Claim OwnershipResearch On Religion
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A weekly podcast exploring academic research on religion and featuring top scholars in history, sociology, political science, economics and religious studies.
116 Episodes
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It is said that Jesus hits like the atom bomb. If so, then Buddha, or at least this episode on Buddhism and near-future technology, might be the daisy cutter of philosophy. Whereas most of the episodes on Research on Religion have focused on Christianity, the dominant faith tradition in the English-speaking world and the topic most in my wheelhouse, I tried to venture outside of the box on a regular basis to learn about other religions. Relative to Christianity, there isn't as much social...Keep on reading: #1 Matthew Moore on Buddhism, Meditating Machines, and the Robopocalypse.
One of the greatest joys of doing this podcast for the past eight years has been to meet some pretty incredible people who are just "ordinary" citizens going about their daily life. My goal from the beginning of this project was to highlight "practitioners" who "learn by doing" and to bring forth the knowledge they possess. Such practitioners often have more valuable insights into human behavior than the scholars who study these folks. Without doubt, my favorite category of interviews have...Keep on reading: #2 Daniel Stiles on Cowboy Churches
2Academia is a world that can be filled with intense jealousies and envy, wherein one professor is always concerned why the work of another professor is more cited than their own. We all suffer from that sin, whether we admit it or not. However, Dr. Ron Hassner (UC-Berkeley) is probably the one scholar in my field of religion and politics whose work I have the highest respect for and think his writing should be getting as much attention as possible. We featured Prof. Hassner on our show...Keep on reading: #3 Ron Hassner on Sacred Spaces and Holy Conflict
During 2017, we undertook a series of episodes dedicated to Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. A number of superb interviews came from that series, including the Catholic response to Protestantism with James Felak. However, my favorite episode of this bunch was with Dr. Emily Fisher Gray of Norwich University, who (like Colleen Haight last week) had incredible enthusiasm for the topic. I found this to be a very accessible introduction to the thinking of Luther and his life and...Keep on reading: #4 Emily Fisher Gray on Luther’s 95 Theses
As noted in my farewell monologue, the characteristics that I look for in an interview are topics that are a little off the beaten path and the enthusiasm of the scholar for his/her topic. Dr. Colleen Haight, a professor of economics at San Jose State University, is the perfect embodiment of both these characteristics. Not only has Colleen studied the economics of fair trade coffee, and the historical importance of Jewish peddlers on the American frontier, she also undertook a project (with...Keep on reading: #5 Colleen Haight on the Oracle of Delphi
Organized religion and religious believers often get painted with a bad reputation, and sometimes it is justly due, but most of the time it is not. Prof. Rod Stark, a co-founder of Baylor's Institute for Studies of Religion, explains the benefits of religion on a wide range of social behavior. Rod has long been my most favorite sociologist of religion and has had a profound impact on the way I write. While Prof. Stark can write research papers in academic jargon with the best of them, the...Keep on reading: #6 Rod Stark on How Religion Benefits Everyone, Including Atheists
Modern social media is a wondrous thing. Without it, this podcast would have never come into being, and it is unlikely that I would have been able to find half of my guests. Many of my ideas for shows were culled from posts I saw on Facebook, Twitter, or internet news and scholarly feeds I receive (not to mention emails from listeners suggesting potential guests). One such guest came to me via Facebook as I was linking to some old high school friends. Jim Papandrea was two years my...Keep on reading: #7 Jim Papandrea on Christology, Superheroes, and Science Fiction Films
I owe a great deal professionally to the work of Larry Iannaccone, a professor of economics at Chapman University as he played a pivotal role in my intellectual development, putting me on a research course that landed me where I am today. We recount some of our adventures in this podcast, including how I first found one of his many outstanding articles, as well as his surprise to find that somebody was citing his research. Prof. Iannaccone is one of the founding fathers of the new "economics...Keep on reading: #8 Larry Iannaccone on Sacrifice, Stigma, and the Economics of Religion
Prof. Carmel Chiswick (George Washington University) is a scholar's scholar. Dr. Chiswick is an economist to be reckoned with when it comes to what we usually think about when we talk economics (e.g., labor policy), but she also has the intellectual breadth to be able to address topics outside of the narrow confines of academically-defined fields. Add to this that Carmel has an incredible ability to teach people through stories, and often overlooked skill in our academic profession. This...Keep on reading: #9 Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of Being Jewish in America
This was the very first podcast episode we aired and the second interview that I conducted. I learned of Prof. Karrie Koesel (of the University of Oregon at the time, now at Notre Dame) when I was asked to review grant proposals for a Templeton Fund Initiative. To discover that there was a young scholar just down the road from me who was doing fascinating research (and actually citing me) was a wonderful discovery. I drove down to Oregon and interviewed Karrie in person. I was further...Keep on reading: #10 Karrie Koesel on Religion and Politics in China
Like Mark David Hall's podcast (see last week), this was one of the earliest podcasts that I did but it was one that started to solidify my belief that we can learn a great deal from "non-academic scholars" -- people who have to learn about the world while they are actually interacting with it. I tend to be a "nuts and bolts" kind of person, wanting to know the step-by-step methods in which something is done and this interview covers an entire "construction project" of building a church from...Keep on reading: #11 Matt Boswell on Starting a New Church (Really Fast)
When I first started this podcast back in 2010, I was just coming off the publication of my book The Political Origins of Religious Liberty and had a renewed fascination with American colonial history. Given that our podcast was beginning in June of 2010, I thought having a regular series about religion and US history would be a great idea around July 4th. It turned out that Prof. Mark David Hall of George Fox University was the perfect guest for this task. Mark gave us a great perspective...Keep on reading: #12 Mark David Hall on Religion and the Founding Fathers
After eight years, and 372 unique episodes, Dr. Anthony Gill - professor of political science at the University of Washington and Distinguished Senior Fellow at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion - retires the microphone and moves on to other pastures. In a short, ten-minute monologue Tony explains why he decided to end the show at this time and thanks Baylor's ISR, his guests, and the listeners for tuning in. It is also noted that over the next three months, there will be...Keep on reading: So Long and Thanks for Listening
Religion and socio-political dissent have often been historically linked. Prof. Curtis Freeman, research professor of theology and Baptist studies at Duke University's Divinity School, guides us along a journey of religious dissent in the British and American tradition, focusing on three notable authors/artists -- John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe, and William Blake. This journey for Dr. Freeman began when the Wesley Chapel in London was closed and someone suggested that he travel to the cemetery...Keep on reading: Curtis Freeman on Undomesticated Religious Dissent
One of our favorite topics of discussion on Research on Religion is religious liberty. Dr. Brandon O'Brien, the Director of Content Development at Redeemer City to City, provides a new angle on that topic as he joins us to discuss Isaac Backus and his new book Demanding Liberty: An Untold Story of American Religious Freedom. After Tony notes that Dr. O'Brien appeared on our show previously talking about the Apostle Paul, Brandon explains his interest in colonial American religious history...Keep on reading: Brandon O’Brien on Isaac Backus and Religious Liberty
Hello, is there anyone out there? Just nod if you can hear us. What will happen if we are able to contact intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? Prof. John Traphagan, professor and Mitsubishi Fellow in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Texas - Austin, examines this question within the framework of our knowledge about "cargo cults." But before we get to cargo cults, we ask how a professor of religious studies with an interest in Japanese culture ended up writing...Keep on reading: John Traphagan on Cargo Cults and Active SETI
When you think if Christianity in the U.S. South, images of Southern Baptist congregations, conservative politics, and even snake-handling may come to mind. But Prof. James Hudnut-Beumler, the Anne Potter Wilson Distinguished Professor of American Religious History at Vanderbilt University, reveals that the spiritual tapestry is much more nuanced than might appear on initial glance. Prof. Hudnut-Beumler joins us to talk about his new book Strangers and Friends at the Welcome Table and...Keep on reading: James Hudnut-Beumler on Religion in the Now South
We are back momentarily from our sporadic sabbatical and pleased to be joined by Rev. Douglas "Banzai" Douma, a licensed minister in the Reformed Presbyterian Church (Hanover Presbytery) and author of The Presbyterian Philosopher: The Authorized Biography of Gordon H. Clark. Our discussion this week focuses both on Doug's work on Prof. Clark, but also his new endeavor to create a Christian hostel for hikers along the Appalachian Trail, thus we get an insight into both the scholarly and...Keep on reading: Doug Douma on Gordon Clark and a Christian Hiking Hostel
Although the United States is often viewed as a beacon for religious freedom around the world, thanks in large part to the institutionalization of the First Amendment, the practice of religious toleration has often fallen well short of the ideals set for itself. Prof. David Smith, lecturer in the Department of Government & International Relations and a faculty member at the United States Studies Center at the University of Sydney (Australia), discusses his explanation for episodic...Keep on reading: David Smith on Episodic Religious Persecutions (Encore Presentation)
Political rebellion and violence in the Middle East has recently been associated with religious belief and rhetoric, often spurred on by the writings and recordings of Muslim clerics. What motivates imams to advocate such tactics? Prof. Richard Nielsen, an associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, answers this question with reference to previous theories of revolution and an examination of the career paths of imams who advocate violent jihad. ...Keep on reading: Richard Nielsen on Deadly Clerics
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