor of Early Christianity at Virginia Tech. She is an expert on ancient magic, early Christian literature, and ideological criticisms of the New Testament. She is currently writing a book about the ways in which early Christian writings featuring Simon Peter are caught between two simultaneous but opposing cultural trends: the allure of “magic” in the Roman imagination and the categorial vilifying of magicians among ancient writers. In her wider work, she is concerned with the problem of representation in historical accounts, especially the representation of groups and ideas that challenge established “orthodoxy.”

Follow Dr. Shaily Patel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vox_magica

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP 202: Himalayan Histories w/Swati Chawla Apr 14, 2021

Swati Chawla is assistant professor at the Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, O.P. Jindal Global University and a Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of Virginia. Her doctoral research is focused on migration, citizenship-making, and contemporary Buddhisms in the Himalayan regions of postcolonial South Asia. Her masters and M.Phil. work focused on the Tibetan Buddhist female monastic tradition in exile. She hosts the Twitter channel #himalayanhistories.

Follow Swati Chawla on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChawlaSwati

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP201: Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and Gorampa Sonam Senge w/Dr. Constance Kassor Apr 07, 2021

Dr. Constance Kassor is an assistant professor of religious studies at Lawrence University, where she teaches courses on Buddhist thought and Asian religious traditions. Her research focuses on Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, and she is currently involved in several projects related to the Madhyamaka philosophy of the 15th-century thinker, Gorampa Sonam Senge. She is also interested in religion and comics, women and gender minorities in Buddhism, pedagogy, and digital humanities.

EP200: Early Christian Deathscapes w/Sarah F. Porter Apr 01, 2021

Sarah F. Porter (she/her/hers) is a Ph.D candidate in the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University with a concentration in New Testament / Early Christianity and a secondary field in archaeology. She holds an M.Div. from Vanderbilt University Divinity School with a certificate in gender, sexuality, and religion, and she earned her B.A. in English and Religion from Southwestern University. Currently, she is a William R. Tyler Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Her dissertation, “Early Christian Deathscapes,” examines the production and flow of affects through the martyria, cemeteries, and homilies of fourth-century Antioch (modern-day Antakya, Turkey).

Follow Sarah Porter on Twitter: https://twitter.com/portersf

Visit Sacred Writes online: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP 199: Trafficking Hadassah and Book of Esther w/Dr. Ericka Shawndricka Dunbar Mar 26, 2021

Ericka Shawndricka Dunbar (she/her/hers) is an adjunct professor at Spelman College (Atlanta, GA) in the Religious Studies Department. She received her Ph.D. in Biblical Studies (Old Testament) in May 2020 from Drew University. Her dissertation is interdisciplinary and focused on how the discipline of biblical studies is increasingly responsive to social issues, namely, sexual trafficking. Dunbar’s dissertation, entitled “Trafficking Hadassah: An Africana Reading of Collective Trauma, Memory, and Identity in the Book of Esther and the African Diaspora,” is a dialogical cultural study of sexual trafficking in the book of Esther and during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. She assesses sexual trafficking in both contexts, evaluates the traumatic impact of trafficking on Africana collective identity, and examines and critiques ideologies and stereotypes that were espoused to justify sexual abuse against Africana girls and women.

Follow Sacred Writes on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sacred_Writes

Visit Sacred Writes online: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

Follow Classical Ideas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Classical_Ideas

EP 198: Protestant Sex Scandals w/Dr. Suzanna Krivulskaya Mar 20, 2021

Suzanna Krivulskaya (she/her/hers) is Assistant Professor of History at California State University San Marcos, where she teaches courses in U.S. and digital history. She received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Notre Dame. She specializes in modern U.S. history and studies the relationship between sexuality and religion. Her current book project, tentatively titled Disgraced: How Sex Scandals Transformed American Protestantism, investigates how pastoral sex scandals have been covered in the popular press and how Protestant denominations and the reading public responded to the coverage. Her articles have been published by the Journal of American Studies, Current Research in Digital History, and the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Her chapter on fundamentalist sex and sexuality is forthcoming from the Oxford Handbook of Christian Fundamentalism. She has published in popular outlets like Religion Dispatchesand Religion in American History, and the Revealer. She is also the recipient of the 2019-2020 LGBTQ Religious History Award from the LGBTQ Religious Archives Network.

Follow Dr. Suzanna Krivulskaya on Twitter: https://twitter.com/suzzzanna

Follow Classical Ideas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Classical_Ideas

Follow Sacred Writes on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sacred_Writes

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP 197: We Who Must Die Demand a Miracle and MCC San Francisco w/Dr. Lynne Gerber Mar 14, 2021

Dr. Lynne Gerber (she/her/hers) is an independent scholar. She is the author of Seeking the Straight and Narrow: Weight Loss and Sexual-Reorientation in Evangelical America (Chicago, 2011). She is currently working on a history of religion and HIV/AIDS in San Francisco.

Read: "FOR CLERGY WHO MINISTERED THROUGH THE AIDS CRISIS COVID IS BOTH EERILY FAMILIAR AND PUZZLINGLY DIFFERENT"

https://religiondispatches.org/for-clergy-who-ministered-through-the-aids-crisis-covid-is-both-eerily-familiar-and-puzzlingly-different/

Listen: Dr. Lynne Gerber on "Sexing History" Podcast: https://www.sexinghistory.com/episode-7/

EP 196: Sacred Sites, Indigenous History, and Spanish Colonialism w/Abel Gomez Mar 08, 2021

Abel R. Gómez (he/him/his) is a Ph.D. candidate in the Religion Department and earned a Certificate of Advanced Studies from the Women’s and Gender Studies Department at Syracuse University. His research focuses on sacred sites, ritual, and decolonization in the context of contemporary Indigenous religions. Abel is currently completing his dissertation, an ethnography of sacred sites protection movements among the Ohlone peoples of the San Francisco and Monterey regions. He is a steering committee member for the Native Traditions in the Americas Unit of the American Academy of Religion and recently served on the committee organizing the annual Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits Powwow in San Francisco. He earned a B.A. in philosophy and religion from San Francisco State University and an M.A. in religious studies from the University of Missouri.

In our conversation, we discuss his dissertation “Sacred Sites, Ceremony, and Belonging in Ohlone Territory: A Case Study of Indigenous Survival,” the Spanish colonial history of California, the mission system, Junipero Serra, and the conversions, terror, and trauma of indigenous people in the region.

Read: Statues topple and a Catholic church burns as California reckons with its Spanish colonial past

You can follow Abel on Twitter https://www.twitter.com/jaratura

You can follow Sacred Writes on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sacred_Writes

Visit Sacred Writes online: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP 195: Black religion, Music, and Friendship w/Ambre Dromgoole Mar 02, 2021

Ambre Dromgoole (she/her/hers) is a doctoral candidate in the Departments of Religious Studies and African American Studies at Yale University. She graduated from Oberlin College & Conservatory in 2015 with a B.A. in Musical Studies and Religion, where she received the Jonathon Kneeland Prize for Religion and the Africana Studies Award for Artistic Excellence and Community Service upon graduation. She then obtained an M.A. in Religion from Yale Divinity School and Institute of Sacred Music with a concentration in Black Religion and the Arts receiving the Hugh Porter Prize of Distinction. Ambre is interested in the convergence of Black religion and popular culture, focusing on the emergence of various musical genres from women in the Black Holiness-Pentecostal tradition.

Read "What Breonna Taylor and Sister Rosetta Tharpe Taught Me About Black Women and Friendship"

https://therevealer.org/what-breonna-taylor-and-sister-rosetta-tharpe-taught-me-about-black-women-and-friendship/

Follow Ambre Dromgoole on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ambrelynae

Visit Ambre Dromgoole's website: https://www.ambredromgoole.com/

Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

Follow Sacred Writes on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sacred_Writes

EP 194: Your Life is Meditation w/Mark Van Buren Feb 22, 2021

Mark Van Buren is a Mindful Living Trainer, yoga/meditation instructor, personal trainer, and musician, that has been promoting health and wellness for years. He runs workshops and retreats around the New York City and New Jersey regions.

Mark’s first book is A Fool's Guide to Actual Happiness and Your Life IS Meditation - Wisdom Publications (which we spoke about on episode 75), and his new book is “Your Life is Meditation,” the topic of this conversation. It was fabulous to have Mark back on the show. If you want to find Mark, you can visit him at authormarkvanburen.com

EP 193: A Life in Buddhism w/Gary Gach Feb 08, 2021

Gary Gach is the author of Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism.

Follow Gary Gach's work online at: https://linktr.ee/GaryGach

Follow Classical Ideas on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/Classical_Ideas

EP 192: Ripples in the Universe, QANON, and January 6 w/Dr. Susannah Crockford Jan 29, 2021

Dr. Susannah Crockford is Crockford, an anthropologist with interests in spirituality, politics, ecology, economics, and survivalism.

Follow Dr. Crockford on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/SusCrockford

Pre-order Ripples in the Universe https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo86433786.html#.X72d5XtXTuE.twitter

EP 191: Affect Theory and Religion w/Dr. Donovan Schaefer and Dr. Brian Carwana Jan 22, 2021

Dr. Donovan Schaefer is an assistant professor in the Religious Studies Department at the University of Pennsylvania. Schaefer is the author of Religious Affects: Animality, Evolution, and Power.

Dr. Brian Carwana is the Executive Director of Encounter World Religions. Brian has a PhD in religion and politics from the University of Toronto. You can visit him online here: https://religionsgeek.com/

EP 190: "Abusing Religion" w/Dr. Megan Goodwin Jan 17, 2021

Megan Goodwin, PhD, is Program Director for Sacred Writes, a Luce-funded project promoting public scholarship on religion hosted by Northeastern University. Her first book, Abusing Religion: Literary Persecutions, Sex Scandals, and American Minority Religions is available through Rutgers.

Visit Dr. Megan Goodwin's website here

Visit (and listen to) Keeping it 101: https://keepingit101.com/

EP 189: The Lives of Objects w/Dr. Maia Kotrosits Jan 08, 2021

Dr. Maia Kotrosits is assistant professor of religion at Denison University and is the author of the book “The Lives of Objects.”

Follow Dr. Maia Kotrosits on Twitter: https://twitter.com/maiakotro

EP 188: Hope in a Secular Age w/Dr. David Newheiser Dec 27, 2020

Dr. David Newheiser is a research fellow in the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at Australian Catholic University. His first book, Hope in a Secular Age (CUP, 2019), argues that an uncertain hope is required to sustain commitment of any kind: personal, political, or religious.

Buy "Hope in a Secular Age" here: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108595100

Follow David Newheiser on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dnewheiser

Visit his website: https://dnewheiser.net/

EP 187: The Saint Makers w/Joe Drape Dec 22, 2020

Joe Drape is an award-winning sportswriter for the New York Times. He is the author of six books, including the New York Times bestsellers Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen and American Pharoah: The Untold Story of the Triple Crown Winner’s Legendary Rise. His book Black Maestro was the inaugural winner of the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award. A native of Kansas City and graduate of Rockhurst High School, Drape earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Southern Methodist University.

Support Classical Ideas: https://linktr.ee/Classicalideas

Visit Joe Drape on Twitter: https://twitter.com/joedrape

EP 186: Awakening My Heart w/Andrea Miller Dec 13, 2020

Andrea Miller is an editor at Lion’s Roar magazine and is the author of "Awakening My Heart: Essays, Articles and Interviews on the Buddhist Life," out now from Pottersfield Press.

Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Heart-Articles-Interviews-Buddhist/dp/1988286883/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Andrea+miller+awakening+my+heart&qid=1607819477&sr=8-1

Classical Ideas Linktree: https://linktr.ee/Classicalideas

EP 185: Stories from Baltimore 21217 w/Karim Amin Dec 05, 2020

Karim Amin is an Educator and Arts Activist from West Baltimore. Karim is currently a graduate degree candidate pursuing a Masters in Public Administration at the University of Baltimore. Karim was a charter member of Black Arts district coalition, the committee responsible for establishing the Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts district, the first Black Arts district in Maryland. Karim currently is the executive director Voices of 21217, a youth based nonprofit focused on developing arts programming and funding to bring mixed used development to the Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts district located in West Baltimore. You can visit Karim’s website at voicesof21217.com to get in touch.

Support Classical Ideas: https://linktr.ee/classicalideas

EP 184: Mural Art and Latinx Islam w/Dr. Harold Morales Nov 27, 2020

Dr. Harold D. Morales is responsible for developing the center’s vision, recruiting committee members, organizing and overseeing committee work, and speak publicly about the center’s projects and activities.

Dr. Morales' research focuses on the intersections between race and religion and between lived and mediated experience. He draws on these critical lenses to engage Latinx religions in general and Latinx Muslim groups in particular. He is currently focusing on developing public scholarship initiatives through his research on mural art and social justice in the city of Baltimore and through the CSRC and its collaborative projects.

EP 183: Identifying Roots w/Dr. Richard Newton Nov 16, 2020

Richard W. Newton Jr. is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. His research examines the making of social difference in light of the anthropology of scriptures. He curates his website at: https://www.sowingtheseed.org

Classical Ideas LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/Classicalideas

EP 182: Dr. Steven M. Taylor and "The Clear Light: Spiritual Meditations and Reflections" Nov 09, 2020

Dr. Steve Taylor is a senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University, and the author of several best-selling books on psychology and spirituality. He is the current chair of the Transpersonal Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society. His books include Waking From Sleep, The Fall, Out of the Darkness, Back to Sanity, The Calm Center and The Leap. His latest book is Spiritual Science: Why Science Needs Spirituality to Make Sense of the World. His books have been published in 20 languages, while his articles and essays have been published in over 50 academic journals, magazines and newspapers. He writes blog articles for Scientific American and for Psychology Today.Eckhart Tolle has described his work as ‘an important contribution to the shift in consciousness which is happening on our planet at present.’

Visit Dr. Steven M. Taylor online here: https://www.stevenmtaylor.com/

EP 181: Carving the Divine and Busshi with Yujiro Seki Oct 30, 2020

Yujiro Seki is the documentary filmmaker of the film "Carving the Divine." Carving the Divine offers a rare and intimate look into the life and artistic process of modern-day Busshi – practitioners of a 1400 year lineage of woodcarving at the beating heart of Japanese, Mahayana Buddhism.

For more information, visit: https://www.carvingthedivine.com/

EP 180: Firefighter Zen w/Hersch Wilson Oct 20, 2020

Hersch Wilson is a thirty-year veteran volunteer Firefighter-EMT with the Hondo Fire Department in Santa Fe County, New Mexico. He is also a story-teller, committed to explaining how First Responding can change how we see and experience our own lives. In his “real job” he is a writer, speaker, and consultant. He is the author of "Firefighter Zen," out now from New World Library.

Buy "Firefighter Zen": https://www.amazon.com/Firefighter-Zen-Field-Guide-Thriving/dp/1608686884/ref=sr_1_1?crid=24PZQ4UR1SWNK&dchild=1&keywords=firefighter+zen&qid=1603160557&sprefix=firefighter+zen%2Caps%2C162&sr=8-1

EP 179: "Hidden Zen" w/Meido Moore Oct 10, 2020

Meido Moore Roshi was a disciple of the lay Zen master Tenzan Toyoda Rokoji, under whom he endured a severe training in both Zen and traditional martial arts. He also trained under Dogen Hosokawa Roshi, and later under So'zan Miller Roshi. All three of these teachers are in the lineage of the famous Omori Sogen Roshi, perhaps the most famous Rinzai Zen master of the twentieth century. Meido serves as abbot of Korinji, a monastery near Madison, Wisconsin, and is a guiding teacher of the international Rinzai Zen Community, traveling widely to lead retreats.

Buy the book: https://www.shambhala.com/hidden-zen.html

EP 178: The Spirituality of Dag Hammarskjöld w/Dr. Roger Lipsey Sep 30, 2020

Dag Hammarskjöld served as secretary-general of the United Nations from 1953 until his tragic death in a suspicious plane crash in 1961. During those years he saw the fledgling international organization through numerous crises with skill that made him a star on the international stage. As readers of his now-classic diary, Markings, are aware, Hammarskjöld understood political leadership as an honor calling for resourcefulness, humility, moral clarity, and spiritual reflection.

Buy Roger Lipsey's books here: https://www.shambhala.com/authors/g-n/roger-lipsey.html

EP 177: Dharma Relief and the Essence of Chan w/Guo Gu Sep 22, 2020

Guo Gu (Dr. Jimmy Yu) is the founder of the Tallahassee Chan Center (www.tallahasseechan.com) and is also the guiding teacher for the Western Dharma Teachers Training course at the Chan Meditation Center in New York and the Dharma Drum Lineage. He is one of the late Master Sheng Yen’s (1930–2009) senior and closest disciples, and assisted him in leading intensive retreats throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Guo Gu has edited and translated a number of Master Sheng Yen’s books from Chinese to English. He is also a professor of Buddhism and East Asian religions at Florida State University, Tallahassee.

Visit Tallahassee Chan Center on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Tallahasseechan

EP 176: Pentecostals in America w/Dr. Arlene Sánchez Walsh Sep 12, 2020

Dr. Arlene Sánchez Walsh is a professor of religious studies and the author of the award-winning book Latino Pentecostal Identity, which was released by Columbia University Press in 2003, as well as the book Pentecostals in America from Columbia University Press in 2018. She has served as a media expert for outlets such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and On Being with Krista Tippett, and served as an expert on Latino/a religious history for the PBS series God in America.

EP 175 - Japanese Buddhist Art: KU Meets KU Sep 02, 2020

Rachel Quist specializes in East Asian Buddhist imagery with focuses in pre-modern Japan and China. Her research centers on questions of interaction with imagery, materiality and object agency, and the accessibility of image-based practices. She has written on topics such as Buddhist reliquary design and expressivity, the didactic project underlying the hell tableau at Baodingshan, and the construction of a collective memory surrounding the Shingon monk Kōbō Daishi at the temple complex of Mount Kōya. Rachel is currently conducting research on early imperial patronage of Daigoji, a Shingon temple in Kyoto, for her dissertation.

Michael VanHartingsveldt received an undergraduate degree in English Language and Literature before teaching in South Korea in at an English immersion school. While there, he became enamored with the religious art of East Asia. He finished a Master’s degree in East Asian art and its markets from Claremont Graduate University in 2017, after which he worked for two years as an Asian Art collections specialist at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Michael has collaborated with the Los Angeles office of The Japan Foundation in the curation of three exhibitions and two public lecture series. He now studies at the University of Kansas.

EP 174: Religion and Film with Dr. S. Brent Plate Aug 26, 2020

S. Brent Rodriguez Plate is a writer, editor, public speaker, and college professor. He's interested in how sensuality affects spirituality. His writings all circle around questions of the ways sense perceptions influence ways of being religious, and how religious traditions change our ways of perceiving the world around us. In other words, religion and spirituality are rooted in the body. Along these lines, he has authored and edited fifteen books, while his essays have appeared in Salon.com, the Los Angeles Review of Books, America, Religion Dispatches, The Christian Century, The Islamic Monthly, Killing the Buddha, Chronicle of Higher Education, and other venues. Having taught at the University of Vermont and Texas Christian University, he is currently visiting associate professor at Hamilton College, NY.

Visit Dr. Brent Plate online at: https://www.sbrentplate.net

EP 173: "Lifeblood of the Parish" w/Dr. Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada Aug 17, 2020

Dr. Maldonado-Estrada is Assistant Professor of Religion at Kalamazoo College where she teaches classes on religion and masculinity, Catholics in the Americas, urban religion, and religions of Latin America. She is an ethnographer and her research focuses on material culture, contemporary Catholicism, and gender and embodiment. She is the author of Lifeblood of the Parish: Men and Catholic Devotion in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (NYU Press, 2020).

Pre-order "Lifeblood of the Parish" and use the code "LIFEBLOOD30" at checkout to receive 30% off your order.

Preorder here: https://nyupress.org/9781479830497/lifeblood-of-the-parish/

EP 172: Teaching Classical Ideas w/Jonathan McFarland Aug 10, 2020

Jonathan McFarland teaches Classical Ideas and World Religions at Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri.

EP 171: In Memory of George Frissell Aug 03, 2020

In this special episode, friends, family, past students, and colleagues of George tell stories about why they loved him. George founded Classical Ideas and World Religions at Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri in 1989-1990 and taught the course until 2016. George passed away May 14, 2020 in Columbia, Missouri.

Ep 170: What Mindfulness Is and Where It Comes From w/Dr. Sarah Shaw Jul 27, 2020

Dr. Sarah Shaw is a faculty member and lecturer at the University of Oxford. She has taught and published numerous works on the history and practices of Buddhism, including An Introduction to Buddhist Meditation and The Spirit of Meditation.

Order Mindfulness: Where It Comes From And What It Means from Shambhala here: https://www.shambhala.com/authors/o-t/sarah-shaw.html

EP 169: "The Lover and The Jealous" w/Dr. Laury Silvers Jul 20, 2020

About Dr. Laury Silvers:

The Sufi Mysteries arise out of my desire to talk about the people and places I researched as a scholar of early Islam and Sufism beyond the constraints of academic skepticism. They are my love song to these early pious folk, mystics, and Sufis as human beings—who lived in a particular historical moment with all its complications—and to my experience of Islam. I am a North American Muslim of the Sufi variety and a retired academic and activist. I received my doctorate at SUNY Stony Brook in 2002 and taught Religion and Islamic Studies at Skidmore College and the University of Toronto. I am presently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto. I live in Toronto with my partner, Michael, and our dog, Billie Girl, and near my stepdaughters, their partners, and their mother.

You can find Dr. Silvers online at: https://www.llsilvers.com/

Ep 168: Ayahuasca and Icaros w/Chris Hannah (Propagandhi) Jul 13, 2020

Chris Hannah is the vocalist and guitarist of the band Propagandhi.

Propagandhi "Duplicate Keys Icaro": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGf8vrXhFQY

Follow Chris Hannah on Twitter: https://twitter.com/propagandhi

Follow Chris Hannah on Patreon here.

EP 167: Tibetan Buddhism, Gender, and the Life of Mingyur Peldron w/Dr. Alison Melnick Dyer Jul 03, 2020

Alison Melnick Dyer is Assistant Professor of Asian Religions at Bates College. She is an expert on gender and Tibetan Buddhism. She is currently writing a book about the life of Mingyur Peldrön, an 18th century Buddhist nun and religious leader. Melnick Dyer is especially interested in the ways that privilege influences gender in religious communities. She earned her B.A. at the University of Michigan and her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Virginia.

Follow Dr. Melnick-Dyer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALISONMELNICK

EP 166: Jewish Sexual Ethics w/Dr. Rebecca Epstein-Levi Jun 27, 2020

Dr. Rebecca Epstein-Levi is the Mellon Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies at Vanderbilt University. She’s an expert on Jewish sexual ethics, and is working on a book project on sex, risk, and rabbinic text. She has written for Alma, Religion Dispatches, Feminist Studies in Religion, the Jewish Theological Seminary’s newsletter Gleanings, StyleWise Blog, and State of Formation.

Follow Dr. Epstein-Levi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RJELevi https://twitter.com/RJELevi

EP 165: "Dying to Be Normal," LGBTQ History, and The Revealer w/Dr. Brett Krutzsch Jun 23, 2020

Dr. Brett Krutzsch is an expert on LGBTQ politics and religion in the United States and a scholar at NYU's Center for Religion and Media, where he serves as editor of The Revealer. He is the author of the 2019 book Dying to Be Normal: Gay Martyrs and the Transformation of American Sexual Politics from Oxford University Press. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Newsday, Medium, the Advocate, and he has been featured on NPR and several podcasts.

Follow Dr. Brett Krutzsch on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrettKrutzsch

Visit the Revealer Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7rxDzi4FmQN0GYMuxseHyS

Visit The Revealer Podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-revealer/id1497578518

EP 164: American Islam and the 2020 Election w/Dr. Sajida Jalalzai Jun 16, 2020

Dr. Sajida Jalalzai is an Assistant Professor of Religion at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. She is an expert in the study of North American Islam. Jalalzai earned her PhD from Columbia University, specializing in American Religions. She is currently writing a book on Muslim leadership education in three Protestant Christian seminaries in the United States and Canada: Hartford Seminary, Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto, and Claremont School of Theology.

Follow Dr. Jalalzai on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SajidaJalalzai

Read Bernie Sanders has brought out the Muslim vote in ways I’ve never seen before.

Follow Classical Ideas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Classical_Ideas

EP 163: Dr. Kayla Wheeler on Contemporary Black Islam and the Black Islam Syllabus Jun 09, 2020

Dr. Kayla Renée Wheeler is an assistant professor and an expert in contemporary Black Islam in the United States. Dr. Wheeler is writing a book on the history of Black Muslim fashion in the United States. The book is based on five years of research, including interviewing Black Muslim fashion designers and attending fashion shows in Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Newark. Dr. Wheeler is also the creator of the Black Islam Syllabus, a free resource guide that highlights the experiences of Muslims of African descent. Her writing has been featured in Sapelo Square and The Conversation.

Visit Dr. Kayla Wheeler on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/krw18

Visit the Black Islam Syllabus here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1avhgPrW30AFjegzV9X5aPqkZUA3uGd0-BZr9_zhArtQ/edit

EP 162: Yoga, Cultural Appropriation, and Racism w/Dr. Shreena Gandhi Jun 03, 2020

Dr. Shreena Gandhi is a multi-faceted cultural historian of religion with expertise in religion, race, the Americas and Hinduism. Trained at Swarthmore, Harvard and the University of Florida, Professor Gandhi currently teaches at Michigan State University, where she starts off the first few weeks of all her classes introducing students to the concept of structural white supremacy and why that is important for a better understanding religion in the U.S. Her research and public scholarship are on the history of yoga, and she is revising a manuscript on this using the framework of white supremacy and cultural appropriation.

You can follow her on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/shreenaniketa

EP 161: Yoruba Christianity and Music w/Dr. Vicki Brennan May 27, 2020

Dr. Vicki Brennan is an anthropologist who studies religion, sound, music, and urban space in Africa and the African Diaspora. She is an Associate Professor of Religion and the Director of African Studies at the University of Vermont. Her research is based on more than fifteen years of field research in southwest Nigeria, primarily in Lagos and Ibadan. She has also conducted research in Nigerian immigrant and African American communities in the United States. Her book, Singing Yoruba Christianity (Indiana UP, 2018), examines how members of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church Movement in Lagos, Nigeria use music, dance, and other media as a means of producing moral community and reinforcing ethical values and modes of self-making. She is currently researching how claims to urban space by members of religious communities in Lagos, Nigeria are produced, circulated, experienced, and contested through sound. She is also writing an ethnographic biography of a Nigerian-American visual artist.

EP 160: Catholic Sex Abuse w/Dr. Brian Clites May 21, 2020

Dr. Brian Clites is a professor at Case Western Reserve University. He is an expert in clergy sexual abuse, and he has spent the last eight years interviewing Catholic survivors in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Illinois. In his upcoming book, Surviving Soul Murder, Clites explains how survivors have transformed their pain into legal and political reforms, and how the Catholic scandal has changed the way that other Americans think about sexual assault.

Follow Clites on Twitter https://www.twitter.com/brianclites

Follow Sacred Writes on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sacred_writes

Ep 159: Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt on African-American Catholic Identity, Sex Abuse, and Systemic Racism May 15, 2020

Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt is a higher education professional, researcher, and inclusion & diversity specialist based in Philadelphia, PA. She received her PhD in sociology from Fordham University. A sociologist of religion, she is an expert in systemic racism with experience researching and writing about how systemic racism impacts African-American Catholics.

Follow her on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TiaPhD

Follow Sacred Writes on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sacred_Writes

Read "Black Catholics, Racism, and the Sex Abuse Crisis: A Personal Reflection from The Revealer.

Read "There is Time for the church to support black Catholics—if it has the will to do so" from America: The Jesuit Review.

EP 158: Vodun, Voodoo, and the Movies with Emily Crews May 08, 2020

Emily Crews is a Ph.D. candidate in History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Her dissertation project traces the relationship between movement and identity formation in the context of Nigerian immigration to the United States, exploring the ways in which Pentecostalism conditions, and is conditioned by, the attempts of people to make themselves feel “at home” in a foreign culture. Her teaching interests are broad, but focus mostly on such areas as migration, gender, sexuality, and the body, as well as religions in the African diaspora.

Emily teaches sections of REL 105, “Honors Introduction to the Study of Religion,” as well as REL 310 course, “Religion Goes to the Movies.”

Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/emilydcrews

EP 157: Seasons of Moon and Flame w/Danielle Dulsky May 01, 2020

Danielle Dulsky is a heathen visionary, painter, and word-witch. The author of Woman Most Wild and The Holy Wild., she teaches internationally and has facilitated circles, embodiment trainings, communal spell-work, and seasonal rituals since 2007. She is the founder of The Hag School and believes in the emerging power of wild collectives and sudden circles of curious dreamers, cunning witches, and rebellious artists in healing our ailing world. As an Irish-American, Danielle’s witchcraft is deeply rooted in Celtic philosophy and Irish mythology. She believes fervently in the role of ancestral healing, embodiment, and animism in fracturing the longstanding systems supporting white-body supremacy and environmental unconsciousness, is committed to centering the voices and teachings of POC and LGBTQIA+ folks in her work as founder of Living Mandala Yoga, LLC and The Hag School and supports organizations and initiatives that do the same. Parent to two beloved wildlings and partner to a potter, Danielle fills her world with nature, family, art, and intentional sensuousness. Find her praying under pine trees, wandering through the haunted places, and whispering to her grandmothers’ ghosts.

Find her online at https://www.danielledulsky.com

EP 156: Witchcraft in the Early Modern Period w/Dr. Julia Gossard Apr 27, 2020

Julia M. Gossard is Assistant Professor of History at Utah State University. She specializes in early modern European and Atlantic history with an emphasis on gender, family, and childhood. With funding from the American Historical Association, the Newberry Library, the Society for French Historical Studies, and the American Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies, Dr. Gossard wrote her first book, Coercing Children: State-Building and Social Reform in the Early Modern French World, which is under contract with McGill-Queen’s University Press. You can find her online at JuliaMGossard.com or on Twitter @JMGossard.

EP 155: Mormon Fundamentalism w/Dr. Cristina Rosetti Apr 18, 2020

Dr. Cristina Rosetti completed her Ph.D., in religious studies at the University of California Riverside. She writes about Mormon fundamentalism.

Follow her work on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/CristinaMartaR

EP 154: "The Hungry Ghost" with Dalena Storm Apr 10, 2020

Dalena Storm Is a writer and educator. Her undergraduate training at Williams College was in Asian Studies with a Religious Studies Concentration, and her experiences in the study and practice of various religious and spiritual traditions, as well as her travels throughout Asia and Europe, influence much of her writing. She earned her MFA in Fiction from Bennington College, where she participated in a number of workshops that combined the study of fiction and nonfiction. She teaches a Winter Study course at Williams College called "How to Write Auto-Fiction." She is the author of The Hungry Ghost” out from Black Spot Books, an imprint of Vesuvian Media Group. You can find her work on Twitter https://www.twitter.com/DalenaStorm or online at https://www.Dalenastorm.com.

Ep 153: Apocalypse Stories w/ Dr. Kelly J. Baker Apr 02, 2020

Dr. Kelly J. Baker is the author of the award-winning Gospel According to the Klan: The KKK’s Appeal to Protestant America, 1915-1930 (University Press of Kansas, 2011); The Zombies Are Coming!: The Realities of the Zombie Apocalypse in American Culture (Bondfire Books, 2013); Grace Period: A Memoir in Pieces (Blue Crow Books, 2017); the award-winning Sexism Ed: Essays on Gender and Labor in Academia (Blue Crow Books, 2018); and Final Girl: And Other Essays on Grief, Trauma, and Mental Illness (Blue Crow Books, 2019).

Follow Kelly J. Baker on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/kelly_j_baker

Read "It's the End and Nothing Feels Fine" here: https://killingthebuddha.com/mag/dispatch/its-the-end-and-nothing-feels-fine/

Ep 152: The Clunky Oars (Oran Parker interviews Greg) Apr 01, 2020

In this special dual-published episode, Oran Parker of Find the Good News Podcast interviews Classical Ideas host, Greg Soden.

Visit: findthegood.news

Find the Good News on Twitter

Oran Parker on Twitter

Ep 151: Online Churches and Religion w/Dr. Tim Hutchings Mar 25, 2020

Dr Tim Hutchings is a sociologist of digital religion. His PhD (Durham University, 2010) was an ethnographic study of five online Christian churches. Dr Hutchings is interested in the relationship between religion, media and culture, with particular attention to digital forms of Christianity. His research has included studies of online worship; digital evangelism and formation; online community; digital publishing and e-reading; apps and games; and death and dying. His research led to the publication of his book Creating Church Online: Ritual, Community and New Media (Routledge, 2017).

You can follow him on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/tim_hutchings

Buy Creating Church Online here.

Tim Hutchings on Academia.edu.

Classical Ideas on Twitter here.

EP 150: Staying Grounded in Uncertain Times w/Deborah Eden Tull Mar 17, 2020

DEBORAH EDEN TULL is the founder of Mindful Living Revolution. She is a Zen meditation and mindfulness teacher, public speaker, author, activist, and sustainability educator. She trained for seven years as a Buddhist monk at a silent Zen monastery in Northern California, and she has been traveling to, living in, or teaching about conscious, sustainable communities internationally for the last 25 years. She is the author of two books, The Natural Kitchen, which came out in 2010, and Relational Mindfulness: A Handbook for Deepening our Connection with ourselves, each other and the planet, out in 2018 from Wisdom Publications. She lives in North Carolina and offers retreats, workshops, and consultations nationally.

Classical Ideas on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/classicalideaspodcast/

Classical Ideas on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/Classical_Ideas

Deborah Eden Tull

http://deborahedentull.com/

Buy "Relational Mindfulness" by Deborah Eden Tull:

https://www.wisdompubs.org/book/relational-mindfulness

EP 149: Jukai and Zen training with Robert Schaefer Mar 14, 2020

Robert Schaefer is a professional chef and lifelong Buddhist practitioner. He received the Jukai ceremony at the Korinji Rinzai Monastery in Wisconsin under the direction of Roshi Meido Moore.

You can find his Zen Facebook group here.

You can follow Classical Ideas on Twitter here.

EP 148: Roshi Grace Schireson on "Naked in the Zendo" Feb 29, 2020

Roshi Grace Schireson is a teacher in the Suzuki Roshi Lineage of Soto Zen, empowered by Sojun Mel Weitsman. She has also practiced in the Rinzai tradition and was encouraged to teach koans by Keido Fukushima Roshi. Grace is the author of Zen Women and co-editor of Zen Bridge. Grace is the head teacher of the Central Valley Zen Foundationi, president of Shogaku Zen Institute, and teaches meditatioin at Stanford University. A clinical psychologist by profession, you can reach her at https://www.graceschireson.com.

Buy Naked in the Zendo.

Follow Classical Ideas on Twitter at: https://www.twitter.com/Classical_ideas

EP 147: Religious Literacy and Teacher Education w/Chris Murray Feb 16, 2020

Chris Murray is a social studies classroom teacher and religious literacy teacher education facilitator in Maryland.

You can find him on Twitter https://twitter.com/Mrmurraytweets

Read about Chris Murray in the Washington Post here.

EP 146: The Krampus Conundrum w/Madison Tarleton Feb 01, 2020

Madison Tarleton is a Ph.D. candidate and scholar of Medieval Judaism in Christian Europe, antijudaism & antisemitism. Madison is studying at the University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology’s joint PhD program.

Read The Krampus Conundrum here: https://sacredmattersmagazine.com/the-devils-in-the-details-the-krampus-conundrum/

You can follow her work on Twitter https://twitter.com/madisontarleton

You can follow the artwork of Elliot Lang on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ellistrator/

EP 145: Tibetan Buddhist Vegetarianism w/ Dr. Geoffrey Barstow Jan 22, 2020

Dr. Geoffrey Barstow is assistant professor of religious studies at Oregon State University. His research focuses on the history and theory of vegetarianism in Tibet. He is the editor and contributor to the new book "The Faults of Meat: Tibetan Buddhist Writings on Vegetarianism," out now from Wisdom Publications. He is also the author of the academic monograph “Food of Sinful Demons: Meat, Vegetarianism, and the Limits of Buddhism in Tibet," out in 2018 from Columbia University Press.

You can follow Geoffrey Barstow on Twitter here

You can follow Classical Ideas Podcast on Twitter here

EP 144: Havamal with Dr. Jackson Crawford Jan 11, 2020

Dr. Jackson W. Crawford is Instructor of Nordic Studies and Coordinator of the Nordic Program at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Crawford is the author and translator of The Wanderer’s Havamal and The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes. Both books are available from Hackett Publishing.

Visit Crawford online at: https://www.jacksonwcrawford.com

Visit Jackson Crawford on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/c/jacksoncrawford

Purchase The Wanderer's Havamal here.

EP 143: Teaching and Sikh Visibility with Dr. Simran Jeet Singh Dec 27, 2019

Dr. Simran Jeet Singh is columnist for Religion News Service, Senior Fellow at the Sikh Coalition, Chaplain at New York University & Columbia University, and serves on the Governor’s Interfaith Advisory Committee for the State of New York.

Follow him on Twitter here.

Visit his website here

Read How colonialism still colors our ideas about who gets to teach religion here.

EP 142: "Beyond Chrismukkah" with Dr. Samira Mehta Dec 16, 2019

Dr. Samira Mehta a scholar of religion and the politics of the American Family and an assistant professor of Women and Gender Studies and Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. She has a degree in divinity from Harvard University, and a PhD from Emory University, Her book is Beyond Chrismukkah: Christian-Jewish Interfaith Families in the United States, from the University of North Carolina Press, 2018.

Visit: www.samiramehta.com

EP 141: Pious Fashion and Muslim Women with Dr. Liz Bucar Dec 06, 2019

Dr. Liz Bucar is a professor in the department of philosophy and religion and Dean’s Leadership Fellow at Northeastern University in Boston. Dr. Bucar is the author of the award-winning Pious Fashion: How Muslim Women Dress which came out from Harvard University Press in 2017, and was issued in paperback in July 2019. Furthermore, Bucar writes and teaches about gender, sexuality, and politics in everyday religious practice. Her public scholarship has appeared in The Atlantic, The Los AngelesTimes, and Teen Vogue.

Black Friday Birthday Bonus Podcast with Dr. Liz Bucar Nov 29, 2019

Dr. Liz Bucar is a religious ethicist who studies sexuality, gender, and moral transformation within Islamic and Christian traditions and communities. She is author of three books, including the award-winning Pious Fashion: How Muslim Women Dress (Harvard University Press, 2017). At Northeastern Bucar teaches courses on sexual ethics, Islam, the politics of the veil, and the popular comparative religion program in Spain that includes a 150-mile hike on the Camino. Her public scholarship has appeared in The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, and Teen Vogue.

Visit her website: http://bucar.hcommons.org/

Follow Dr. Bucar on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BucarLiz

EP 140: American Jews: How 1789 Created 2019 w/Dr. Shari Rabin Nov 24, 2019

Dr. Shari Rabin is a scholar of modern Judaism and American religions. Her first book, Jews on the Frontier: Religion and Mobility in Nineteenth-century America (New York University Press, 2017), was the winner of the National Jewish Book Award in American Jewish Studies and a finalist for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Rabin is currently an assistant professor of Jewish studies and religion at Oberlin College.

Follow Dr. Shari Rabin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sharirabin

Find Dr. Shari Rabin online: https://sharirabin.com/

Follow Classical Ideas: https://twitter.com/Classical_Ideas

Support Classical Ideas on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/classicalideaspodcast

Support Classical Ideas via PayPal: paypal.me/classicalideas

EP 139: Brad Warner on Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen Nov 15, 2019

Ordained as a Soto Zen priest, Brad Warner is also a punk bassist, filmmaker, and blogger. He is the founder of Angel City Zen Center in Los Angeles and the author of Hardcore Zen, Sit Down and Shut Up, and several other books about Zen Buddhism. His writing appears on SuicideGirls.com and in Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, Buddhadharma, and Alternative Press. He lives in Los Angeles.

You can visit him online at https://www.hardcorezen.info

Ep 138: Undergraduate Religious Studies & Study Abroad w/ Jordan Baggs Nov 05, 2019

Jordan Baggs is a senior at The Ohio State University. She double-majors in International Religions and Religious Studies and minors in French. She is a member of The Ohio State Marching Band.

Cycling Through the End of History with Mike Dimkich of Bad Religion (BONUS EPISODE) Nov 02, 2019

Mike Dimkich is a guitarist in the band Bad Religion, a cyclist, and a runner.

Follow him on Instagram at:

https://www.instagram.com/miketheserb/

Ep 137: America's Most Famous Catholic, Stephen Colbert (w/Dr. Stephanie Brehm) Oct 13, 2019

Dr. Stephanie Brehm, author of the brand new book, America’s Most Famous Catholic (According to Himself): Stephen Colbert and American Religion in the 21st Century, out now from Fordham Press. She received her PhD from Northwestern in Religious Studies Department. Her academic work uses ethnographic and media studies methods to explore the intersection of entertainment, mass media, and religion in twentieth- and twenty-first-century American society. She is currently the Assistant Director for Academic and Strategic Initiatives in The Graduate School at Northwestern.

Buy the book here!

Online:

https://www.stephbrehm.com

https://www.facebook.com/AmericasMostFamousCatholicColbert/

https://twitter.com/stephbrehm1

https://www.instagram.com/stephbrehm/

https://twitter.com/Classical_Ideas

https://www.patreon.com/classicalideaspodcast

EP 136: Conversion Therapy w/ Dr. Chris Babits Oct 06, 2019

Dr. Chris Babits is an Andrew W. Mellon Engaged Scholar Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. He earned his Ph.D. in History from UT-Austin in May 2019. His work examines the intersections of religion, medicine, gender, and sexuality in the modern United States. His current in-progress book project, To Cure a Sinful Nation: A History of Conversion Therapy in the United States, will tell the 140 year comprehensive history of conversion therapy practices in the United States.

Follow him on Twitter here.

Find his website here.

Ep 135: Dr. Amy Artman on Charismatic Christianity and the Life of Kathryn Kuhlman (Featuring Dan Jones) Sep 29, 2019

Dr. Amy Artman teaches in the Department of Religious Studies at Missouri State University. Her research interests are in Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity, focusing on women in American religions, such as Aimee Semple McPherson and Kathryn Kuhlman. Her other research interests include world religions, and bodies and theories of American religion. Artman's newest book is "The Miracle Lady: Kathryn Kuhlman and the Transformation of Charismatic Christianity," out now from Eerdsmans. You can buy the book here. You can follow Artman on Twitter here.

Guest host Dan Jones is an independent scholar in religious studies, media studies, communication, nature studies, and more. He serves as a book review editor at the journal Religious Studies Review. You can follow Dan Jones on Twitter here.

Ep134: From Suffering to Peace with Mark Coleman Sep 24, 2019

Mark Coleman has taught meditation retreats and trainings worldwide for twenty years. He is the founder of the Mindfulness Institute and Awake in the Wild Programs. A senior teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, he lives in Northern Calilfornia.

Visit him online at https://www.markcoleman.org

Buy "From Suffering to Peace" here

Visit Classical Ideas Podcast on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/classical_ideas

Ep 133: Charismatic Religions and the Vineyard Movement w/ Dr. Maren Freudenberg Sep 16, 2019

Dr. Maren Freudenberg is a research associate at the Center for Religious Studies at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, and the associate editor of the journal Entangled Religions.

You can visit her online: https://ceres.rub.de/en/people/maren-freudenberg/

Read the article "Dynamics and Stability in Globally Expanding Charismatic Religions: The Case of the Vineyard Movement in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland" here:

https://er.ceres.rub.de/index.php/ER/article/view/8353/7701

Follow Entangled Religions on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/EntangledReligions/

Ep 132: The Life of Jamgon Kongtrul with Dr. Alex Gardner Sep 08, 2019

Dr. Alex Gardner is the author of the brand new biography, “The Life of Jamgon Kongtrul the Great,” out now from Snow Lion, an imprint of Shambhala Publications. Gardner is the director and Chief Editor of the Treasury of Lives, which we talk about extensively in this conversation. Gardner completed his PhD in Buddhist Studies at the University of Michigan. You can follow Gardner on Twitter at twitter.com/treasuryoflives.

Order "The Life of Jamgon Kongtrul the Great" here.

Ep 131: Tonglen Meditation w/Lama Palden Drolma Aug 25, 2019

Lama Palden Drolma is a western teacher trained by Tibetan Buddhist masters. She the founder of Sukhasiddhi Foundation. She is a licensed psychotherapist, spiritual teacher, coach, and has studied Buddhism in the Himalayas with some of the preeminent Tibetan masters of the 20th century. She was authorized to become one of the first western lamas by Kalu Rinpoche. You can find Lama Palden’s work online at https://www.LamaPalden.org

Buy "Love on Every Breath: Tonglen Meditation for Transforming Pain into Joy," here.

Follow Classical Ideas on Twitter here.

Support Classical Ideas here.

Ep 130: The First Amendment and "Our Non-Christian Nation" w/Jay Wexler Aug 17, 2019

Jay Wexler is a professor at the Boston University School of Law and is the author of the new book, “Our Non-Christian Nation: How Atheists, Satanists, Pagans, and Others are Demanding Their Rightful Place in Public Life.” The book is out from Stanford University Press.

Visit Wexler online at https://www.jaywex.com

Visit Wexler on Twitter here

Buy "Our Non-Christian Nation" here.

Follow Classical Ideas on Twitter here

Ep 129: Prescribing the Dharma w/Dr. Ira Helderman Aug 10, 2019

Dr. Ira Helderman is a psychotherapist in private practice and he holds a PhD in religious studies.

Buy "Prescribing the Dharma" (University of North Carolina Press) here.

Visit Dr. Ira Helderman on Twitter here.

Visit Dr. Helderman's site here.

Ep 128: The Character Gap w/Dr. Christian Miller Aug 01, 2019

Christian B. Miller is the A. C. Reid Professor of Philosophy at Wake Forest University. Miller's research is primarily in contemporary ethics and philosophy of religion. For examples of some of his work, please see recent pieces in the Wall Street Journal, Dallas Morning News, Slate, Prospect Magazine, Relevant Magazine, Michael Hyatt Magazine, The Conversation, Newsweek, Aeon, Greater Good Magazine, Nautilus Magazine, Fathom Magazine, Institute of Art and Ideas, Character.org, and Christianity Today.

Miller's first trade book has just been released: The Character Gap: How Good Are We? from Oxford University Press. Miller has also published two academic books with Oxford – Moral Character: An Empirical Theory (2013), and Character and Moral Psychology (2014). The edited volume from the Character Project, Character: New Directions from Philosophy, Psychology, and Theology, is out with Oxford.

Follow Miller at https://www.twitter.com/charactergap

Ep 127: Gesshin Claire Greenwood on "Just Enough," Oryoki, and Japanese Cooking Jul 26, 2019

Gesshin Claire Greenwood is the author of Bow First, Ask Questions Later and the popular blog That’s So Zen. She trained in Japanese Zen monasteries, including in the kitchen, for several years before returning to the United States to obtain a master’s degree in East Asian Studies. She lives in San Francisco, where she cooks, teaches meditation, and works in the mental-health field.

Find her online:

https://www.gesshin.net

https://twitter.com/GesshinClaire

Buy "Just Enough: Vegan Recipes and Stories from Japan's Buddhist Temples here.

Follow this show:

https://twitter.com/Classical_Ideas

Classical Ideas Patreon Page

Ep 126: The Epic of Gilgamesh w/Dr. Stanley Lombardo Jul 22, 2019

Stanley Lombardo is Emeritus Professor of Classics, University of Kansas. His previous translations include Homer's Iliad (1997, Hackett) and Odyssey (2000, Hackett), Hesiod's Works & Days and Theogony (1993, Hackett), and Sappho, Tao Te Ching (1993, Hackett, with Stephen Addiss), Poems and Fragments (2002, Hackett), a PEN Center USA 2003 Literary Award Finalist.

Buy Lombardo's Epic of Gilgamesh from Hackett here.

Ep 125: The Myth of Disenchantment w/ Dr. Jason Storm Jul 15, 2019

Jason Josephson-Storm is Professor of Religion and Chair of Science and Technology Studies at Williams College in Massachusetts. He received his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Stanford University in 2006 and has held visiting positions in the US, France, and Germany. He has three primary research foci: Japanese Religions, European Intellectual History, and Theory more broadly. He spoke to me on the cusp of a research leave for the 2019-2020 school year, in which he will complete his next book. You can follow him on Twitter @Ghost_Image_.

You can buy "The Myth of Disenchantment" here or here.

Support me on Patreon here.

Follow Classical Ideas on Twitter here.

Follow Classical on Facebook here.

Ep 124: The Enchanted Politics of Marianne Williamson and Jonathan Cahn w/Sam Kestenbaum Jul 11, 2019

Sam Kestenbaum is an independent religion journalist. He writes for The New York Times and is a contributing editor and former staff writer for The Forward. He spent several years working in Asia and the Middle East, where he edited a newspaper in Sana, a website in Ramallah, and a magazine in Beijing.

In recent pieces, Sam explores enchanted politics in his profiles of of Jonathan Cahn, a doomsday prophet-pastor who says the Bible predicted the presidency of Donald Trump, and Marianne Williamson’s run for the presidency in the 2020 Democratic Primary race. Sam’s two most recent long pieces, titled #MAGA Church: The Doomsday Prophet Who says the Bible Predicted Trump,” and “The Curious Mystical Text Behind Marianne Williamson’s Presidential Bid,” are both out now in the New York Times.

Read "The Curious Mystical Text Behind Marianne Williamson's Presidential Bid" here.

Read #MAGA Church: The Doomsday Prophet Who Says the Bible Predicted Trump here.

Visit Sam Kestenbaum's website here.

Follow Sam on Twitter here.

Ep 123: Dr. Judith Weisenfeld on Black Religion and Racial Identity Jul 05, 2019

Dr. Judith Weisenfeld teaches in the Department of Religion at Princeton University where she is the Agate Brown and George L. Collord Professor of Religion and Associated Faculty in the Department of African American Studies and the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Weisenfeld is the author of New World A-Coming: Black Religion and Racial Identity During the Great Migration, out now in paperback from New York University Press.

Please visit her website at judithweisenfeld.com and follow her at twitter.com/jlweisenfeld.

Buy the book here or here.

Ep 122: Dr. Brett Grainger on "Church In The Wild" Jun 30, 2019

Dr. Brett Malcolm Grainger is a scholar of American religion and an award-winning journalist. He is Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University and the author ofChurch In The Wild: Evangelicals In Antebellum American and In The World but Not of It: One Family's Militant Faith and the History of Fundamentalism in America.

You can view his work at his Academia.edu page here.

Ep 121: The Rise, Fall, and Resurgence of the Religious Left w/ Dr. L. Benjamin Rolsky Jun 26, 2019

L. Benjamin Rolsky received his PhD from Drew University in American Religious Studies. His work has appeared in a variety of academic and popular venues including Method and Theory in the Study of Religion and the Journal of the American Academy of Religion as well as The Christian Century, The Los Angeles Review of Books, CNN Opinion, and the Religion and Culture Forum at the University of Chicago. His research and teaching interests include religion and politics, the study of popular culture, and critical theory.

Rolsky’s first book, The Rise and Fall of the Religious Left: Politics, Television, and Popular Culture in the 1970s and Beyond, is forthcoming this Fall from Columbia University Press.

Visit his website: https://www.benjirolsky.com/

Follow Rolsky on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LBRolsky

Order "Rise and Fall of the Religious Left" from Columbia University Press

Order "Rise and Fall of the Religious Left" from Amazon

EP 120: Dr. Anthony Kaldellis on Byzantium and "Romanland" Jun 22, 2019

Anthony Kaldellis is Professor and Chair of the Department of Classics at The Ohio State University. He is the author of many books, including The Christian Parthenon, Hellenism in Byzantium, and The Byzantine Republic. The focus of today’s conversation is his latest book, Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium, out now from Harvard University Press.

Buy Romanland: here or here.

Ep 119: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness w/Ben Connelly Jun 17, 2019

Ben Connelly is a Minneapolis-based Soto Zen teacher in the Katagiri-lineage. He offers a wide variety of secular mindfulness trainings, including for police departments, corporate settings, correctional facilities, and addiction recovery groups. He teaches at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center and is the author of Inside the Grass hut, Inside Vasubandhu’s Yogacara, and most recently Mindfulness and Intimacy, out now from Wisdom Publications.

You can visit Ben's author profile at: Wisdom Publications.

Ep 118: Taoism, Martial Arts, and Mad Monk Manifesto with Monk Yun Rou Jun 12, 2019

Monk Yun Rou was ordained in China as a Taoist monk in 2012. His writings and teachings propagate Taoist ideas and focus on environmental conservation, and political and social justice. Yun Rou began his formal martial arts training in 1980 and practiced a wide range of Chinese kung fu styles before settling on tai chi. A student of some of China’s top tai chi grandmasters, he was named Tai Chi Master of The Year at the 2011 World Congress on Qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine and Yun Rou was the keynote speaker at the International Tai Chi Symposium in Louisville, Kentucky. Yun Rou is the author of Mad Monk Manifesto.

Follow him online at https://www.monkyunrou.com/

Ep 117: A Discussion on Plural Marriage w/Philippa J. Meek Jun 06, 2019

Philippa J. Meek is a Doctoral fellow at the University of Exeter. Meek researches public perceptions versus the realities of plural marriage within Fundamentalist Mormon communities. This episode gives a detailed overview of the court cases Loving V. Virginia, Obergefell vs. Hodges, Lawrence vs. Texas, and then discusses what possible path forward there is for legalization of plural marriage in the United States.

You can find her work on Academia.edu: here

You can follow her on Twitter: here

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Support Classical Ideas Podcast: here.

Ep 116: The Lives of Spiritually Fluid People w/ Dr. Duane Bidwell May 30, 2019

Dr. Duane Bidwell works to reduce suffering and promote abundant life in all of his teaching, writing, and research.

Experiences as chaplain, pastor, spiritual director, pastoral counselor, HIV/AIDS professional, and non-profit director inform his work as teacher-scholar-clinician. CST students have given him teaching and mentoring awards three times since 2014. He is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and practitioner of vipassana (insight meditation) in the Theravada Buddhist tradition.

His most recent book, When One Religion Isn’t Enough: The Lives of Spiritually Fluid People (Boston: Beacon, 2018), examines complex religious bonds–the experience of being formed by more than one religious tradition at the same time. The book builds on his work in transreligious pastoral theology and in Buddhist-Christian studies. Library Journal named it a Best Book 2018.

Buy the book here.

Ep 115: Mitch Horowitz on The New Age and Gnosticism May 24, 2019

Mitch Horowitz is a writer-in-residence at the New York Public Library, a lecturer-in-residence at the University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles, and the PEN Award-winning author of books including Occult America; One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life; Mind as Builder; and the The Miracle Club: How Thoughts Become Reality. Mitch has written on everything from the war on witches to the secret life of Ronald Reagan for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Salon, Time.com, and Politico.

He is the voice of popular audio books including Alcoholics Anonymous and The Jefferson Bible. Mitch has discussed alternative spirituality on CBS Sunday Morning, Dateline NBC, NPR’S All Things Considered, and throughout the national media. His work has been censored in China.

Mitch enjoys the Misfits and Dead Kennedys.

Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MitchHorowitz

Ep 114: WWII, Religious Freedom, and the Occupation of Japan w/Dr. Jolyon Thomas May 19, 2019

Dr. Jolyon Thomas is the author of "Faking Liberties: Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan," out now from the University of Chicago Press. Dr. Thomas is assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Follow Jolyon Thomas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jolyonbt

Buy "Faking Liberties here.

Ep 113: Religion, Food, and Eating with Dr. Nora Rubel and Dr. Ben Zeller May 12, 2019

Dr. Nora Rubel is the Jane and Alan Batkin Professor of Jewish Studies and Chair of the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester in New York. Dr. Ben Zeller is associate professor of religion at Lake Forest College in Illinois. They are co-editors of the book "Religion, Food, and Eating in North America" from Columbia University Press (2014).

Buy the book from Columbia University Press

Ep 112: Eric Ripert on Buddhism, Adventures, and Cooking Ethics May 05, 2019

Eric Ripert is chef and co-owner of Le Bernardin on 7th Avenue in Manhattan’s Theater District, author of the autobiography “32 Yolks: From My Mother’s Table to Working the Line” from Random House, numerous cookbooks, and host of the television series AVEC Eric.

Buy Eric Ripert's books: Eric Ripert Books

Follow Eric Ripert on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ericripert/

Follow Eric Ripert on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericripert

Visit Le Bernardin: https://www.le-bernardin.com/

Ep 111: Early American Yoga w/Philip Deslippe May 02, 2019

Philip Deslippe is a historian of American religion with a background in American Studies and literature. His research focuses on Asian, metaphysical, and marginal religions in modern America. Philip is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara and writing a dissertation on the early history of yoga in the United States from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century.

Sign up for Philip Deslippe's course on Yoga history at:

https://www.yogicstudies.com/courses

Find Philip Deslippe online at: https://philipdeslippe.com/

Support this show on Patreon at:

https://www.patreon.com/classicalideaspodcast

Ep 110: Exorcism w/Dr. Kate Kingsbury and Dr. Andrew Chesnut Apr 25, 2019

Dr. Kate Kingsbury obtained her doctorate in Anthropology from Oxford University. She is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Alberta where she teaches anthropology courses such as Introduction to Anthropology, Anthropology of Religion and Ethnographic Field Methods.

Kate Kingsbury on Academia.edu

Follow Kate Kingsbury on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProfKingsbury

Dr. Andrew Chesnut earned his Ph.D degree in Latin American History from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1995 and joined the History Department faculty at the University of Houston in 1997. He quickly became an internationally recognized expert on Latin American religious history. Professor Chesnut was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Bishop Walter Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at VCU in 2008. Professor Chesnut’s early work, Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty (Rutgers University Press, 1997), traces the meteoric rise of Pentecostalism among the popular classes in Brazil following the disestablishment of the Roman Catholic Church. His second book, Competitive Spirits: Latin America’s New Religious Economy (Oxford University Press, 2003) focuses on the three groups that have prospered most in the region’s pluralist landscape, Protestant Pentecostalism, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and African disasporic religions (e.g., Brazilian Candomble and Haitian Vodou). Professor Chesnut's most recent book is Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint (Oxford University Press, 2012). It is the first in-depth study of the Mexican folk saint in English and has received widespread media coverage.

Follow Dr. Andrew Chesnut on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/AndrewChesnut1

Visit: https://skeletonsaint.com/

Buy Devoted to Death by Andrew Chesnut:

https://www.amazon.com/Devoted-Death-Santa-Muerte-Skeleton/dp/0190633336/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=Devoted+to+Death%3A+Santa+Muerte%2C+the+Skeleton+Saint&qid=1553112579&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

Further reading on exorcism:

Driving Out the Devil from Catholic Herald

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/theglobalcatholicreview/2018/04/exorcising-the-demons-of-africa/ https://www.patheos.com/blogs/theglobalcatholicreview/2018/08/why-is-exorcism-all-the-rage/

Ep 109: Dr. Ann Gleig and Buddhism Beyond Modernity Apr 23, 2019

Dr. Ann Gleig is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Central Florida. She is co-editor of Homegrown Gurus: From Hinduism in America to American Hinduism and has published widely on contemporary Buddhism. She is the author of “American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity,” from Yale University Press.

Buy the book: American Dharma

Follow Dr. Ann Gleig on Twitter: https://twitter.com/agleig

Ep 108: Koans with Corey Ichigen Hess Apr 17, 2019

Corey Ichigen Hess is an ordained Zen monk and body therapist. He lived a monastic life for many years at Sogenji Zen Monastery in Okayama, Japan. He teaches meditation classes and works with individual clients doing private embodiment process coaching sessions, Sourcepoint Therapy®, Structural Integration®, and Biodynamic Craniosacral therapy at his home on Whidbey Island in Langley, Washington.

Here are the links mentioned in the show:

Zen Embodiment Blog

Corey Hess Body Therapy

Ep 107: Should you do a PhD? with Michael Van Hartingsveldt Apr 14, 2019

Michael Vanhartingsveldt (featured in episode 47 & 92) is a contributing columnist at Buddhistdoor Global. He works at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). He did his masters in East Asian Art Business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and he also works as a lecturer for the Japan Foundation.

Link to episode #37 from "The Way Of Improvement Leads Home" podcast episode mentioned in the introduction can be found here: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/the-way-of-improvement-leads-home?selected=ADL9037171567

Ep 106: Dr. Rachel Lindsey on "Communion of Shadows" and Arch City Religion Apr 10, 2019

Dr. Rachel Lindsey is Assistant Professor in Saint Louis University’s Department of Theological Studies. She has a Ph.D. and M.A. in American Religion from Princeton University, and a B.A. in Religious Studies from Missouri State University. She is the author of Communion of Shadows: Religion and Photography in Nineteenth Century America from University of North Carolina Press. We discussed Communion of Shadows and her fantastic projects, Lived Religion in the Digital Age and Arch City Religion. You can find Dr. Lindsey’s projects at archcityreligion.org and religioninplace.org.

Follow Rachel Lindsey on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmclindsey

Ep 105: Teaching College Religious Studies w/Dr. Chris Jones Apr 05, 2019

Dr. Chris Jones holds a Bachelor of Arts from Oklahoma Baptist University, a Master of Theology from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and a PhD from Univ of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the sole religious studies professor at Washburn University.

You can find his spectacular Twitter presence here:

https://twitter.com/ProfChrisMJones

You can find his professional website here:

https://hcommons.org/members/profchrismjones/

Ep 104: Myth of Divine Chosenness w/Dr. Michael Coogan Apr 02, 2019

Dr. Michael Coogan is lecturer on Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at Harvard Divinity School and the director of publications for the Harvard Semitic Museum. He is the author of God and Sex, The Ten Commandments: A Short History of an Ancient Text, The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures, and numerous textbooks on the Old Testament. He joined me on the phone to talk about his brand new book, God’s Favorites: Judaism, Christianity, and the Myth of Divine Chosenness, out from Beacon Press.

Ep 103: Wanamaker's Temple w/Dr. Nicole Kirk Mar 30, 2019

Dr. Nicole Kirk is a historian of American religious history, associate professor, and the Frank and Alice Schulman Chair of Unitarian Universalist History at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, Illinois. She joined the faculty at Meadville Lombard in 2012 after earning her Ph.D. in American Religious History at Princeton Theological Seminary. She is the author of "Wanamaker's Temple: The Business of Religion in an Iconic Department Store." The book is out now from NYU Press.

Visit Nicole Kirk online: https://www.nicolekirk.com/

Visit Nicole Kirk on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Prof_in_Chicago

EP 102: Santa Muerte w/ Dr. Andrew Chesnut Mar 24, 2019

Dr. Andrew Chesnut earned his Ph.D degree in Latin American History from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1995 and joined the History Department faculty at the University of Houston in 1997. He quickly became an internationally recognized expert on Latin American religious history. Professor Chesnut was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Bishop Walter Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at VCU in 2008. Professor Chesnut’s early work, Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty (Rutgers University Press, 1997), traces the meteoric rise of Pentecostalism among the popular classes in Brazil following the disestablishment of the Roman Catholic Church. His second book, Competitive Spirits: Latin America’s New Religious Economy (Oxford University Press, 2003) focuses on the three groups that have prospered most in the region’s pluralist landscape, Protestant Pentecostalism, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and African disasporic religions (e.g., Brazilian Candomble and Haitian Vodou). Professor Chesnut's most recent book is Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint (Oxford University Press, 2012). It is the first in-depth study of the Mexican folk saint in English and has received widespread media coverage.

Follow Dr. Andrew Chesnut on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/AndrewChesnut1

Visit: https://skeletonsaint.com/

Buy Devoted to Death: https://www.amazon.com/Devoted-Death-Santa-Muerte-Skeleton/dp/0190633336/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=Devoted+to+Death%3A+Santa+Muerte%2C+the+Skeleton+Saint&qid=1553112579&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

Ep 101: The Saint John's Illuminated Bible w/ Jonathan Homrighausen Mar 20, 2019

Jonathan Homrighausen is an Episcopal writer and scholar on Scripture, art, and interreligious dialogue. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Duke University, after earning his MA in Biblical Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA.

His latest book, Illuminating Justice: The Ethical Imagination of The Saint John’s Bible (out from Liturgical Press in 2018), explores the call to social ethics in The Saint John’s Bible. It was a true pleasure to speak with Jonathan about his book and his interest in the Saint John’s Bible. I think you will find him a wealth of knowledge in the intricate design and construction of this marvelous Bible. Without further delay, please enjoy our conversation.

You can find him online here: https://jdhomie.com/

You can buy his book from Liturgical Press here: https://litpress.org/Products/4455/Illuminating-Justice

Ep 100: The Epistle of James with Dr. Alicia Batten Mar 14, 2019

Alicia Batten received her BA in Humanistic Studies from McGill University, and completed an MA and PhD in Theology, with a focus on the New Testament, at the University of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses upon the origins and development of early Christianity, with particular emphasis upon the ancient Mediterranean cultural context (s), including material culture. She also thinks it important to study the shifting manner in which biblical texts are interpreted over the centuries, and is currently writing a commentary examining the text reception and impact of the Letter of James. Beyond her academic interests, Alicia enjoys gardening, art, and reading works of fiction and poetry.

Visit her Waterloo faculty profile: https://uwaterloo.ca/grebel/people-profiles/alicia-batten

Ep 99: Rima Fujita on Nibiiro Art, the Dalai Lama, and Buddhism Mar 10, 2019

Rima Fujita was born in Tokyo and now resides in Southern California. She graduated from Parsons School of Design with her B.F.A. and has exhibited her work internationally to much acclaim. As a descendant of the Last Samurai her creative aesthetics is strongly influenced by the philosophy of Bushido and Buddhism.

Known for her distinctive style with vivid colors on black surface, Rima’s works are extracted from her dreams and meditation process. They are ethereal and evoke a timeless sense of longing and peace, and yet if examined deeply her images trigger a powerful ripple of infinite emotions. She is inspired by “Nibiiro,” an expression of a very dark grey color from the Heian period in Japan (AD 794 to1185). If you mixed all colors that exist in Nirvana, the Buddhist land of Perfect Bliss, it would become “Nibiiro.”

Rima’s life passion lays in her philanthropic work. In 2001 she established “Books for Children,” an organization that produces children’s books and donates them to children in needs around the world. She has created 4 children’s books and has donated more than 12,000 books to the Tibetan children in exile. All profits go to support the Tibetan children’s education. H.H. The Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and Betty Williams, the Nobel Peace Laureates personally gave her special recognition in 2006 at the International Peace Summit in Japan. His Holiness The Dalai Lama calls her, “An artist who creates beautiful art.”

Visit her online: https://rimafujita.com/

Ep 98: Inter-religious Diplomacy and Jain Plurality w/ Dr. Melanie Barbato Mar 04, 2019

Dr. Barbato researches the mechanisms and strategies of interreligious communication with a focus on high-level actors and cultural diplomacy, such as the Pope. She is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Münster in Germany and is in partnership with the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies in the UK. She is currently developing a project on Hindu-Christian dialogue. She’s also a scholar of Jainism and is the author of Jain Approaches to Plurality: Identity as Dialogue, published by Brill in 2017.

We discuss current events, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Jainism, and her book.

Follow her on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/melanie_barbato

Buy her book here.

Ep 97: Ásatrúarfélagið w/Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson Feb 27, 2019

Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson is the elected Allsherjargoði (high priest) of the Icelandic pagan group, Ásatrúarfélagið, or Ásatrú Association. He is also a musician and composer.

You can find Ásatrú Association's translatable website at: https://asatru.is/

Ep 96: "Blogging My Religion" and Media w/ Dr. Giulia Evolvi Feb 23, 2019

Dr. Giulia Evolvi is the author of "Blogging My Religion: Secular, Muslim, and Catholic Media Spaces in Europe," out now from Routledge. Evolvi is a Research Associate at the Centrum für Religionswissenshaftliche Studien (CERES) in Germany and she manages the Religion and Materiality Focus Group for the Käte Hamburger Kolleg project.

Follow her on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/giuliaevolvi

Ep 95: Japanese Buddhist WWII Internment w/Duncan Ryūken Williams Feb 16, 2019

Buy American Sutra from Harvard Press here

Bio from: https://www.duncanryukenwilliams.com/

Duncan Ryuken Williams was born in Tokyo, Japan to a Japanese mother and British father. After growing up in Japan and England until age 17, he moved to the U.S. to attend college (Reed College) and graduate school (Harvard University, where he received a Ph.D. in Religion). Williams is currently an Professor of Religion and East Asian Languages & Cultures and the Director of the USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture. Previously, he held the Shinjo Ito Distinguished Chair of Japanese Buddhism at University of California at Berkeley and served as the Director of Berkeley's Center for Japanese Studies for four years. He has also been ordained since 1993 as a Buddhist priest in the Soto Zen tradition and served as the Buddhist chaplain at Harvard University from 1994-96.

He is the author of a monograph entitled The Other Side of Zen: A Social History of Soto Zen Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan(Princeton University Press, 2005) and co-editor of seven volumes including Hapa Japan (Kaya Press, 2017), Issei Buddhism in the Americas (U-Illinois Press, 2010), American Buddhism (Routledge, 1998), and Buddhism and Ecology (Harvard University Press, 1997). He has also translated four books from Japanese into English including Putting Buddhism to Work: A New Theory of Economics and Business Management (Kodansha, 1997). His latest book is American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War(Harvard University Press, 2019). He has previously received research grants from the American Academy of Religion, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Lilly Endowment, the Japan Foundation, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Numata Foundation/Society for the Promotion of Buddhism. In 2011, Williams received a commendation from the Japanese government for deepening the mutual understanding between the peoples of Japan and California.

Ep 94: "Gurdjieff Reconsidered" with Dr. Roger Lipsey Feb 12, 2019

Roger Lipsey is a biographer, art historian, translator, and, for many decades, a participant in the Gurdjieff teaching. Among his recent books is Hammarskjöld: A Life,which has been hailed as the definitive biography of Dag Hammarskjöld. His latest book, Gurdjieff Reconsidered: The Life, the Teachings, the Legacy, is out now from Shambhala Publications.

Buy the book here:

https://www.shambhala.com/gurdjieff-reconsidered.html

EP 93: Tao Te Ching with Sean Michael Wilson Feb 06, 2019

Sean Michael Wilson is an award-winning Scottish graphic novel/comic book writer. He has written more than 30 books, published by a variety of US, UK and Japanese publishers and translated into 12 languages. His books are of two broad types: 'western' style graphic novels, including original story ideas and various books on social issues; and a unique line of manga style books on Japanese themes, unmatched by any other English language comic book writer.

His latest book is an adaptation of the Tao Te Ching in collaboration with Cary Kwok and William Scott Wilson.

Find him online:

https://seanmichaelwilson.weebly.com/

https://www.instagram.com/seanmichaelwilson/

Buy the book: https://www.shambhala.com/authors/u-z/sean-michael-wilson.html

Ep 92: Gyotaku w/Dwight Hwang and Michael Vanhartingsveldt Feb 01, 2019

Dwight Hwang is a California-based Gyotaku artist. His notable artistic achievements include a 2018 solo showcase by Los Angeles County Museum of Art and The Japan Foundation, as well as providing cover art for the book "Simply Fly Fishing" by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard.

You can follow Dwight Hwang on Instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/fishingforgyotaku/

You can find Dwight Hwang's website and store here:

https://fishingforgyotaku.com/

Guest discussant Michael Vanhartingsveldt (featured in episode 47) is a contributing columnist at Buddhistdoor Global. He works at the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art. He did his masters in East Asian Art Business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and he also works as a lecturer for the Japan Foundation.

Ep 91: The Lessons We Learn From Animals w/ Dr. Margaret Winslow Jan 23, 2019

Dr. Margaret Winslow is Professor Emeritus of Earth and Atmospheric Science at City College of New York. She was a field geologist for three decades and is the author of two travel memoirs recounting her field experiences in South America. Those titles are “The Cusp of Dreadfulness: Fifteen Seasons in Tierra Del Fuego and Patagonia,” and “Over My Head: Journeys in Leaky Boats from the Strait of Magellan to Cape Horn and Beyond.” She is most recently the author of the book “Smart Ass: How a Donkey Challenged Me to Accept His True Nature and Rediscover My own” from New World Library.

Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/margiewinslow

Visit her website: https://www.margiewinslow.com/

Ep 90: Teaching High School Religious Studies with George Coe (Teaching Series) Jan 20, 2019

George Coe is a religious studies, current events, and world history teacher in Fairfax County, Virginia. He runs a popular blog with teaching resources at: https://worldhistoryeducatorsblog.blogspot.com/.

This conversation talks about constitutionality of teaching about religion; how to arrange a semester of teaching high school religious studies, a wide-range of resources that he and I have used to with success in our own classrooms, and a deep dive investigation of a typical religious studies class in a typical United States high school. This is a snapshot of a hardworking teacher doing great work for teenagers in the United States.

Follow George Coe on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ggcoe

Ep 89: Travels in Haiti with Allison Coffelt Jan 13, 2019

Allison Coffelt lives and writes in Columbia, Missouri. She works as the director of education and outreach for the annual documentary-based True/False Film Festival, as well as hosting the fantastic True/False Podcast, featuring interviews and commentary with documentary filmmakers, available anywhere you get podcasts. Her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Oxford Public Health Magazine, and more. She won the 2015 University of Missouri Essay Prize. The topic of today’s conversation is her new book, “Maps Are Lines We Draw,” out now from Lanternfish Press.

Buy the book from Lanternfish Press

Brevity Magazine review of "Maps Are Lines We Draw"

Ep 88: Hiking as Pilgrimage with Dr. Chris Ives Jan 06, 2019

Dr. Christopher Ives teaches in the area of Asian Religions at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. In his scholarship, he focuses on modern Zen ethics. In 2009 he published Imperial-Way Zen, a book on Buddhist social ethics in light of Zen nationalism. Currently he is engaged in research on Zen approaches to nature and Buddhist environmental ethics. He is the author of "Zen on the Trail: Hiking as Pilgrimage," out now from Wisdom Publications.

Find the book here: Zen on the Trail from Wisdom Publications

Ep 87: Sam Kestenbaum and Religion Journalism Jan 01, 2019

Sam Kestenbaum is an independent religion journalist. He writes for The New York Times and is a contributing editor and former staff writer for The Forward.

Sam Kestenbaum on Twitter: https://twitter.com/skestenbaum

To find his work, you can visit Sam Kestenbaum's website:

https://samkestenbaum.com/

Ep 86: Dr. Sylvia Chan-Malik on "Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color in American Islam" Dec 22, 2018

Sylvia Chan-Malik is Associate Professor in the Departments of American and Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. She talks, teaches, and writes about the intersections of race, gender, and religion, with a focus on the history and cultures of Islam and Muslims in the United States. Her research highlights the lives, voices, histories, and representations of Muslim women, and reveals how critical legacies of Black freedom, women’s agency, and global liberation struggles have continually marked U.S. Muslim women’s engagements with Islam.

She is the author of Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color in American Islam (New York University Press, 2018).

You can find her on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/schanmalik

You can find her website here: https://sylviachanmalik.com/

Ep 85: Dr. Charles Haynes on the Religious Freedom Center and the First Amendment Dec 18, 2018

Charles C. Haynes is vice president of the Freedom Forum Institute / Religious Freedom Center and a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center.

Haynes is best known for his work on First Amendment issues in public schools. Over the past two decades, he has been the principal organizer and drafter of consensus guidelines on religious liberty in schools, endorsed by a broad range of religious and educational organizations. In January 2000, three of the guides were distributed by the U.S. Department of Education to every public school in the nation. These are “A Parent’s Guide to Religion in the Public Schools,” “A Teacher’s Guide to Religion in the Public Schools,” and “Public Schools & Religious Communities.”

Haynes is the author or co-author of six books, including First Freedoms: A Documentary History of First Amendment Rights in America, and Religion in American Public Life: Living with Our Deepest Differences. His column, Inside the First Amendment, appears in newspapers nationwide.

He is a founding board member of the Character Education Partnership, and serves on the steering committee of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools and the American Bar Association Advisory Commission on Public Education. He chairs the Committee on Religious Liberty, founded by the National Council of Churches.

Widely quoted in news magazines and major newspapers, Haynes is also a frequent guest on television and radio. He has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal and on ABC’s “Evening News.” In 2008, he received the Virginia First Freedom Award from the Council for America’s First Freedom.

Haynes holds a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School and a doctorate from Emory University.

Ep 84: A Conversation with Chris Grosso Dec 11, 2018

Chris Grosso is a youth mental health group facilitator with Newport Academy, public speaker, writer, and author of Indie Spiritualist (Beyond Words/Simon & Schuster, 2014), Everything Mind (Sounds True, 2105) and Dead Set On Living (Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books, 2018). He writes for Revolver Magazine, ORIGIN Magazine, and Huffington Post,and has spoken and performed at Wanderlust Festival, Celebrate Your Life, Yoga Journal Conference, Sedona World Wisdom Days, Kripalu, Sun Valley Wellness Festival, and more.

Chris is passionate about his work with people who are in the process of healing or struggling with addictions of all kinds. He speaks and leads groups in detoxes, yoga studios, rehabs, youth centers, hospitals, conferences, and festivals worldwide. He is a member of the advisory board for Drugs over Dinner, hosts The Indie Spiritualist Podcast on Ram Dass’s esteemed Be Here Now Network and is a member of The Evolutionary Leaders.

Ep 83: Andrea Miller on Children's Books, Pilgrimage, and Lion's Roar Dec 05, 2018

Andrea Miller is the deputy editor of Lion's Roar magazine (formerly the Shambhala Sun), a publication force within Buddhism that so many of you will already know, and the author of two picture books: The Day the Buddha Woke Up and My First Book of Canadian Birds. She's also the editor of three anthologies, most recently All the Rage: Buddhist Wisdom on Anger and Acceptance. I spoke with Andrea on the heels of her trip to India to attend the International Buddhist Conclave, which afforded her the chance to attend sacred Buddhist sites. She has a brand new piece out in December, 2018 called “The Buddha Was here.”

Read "The Buddha Was Here": https://www.lionsroar.com/the-buddha-was-here/

Follow Andrea Miller on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndreaMillerSun

Ep 82: Religion for Breakfast with Andrew M. Henry Nov 28, 2018

Andrew M. Henry (M.A.) is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Religion at Boston University and founder of the educational YouTube channel, Religion for Breakfast. Andrew has produced over 50 video lectures on a variety of religious studies topics, used by educators worldwide. You can follow him on twitter @andrewmarkhenry.

Religion for Breakfast on YouTube can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/religionforbreakfast

Ep 81: Impermanence, Embodiment, and Conscious Intention with Deborah Eden Tull Nov 21, 2018

DEBORAH EDEN TULL is the founder of Mindful Living Revolution. She is a Zen meditation and mindfulness teacher, public speaker, author, activist, and sustainability educator. She trained for seven years as a Buddhist monk at a silent Zen monastery in Northern California, and she has been traveling to, living in, or teaching about conscious, sustainable communities internationally for the last 25 years. She is the author of two books, The Natural Kitchen, which came out in 2010, and Relational Mindfulness: A Handbook for Deepening our Connection with ourselves, each other and the planet, out in 2018 from Wisdom Publications. She lives in North Carolina and offers retreats, workshops, and consultations nationally.

Affiliate RSVP Link Partnership with SHIFT Network:

https://shiftnetwork.infusionsoft.com/go/st/a19089

Classical Ideas on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/classicalideaspodcast/

Classical Ideas on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/Classical_Ideas

Deborah Eden Tull

http://deborahedentull.com/

Buy "Relational Mindfulness" by Deborah Eden Tull:

https://www.wisdompubs.org/book/relational-mindfulness

Ep 80: A Rinzai Zen Life in Japan w/ Corey Ichigen Hess Nov 18, 2018

Corey Ichigen Hess is an ordained Zen monk and body therapist. He lived a monastic life for many years at Sogenji Zen Monastery in Okayama, Japan. He teaches meditation classes and works with individual clients doing private embodiment process coaching sessions, Sourcepoint Therapy®, Structural Integration®, and Biodynamic Craniosacral therapy at his home on Whidbey Island in Langley, Washington.

Here are the links mentioned in the show:

NHK Sogenji Documentary Film Footage

Zen Embodiment Blog

Corey Hess Body Therapy

Ep 79: Interfaith Activism, Sikhism, and Hinduism w/Tahil Sharma Nov 14, 2018

Tahil Sharma grew up in an interfaith family and practices Sikhism and Hinduism. He is a Program Manager for Faith Outreach at Brave New Films and an Interfaith Minister in Residence at the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

You can find him at: https://twitter.com/interfaithman

Ep 78: "Christian: The Politics of a Word in America" w/ Dr. Matthew Bowman Nov 07, 2018

Matthew Bowman received his PhD. in history from Georgetown University. He is associate professor of history at Henderson State University, where he teaches courses in American history since the Civil War, race, and American religion.

He is the author of "Christian: The Politics of a Word in America," out now from Harvard University Press, and several other books.

Find him online here: http://www.matthewbowman.net/

Ep 77: Witchcraft and The Holy Wild w/Danielle Dulsky Oct 31, 2018

Danielle Dulsky is the author of “The Holy Wild: A Heathen Bible for the Untamed Woman,” out now from New World Library.

Visit her online:

https://www.danielledulsky.com

https://www.instagram.com/wolfwomanwitch/

Ep 76: Mary Magdalene w/Dr. Margaret Arnold Oct 25, 2018

Margaret Arnold is the Associate Rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Medford, Massachusetts. She received her PhD in Religious and Theological Studies from Boston University. Her new book, “The Magdalene in the Reformation” is out now from The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Get the book here:

The Magdalene in the Reformation from Harvard University Press

Ep 75: Mark Van Buren and "A Fool's Guide to Actual Happiness" Oct 17, 2018

Mark Van Buren is a Mindful Living Trainer, yoga/meditation instructor, personal trainer, and musician, that has been promoting health and wellness for over a decade. He has run dozens of workshops and retreats all over the tri-state area, and has been asked to speak at numerous colleges including Columbia, Montclair State, and Bergen Community. A handful of yoga studios have already opened their doors to his message, allowing him to give talks and run guided meditations and retreats. He has worked extensively with children and adults with autism and other special needs, and even released two solo albums, based on his inward journey through meditation, under the band name “Seeking the Seeker.” Van Buren holds a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies from Montclair State University and two Associate Degrees from Bergen Community College in exercise science and music. He is currently the owner and head instructor of Live Free Yoga Studio in River Edge, NJ (www.livefree4life.com), and in recent years a bestselling author.

You can find him online here: https://www.authormarkvanburen.com

EP 74: An Introduction to Sikhism with Special Guests Oct 12, 2018

This episode introduces Sikhism, including an overview of the basic beliefs, practices, important people, and specific goals of the Sikh religion, practiced by around 25 million people worldwide, with its spiritual home in Amritsar in Northwestern India in the state of Punjab. My guests are Dr. Harbaksh & Jasmine Sangha, and Dr. Chetan and Ranjana Hans.

EP 73: Ben Marcus on Religious Literacy in American Education Oct 07, 2018

Benjamin P. Marcus is the religious literacy specialist with the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute, where he examines the intersection of education, religious literacy, and identity formation in the United States. He has developed religious literacy programs for public schools, universities, U.S. government organizations, and private foundations, and he has delivered presentations on religion at universities and nonprofits in the U.S. and abroad. He has worked closely with the U.S. State Department, Interfaith Youth Core, the Foundation for Religious Literacy, and the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme in the United Kingdom. In February 2018, Marcus was accepted as a Fulbright Specialist for a period of three years. As a Specialist, he will share his expertise on religion and education with select host institutions abroad. Marcus chaired the writing group for the Religious Studies Companion Document to the C3 Framework, a nationally recognized set of guidelines used by state and school district curriculum experts for social studies standards and curriculum development. He is a contributing author in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook on Religion and American Education, where he writes about the importance of religious literacy education. In 2015 he served as executive editor of the White Paper of the Sub-Working Group on Religion and Conflict Mitigation of the State Department’s Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group. Marcus earned an MTS with a concentration in Religion, Ethics, and Politics as a Presidential Scholar at Harvard Divinity School. He studied religion at the University of Cambridge and Brown University, where he graduated magna cum laude.

Ep 72: Deborah Eden Tull on Relational Mindfulness Sep 28, 2018

DEBORAH EDEN TULL, founder of Mindful Living Revolution, teaches the integration of compassionate awareness into every aspect of our lives. She is a Zen meditation and mindfulness teacher, public speaker, author, activist, and sustainability educator. She trained for seven years as a Buddhist monk at a silent Zen monastery in Northern California, and she has been traveling to, living in, or teaching about conscious, sustainable communities internationally for the last 25 years. She currently resides in the mountains western North Carolina and offers retreats, workshops, and consultations nationally.

You can find her online here: https://www.deborahedentull.com

Ep 71: Dr. Daniel Hummel on Evangelical Christian Nationalism in the Cold War Sep 20, 2018

The topic of this episode focuses on Dr. Daniel Hummel's piece, “The Limits of Evangelical Christian Nationalism during the Cold War,” which appears in the new book “North American Churches and the Cold War,” out now on Eerdsman Publishing.

Dr. Daniel Hummel is a Scholar, writer, researcher, and teacher of religion, politics, and foreign policy in the United States and the modern Middle East. Dr. Hummel is a specialist in the concept of Christian Zionism and has a forthcoming book from the University of Pennsylvania Press entitled, “A Covenant of the Mind: Evangelicals, Israel, and the Construction of a Special Relationship.” Dr. Hummel is also a contributor to the Washington Post in middle east current events.

Link to the book on Eerdsmans: North American Churches in the Cold War

Dr. Hummel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielghummel

Ep 70: "The Devil's Music" w/ Dr. Randall J. Stephens Sep 10, 2018

Randall J. Stephens is an Associate Professor of British and American Studies at the University of Oslo. He previously taught at Northumbria University (Newcastle upon Tyne) and Eastern Nazarene College (Quincy, Massachusetts). He is a historian of religion, conservatism, the South, environmentalism, and popular culture. He is the author of The Fire Spreads: Holiness and Pentecostalism in the American South (Harvard University Press, 2008); The Anointed: Evangelical Truth in a Secular Age, co-authored with physicist Karl Giberson (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011); and editor of Recent Themes in American Religious History(University of South Carolina Press, 2009). His latest book is The Devil’s Music: How Christians Inspired, Condemned, and Embraced Rock ’n’ Roll (Harvard University Press, 2018). Stephens has written for the Atlantic, Salon, the Wilson Quarterly, Christian Century, the Independent, History Today, the Chronicle of Higher Ed, and the New York Times. He has been interviewed for news and culture programs on the BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera, KBYU-FM 89.1, Austrian Youth Radio, and NPR. Stephens is one of the Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturers.

Ep 69: Zenju Earthlyn Manuel on Sanctuary and San Francisco Zen Center Aug 30, 2018

Zenju Earthlyn Manuel is an author, Zen priest, teacher, divine seer, artist, and Drum medicine woman. Her work has been featured in Essence Magazine, CNN, CBS NEWS, KPFA Radio, Buddhadharma, and Lion’s Roar. She holds a M.A. from UCLA and a Ph.D. in Transformative Learning from California Institute of Integral Studies. She spoke to me from Green Gulch Farm, a Zen practice center within the San Francisco Zen Center. She is the author of “Sanctuary: A Meditation on Home, Homelessness, and Belonging,” out now from Wisdom Publications. You can find her online at Zenju.org, where she has three episodes published of her own podcast, Teachings of the Hollow Bones.

Ep 68: High School Religious Studies w/ John Camardella Aug 16, 2018

John Camardella teaches religion and social studies at Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, Illinois. This conversation touches on the organization, implementation, and day-to-day operations inside a high school course focused on world religions.

You can read more about Mr. Camardella here: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/07/viewing-religion-through-a-cultural-lens/

or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/PHS_Religions

EP 67: Living With Pain w/ Sarah Anne Shockley Aug 08, 2018

A native of Connecticut, Sarah Anne Shockley is a multiple award winning producer and director of educational films, includingDancing From the Inside Out, a highly acclaimed documentary on disabled dance. She holds an MBA in International Marketing and has worked in high-tech management, as a corporate trainer, and teaching undergraduate and graduate business administration. As the result of a work related injury in the Fall of 2007, Sarah contracted Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS) and has lived with debilitating nerve pain since then. She has been a columnist forPain News Network, and is a regular contributor to The Mighty. Sarah is the author of a number of books on living with chronic pain, including The Pain Companion (New World Library, 2018). She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Gospel of Mark (BONUS EPISODE) Aug 05, 2018

This bonus episode is a recording of me reading the Gospel of Mark in its entirety. This is meant to serve as a classroom or educational resource.

You can find the text I read here:

https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=Mark&qs_version=ESV

Ep 66: An Introduction to Shinto with Eric Lancaster Jul 28, 2018

Eric Lancaster is an instructor of Japanese at the University of Missouri and an instructor of religious studies at Columbia College. He is a member of Bunraku Bay Puppet Theatre troupe, whose film, "Kaiju Bunraku," was screened at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

Ep 65: Sita's Ramayana with Samhita Arni Jul 18, 2018

Samhita Arni is the author of the NYT Bestselling graphic novel, Sita's Ramayana, (collaboration with Patua artist Moyna Chitrakar) available from Tara Books. She is also the author of The Mahabharata-A Child's View and The Missing Queen.

You can find her online here:

https://www.samarni.com

Ep 64: Sanctuary Churches and the Role of Christianity with Rev. Sarah Klaassen Jul 06, 2018

Sarah Klaassen is the pastor of Rock Bridge Christian Church in Columbia, Missouri. In September 2017, her church congregation voted to become a sanctuary church and seeks to protect those at risk of deportation.

You can read more about her church's decision here: Rock Bridge Christian Church

Ep 63: Why Socrates Died and the Context of Ancient Athens w/ Robin Waterfield Jun 25, 2018

Robin Waterfield is the author of numerous books about ancient Athens including Xenophon's Retreat, Why Socrates Died, Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens, and more. He has also translated the works of Aristotle, Plato, Xenophon, and more from ancient Greek. You can find him online at:

http://www.robinwaterfield.com/

Ep 62: "Is Belief in God Good, Bad, or Irrelevant?" w/ Dr. Preston Jones Jun 15, 2018

This episode is a discussion with Dr. Preston Jones about the book “Is Belief in God Good, Bad, or Irrelevant: A Professor and a Punk Rocker Discuss Science, Religion, Naturalism, and CHristianity.” Jones is the editor and co-author of the volume with Dr. Greg Graffin, singer for Bad Religion. The book was released in 2006.

Dr. Preston Jones is a professor at John Brown University in Arkansas. His research focuses on the American Empire in the period 1898-1917 and the personal experience of combat. He has published 8 books, more than 200 articles, and he has interviewed more than 100 combat veterans.

You can find the book from InterVarsity Press: https://www.ivpress.com/is-belief-in-god-good-bad-or-irrelevant

Ep 61: St. Francis of Assisi, Sultan Malik al-Kamil, and the Crusades with Paul Moses Jun 05, 2018

Paul Moses, former Newsday city editor and senior religion writer, is a professor of journalism at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He was the lead writer on a Newsday team that won the Pulitzer Prize. He is the author of The Saint the Sultan (2009, Doubleday) and An Unlikely Union: The Love-Hate Story of New York's Irish and Italians (2015, NYU Press).

Follow him on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/PaulBMoses/

Ep 60: A Conversation with Twin Temple May 29, 2018

TWIN TEMPLE dwells within a dark legacy of classic American music; from the funeral jazz & Voodoo of New Orleans, to the haunting sounds of Delta blues murder ballads, to the noir-1920’s big band sounds of smoky Prohibition speakeasies. And yet, they inject America's hallowed musical heritage with a surprising blend: gothic romance, ritual, macabre humor, and brash contemporary topics inspired by the candor of confessional poetry.

You can find their work at: https://www.twintemple.com

Ep 59: Middle Eastern Archaeology and the Historical Jesus with Dr. Carrie Duncan May 22, 2018

Dr. Carrie Duncan is an Assistant Professor of ancient Mediterranean religions at the University of Missouri. She is a senior staff member on the following projects in Jordan: the Ayn Gharandal Archaeological Project, the Petra North Ridge Project, and the Madaba Plains’ excavation. She teaches courses on the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, the Jesus of history, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and more.

Ep 58: Mary Democker on Climate Change, Spirituality, and Parenting May 14, 2018

Mary DeMocker is cofounder and creative director of 350.org’s Eugene, Oregon, chapter. She has written about conscious parenting and climate activism for the Sun, EcoWatch, Mothering.com, Spirituality & Health, Oregon Quarterly, and the Oregonian. She lives with her family in Eugene, Oregon.

You can find her at: www.marydemocker.com and https://twitter.com/MDeMocker/

Ep 57: Dr. Francis Stewart on the Religious Surrogacy of Straight Edge Punk May 08, 2018

Dr. Francis Stewart completed her doctoral thesis on punk rock as a surrogate for religion, with a particular emphasis on Straight Edge punk, in 2011 at the University of Stirling. Within the thesis, Stewart examined the notions of community, authenticity, integrity, DIY, and salvation. She also engaged with the connections between music and the expression of emotions, particularly those emotions which are deemed socially 'undesirable' or 'negative'. She also engaged with the question of what do we mean by the terms 'religious', 'spiritual' and 'faith'.

Her book, "Punk Rock is My Religion: Straight Edge Punk and 'Religious' Identity" is out now from Routledge.

Follow Stewart on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dr_F_Stewart

Ep 56: Dr. Michael R. Cohen and "Cotton Capitalists: American Jewish Entrepreneurship in the Reconstruction Era" May 02, 2018

Michael R. Cohen is Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Tulane University, where he holds a Sizeler Professorship. He is the author of the newly published"Cotton Capitalists: American Jewish Entrepreneurship in the Reconstruction Era from NYU Press, as well as The Birth of Conservative Judaism: Solomon Schechter's Disciples and the Creation of an American Religious Movement from Columbia University Press. He earned his Ph.D. from Brandeis University.

Ep 55: Dr. Pablo Mendoza on Taoist Practice Apr 26, 2018

Dr. Pablo Mendoza is Assistant to the President for Social Equity at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He received his PhD from the University of Missouri and was previously the Director of the Mizzou Multicultural Center. He has taught Cheng Man-Ch'ing (Zhang Manqing) Yang-style Tai Chi Ch'uan (Taijiquan). This form is based on martial applied defensive moves that are synchronized to breathing patterns that assist with relaxation and meditation.

Ep 54: Michael Downing on Zen in America, Shunryu Suzuki, and S.F. Zen Center Apr 20, 2018

Michael Downing teaches creative writing at Tufts University. This conversation features a deep dive into Michael’s nonfiction book "Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center, hailed by the New York Review of Books as a 'dramatic and insightful' narrative history of the first Buddhist monastery outside of Asia, and by the Los Angeles Times as 'a highly readable book, important for the healing it invites in giving voice to the thoughts and feelings of Zen Center members who have remained silent until now.'"

Visit: www.michaeldowningbooks.com for more information.

Ep 53: Linda K. Wertheimer and Teaching About Religion in an Age of Intolerance Apr 13, 2018

A veteran journalist, essayist, and award-winning education writer, Linda K. Wertheimer is the author of Faith Ed: Teaching about Religion in an Age of Intolerance. Faith Ed, released on Aug. 18, 2015, by Beacon Press, focuses on public schools’ ups and downs as they teach about world religions.

See https://www.lindakwertheimer.com/ for more information

Linda on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lindakwert

Buy the book: Faith Ed book at Beacon Press

Ep 52: Raghunath on ashram life, the Bhagavad Gita, and teaching yoga Apr 10, 2018

Raghunath tours the world, leading yoga workshops, yoga teacher trainings, kirtans, & the practical applications of yogic philosophy. He annually takes a group on pilgrimage through holy places of India and sometimes fronts the bands Youth of Today and Shelter.

Find him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raghunathyogi/

Visit his website: https://www.raghunath.yoga/

Buy his kirtan album, Krishna Kirtan, here: http://merchnow.com/catalogs/raghunath

Ep 51: Shulem Deen on leaving Hasidism and "All Who Go Do Not Return" Apr 06, 2018

Shulem Deen is a writer, journalist, and author of the award-winning memoir "All Who Go Do Not Return." He is a regular contributor to the Forward, and in 2015 was listed in the Forward 50, an annual list of American Jews with outsized roles on political and social issues. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the New Republic, Salon, Tablet Magazine, and elsewhere. He serves as a board member at Footsteps, a New York City-based organization that offers assistance and support to those who have left the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.

Follow Shulem on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/shdeen

Buy his book here: All Who Go Do Not Return

Ep 50: The Death Penalty With Griffin Hardy (MADP) Apr 01, 2018

Griffin Hardy is the Communications Director for Ministry Against the Death Penalty (MADP), founded by Sister Helen Prejean, author of "Dead Man Walking."

Mission Statement: "The Ministry Against the Death Penalty believes in the dignity of all people and fosters creative, reflective and educational programs that awaken hearts and minds, inspire social change, and strengthen our democracy’s commitment to human rights." Furthermore, MADP "believe in the dignity and rights of all persons and recognize that government-sanctioned killing and the practice of torture is a violation of those rights and a denial of human dignity."

Find out more at: https://www.sisterhelen.org

Ep 49: Dr. Daniel Hummel on Israel, Palestine, and Christian Zionism Mar 28, 2018

Dr. Daniel Hummel is a Scholar, writer, researcher, and teacher of religion, politics, and foreign policy in the United States and the modern Middle East. He is currently a Robert M. Kingdon Fellow at the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Hummel is also a specialist in the concept of Christian Zionism and has a forthcoming book from the University of Pennsylvania Press entitled, “A Covenant of the Mind: Evangelicals, Israel, and the Construction of a Special Relationship.” Dr. Hummel’s unique take on the Israel-Palestine situation is tinted with his own expertise in Christian Zionism, and we discuss that issue in a lot of depth in this conversation as well. Dr. Hummel is also a contributor to the Washington Post in middle east current events.

Ep 48 Meido Moore Roshi on the Rinzai Way and Korinji Monastery Mar 23, 2018

Meido Roshi is the abbot of Korinji monastery in Wisconsin. In 2008 Meido Roshi received inka shomei ("mind seal"), designating him an 86th-generation Zen dharma heir and a 48th-generation holder of the lineage descended from Rinzai Gigen. Meido Roshi's book The Rinzai Zen Way: A Guide to Practice is out from Shambhala Publications in March 2018. The focus of our conversation is this book and I highly recommend picking up a copy. It’s incredibly accessible to anyone, even if you’ve never read a book about Zen in your life.

Visit: https://www.korinji.org

Ep 47: Japanese Buddhist art with Michael Vanhartingsveldt Mar 16, 2018

Michael Vanhartingsveldt is a contributing columnist at Buddhistdoor Global. He works full-time at the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art. He did his masters in East Asian Art Business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and he also works as a lecturer for the Japan Foundation. Michael collaborates on "Carving the Divine TV" with filmmaker Yujiro Seki.

Ep 46: Hugo Bernard on "Naked Monk," Diligence, and Buddhist Practice Mar 13, 2018

Hugo Bernard is the author of "Naked Monk." His first work of Buddhist fiction was a short story written in high school. He is working on several novels, in different genres, using fiction as a tool to better grasp Buddhist teachings. With these stories, his goal is not to ‘teach’ but to ‘explore’ how the Dhamma resonates in challenging scenarios. He hopes to accomplish this while telling stories that are a pleasure to read.

https://hugobernardblog.wordpress.com/

Ep 45: Dr. Rabia Gregory on Medieval Christianity and Monastic Worlds Mar 11, 2018

Professor Rabia Gregory’s primary research interest is the history of Christianity in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. She approaches the study of religion through book history, material culture, and theories of gender. Her first book, Marrying Jesus in Medieval and Early Modern Northern Europe: Popular Culture and Religious Reform, published by Ashgate, uses previously unpublished cultural artifacts to revise long-standing assumptions about religion, gender, and popular culture. In the book, she demonstrates that by the fourteenth century, worldly, sexually active brides of Christ, both male and female, were no longer aberrations and provide a history of the dispersion of theology about the bride of Christ in the period between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries and explains how this metaphor, initially devised for a religious elite, became integral to the laity’s pursuit of salvation.

Follow her on Twitter @RabiaGregory

Ep 44: Sonny Zaide of The Purple Cloud Center for Eastern Medicine Mar 07, 2018

Sonny Zaide is a 23rd Generation Quanzhen Longmen (Qingcheng Shan) Taoist / Daoist Initiate and the owner of the Purple Cloud Center for Eastern Medicine. He is a Licensed Acupuncturist, Certified Practitioner and Teacher of Qigong and Qigong Healing.

Sonny on Twitter

Purple Cloud Center

Ep 43: Dr. Peter Adamson and the History of Philosophy...Without Any Gaps! Mar 01, 2018

Professor Peter Adamson holds a joint appointment with the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and King's College London. His primary areas of interest are late ancient philosophy and Arabic philosophy. He is also the host of the History of Philosophy podcast.

Find his work at: https://historyofphilosophy.net/

Ep 42: Janica Anderson on the Zen Odyssey of Ruth and Sokei-an Sasaki Feb 24, 2018

Janica Towne Anderson (author of "Zen Odyssey)" is a master falconer and has been a student and teacher of esoteric traditions for fifty years. She has worked as a research assistant in the psychology department at Harvard University and served as an instructor at Esalen Institute. She founded Big Sur Tapes, which preserved and published audio archives from teachers such as Ram Dass, Buckminster Fuller, and Alduous Huxley.

Ep 41: Miguel Chen on "I Wanna Be Well," punk, meditation, and yoga Feb 20, 2018

Miguel Chen is the bass player for long-running Fat Wreck Chords punk rock band Teenage Bottlerocket. He is the author of I Wanna Be Well, out 2/20/2018 on Wisdom Publications. He is a meditation practitioner, an RYT-500 yoga instructor, and the owner of Blossom Yoga Studio in Laramie and Cheyenne, Wyoming. In addition to appearing in countless Teenage Bottlerocket press pieces, Miguel has been featured by Lion’s Roar, PunkNews, Full Contact Enlightenment, LionsRoar.com, Modern Vinyl, and more.

https://miguelchen.net/

Ep 40: Shozan Jack Haubner on the Writing and Monk Life Feb 17, 2018

Shozan Jack Haubner is the pen name of a Zen monk whose essays have appeared in The Sun, Tricycle, Buddhadharma, and the New York Times, as well as in the Best Buddhist Writing series. His book Zen Confidential: Confessions of a Wayward Monk is the winner of a 2012 Pushcart Prize. His most recent book, “Single White Monk: Tales of Death, Failure, and Bad Sex (Although Not necessarily in that order) is out now from Shambhala Publishing.

Shozan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShozanJHaubner

Buy Shozan's book: Shozan Jack Haubner at Shambhala

Ep 39: Honest conversations about American Evangelicalism w/ Kevin Singer Feb 15, 2018

Kevin Singer is co-host of the Neighborly Faith Podcast. After graduating from college at N. Illinois University, he planted (a term indicating the establishment of a new church) two churches with the Southern Baptist Convention while earning an M.A. in Theological Studies from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Kevin earned a second M.A. in theology from Wheaton College studying Christianity and Hinduism. Kevin is currently completing a PhD in Higher Education at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. He serves as a graduate assistant for the IDEALS project.

Check out Neighborly Faith: Neighborly Faith Podcast

Ep 38: Fr. Robert Kennedy, Roshi, on the meeting place of the Jesuits and Zen Feb 10, 2018

Robert Kennedy, S.J. is one of several practicing Catholic men and women who are recognized by the Buddhist community as zen teachers. He is a licensed psychoanalyst and professor emeritus of theology at St. Peter’s University in Jersey City. As a Christian Fr. Kennedy has found meaning and deep reverence in the practice of zen. He is active in interfaith work, teaching zen to persons of all faiths, conducting retreats in the United States, Mexico, Ireland and England. He studied zen in Japan with the Japanese master Yamada Roshi. He continued his study under Maezumi Roshi in Los Angeles and Bernard Glassman Roshi in New York; in 1997 he received inka, the formal seal of approval, from Glassman Roshi and received the title Roshi, or Master. He holds doctorates in Theology from the University of Ottawa and from St. Paul University in Ottawa, a Masters in Theology from Sophia University in Tokyo, and a Doctor of Ministry in Psychology and Clinical Studies from Andover-Newton in Boston. He is a graduate of the Blanton-Peale Institute of Religion and Health in New York. Roshi Kennedy has written two books on Zen and Christianity: Zen Gifts to Christians and Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit. In 2017, Roshi Kennedy received two honorary doctorates, one from St. Peter's University, and one from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

His website is: www.kennedyzen.org

Ep 37: Yujiro Seki on Bushi sculpting, Filmmaking, and "Carving the Divine" Feb 06, 2018

Born and raised in Japan, Yujiro Seki discovered his passion for film-making when he was in high school. Yujiro earned a BA Degree in Film from the University of California, Berkeley. His forthcoming documentary film, "Carving the Divine," offers a rare and intimate look into the life and artistic process of modern-day Būshi – practitioners of a 1400 year lineage of woodcarving that’s at the beating heart of Japanese, Mahayana Buddhism.

Please visit www.carvingthedivine.com for more information. www.carvingthedivine.com

Ep 36: Guo Gu on Chan Buddhism and NYHC Feb 02, 2018

Guo Gu (Dr. Jimmy Yu) is the founder of the Tallahassee Chan Center (www.tallahasseechan.com) and is also the guiding teacher for the Western Dharma Teachers Training course at the Chan Meditation Center in New York and the Dharma Drum Lineage. He is one of the late Master Sheng Yen’s (1930–2009) senior and closest disciples, and assisted him in leading intensive retreats throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. He is also a professor of Buddhism and East Asian religions at Florida State University, Tallahassee. In the 1980's, he played bass in Judge and Death Before Dishonor in the New York Hardcore scene.

See his writing at: https://www.lionsroar.com/author/guo-gu/

Ep 35: Linda Kohanov on Master Herders and Pastoral Social Roles Jan 28, 2018

The author of The Five Roles of the Master Herder and the bestseller The Tao of Equus, Linda Kohanov speaks and teaches internationally. She established Eponaquest Worldwide to explore the healing potential of working with horses and offer programs on everything from emotional and social intelligence, leadership, stress reduction, and parenting to consensus building and mindfulness. Her main website is eponaquest.com. More information about The Five Roles of a Master Herder is available at masterherder.com.

Ep 34: Queer and Feminist Religious Studies with Dr. Melissa Wilcox Jan 23, 2018

Melissa M. Wilcox received her doctorate in Religious Studies from U.C. Santa Barbara in 2000. Her transdisciplinary research program focuses on gender studies and queer studies in religion, with particular emphasis on the U.S. and Europe in the context of transnational queer and religious politics. Her books include Coming Out in Christianity: Religion, Identity, and Community (Indiana University Press, 2003); Sexuality and the World’s Religions (co-edited with David W. Machacek; ABC-CLIO, 2003); Queer Women and Religious Individualism (Indiana University Press, 2009); and Religion in Today’s World: Global Issues, Sociological Perspectives (Routledge, 2013). Her 2009 book received the annual book award from the Sociology of Religion Section of the American Sociological Association. Her newest book, Queer Nuns: Religion, Activism, and Serious Parody, is forthcoming in 2018 from the Sexual Cultures series at NYU Press, and she is currently working on two textbooks focused on sexuality and queer studies in religion.

Ep 33: The Life of Alan Watts (Part Two with Anne Watts) Jan 18, 2018

Anne Watts is one of the co-editors of the new book, “The Collected Letters of Alan Watts,” released in January 2018 from New World Library. Anne Watts is a facilitator and educator who is committed to creating a world where everyone wins. She honors each individual for the gift she or he is, and believes that love and nurturance are the most important aspects in human healing. She regularly leads workshops at the Esalen Institute and you can find her upcoming events online at www.annewatts.org.

Ep 32: The Life of Alan Watts (Part One With Joan Watts) Jan 12, 2018

Alan Watts was one of the first to interpret Eastern wisdom for a Western audience. Joan Watts, Alan's eldest daughter, is the co-editor (along with her sister, Anne) of the new volume, “The Collected letters of Alan Watts,” out now from New World Library. This is part one in a two-part series on the Life of Alan Watts, featuring Joan and Anne Watts.

Ep 31: Korean (Soen) Zen Buddhism with Anita Feng (Jeong Ji) Jan 07, 2018

Anita Feng (Zen Master Jeong Ji) serves as the guiding teacher at Blue Heron Zen Community in Seattle, Washington. She has practiced Zen in the lineage of Zen Master Seung Sahn since 1976. In the late ’70s she lived and studied intensively with Zen Master Seung Sahn at the Providence Zen Center. She received Inka from Zen Master Ji Bong 2008 and received final transmission as a Zen Master in 2015.

http://www.anitafeng.com/wp/

Ep 30: Sufism, Mysticism, and Esoteric Practices with Patricia Riely Jan 04, 2018

Patricia Riely is a student in the Ruhaniat, a universal Sufi order founded by Samuel Lewis, whose teacher, Inayat Khan, lived from 1882-1927. Riely also is an important organizer for the Ozark Sufi Camp, a large, biannual Sufi gathering at the Lake of the Ozarks in mid-Missouri, United States. We talk a lot about the Sufi camp in this episode. Anyone wishing to learn more can check out OzarkSufiCamp.org.

Ep 29: Ian Johnson on resurgence of Taoism and Christianity in China Dec 29, 2017

A Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, Ian Johnson is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and the New York Times; his work has also appeared in The New Yorker and National Geographic. He is an advising editor for the Journal of Asian Studies and teaches courses on religion in Beijing. He is the author of The Souls of China, Wild Grass, A Mosque in Munich, and The Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West. He is based in Beijing and spoke to me from Berlin, Germany.

Ep 28: Dr. Max Perry Mueller on Mormonism, Race, and Politics Dec 22, 2017

Max Perry Mueller received his PhD from Harvard University. He is a historian of American religion and an assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is the author of Race and the Making of the Mormon People, published by the University of North Carolina Press in September 2017.

Ep 27: Dinty W. Moore on Accidental Buddhism and the Writer's Life Dec 16, 2017

Dinty W. Moore is author of The Accidental Buddhist and The Mindful Writer. He is a professor of nonfiction writing at Ohio University, the editor of Brevity Magazine, and lives in Athens, Ohio.

www.dintywmoore.com

Ep 26: Leaving Apocalyptic Splinter Groups Dec 12, 2017

Brandon used to be a member of a church called the “Church of God Preparing for The kingdom of God." The group holds an apocalyptic view of end times prophecy and the end of the world as we know it. Brandon left in 2013.

Ep 25: Podcasting, Publishing, and New World Library with Kim "Skipper" Corbin Dec 07, 2017

Kim 'Skipper' Corbin is the host of the New World Now podcast at New World Library, where she serves as a senior publicist/social media manager. She has also been a passionate promoter of the benefits of adult skipping since 1999 via her iskip.com website, which has been featured in Time, Newsweek, and People Magazines. Her website iskip.com offers an information source and gathering place for people all over the world who enjoy a good skip.

Ep 24: Gregg Deal on Indigenous America, Art, Activism, & Stereotypes Dec 04, 2017

Gregg Deal is an artist, a husband, a father and a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe.

Ep 23: Confucius and Confucian Values with Dr. Li Dan Nov 30, 2017

Dr. Li Dan is professor of Chinese Literature in the College of Humanities and Communications at Shanghai Normal University, China. She was appointed the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at the University of MIssouri from 2015-2017. She is the author of 44 academic articles and one book, Approaching to the Poetics. We spoke at the University of Missouri Confucius Institute on November 21, the anniversary of the death of Confucius.

Ep 22: Brad Warner on Soto Zen, Writing, and Dogen Nov 25, 2017

Brad Warner is most recently the author of It Came from Beyond Zen! and numerous other titles including Don’t Be a Jerk, Sit Down & Shut Up, Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate, There is No God and he is always with you, Sex, Sin, and Zen, Hardcore Zen, and Hardcore Zen Strikes Again. A Soto Zen priest, he is a punk bassist, filmmaker, Japanese-monster-movie marketer, and popular blogger based in Los Angeles. You can find him online at www.hardcorezen.info

Ep 21: Unitarian Universalism with Rev. Molly Housh Gordon Nov 18, 2017

Rev. Molly Housh Gordon started her tenure as the third settled minister of the Columbia, Missouri Unitarian Universalist congregation 2012. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Religion from Hendrix College in Conway, Ark. and a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass.

Rev. Housh Gordon Sermon Archive Link: https://uuchurch.net/sermon-archive

Ep 19: Indigenous American Religion with Dr. Dennis Kelley Nov 05, 2017

Dennis Kelley is an associate professor of Religious Studies at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He received his Master’s and Doctorate from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with emphases in American Indian Religious Traditions, Religion in American Culture, and Myth and Ritual Theory. His most recent book is Tradition, Performance, and Religion in Native America: Ancestral Ways, Modern Selves, and is currently working on a book tentatively titled Having Had a Spiritual (Re)Awakening: Religion and Alcohol Addiction Recovery in Indian Country.

Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/Tradition-Performance-Religion-Native-America/dp/0415823633/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509903178&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=dennis+kelly+tradition+performance+religion

Ep 18: United Church of Christ, Liberation, Theology, and Ferguson with Rev. Josh Privitt Oct 31, 2017

Rev. Josh Privitt was called as Associate Pastor at St. Peter’s UCC in Ferguson, Missouri in August of 2014 after graduating from Eden Theological Seminary with a Masters of Divinity.

Ep 17: Baha'u'llah 200th birthday with Dr. Sahba Jalali & Kurt Saxton Oct 26, 2017

Baha'u'llah is the founder of the Baha'i Faith. 2017 marks the 200th anniversary of his birth. This discussion with Dr. Sahba Jalali and Kurt Saxton offers insight into the auspicious nature of 2017 for the world's Baha'i population.

Ep 16: Rinzai Zen Buddhism with Seido Ray Ronci Oct 20, 2017

Seido Ray Ronci is a Rinzai Zen monk and the director of the Hokoku-An Zendo meditation center in Columbia, Missouri. He is the author of the poetry collection The Skeleton of the Crow, winner of the 2009 PEN Center USA Award for Poetry, and This Rented Body (2006). He contributed to the Zen poetry collection America Zen: A Gathering of Poets, published in 2004. His work has also appeared in Tricycle, Narrative, and Rattle. Seido Ronci is an associate professor at the University of Missouri, where he teaches critical theory and literature.

Ep 15: Brahma Kumaris with Dr. Sheetal Dharmadhikari Oct 14, 2017

Dr. Sheetal Dharmadhikari is a member of the Brahma Kumaris. The Brahma Kumaris are a spiritual movement associated with the United Nations and are present in UNICEF. Founded in India in 1937, Brahma Kumaris has spread to over 110 countries on all continents and is an international NGO.

Ep 14: Hinduism with Dr. Gopal and Anantha Gopalaratnam Oct 07, 2017

Dr. Gopal and Anantha Gopalaratnam are founding members of the Shanthi Mandir Hindu Temple and Community Center of Mid-Missouri.

EP 13: Discussing Quakers with Jessie Starbuck Oct 01, 2017

Jessie Starbuck, a Columbia, Missouri native, grew up attending the Columbia Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). She went on to study art at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI and returned to Columbia in 2006 to pursue an education degree. Jessie is now an Art Teacher in Columbia, Missouri.

Ep 12: Islam, Palestinians, Al-Aqsa, and Peace Fellowship Sep 22, 2017

This is a discussion about Islam, Palestinians, Al-Aqsa, and Peace Fellowship.

EP 11: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints & Mormonism with Ryan Jenkins Sep 18, 2017

Ryan is the author of “The Assassination of Joseph Smith: Innocent Blood on the Banner of Liberty,” published in 2015. After obtaining his Master of Education from Weber State University in 2004, Ryan began writing opinion pieces for Northern Utah newspapers on family, freedom, politics, and religion. He was a blogger on the subject of faith for two years; many of his posts were featured on realclearreligion.org. He was also an associate editor for Great American Documents for Latter-Day Saint Families (2012). He has contributed to Lifezette.com (Faith section). Professionally, he has experience in business, public relations, and public speaking, along with religious education. He has been teaching and writing for 18 years.

www.authorryancjenkins.com

EP 10: Travel, Teaching, Exploration, and Spirituality with Dr. Gabrielle Malfatti Sep 14, 2017

Dr. Gabrielle Malfatti serves as Director of Global Engagement and Associate Teaching Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Missouri College of Education. In 2013 she established Mizzou Ed Teach Abroad, a program designed to give future teachers an opportunity to internationalize their preparation with international co-teaching experiences and cross-cultural mentoring. She is a founding board member of the Ashera Foundation, serves on the Advisory Council for Vidyashilp Academy in Bangalore, India. Dr. Malfatti has led multiple workshops and presentations on leadership, international education and intercultural issues in the U.S., Canada, Colombia, Cuba, England, Ghana, India and Thailand.

Ep 9: Jainism and Ahimsa with Nishant Jain Sep 08, 2017

Jainism is an ancient Indian religion emphasizing non-violence. This conversation is an introduction and a deep dive all at once with Nishant Jain.

Suggested follow-up episode on the concept of Ahimsa can be found on the "History of Philosophy of India" podcast.

Link:

https://hopwag2.podbean.com/e/hpi-15-mostly-harmless-non-violence/

EP 8: Discussing Judaism, Conversion, and Israel with Mary Hartigan Sep 03, 2017

Mary Hartigan is a conservative Jewish woman and has been an ardent Zionist since age 15. She converted to Judaism in the 1980's and is an active presence in her local congregation.

Ep 7: Brahma and Sarasvati (Hindu Creation) Sep 01, 2017

This episode features the Hinduism creation story. The story features Brahma, the creator god, and Sarasvati, the goddess of knowledge, wisdom, music, and art.

Ep 6: The Euthyphro Dilemma w/ Mackenzie Everett-Kennedy Aug 26, 2017

Script: https://genius.com/Plato-euthyphro-full-text-annotated

Episode 6 is a full cast performance of Plato's classic text, Euthyphro. The questions discussed: What is piety and what is impiety? Do the gods love something because it is holy, or is something holy because it is loved by the gods?

Socrates performed by Mackenzie Everett-Kennedy

Euthyphro performed by Greg Soden

Ep 5: Talking about Baha'i with Kurt Saxton Aug 20, 2017

Kurt Saxton has been a member of the Columbia Missouri community for about 15 years. Kurt has been a Baha'i for over 10 years, and has served on the Local Spiritual Assembly for roughly that same amount of time. The Baha'i Faith has no clergy; the Local Spiritual Assembly handles administrative affairs within the Baha'i community. As there is no clergy within the Faith, the views and opinions about Baha'i matters and Baha'i Writings are strictly his own, and in no way are meant to be authoritative.

Visit: www.bahai.org for more information

Ep 4: African Indigenous religions with Dr. David Amponsah Aug 17, 2017

David Amponsah is an assistant professor in the Religious Studies Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia with a PhD from Harvard University, a Masters from Harvard, a masters from Indiana University, and a Bachelors from the University of Ghana. He is a historian of religion who researches the intersection of religion and society in Africa, with special attention to colonialism, culture, and politics. His research is grounded in African social, cultural, political, and intellectual history, and is principally concerned with the modern period. His work has appeared in the Journal of Africana Religions, the Journal of Religion in Africa, African and Asian Studies, and more. He is currently working on a book tentatively titled “Unholy Interplay: Shrines, Priests, and British Rule in the Making of Colonial Ghana,1800–1966” in which he examine the connection between indigenous religion and colonialism.

Ep 3: Teaching religious studies w/ Eric Lancaster Aug 13, 2017

Eric Lancaster is an instructor of Japanese at the University of Missouri and an instructor of religious studies at Columbia College. He is a member of Bunraku Bay Puppet Theatre troupe, whose film, "Kaiju Bunraku," was screened at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. This conversation talks about the importance of teaching and studying religion.

Ep 2: Teaching religion in public school w/ George Frissell Aug 10, 2017

George Frissell retired in 2017 and taught high school English and religious studies in Texas and Missouri. In 1990, he founded Classical Ideas and World Religions at Hickman High School in Columbia, MO. He is the founder of the Speak Your Mind Forum series and the Columbia, MO Amnesty International chapter for the public school system.

Ep 1: An Introduction to the Classical Ideas Podcast Aug 08, 2017

This episode outlines the premise for the Classical Ideas Podcast.