Episode Archive

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Harm, AI, and Religion | Discourse! June 2023

In our final #RSPdiscourse of the season, editor Andie Alexander, Craig Martin, and Paul-François Tremlett consider the concept of "harm" & religion in recent legislation, Scotland elections, and AI & Religion.

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Illustration of Guy DeBord's Naked City

Manifestos and the Academic Study of Religion

What are manifestos? How are they employed in society? What can the academic study of religion offer to help understand them? The faculty and students in the Dept. of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney have a few thoughts on that. Tune in to learn more!

The New Satanic Panic and the Return of Blasphemy | Discourse! April 2021

Join this month’s host Dan Gorman and guests Maxinne Connolly-Panagopoulos and Sidney Castillo to find out what connects Lil’ Nas X, Alabama’s yoga ban and Polish black metal. As politics moves rightwards across Europe and the US, are we entering a period of pushback from conservative religious institutions against minority religions and secularism?

The Cover art for Willi Braun's new book _Jesus and Addiction to Origins_

Comparing Methods in Christian Origins

What happens when scholars take seriously the human-focused study of religious practices? In this episode, Willi Braun joins Andie Alexander to discuss the importance of critical approaches in the study of religion.

the cover art for Robin Veldman's book.

Understanding Evangelical Opposition to Climate Action

Evangelicals don’t oppose climate activism for the reasons you think. Listen to expert Robin Veldman and find out why “embattlement” matters more than eschatology when it comes to rejecting climate science.

On the Tantricization of Jain Ascetic Rituals

In the RSP’s first episode on Jainism, Dr. Ellen Gough joins Andie Alexander to discuss what she terms “tantricization,” a method for thinking about the process of establishing something as tantric.

Sex Scandals and Minoritized Religions

What do Muslims, Mormons, and Satanists have in common? Megan Goodwin argues that for all three groups, sex scandals were used to paint religious groups as un-American and “bad” religion. Learn more about minoritization and its role in policing American identity in this week’s episode.

Following the Objects: Seeing Religion in Egypt and Syria

Why do scholars of religion have such a variety of incomplete and messy tools to “follow the objects”? Find out with the curious stories of devotional objects from Cairo and Damascus as Candace Mixon speaks with Richard McGregor about Islam and the Devotional object.

Race and the Aliites

Complex issues of race, identity, citizenship, sovereignty, and Law come together in this interview with Spencer Dew about the New Religious Movements surrounding Noble Drew Ali and the groups he inspired.

Beyond Ecological Essentialism: Critical and Constructive Muslim Environmentalisms

The diversity of Muslim environmentalisms shows the urgency of decolonizing Religious Studies and Environmental Humanities amid escalating global climate crises, says Prof. Anna Gade in this week’s episode. Based on her decades of fieldwork in Indonesia, Dr. Gade sketches new intersections of religion and the environment that decenter conversations long dominated by Western ecological models.

Myth-making, Environmentalism, and Non-Religion

What myths do non-religious people use in their climate and environmental activism? What does the study of everyday stories bring to the study of ‘religion’ and ‘non-religion’? Find out in this interview with Dr. Tim Stacey by RSP Co-Founder Christopher R. Cotter.