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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.

Browse past Episodes

The Sacrality of the Secular and Philosophy of Religion

In this week’s podcast, we speak with Bradley Onishi about the ways in which philosophy of religion has thought “with” religion rather than for or against religion. “It’s possible,” he says, “to hold an enchanted secularity” if we think about religions themselves as tools for questioning our basic assumptions about the world.

Discourse! #13 | January 2020

This decade’s first episode of Discourse! is hosted by Vivian Asimos, with guests Aled Thomas and Michael Munnick. This time, the theme is “communication” – fittingly enough. The conversation covers stories about different models of Christianity among evangelical Trump supporters, the recent resurgence of the use of “cult” in popular media, Greta Thunberg as a charismatic leader and media’s downplaying of Islamic Solidarity in the Gambian justice minister’s genocide charge at the UN against Myanmar.

Only Sixty Seconds! | Mid-Year Special 2019

For our eighth(!) annual special, Only Sixty Seconds returns! This time, Chris Cotter is your host, as David G. Robertson returns to defend his 2018 crown against Bettina Schmidt, Douglas Davies and Theo Wildcroft. We may not have avoided repetition, but I do not hesitate in promising you no deviation from hilarity!

Discourse #12 | December 2019

Religious studies scholars (and policy experts) Susan Hayward and Peter Mandaville join the Religious Studies Project for Discourse in December 2019. They discuss how classifying conflicts as religious or not can clarify–or obscure–the complexities of those conflicts. The conversation includes examples from the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and the United States. News stories referenced include: https://m.khaleejtimes.com/uae/abu-dhabi/tolerance-is-the-only-way-to-peace-say-world-leaders- https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/442726/Tehran-raps-U-S-interference-in-China-s-affairs https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-world-court-quotebox/demonstrations-mark-case-against-myanmar-at-u-n-s-world-court-idUSKBN1YE1TD http://www.ft.lk/front-page/BBS-to-disband-after-General-Elections/44-689999 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/us/politics/trump-antisemitism-executive-order.html

Applied Religious Studies at Georgia State University

In this episode, Professor Molly Bassett, chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Georgia State University speaks about her program’s efforts to develop applied religious studies master’s certificates in “Religion and Aging” and “Nonprofit Management.”

Straight White American Jesus, the podcast

In this week’s podcast, Skidmore College Professor Bradley Onishi speaks about Straight White American Jesus, a podcast he co-hosts with Dan Miller that blends insider religious experience with academic expertise about American Evangelicalism.

Discourse #11 | Oct 2019

Chris Cotter is joined by Susannah Crockford and Sierra Lawson in this month’s edition of discourse, discussing college football politics in Alabama, Donald Trump’s new ‘spiritual adviser’, a Day of the Dead/Dia de Muertos memorializing migrants who have died at the US border, Armistice/Remembrance/Veterans day rituals, and the recent controversy surrounding QR codes at the AAR-SBL.

Doctors and Stigmatics in the 19th and 20th centuries

In this week’s podcast with Gabor Klaniczay we learn about cases of stigmata during the 19th and 20th century in Europe, where medical discourses clashed with as well as supported religious discourses about the authenticity and meaning of famous stigmata cases like Italian Padre Pio.

Reflections on “Thinking with Jonathan Z. Smith”

Aaron W. Hughes, the keynote speaker for the #JZSatNTNU Conference in Trondheim, Norway, talks conference panelist Andie Alexander about the legacy of Jonathan Z. Smith’s work for the field of religious studies.

Lady Death and the Pluralization of Latin American Religion

In today’s podcast, Professor R. Andrew Chesnut connects Brazil’s colonial past to its pluralist present and explains why folk saint devotion to Santa Muerte or Lady Death is one of the fastest growing religious movements in the world.

EASR 2019 Publishing Panel

This panel, recorded at the EASR conference 2019 at the University of Tartu, is intended for PhD students and early career scholars who want to learn more about the publishing world.

The secularization of discourse in contemporary Latin American neoconservatism

In this week’s podcast, Professor Jerry Espinoza Rivera explains how Latin American conservatism became neoconservatism. Though Latin America is diverse, conservatism has been a widespread in the region shaping not only the political power plays of religious institutions but the people’s daily experience of the world. Recently, however, neoconservatism has managed to develop a language of its own that blends science and philosophy with historical analysis of the contemporary world political landscape to become an significant religio-cultural force.