ReligionWise

On this episode of ReligionWise Philosophy Professor Eric Steinhart joins us to discuss how his work on contemporary paganism challenges traditional boundaries in the philosophy of religion. We consider the historical limitations of the field, the value of including minority traditions, and how his eclectic academic interests have shaped his approach to religious diversity and philosophical inquiry.Show Notes:Contemporary Pagan Philosophy (https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/abs/contemporary-pagan-philosophy/483B647D60932CA5C76C51141A4AF40F)Send us a text

In this episode, we explore the remarkable story of the Abayudaya, Uganda's Jewish community, with Chief Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, the first native-born ordained rabbi in Sub-Saharan Africa. Rabbi Sizomu shares the history of his community, from its founding through persecution under Idi Amin's regime to its contemporary revival. Our conversation examines how the Abayudaya navigate their dual identity as both distinctly Jewish and distinctly Ugandan.Show Notes:Abayudaya: Music from the Jewish People of Uganda (https://folkways.si.edu/abayudaya-music-from-the-jewish-people-of-uganda/judaica-sacred-world/album/smithsonian) Send us a text

In this episode we explore the fascinating world of neuroscience with Dr. Jeremy Teissere, Stanley Road Professor of Neuroscience at Muhlenberg College, who introduces us to the discipline's key questions and recent developments. Then, we turn to the enduring legacy of William James, the early 20th century thinker at the intersection of psychology, philosophy, and religion. We consider how James's pioneering insights into mystical states, consciousness, and conversion continue to resonate with modern neuroscientific understanding.Send us a text

In this episode of ReligionWise we sit down with Ulysses Burley, founder of UBtheCure, a consulting company that describes itself as being at the "intersection of Faith, Health, and Human Rights." A trained physician turned social activist, Dr. Burley is interested in the role and responsibility of communities to play a part in public health and our collective response to both wellness and disease, including but not limited to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Black community.Send us a text

This episode features Reverend Frederick Davie, who among other roles, serves as the Senior Advisor on Racial Equity for Interfaith America. In this far ranging discussion, we talk about the role of interfaith dialogue in wider public discourse, the shifting understanding of religious freedom, and the relationship between governmental policy and the priorities of religious communities.Show Notes:Interfaith America (https://www.interfaithamerica.org/)US Commission on International Religious Freedom (https://www.uscirf.gov/)Send us a text

In today's conversation, we talk with Susan Pizor Yoder, a researcher and faith leader who wants to understand how and why recent generations are less likely to identify with traditional religious communities. As the lead author of the recent book, Hear Us Out, Dr. Pizor Yoder talks about the process of interviewing over 200 18-40 year olds about how they find meaning, whether that be in a community or not.Show notes:Hear Us Out (https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506489193/Hear-Us-Out)

On this episode of ReligionWise, scholar Lilianne Lugo Herrera guides us through the vibrant world of Afro-Caribbean religious practice, with a special focus on Cuban traditions. From the intimate spaces of home altars to the dramatic possibilities of theatrical performance, we explore how these sacred traditions continue to pulse through Caribbean cultural life, shaping art, identity, and community across generations.

Today's conversation features Dr. Guy Erwin, the President of the United Lutheran Seminary. As a lifelong educator both with roots on a Native American reservation and as an openly gay man, Dr. Erwin shares his perspective on some of the social and cultural challenges faced by the church in the last generation. More generally, our discussion also considers the place of Christianity in public life and the relationship between the church and higher education.

Though the categories we use to describe them can be different, "the Alt-Right", "Christian Nationalists", "White Nationalists," there is no denying the ascendency of a powerful force on the right that has affected the political and religious landscape of the United States over the last generation. Our guest today, Dr. Damon Berry, works to understand these groups from their context and to make their worldview comprehensible to outsiders from the movement. This conversation not only considers some of the political consequences for the 2024 presidential election, but considers the development and organization of these groups over the last few decades.Show Notes:Blood and Faith: Christianity in American White Nationalism (https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/256/blood-and-faith/)Christianity and the Alt-Right: Exploring the Relationship (https://www.routledge.com/Christianity-and-the-Alt-Right-Exploring-the-Relationship/Berry/p/book/9780367340551)The New Apostolic Reformation, Trump, and Evangelical Politics (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/new-apostolic-reformation-trump-and-evangelical-politics-9781350179431/)PRRI Research Report: A Christian Nation? Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture (https://www.prri.org/research/a-christian-nation-understanding-the-threat-of-christian-nationalism-to-american-democracy-and-culture/)

This episode of ReligionWise features Chris Borick the Director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. In this conversation, we consider how pollsters try to understand religious identity and sentiment, the limitations of those methods for considering religious minorities, and how the rise of a religiously unaffiliated public has shown up in recent polls.

Religious stories and symbolism very often feature animals of all kinds. Over the last few decades, scholars have taken more notice of these non-human actors that often play an important role in religious belief and practice. Today's conversation features Arthur Walker-Jones and Suzanna Millar, the co-editors of a new book at the intersection of Animal Studies and Biblical Studies entitled Ask the Animals: Developing a Biblical Animal Hermeneutic. Our discussion explores the ways that we think about the appearance of animals in Biblical texts and considers, more generally, new approaches to understand the confluence of animals and religion.

Hindu traditions have been around for an incredibly long time. As with any religious or cultural system, however, the beliefs and practices of Hinduism have developed and adapted to new environments and contexts. In today's conversation, we talk with Dr. Abhishek Ghosh from the Institute for Vaishnava Studies about the translation of Hinduism to the West. From early encounters in the 19th century, to shifts in migration patterns in the 20th century, to contemporary wellness practice and mindfulness, we consider the ways that these ancient traditions have been introduced and understood in these new times and places.Show Notes:Institute for Vaishnava Studies (https://www.ivs.edu/)

We all know the aphorism about the unavoidability of death and taxes. On this episode of ReligionWise, we consider the former with funeral director Dustin Grim. Among other topics, this conversation reflects on changes in religious affiliation in the contemporary world and how these changes affect funerary practice. We also ask what these changes can tell us about shifting perceptions of the body, giving us a window into how people think about death itself.

This episode of ReligionWise features Vicki Garlock, Ph.D., the founder of World Religions for Kids. Trained as a cognitive psychologist, Dr. Garlock's longtime interest in religion and religious diversity has inspired her to produce children's books and train educators on the importance of religious literacy for even the youngest learners. Today's conversation considers the legal and pedagogical issues entailed with religious literacy for students and some of the practical concerns of such a curriculum.Show Notes:World Religions for Kids (https://worldreligions4kids.com/)

Today's conversation features Jane Fitzpatrick, a contributing writer to Religion Matters who covers the intersection of religion and the performing arts, with a particular emphasis on the opera. Conversations about religion in the public square happen in all kinds of contexts. This episode considers the many ways that religion is both represented and critiqued in the high cultural form of the opera. We also consider storytelling within both the performing arts and religion, in particular the interpretation and reinterpretation of narrative that is a hallmark of both.Show Notes:"What we can still learn from Dialogues of the Carmelites" (LSE):(https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2023/10/what-we-can-still-learn-from-dialogues-of-the-carmelites/)"Religious Pluralism at the Opera" (The Interfaith Observer):(http://www.theinterfaithobserver.org/journal-articles/2023/10/2-religious-pluralism-at-the-opera)"The Show Must Go On For Boris Godunov" (Appreciate Opera):(https://www.appreciateopera.org/post/the-show-must-go-on-for-boris-godunov)

Religious diversity on college and university campuses can be a complicated subject. Varieties of traditions and worldviews have been present at institutions of higher education for a long time, yet recognizing and welcoming those various religious identities has not always automatically followed.Today's episode of ReligionWise features Adeel Zeb, who has served as a Muslim college chaplain on several campuses over the last decade. Additionally, his work has been profiled in a number of outlets, including the Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, and the Washington Post. This wide ranging conversation considers not only Adeel's work as a Muslim chaplain, but also contemplates the path towards Islamic clerical leadership, pressures towards assimilation among 2nd and 3rd generation college students, and shared characteristics of minority religious identities at majority Christian institutions.

This episode welcomes back Tad Robinson, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy at Muhlenberg College.In his recent work, Robinson has asked how reframing questions of religious activity as spiritual rather than religious might lead to different insight and understanding of prayer, meditation, and a variety of other practices. We also discuss the realities of teaching a new generation that is less connected to religious institutions as well as the philosophical implications of considering spiritual practice from a new angle.

Every four years Iowa takes its stage in the national spotlight as the United States presidential race starts to heat up. This first opportunity for voters to choose a candidate to run in the national election, the Iowa Caucuses have an outsized place in our political geography. In this episode of ReligionWise, State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott and host Chip Gruen discuss many issues at the confluence of religion and politics. From the more diverse electorate than many would expect to Senator Trone Garriott's unlikely path to state politics, today's conversation provides context and local flavor to state politics and one politician who strives to make a difference in her own community.Show Notes:Religion News Service: Iowa pastor says running for office is a test of faith (https://religionnews.com/2020/01/21/in-iowa-a-lutheran-pastor-campaigns-for-state-senate-as-a-democrat/)Des Moines Register: This Iowan's first wedding was to a pair of satanists. What that taught her about love: (https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/entertainment/2023/03/27/what-a-wedding-for-satanists-taught-this-iowa-pastor-sarah-trone-garriott-about-love-storytellers/69924440007/)The Iowa Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church: Sen. Rev. Sarah Trone Garriott Encourages Laity to Counteract Christian Nationalism (https://www.iaumc.org/newsdetail/sen-rev-sarah-throne-garrett-encourages-laity-to-confront-christian-nationalism-18119210)

This episode of ReligionWise features Dr. Lorenzo Servitje, Associate Professor Literature and the Director of the Health, Medicine and Society program at Lehigh University. Trained in both Victorian Literature and Public Health, he considers the way that culture influences and is influenced by questions of health, healthcare, and disease. In this conversation we consider the broader field of Medical Humanities, where it came from and why it is important. We then dig into his particular area of interest, monsters of the Victorian era, from Dracula to Mr. Hyde, asking what can they tell us about both historic and contemporary understandings of health, sickness, and treatment.Show NotesMedicine Is War: The Martial Metaphor in Victorian Literature and Culture(https://sunypress.edu/Books/M/Medicine-Is-War)The Not-So-Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in Antibiotic Research: An Interdisciplinary Opportunity (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33379290/)The Walking Med: Zombies and the Medical Image(https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-07711-6.html)

This episode of ReligionWise features a slightly different format. Instead of an interview, Jessica Cooperman, Associate Professor and Chair of Religion Studies and Director of Jewish Studies at Muhlenberg College, and host Chip Gruen have a conversation that responds to a listener question about the methods of the Institute. We discuss the assumptions and implications of the dominant paradigm in public conversations of religion, "interfaith dialogue" and consider the possibilities for a less identity driven conversation that centers traditional educational methods and addresses religion as a part of human cultural production.

In this episode we talk with Nicole McGalla, Director of Communications and Community Engagement at the Parkland School District, in Eastern Pennsylvania. This conversation considers both the inclusion of the topic of religion into public school curricula as well as how religious diversity among both staff and students is addressed in the contemporary context.

This episode of ReligionWise features Dr. Bob Machamer who teaches courses on Health Care Ethics at the Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences. In this conversation we consider both the historical context for considering healthcare ethics and the changing dynamics of the field, particularly as it addresses the implications of a more diverse patient population. As a teacher, counselor, and pastor, Dr. Machamer brings a multifaceted approach to these questions; this discussion deals primarily with the practical considerations and implications that he deals with in his wide experience with students and clients.

Many current news, such as the overturning of Roe v Wade, the ongoing war in Ukraine, or recent investigations of unidentified aerial phenomenon, have increasingly become fodder for integration into fringe worldviews that we often refer to as conspiracy theories. This episode's encore presentation invites us to consider this development in our information ecosystem from another perspective. Rather than simply considering the claims themselves, what might we learn by considering how these theories contribute to  individual and community identity formation? This discussion invites us to contemplate these discursive strategies for their social significance and how they foster a sense of community around certain beliefs.  This episode of ReligionWise features a conversation with Dustin Nash, Associate Professor of Religion Studies at Muhlenberg College.In this conversation, we discuss conspiracy narratives and how the methods of religious studies can help us understand why individuals believe what they believe. Additionally, we consider how belief can lead to action as well as support an individual's view of self and identity.Show Notes:Dustin Nash article: Fossilized Jews and Witnessing Dinosaurs at the Creation Museum: Public Remembering and Forgetting at a Young Earth Creationist “Memory Place” (https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/scjr/article/view/11027)

This episode of ReligionWise features Rev. Dr. Falres Ilomo, Chair of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Iringa, Tanzania. Dr. Ilomo's work considers the intersections of traditional African religious systems with Christianity in Africa, as well as the history and development of Christianity in Tanzania and the surrounding region. In this conversation, we discuss the perceptions and realities of the varieties of religious expression in Africa and consider several aspects of the belief and practice of the Christian tradition in Tanzania.Show Notes: Cultural and Natural Heritage in Tanzania: A Case of Southern Highlands (https://heritagestudies.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Keynote-Falres-Ilomo.pdf)Interfaith Dialogue in an African Context (https://iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JPCR/article/view/55674)Hymns Translated by Berlin Missionaries in Southern Tanzania: Some Eschatological Implications of Translation (https://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JRDM/article/view/57746)African Religion: A Basis for Interfaith Dialogue Today, Dar es Salaam University Press, 2013

In this episode of ReligionWise, we talk with Sonja Thomas, Associate Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Colby College. In addition to her work on caste, class, and racial privilege in Kerala, India, Dr. Thomas has become a leading voice arguing against caste discrimination in the United States. This conversation considers caste alongside of race, gender, sexual identity, and religion as cite of discrimination and the efforts that are being made to confront it.Show Notes:Privileged Minorities: Syrian Christianity, Gender, and Minority Rights in Postcolonial India (https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295743844/privileged-minorities/)

In this episode of ReligionWise, we talk with Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, Professor of Rabbinic Judaism in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University in Israel. Though her research considers the intersections of Rabbinic thought and the development of the Talmud with early Christianity, she is also keenly interested in thinking about the role of the humanities in the context of the modern University. Through her collaborative work in a variety of institutional and governmental contexts, she has developed a novel perspective on the value of the humanities.

In this episode of ReligionWise, we talk with Dena Davis, Presidential Endowed Chair in Health and Professor of Bioethics at Lehigh University. In addition to her work in healthcare ethics, Dr. Davis has written on a brewing controversy over a group of ultra-Orthodox religious schools in New York. These Yeshivas concentrate their instruction, not on English, math, and science, but on the study of religious texts. The result of this curriculum is that students of these schools graduate without basic competence in skills necessary to navigate the modern world. Dr. Davis provides legal and ethical context for the collision between these religious and secular institutions.

This episode of ReligionWise features the Reverend Janelle Neubauer who currently serves as the College Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life at Muhlenberg College. Prior to holding that post, Pastor Neubauer has had a number of experiences in ministry abroad, including as a missionary pastor for the Lutheran Church of Rwanda. In this conversation, we discuss the contemporary practice of global mission work in the post-colonial experience as well as the opportunities and challenges of this type of work in the global south.

This episode of ReligionWise features Chris Borick the Director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. In this conversation, we consider how pollsters try to understand religious identity and sentiment, the limitations of those methods for considering religious minorities, and how the rise of a religiously unaffiliated public has shown up in recent polls.

This episode features Reverend Frederick Davie, who among other roles, serves as the Senior Advisor on Racial Equity for Interfaith America. In this far ranging discussion, we talk about the role of interfaith dialogue in wider public discourse, the shifting understanding of religious freedom, and the relationship between governmental policy and the priorities of religious communities.Show Notes:Interfaith America (https://www.interfaithamerica.org/)US Commission on International Religious Freedom (https://www.uscirf.gov/)

This episode features Rangina Hamidi, who, until the fall of the government in 2021, served as the Education Minister for Afghanistan. In this conversation, Hamidi talks about her life in public service and discusses the complicated relationship between religion and education in contemporary Afghanistan.

Today's episode features Matthieu Aikins, an award winning journalist and reporter who covered the war in Afghanistan and the subsequent refugee crisis.In this conversation, we consider both his reporting from Kabul after the fall of the Afghan government as well as the plight of refugees as they flee the country and the Taliban. Show notes:Matthieu Aikins' website (https://maikins.com/)The Naked Don't Fear the Water (https://maikins.com/book)Matthieu Aikins' articles (https://longform.org/archive/writers/matthieu-aikins)

This installment of ReligionWise features Kocku von Stuckrad, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.In this conversation, we discuss discourse analysis and its utility in the academic study of religion. In particular, we consider examples from Professor von Stuckrad's two most recent books: The Scientification of Religion (2015) and A Cultural History of the Soul (2022).Show Notes:A Cultural History of the Soul: Europe and North America from 1870 to the Present  (https://cup.columbia.edu/book/a-cultural-history-of-the-soul/9780231200370)The Scientification of Religion: An Historical Study of Discursive Change, 1800–2000 (https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781614513490/html)

This installment of ReligionWise features Tim Loftus, a recent Ph.D. from Temple University who studies contemporary forms of Buddhism.  In this conversation, we discuss Buddhism in various geographic and cultural contexts. In particular, our conversation turns to the way that Buddhism is imagined in the contemporary world and the relationship between that narrative and the historical record.

In this episode of ReligionWise, we talk with Tom Robinson and Hillary Rodrigues, two professors at the University of Lethbridge who direct the Robinest project, a website that provides digital resources for the academic study of religion. In this conversation we talk about these resources, and more generally about dispelling misconceptions of the academic study of religion in contemporary higher education and public discourse.Show notes:Robinest - Digital resources for teaching world religions (https://www.robinest.org/)

In this episode of ReligionWise, we talk with Jodi Eichler-Levine Professor of Religion Studies and Berman Professor of Jewish Civilization at Lehigh University. Our conversation considers the way that storytelling helps individuals and communities organize their lives and imagine their own identities, particularly when processing traumatic events.Show Notes:Suffer the Little Children: Uses of the Past in Jewish and African American Children's Literature (https://jodieichlerlevine.com/books/#suffer)Painted Pomegranates and Needlepoint Rabbis: How Jews Craft Resilience and Create Community (https://jodieichlerlevine.com/books/#painted)

This installment of ReligionWise considers the place of teaching about religion and religious diversity in public secondary education. Our conversation features Greg Soden, who has taught courses on world religions in various high school contexts. Together, we think about the benefits and challenges of a religious studies curriculum in a public context.Show Notes:The Classical Ideas Podcast (https://classicalideaspodcast.libsyn.com/)

In this episode of ReligionWise, the discussion features Jessica Cooperman, Associate Professor and Chair of Religion Studies and Director of Jewish Studies at Muhlenberg College.  Our conversation focuses on the materials and methods that a historian uses to paint a picture from the past, including publicly and privately held archives.Show Notes:Making Judaism Safe for America: World War I and the Origins of Religious Pluralism (https://nyupress.org/9781479885008/making-judaism-safe-for-america/)

This episode of ReligionWise features a conversation with Khurram Hussain, Associate Professor of Religion Studies at Lehigh University.In this far ranging conversation, we discuss the often overlooked humanistic elements present in Islam, reflect on ill-conceived narratives of intercultural interactions, and consider better ways of facilitating understanding across difference. Show Notes:Islam as Critique: Sayyid Ahmad Khan and the Challenge of Modernity(https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/islam-as-critique-9781350248861/)The Muslim Speaks(https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/muslim-speaks-9781786998880/)The Oxford Handbook of Humanism: Humanism in the Middle East(https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190921538.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190921538-e-35)

This episode of ReligionWise features a conversation between Carrie Duncan, Program Specialist for the Institute for Religious and Cultural Understanding and Jill Peterfeso, the Eli Franklin Craven and Minnie Phipps Craven Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Guilford College. In this conversation, we consider how an element of American popular culture, the Disney corporation and in particular Walt Disney World, can be better understood using the tools of religious studies. Dr. Peterfeso not only teaches on the confluence of Disney and religion, but took a group of students to the Magic Kingdom as part of the “Fantastic Journeys” curriculum at Guilford. This conversation demonstrates a different way of thinking about religion itself and asks you to consider similarities and differences between traditional religion and broader cultural experiences.

This episode of ReligionWise features a conversation with Dustin Nash, Associate Professor of Religion Studies at Muhlenberg College.In this conversation, we discuss conspiracy narratives and how the methods of religious studies can help us understand why individuals believe what they believe. Additionally, we consider how belief can lead to action as well as support an individual's view of self and identity.Show Notes:Dustin Nash article: Fossilized Jews and Witnessing Dinosaurs at the Creation Museum: Public Remembering and Forgetting at a Young Earth Creationist “Memory Place” (https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/scjr/article/view/11027)

This episode of ReligionWise features a conversation with Thaddeus “Tad” Robinson, Associate Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Muhlenberg College.In this conversation, we discuss the field philosophy of religion. Among other topics, Dr. Robinson details some of the classic questions addressed in philosophy of religion and the place of this sub-field in the larger field of philosophy. Finally, we explore how considering the philosophy of religion  might lead to a more nuanced, sophisticated conversation about religion in our world.

This episode of ReligionWise features a conversation with Hartley Lachter, Associate Professor of Religion Studies at Lehigh University, where he holds the Philip and Muriel Berman Chair in Jewish Studies, and serves as the director of the Berman Center for Jewish Studies.In this conversation, the origins of antisemitism are discussed as well as the contemporary social functions of the phenomenon.Show NotesKabbalistic Revolution: Reimagining Judaism in Medieval Spain (https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/kabbalistic-revolution/9780813568751)

This episode of ReligionWise features a conversation with Simran Jeet Singh, a highly sought out speaker on diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and anti-racism. His thought leadership extends across corporate, university and government settings, and his work has been featured in various outlets including NPR, CNN, BBC, Time, The Washington Post and The New York Times. Simran is especially passionate about creating more cohesion, equity, and joy for all stakeholders. The conversation includes his experiences growing up a Sikh in South Texas, his role as an activist working for change and for a more just and more equitable society, and his role as a scholar whose job is to describe and help other people understand the belief and practice of religious communities. Show NotesSimran Jeet Singh (https://www.simranjeetsingh.org/)Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon (https://www.simranjeetsingh.org/fauja)Religion News Service: Articles of Faith (https://religionnews.com/category/opinion/columns/simran-jeet-singh/)The Light We Give: The Power of Sikh Wisdom to Transform Your Life (Riverhead/Penguin Random House, 2022)

What is ReligionWise and why should you listen? Also--what to expect this inaugural season!For more about the Institute for Religious and Cultural Understanding, visit www.religionandculture.com.