Shows / New Books in Religion
New Books in Religion
This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: newbooksnetwork.com Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/…
Episodes
- New Books in Religion
In Pursuit of the Inconceivable: An Investigation of Metaphysics and Mysticism with Peter G. Jones (Essentia Books, 2025)
In Pursuit of the Inconceivable: An Investigation of Metaphysics and Mysticism (Essentia Books, 2025) is a compelling exploration of fundamental questions…
- New Books in Religion
Hidden Scrolls, Buried Bibles: How We Discover the Sacred Past with Eva Mroczek (Yale UP, 2026)
From the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Zohar, this is the untold story behind our enduring fascination with lost and found religious texts The Dead…
- New Books in Religion
A Protestant Air: Gide, Sartre, Barthes, and the Religion of Literary Modernity with Clémentine Fauré-Bellaïche (Cornell UP, 2026)
A Protestant Air: Gide, Sartre, Barthes, and the Religion of Literary Modernity (Cornell UP, 2026) focuses on the Protestant connection linking three…
- New Books in Religion
Incense and Performance: The Lives of Mexica Ritual Specialists with Josefrayn Sánchez-Perry (U Arizona Press, 2026)
At the time of the conquest of Mexico, the anonymous authors of the Anales de Tlatelolco (1560s) recorded the deaths of two Mexica ritual specialists. During…
- New Books in Religion
Palimpsests Past and Present: The Sufis and Sultans of the Maklī Necropolis, 1380–1660 with Fatima Quraishi (UNC Press, 2026)
Established in the late fourteenth century in what is now Sindh Province, Pakistan, the Maklī necropolis grew over three centuries to a site of more than…
- New Books in Religion
Shared Sacred Sites in South Asia: Negotiating Coexistence and Belonging with Christophe Jaffrelot (Hurst, 2026)
What can shared sacred sites tell us about religious coexistence in South Asia? Political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot joins Shreya Urvashi to discuss Shared…
- New Books in Religion
Constructing Christendom: Conquest and Diocese Formation in Medieval Iberia with Thomas W. Barton (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)
In Constructing Christendom: Conquest and Diocese Formation in Medieval Iberia (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026), Dr. Thomas W. Barton examines how church leaders…
- New Books in Religion
Selling the Word of God: The Early Commercial History of the English Bible with Harry Spillaine (Bodleian, 2026)
Selling the Word of God: The Early Commercial History of the English Bible (Bodleian, 2026) by Dr. Harry Spillane is a history of the English Bible as a book…
- New Books in Religion
Coming of Age As Syrian Jewish Mexicans: The Pragmatics of Diaspora with Evelyn María Dean-Olmsted (Brill, 2025)
Drora interviewed Dr. Eveyln Maria Dean-Olmsted about her book, Coming of Age as Syrian Jewish Mexicans: The Pragmatics of Diaspora (Brill, 2025), published by…
- New Books in Religion
Forgive Us Our Debts: How Black Churches Use Bankruptcy to Survive with Pamela Foohey (U Chicago Press, 2026)
When American churches face financial difficulties, a disproportionately high number of Black churches reorganize under chapter 11 bankruptcy. There are no…
- New Books in Religion
Theologies of Remembering: Modernity, Ambiguity, and Transcendence in Islamic Indonesia with Verena Hanna Meyer (U California Press, 2026)
The claim to moderate or modernist Islam in Indonesia is particularly contentious today, as these labels participate in the global politics of identity for…
- New Books in Religion
The Cultural Heritage of Śākta Tantric Communities in India: Goddesses and Magicians in the Holy Groves of Kerala with Maciej Karasinski (Routledge, 2026)
Despite the long tradition of exploring the Tantric temple culture of Nampūtiri Brahmins within Tantric studies, the Śākta stream remains under-researched. The…
- New Books in Religion
The Koren Tanakh Graphic Novel - Bereshit Volume 1: The Beginning with Jordan B Gorfinkel (Koren Publishers, 2026)
What if you could experience the opening chapters of the Torah as a graphic novel—without losing the depth, complexity, or ambiguity of the original text? In…
- New Books in Religion
Islamic Ethics and Spiritual Sovereignty: Genres of Tradition in Muslim South Asia with Ali Altaf Mian (U Notre Dame Press, 2026)
Islamic Ethics and Spiritual Sovereignty: Genres of Tradition in Muslim South Asia (U Notre Dame 2026) explores the rich vast textual archive of Maulana Ashraf…
- New Books in Religion
Kaale Belongings and Evangelical Becomings: An Ethnography of Finnish Roma with Raluca Bianca Roman (Brill Schöningh, 2025)
Dr Raluca Bianca Roman's book is an ethnography of the Finnish Kaale, Finland's national Roma community, and of the impact of Evangelical Christianity on their…
- New Books in Religion
Sublime Sociality: An (Auto)Ethnographic Theory of Chinese Christianity with Gareth Breen (LSE Press, 2026)
On the podcast today I am joined by Gareth Breen, Assistant Professor in anthropology at University of Sussex. Gareth is joining me to talk about his new book…
- New Books in Religion
Living Chinese Philosophy: Zoetology As First Philosophy with Roger T. Ames (SUNY Press, 2025)
Contrasts classical Greek ontology ("the science of being in itself") with Confucian "zoetology" ("the art of living"). In Living Chinese Philosophy: Zoetology…
- New Books in Religion
The Kennicott Bible: A Masterpiece of Jewish Book Art with Katrin Kogman-Appel (Bodleian Library, 2023)
Katrin Kogman-Appel is a professor of Medieval Jewish history with research focusing on book culture, readers, and reading practices in medieval Europe and…
- New Books in Religion
God and Humanity: Herman Bavinck and Theological Anthropology with N Gray Sutanto (Bloomsbury, 2024)
God and Humanity: Herman Bavinck and Theological Anthropology (Bloomsbury, 2024)is the first book to apply Bavinck's theological anthropology to contemporary…
- New Books in Religion
Read This Over Shabbos: Reading Jewish History in the Parash with David Bashevkin (Maggid, 2026)
What happens when you read the weekly Torah portion alongside the strange, fascinating, and sometimes uncomfortable story of modern Jewish history? In this…
- New Books in Religion
David Bentley Hart on Life, Literature, and Baseball (U Notre Dame Press, 2026)
Today I’m speaking with David Bentley Hart about his book, A Gathering of Leaves: Extravagances and Ephemera, from the University of Notre Dame Press. David is…
- New Books in Religion
Resurrection on Trial (with Peter D. Martino, esq.): A Law Professor Weighs the Evidence with Peter D. Martino
Peter Dominic Martino is a trial lawyer, law professor, former CEO, and former nuclear submarine officer. He serves as Assistant Professor at St. Thomas…
- New Books in Religion
The Examination of Religion (Dharmaparīkṣā): A Jain Tradition of Narrative Adaptations with Heleen De Jonckheere (Brill, 2026)
Repetition, reconfiguration, or adaptation form key characteristics of the Indian literary traditions. Jain literature exemplifies this vividly, especially…
- New Books in Religion
The Supernatural Public Square: On Religious Experience in the Modern Age with Dale C. Allison, Jr.
The old story in the academy was that as science and technology progressed, western society would grow more secular while the supernatural would disappear…
- New Books in Religion
The Crusader Storm: A Global History of the Wars for the Middle East with Nicholas Morton (Pegasus, 2026)
From their foundational era in 1097 to Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem almost a century later, the Crusader States transformed the Middle Eastern world. In an…
- New Books in Religion
Allama Prabhu and the Shaiva Imagination with N.S. Gundur
Engages with the life and ideas of the twelfth-century Shaiva mystic and philosopher-poet Allama Prabhu. In his last, profoundly innovative work Allama Prabhu…
- New Books in Religion
Let the Oppressed Go Free: Abolitionism in Colonial and Revolutionary America with Nicholas P. Wood (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025)
David N. Gellman interviews Nicholas P. Wood on Let the Oppressed Go Free: Abolitionism in Colonial and Revolutionary America In Let the Oppressed Go Free…
- New Books in Religion
Apocalyptic Abolitionism: How Millennialists Helped Abolish Slavery and Reform America with Kevin M. Burton (NYU Press, 2026)
Shows how apocalypticism helped drive anti-slavery abolitionism and inspire progressive social reform in nineteenth-century America In March 1844, Melissa…
- New Books in Religion
Karline McLain, "Living with Gandhi: Experiments in Utopia" (Association for Asian Studies, 2026)
Mahatma Gandhi was an anticolonial activist, lawyer, and politician. Less famously, but no less importantly, he was also a back-to-the-land farmer, a founder…
- New Books in Religion
Eileen Luhr, "Golden States: How California Religion Went from Cautionary Tale to Global Brand" (U California Press, 2024)
Since the beginning of European colonization, the sun-drenched land of California has always attracted dreamers and schemers. Whether it was Spanish…
- New Books in Religion
Emmanuel Y. Lartey, "Spiritual Care in African Religious Cultures: Sacred Wisdom for the Care of Persons in an Intercultural World" (Georgetown UP, 2026)
In my conversation with Prof. Emmanuel Y. Lartey about his new book, Spiritual Care in African Religious Cultures: Sacred Wisdom for the Care of Persons in an…
- New Books in Religion
Will Gervais, "Disbelief: The Origins of Atheism in a Religious Species" (Prometheus Books, 2024)
Does God exist? This straightforward question has spawned endless debate, ranging from apologists’ supposed proofs of God’s existence to New Atheist manifestos…
- New Books in Religion
Han Hsien Liew, "Preaching Pious Rulership in Medieval Islam: Ibn Al-Jawzi's Political Thought" (Edinburgh UP, 2026)
Han Hsien Liew’s fascinating and insightful new book, Preaching Pious Rulership in Medieval Islam: Ibn al-Jawzi’s Political Thought (Cambridge University…
- New Books in Religion
Joseph G. Rosenstein, "Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers): The Big Picture" (Academic Studies Press, 2026)
What if Pirkei Avot has a bigger story to tell? In this episode, Rabbi Marc Katz sits down with Joseph G. Rosenstein to discuss Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the…
- New Books in Religion
Christopher Freeburg, "Soul: A Brief History of Black Cultural Life" (Yale UP, 2026)
Today’s guest, Christopher Freeburg, is the author of Soul: A Brief History of Black Cultural Life (Yale University Press, 2026). This book explores the US…
- New Books in Religion
A Nation Wrestles With God: American Prophets, Philosophers, and Firebrands
Spanning more than 400 years of spiritual transformation and imagination, A Nation Wrestles With God (Restless Books, 2026) collects diverse writers—poets…
- New Books in Religion
Sanjay Joshi, "Brahmins of the Himalaya: Upper-Caste Ways of Belonging, 1850-1950" (SUNY Press, 2026)
Uses the everyday histories of Brahmin clans, communities, and families in a prominent small town in the Indian Himalaya to challenge the assumption that only…
- New Books in Religion
Thomas Breimaier, "Tethered to the Cross: The Life and Preaching of Charles H. Spurgeon" (IVP Academic, 2020)
"Tethered to the cross" is how the renowned nineteenth-century English Baptist minister Charles H. Spurgeon (1834–1892) described the task of ministry and his…
- New Books in Religion
Francesca Sbardella, "Inhabiting Silence: An Anthropologist in the Cloister" (Berghahn Books, 2025)
Monasteries are typically characterized by physical and symbolic limitations on access as they are usually known through written texts and accounts by nuns who…
- New Books in Religion
Gabrielle Thomas, "The Problem of the Devil in Cappadocian Thought" (Cambridge UP, 2026)
In The Problem of the Devil in Cappadocian Thought (Cambridge UP, 2026), Gabrielle Thomas questions the popular assumption that the devil served as the…
- New Books in Religion
Tatjana Kochetkova and Anway Mukhopadhyay eds., "Transhumanism and Divine Humanity in Global Traditions" (Routledge, 2026)
Amid global dialogue on the nature of human enhancement, this book traces humanity's pursuit of self-transcendence and enhancement from ancient times to the…
- New Books in Religion
Fr. Dwight Longenecker, "Bloodshed and Blessing: Stories of Sacrifice from Ancient Altars to the Holy Mass" (Sophia Institute Press, 2026)
Something deep within you recognizes it–the instinct that sacrifice matters, that something must be offered, that violence and beauty are woven together in…
- New Books in Religion
An Honest Death: Life's End and Humanist Funerals with Matthew Engelke
A fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at non-religious funerals in contemporary London, An Honest Death: Life's End and Humanist Funerals (Princeton UP, 2026)…
- New Books in Religion
Holly Crawford Pickett, "The Drama of Serial Conversion in Early Modern England" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024)
After mounting London’s outdoor pulpit known as St. Paul’s Cross on 8th December, 1588, Anthony Tyrrell found himself perched before a skeptical audience. He…
- New Books in Religion
Matthew Thomas Miller, "Feeling like Lovers: Affect in Medieval Sufism" (U California Press, 2026)
Matthew Thomas Miller's new book Feeling like Lovers: Affect in Medieval Sufism (U California Press, 2026), and is available as an open access book (see link…
- New Books in Religion
Jamie L. Brummitt, "Protestant Relics in Early America" (Oxford UP, 2025)
Edward Blum interviews Dr. Jamie L. Brummitt on how new book Protestant Relics in Early America. In Protestant Relics in Early America (Oxford UP, 2025)…
- New Books in Religion
Jacqueline Vayntrub, "Body Language: Voice, Embodiment, and Textuality in the Hebrew Bible" (Yale UP, 2026)
Tune in to this interview about Body Language: Voice, Embodiment, and Textuality in the Hebrew Bible (Yale UP, 2026). Jacqueline Vayntrub is Associate…
- New Books in Religion
Ian Bradley, "Liquid Faith: Scotland's Sacred and Supernatural Waters" (Birlinn, 2026)
Since time immemorial, water has been a major theme in myth, religion and folklore throughout the world. With its 12,000-mile coastline, as well as a plethora…
- New Books in Religion
A Very Jewish Christmas: When Jesus Spoke Yiddish
It is a curious fact that among the first Yiddish books ever printed was a translation of the New Testament, which appeared in 1540, only 18 years after…
- New Books in Religion
Rick Ramseyer, "Girl Without a Country: The Untold Story of a Landmark Fight for U.S. Citizenship" (Purdue UP, 2026)
Should willingness to kill be a requirement for U.S. citizenship? Girl Without a Country: The Untold Story of a Landmark Fight for U.S. Citizenship (Purdue…
- New Books in Religion
David W. Congdon, "Who is a True Christian?: Contesting Religious Identity in American Culture" (Cambridge UP, 2024)
Who Is a True Christian?: Contesting Religious Identity in American Culture (Cambridge UP, 2024) examines how American Christians have tried to determine who…
- New Books in Religion
James Lochtefeld, "God’s Own Land: Sacred Landscape, Pilgrim Economy and Religious Change in the Ganga Himalaya" (Lever Press, 2026)
God’s Own Land: Sacred Landscape, Pilgrim Economy and Religious Change in the Ganga Himalaya (Lever Press, 2026) follows the tectonic shift from traditional…
- New Books in Religion
Yigal Levin, "The Chronicles of David and Solomon: 1 Chronicles 10–2 Chronicles 9: A New Translation and Commentary " (Bloomsbury, 2026)
In this New Books Network interview, Professor Željko Stanojević speaks with Professor Yigal Levin of Bar-Ilan University about his new book, The Chronicles of…
- New Books in Religion
Why the Roman Empire Fell: On Edward Gibbon with Hugh Liebert
250 years ago when the United States declared independence, Edward Gibbon across the ocean published the first volume of his magisterial series, The Decline…
- New Books in Religion
Younus Y. Mirza, "The Islamic Mary: Maryam Through the Centuries" (Fortress Press, 2025)
Mary, the mother of Jesus, has been historically revered throughout the Islamic tradition. This began already in the Qur'an, where she is called by the name…
- New Books in Religion
Eckart Otto, "Max Weber's Studies of Ancient Judaism: The Historical Foundation for a Theory of the Modern Age" (Mohr Siebeck, 2002)
In Max Weber's Studies of Ancient Judaism: The Historical Foundation for a Theory of the Modern Age (Mohr Siebeck, 2002) Eckart Otto provides a history of Max…
- New Books in Religion
Eckart Otto, "Deuteronomy in the Pentateuch and the Hexateuch: Studies of the Literary History of the Pentateuch and the Hexateuch within the Framework of Deuteronomy" (Mohr Siebeck, 2000)
In Deuteronomy in the Pentateuch and the Hexateuch: Studies of the Literary History of the Pentateuch and the Hexateuch within the Framework of Deuteronomy…
- New Books in Religion
Deborah Barer, "Going Off Script: Improvisational Judgment in the Talmud" (Oxford UP, 2026)
What does it really mean to go "beyond the letter of the law"? In this episode, Rabbi Marc Katz sits down with scholar Deborah Barer to discuss her book Going…
- New Books in Religion
Jin Y. Park and Sumi Lee eds., "Korean Buddhism: Selected Readings from Primary Texts" (U Hawaii Press, 2026)
Today we're looking at a book that fills a gap that has existed for a long time. Korean Buddhism: Selected Readings from Primary Texts (U Hawaii Press, 2026)…
- New Books in Religion
Ryan Schweitzer, "Homosexuality in Central Asia: Stories of Hardship and Hope" (B&N Press, 2026)
Homosexuality in Central Asia: Stories of Hardship and Hope (Barnes and Noble Press, 2026) is Ryan Michael Schweitzer's collection of first-hand narratives…