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The Religious Studies Podcast

The Religious Studies Podcast
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Description
Where did the sacred go?
This podcast is focused on the philosophical study of religion and will center on books, both historical and contemporary. Each book will get a 15 minute Book Brief episode and then a Deep Dive episode. The Book Briefs are high-level overviews of the main arguments of the book and why the book is relevant to us today. The Deep Dive episodes will not have the time constraint and will be where I spend time discussing various arguments and themes from the book, as well as offering critiques if I have them.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/therspod
Substack: https://thereligiousstudiespodcast.substack.com/
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
This podcast is focused on the philosophical study of religion and will center on books, both historical and contemporary. Each book will get a 15 minute Book Brief episode and then a Deep Dive episode. The Book Briefs are high-level overviews of the main arguments of the book and why the book is relevant to us today. The Deep Dive episodes will not have the time constraint and will be where I spend time discussing various arguments and themes from the book, as well as offering critiques if I have them.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/therspod
Substack: https://thereligiousstudiespodcast.substack.com/
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
23 Episodes
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In this episode we discuss a few sections in Ricoeur's collection of essays titled "The Conflict of Interpretation".
We discuss why Ricoeur sees Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud as masters of suspicion and how that should help us think about religion, ourselves, and our modern world.
Intro (00:00:45)
From Descartes to Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud (00:04:45)
The Function of Religion in Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud (00:19:19)
We are All Armchair Psychologists (00:38:05)
We begin this episode going over Stirner’s critique of philosophers and the Enlightenment. It’s important to keep in mind that whatever problem he has with religion, he also has that problem with people too focused on thinking or capital T truth. As he says, a shout or a jump is as good at relieving anxiety as studying any book.
We also look at the overlap in thought between Stirner and Foucault, Gabriel Marcel, Freud, and Girard. For example, both Stirner and Marcel think you should not ask what are humans? You should ask: who am I? And regarding connections between Girard and Stirner, we look at the human propensity to always create a sacred and always let our desires overtake us.
We end the episode reflecting on what is sacred today? What do we let dominate us? And what is our scapegoat?
00:04:10 Stirner’s Critique of Philosophy and the Enlightenment
00:28:25 Connections between Stirner and Foucault, Marcel, Freud, and Girard.
01:30:45 Stirner’s Stoicism and our Contemporary World
Topics Discussed:
The relationship between particulars and universals
Demon posession and god possession
The religious discontent with the present
The Sacred and when ideas overtake us
When our future self overtakes us
Sections:
Intro (00:00:34)
Basic Overview of Stirner's Arguments (00:05:55)
Stirner's Critique of Religion (00:38:20)
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Topics Discussed:
Gabriel Marcel
Martin Heidegger
Phenomenology
Psychology
Sections:
Intro: 00:00:55
1 Marcel's Philosophical Framework: 00:06:45
2 Realworld Examples from Marcel: 00:47:25
Topics Discussed:
Jesus
Satan
Philosophy
Peter Thiel
Curtis Yarvin
Psychology
Desire
Sections:
(00:01:20) Intro
I. (00:06:05) Overview of Girard's theory and his interpretation of two bible myths
II. (00:46:32) Satan as the representation of the mimetic cycle of desire
III. (01:10:33) Demonology and Psychology, plus our modern fixation on victims
Episode References:
Technology, Communisim, and the Brown Scare - Mencius Moldbug
Tyler Cowen Interview of Peter Thiel
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Topics Discussed:
The Bible
John the Baptist
Rene Girard
Freud
Psychology
Sections:
Intro (00:01:05)
Girard's General Theory and the story of Caiaphas (00:05:20)
The Beheading of John the Baptist (00:34:05)
Peter's Denial (01:02:03)
Demons of Gerasa (01:18:09)
The Supernatural Inspiration of the Bible (01:48:45)
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Topics Discussed:
God
Psychoanalysis
Moses
Judaism
Religion
Freud
Atheism
Darwin
Sections:
Intro (00:00:55)
I. Moses the Egyptian (00:05:24)
II. Psychoanalyzing Human History (00:24:56)
III. Why Freud Wrote about Moses (00:57:53)
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Topics Discussed:
Psychoanalysis
Freud
Girard
Moses
Judaism
Sections:
Intro: 00:00:53
Freud's Method: 00:03:34
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Topics Discussed:
Barbie movie
Identity
Girard
Feminism
Sections:
intro (00:00:20)
Girard and Identity (00:16:15)
Jokes reveal the truth (00:31:30)
The Daughter (00:46:50)
Motherhood (00:54:20)
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Topics Discussed:
Nietzsche
Jesus
Atheism
Christianity
Sections:
Intro (00:04:33)
Nietzsche's Philosophy and Christianity (00:10:37)
Jesus (00:37:15)
Power and Christianity (00:44:16)
The Antichrist (01:00:15)
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Topics Discussed:
Sections:
Nietzsche
Jesus
Christianity
Morality
Nihilism
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Topics Discussed:
Sexual identity
Jesus
Desire
Holocausts
Sections:
General Remarks (00:00:54)
The State of Desire Today (00:07:40)
Society Today and in the Future (00:46:30)
Transcript/Outline Link
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Topics Discussed:
Jesus
Identity
Moral Judgment
Sections:
General Remarks (00:00:54)
Girard's General Reading of the Bible (00:07:30)
Girard's Reading of Particular Bible Stories (00:18:40)
What Jesus Said and Did (00:50:05)
Outline Link
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Topics Discussed:
Religion
Violence
Jesus
The Matrix
Eyes Wide Shut
The Great Gatsby
Sections:
General Remarks, explaining the title of the book, and Jesus talking in parables (00:01:25)
In-depth discussion of Girard’s core argument (00:19:30)
Watching movies with Girard (00:49:00)
Outline Link
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Topics Discussed: mimesis, anthropology, Christianity, Religion, scapegoat, the movie I am Legend
Sections:
General Remarks (00:00:51)
Girard’s Fundamental Theory (00:03:10)
The Priority of Religion for Girard (00:13:10)
Transcript Link
Episode References:
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Sections:
--- General Remarks (00:00:51)
--- The Context of the Burned-Over District (00:08:57)
--- New Measures (00:27:17)
--- Apocalypticism and Heaven on Earth (00:56:05)
Outline Link
Topics Discussed:
Second Great Awakening
Christianity
Joseph Smith
Charles Finney
WIlliam Miller
American History
Slavoj Zizek
Hypnosis
Alter Call
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Sections:
Secular or Sacred Causes of the Burned-Over District (00:07:02)
Orthodoxy and the many Sects of the Burned-Over District (00:10:20)
Topics Discussed:
Second Greak Awakening
Christianity
American History
Transcript Link
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Sections:
Intro (00:00:22)
Cause-god (00:14:40)
Godless age and Technology (00:28:06)
New Possibility (00:37:56)
Topics Discussed:
Philosophy
God
Christianity
Heidegger
Technology
Plato
atheism
Outline Link
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod)
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Sections:
Heidegger, Western Metaphysics and his phenomenology (00:02:54)
Beyond A/theism (00:09:15)
The Notion of God (00:11:10)
Topics Discussed:
God
Heidegger
Phenomenology
Philosophy
Metaphysics
Transcript Link
Episode References:
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494
Sections:
Intro (00:00:54)
Morality and The Modern Therapeutic Authority (00:01:35)
Meaning and Our Conception of Time (00:23:45)
Religion Today and a Path Forward (01:02:10)
Topics Discussed:
confused relationship to morality
lack of ideals or heros today
time is now flat, our past can no longer ground us
modern malaise
grand narratives
progress is a story we've told ourselves
plug and play religion
Text Outline
Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter
Email: thereligiousstudiespodcast@gmail.com
Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494