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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
Courtney Ann Irby, "Guiding God's Marriage: Faith and Social Change in Premarital Counseling" (NYU Press, 2024)
It is well-known that the institution of marriage has changed dramatically in the past few decades. However, very little research has focused on the role of…
- New Books in Religion
Karen Bauer and Feras Hamza, "Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur'an: A Patronage of Piety" (Oxford UP/Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2023)
In their book Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur’an: A Patronage of Piety (Oxford UP/Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2024), Karen Bauer and Feras…
- New Books in Religion
Michael C. Baltutis, "What is Hinduism?: A Student's Introduction" (Routledge, 2024)
Michael C. Baltutis' book What is Hinduism?: A Student's Introduction (Routledge, 2024) is an engaging introduction to the complex religious tradition of…
- New Books in Religion
Rafal K. Stepien, "Buddhism Between Religion and Philosophy: Nāgārjuna and the Ethics of Emptiness" (Oxford UP, 2024)
Nāgārjuna (c. 150-250), founder of the Madhyamaka or Middle Way school of Buddhist philosophy and the most influential of all Buddhist thinkers aside from the…
- New Books in Religion
Jason A. Josephson Storm, "The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences" (U Chicago Press, 2017)
A great many theorists have argued that the defining feature of modernity is that people no longer believe in spirits, myths, or magic. Jason Ā…
- New Books in Religion
Soraj Hongladarom et al., "Philosophies of Appropriated Religions: Perspectives from Southeast Asia" (Springer, 2024)
The open-access edited volume Philosophies of Appropriated Religions: Perspectives from Southeast Asia (Springer, 2023) collects philosophical approaches to…
- New Books in Religion
Tone Bleie, "A New Testament: Scandinavian Missionaries and Santal Chiefs from Company and British Crown Rule to Independence" (Solum Bokvennen, 2023)
In this episode, we are joined by the anthropologist Tone Bleie for a discussion of her book A New Testament: Scandinavian Missionaries and Santal Chiefs from…
- New Books in Religion
Iemima Ploscariu, "Alternative Evangelicals: Challenging Nationalism in Interwar Romania's Multi-ethnic Borderlands" (Brill, 2024)
Today I talked to Iemima Ploscariu about Alternative Evangelicals: Challenging Nationalism in Interwar Romania's Multi-ethnic Borderlands (Brill, 2024)…
- New Books in Religion
Jason Ramsey, "Reckoning with Change in Yucatán: Histories of Care and Threat on a Former Hacienda" (Routledge, 2023)
A perpetual tension exists between history and change, which is an issue long explored by historians and social scientists. Reckoning with Change in Yucatán…
- New Books in Religion
Neil Van Leeuwen, "Religion As Make-Believe: A Theory of Belief, Imagination, and Group Identity" (Harvard UP, 2023)
It is an intuitive truth that religious beliefs are different from ordinary factual beliefs. We understand that a belief in God or the sacredness of scripture…
- New Books in Religion
Aleksandra Djuric Milovanovic, "The Untold Journey of the Nazarene Emigration from Yugoslavia to North America" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024)
What role does religion play in migration processes? What is the reason behind migration of religious minorities? Is religious affiliation a deciding factor in…
- New Books in Religion
Katharine J. Dell, "The Lord by Wisdom Founded the Earth" (Baylor UP, 2023)
The foundation of the earth, its division from the heavens and the waters, God's provision of all of nature as well as human and animal life, God's…
- New Books in Religion
Cogen Bohanec, "Bhakti Ethics, Emotions, and Love in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Metaethics" (Lexington, 2024)
Bhakti Ethics, Emotions, and Love in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Metaethics (Lexington Books, 2024) explores the broader implications of understanding bhakti, “devotional…
- New Books in Religion
Marilynne Robinson, "Reading Genesis" (FSG, 2024)
For generations, the book of Genesis has been treated by scholars as a collection of documents by various hands, expressing different factional interests, with…
- New Books in Religion
Edel Bhreathnach, "Monasticism in Ireland, AD 900-1250" (Four Courts Press, 2024)
The history of monasticism in early Ireland is dominated by its flourishing during the sixth and seventh centuries, a period dominated by Columba of Iona and…
- New Books in Religion
Geoffrey D. Claussen, "Modern Musar: Contested Virtues in Jewish Thought" (Jewish Publication Society, 2022)
Today I talked to Geoffrey D. Claussen about Modern Musar: Contested Virtues in Jewish Thought (Jewish Publication Society, 2022). How do modern Jews…
- New Books in Religion
Martha Rampton, "Trafficking with Demons: Magic, Ritual, and Gender from Late Antiquity to 1000" (Cornell UP, 2021)
Martha Rampton, Trafficking with Demons: Magic, Ritual, and Gender from Late Antiquity to 1000 (Cornell University Press, 2021) explores how magic was…
- New Books in Religion
The Body in Classical Hathayoga, with Ruth Westoby
In this episode Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with Ruth Westoby a scholar, teacher, and practitioner of yoga. We discuss Ruth’s work on the body in early hatha…
- New Books in Religion
Tracy Fessenden, “Religion Around Billie Holiday” (Penn State UP, 2018)
Billie Holiday is one of the most iconic jazz performers of all time. Her voice is certainly unmistakable but for many her religious sensibilities may be…
- New Books in Religion
Yaacob Dweck, "Dissident Rabbi: The Life of Jacob Sasportas" (Princeton UP, 2019)
In 1665, Sabbetai Zevi, a self-proclaimed Messiah with a mass following throughout the Ottoman Empire and Europe, announced that the redemption of the world…
- New Books in Religion
David Zeitlyn, "Mambila Divination: Framing Questions, Constructing Answers" (Routledge, 2021)
Professor David Zeitlyn’s book offers a major contribution to the study and analysis of divination, based on continuing fieldwork with the Mambila in Cameroon…
- New Books in Religion
Jeannine Hanger, "Sensing Salvation in the Gospel of John: The Embodied, Sensory Qualities of Participation in the I Am Sayings" (Brill, 2023)
Recent scholarship focused on the role of embodiment within cognition and communication reminds us that part of how we “know” is through our physical senses…
- New Books in Religion
Naomi Leite, "Unorthodox Kin: Portuguese Marranos and the Global Search for Belonging" (U California Press, 2017)
Unorthodox Kin: Portuguese Marranos and the Global Search for Belonging (U California Press, 2017) is a lively, readable exploration of "chosen" identity, kin…
- New Books in Religion
Christopher P. Miller et al., "Beacons of Dharma: Spiritual Exemplars for the Modern Age" (Lexington, 2019)
Today’s globalized society faces some of humanity’s most unprecedented social and environmental challenges. Presenting new and insightful approaches to a range…
- New Books in Religion
Faizah Zakaria, "The Camphor Tree and the Elephant: Religion and Ecological Change in Maritime Southeast Asia" (U Washington Press, 2023)
Recurring tropes about fragmented communities living on frontier forestlands living in Southeast Asia are that they are either guardians of flora and fauna…
- New Books in Religion
Fabio Rambelli, "Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan" (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019)
In Japan, a country popularly perceived as highly secularized and technologically advanced, ontological assumptions about spirits (tama or tamashii) seem to be…
- New Books in Religion
Laura Salah Nasrallah, "Ancient Christians and the Power of Curses: Magic, Aesthetics, and Justice" (Cambridge UP, 2023)
Ancient Christians and their non-Christian contemporaries lived in a world of 'magic.' Sometimes, they used curses as ritual objects to seek justice from gods…
- New Books in Religion
Sanjay Lal, "Gandhi's Thought and Liberal Democracy" (Lexington Books, 2019)
Is religion indispensable to public life? What can Gandhi’s thought contribute to the modern state? With an intense focus on both the depth and practicality of…
- New Books in Religion
119 Alone in a World of Wounds with Zen Abbot Shodhin Geiman
Shodhin Geiman is Sensei & Abbot at Chicago Zen Center and recently retired Senior Research Professor at Valparaiso University. He has written on aspects of…
- New Books in Religion
Tracy Pintchman, "Goddess Beyond Boundaries: Worshipping the Eternal Mother at a North American Hindu Temple" (Oxford UP, 2023)
The Parashakthi Temple in Pontiac, Michigan serves as a site of worship for the Hindu goddess Karumariamman, whose origins are in South India. In her American…
- New Books in Religion
Randall Stephens, "The Devil’s Music: How Christians Inspired, Condemned, and Embraced Rock n’ Roll" (Harvard UP, 2018)
I was immediately drawn to the book The Devil’s Music by Dr. Randall Stephens, Associate Professor of British and American Studies at the University of Oslo…
- New Books in Religion
Jay Garfinkel, "Kohelet's Cocktail: Beyond the Pursuit of Happiness" (Illuminated Press, 2024)
Dive into the timeless wisdom of Ecclesiastes in Jay Garfinkel's groundbreaking work, Kohelet's Cocktail: Beyond the Pursuit of Happiness (Illuminated Press…
- New Books in Religion
Jeffery D. Long et al., "Hinduism and Tribal Religions" (Springer, 2021)
Hinduism and Tribal Religions (Springer, 2021) offers an overview of Hinduism as found in India and the diaspora. Exploring Hinduism in India in dynamic…
- New Books in Religion
Diana V. Edelman and Philippe Guillaume, "The Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures in Five Minutes" (Equinox, 2024)
The Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures in 5 Minutes (Equinox Books, 2024), co-edited by Philippe Guillaume and Diana V. Edelman, is a digestible, concise…
- New Books in Religion
Laura S. Lieber, "Staging the Sacred: Performance in Late Ancient Liturgical Poetry" (Oxford UP, 2023)
Staging the Sacred: Performance in Late Ancient Liturgical Poetry (Oxford UP, 2023) examines the importance of Christian, Jewish, and Samaritan liturgical…
- New Books in Religion
Victoria Smolkin, "A Sacred Space Is Never Empty: A History of Soviet Atheism" (Princeton UP, 2018)
The specter of the “Godless” Soviet Union haunted the United States and continental Western Europe throughout the Cold War, but what did atheism mean in the…
- New Books in Religion
Anthony P. Stone, "Hindu Astrology: Myths, Symbols, and Realities" (Pippa Rann Books, 2023)
Does Hindu astrology work? If so, why? When does it not work? Why? Where and how did Hindu astrology arise and develop? What are its similarities with other…
- New Books in Religion
Justine Chambers, "Pursuing Morality: Buddhism and Everyday Ethics in Southeastern Myanmar" (NUS Press, 2024)
What is the right way to live? This is an old question in Western moral philosophy, but in recent years anthropologists have turned their attention to this…
- New Books in Religion
Teresa Morgan, "The New Testament and the Theology of Trust" (Oxford UP, 2022)
The New Testament and the Theology of Trust (Oxford UP, 2022) argues for the recovery of trust as a central theme in Christian theology, and offers the first…
- New Books in Religion
Sara J. Charles, "The Medieval Scriptorium: Making Books in the Middle Ages" (Reaktion Books, 2024)
The Medieval Scriptorium: Making Books in the Middle Ages (Reaktion, 2024) by Sara J. Charles takes the reader on an immersive journey through mediaeval…
- New Books in Religion
Kirsten Fermaglich, "A Rosenberg by Any Other Name: A History of Jewish Name Changing in America" (NYU Press, 2018)
Throughout the 20th century, especially during and immediately after WWII, New York Jews changed their names at rates considerably higher than any other ethnic…
- New Books in Religion
Yoga, Disability, and Animism, with Theo Wildcroft
In this episode, Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with Dr Theodora Wildcroft, a researcher, anthropologist, and long-time teacher of what she calls “post-lineage…
- New Books in Religion
Muslimness in China
In this episode Salman Sayyid talks to Haiyun Ma about Muslimness in China. This is the second episode in this series which addresses this topic: in a previous…
- New Books in Religion
Paul Koudounaris, "Faithful Unto Death: Pet Cemeteries, Animal Graves, and Eternal Devotion" (Thames & Hudson, 2024)
Losing a pet has always been a unique kind of pain. No set rituals exist to help provide closure when pets die, there are no readily shared passages from…
- New Books in Religion
Murad Khan Mumtaz, "Faces of God: Images of Devotion in Indo-Muslim Painting, 1500-1800" (Brill, 2023)
Islamic art is often misrepresented as an iconophobic tradition. As a result of this assumption, the polyvalence of figural artworks made for South Asian…
- New Books in Religion
Eyal Regev, "The Temple in Early Christianity: Experiencing the Sacred" (Yale UP, 2019)
Eyal Regev's The Temple in Early Christianity: Experiencing the Sacred (Yale UP, 2019) is he first scholarly work to trace the Temple throughout the entire New…
- New Books in Religion
Jessica Roda, "For Women and Girls Only: Reshaping Jewish Orthodoxy Through the Arts in the Digital Age" (NYU Press, 2024)
Mainstream portrayals of ultra-Orthodox religious women often frame their faith as oppressive: they are empowered only when they leave their community. For…
- New Books in Religion
Shai Held, "Judaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life" (FSG, 2024)
A common misconception has shaped the history of the West: Christianity is seen as the religion of love, and Judaism as the religion of law. Addressing this…
- New Books in Religion
Jonathon Lookadoo, "The Shepherd of Hermas: A Literary, Historical, and Theological Handbook" (T&T Clark, 2021)
Written in Rome as a book with revelatory intentions, the early Christian work known as the Shepherd of Hermas flourished especially in the second, third, and…
- New Books in Religion
Nicholas Orme, "Going to Church in Medieval England" (Yale UP, 2021)
For people in medieval England, the parish church was an integral part of their community. In Going to Church in Medieval England (Yale University Press…
- New Books in Religion
Rachel M. Scott, "Recasting Islamic Law: Religion and the Nation State in Egyptian Constitution Making" (Cornell UP, 2021)
By examining the intersection of Islamic law, state law, religion, and culture in the Egyptian nation-building process, Recasting Islamic Law: Religion and the…
- New Books in Religion
A. J. Berkovitz, "A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2023)
The Bible shaped nearly every aspect of Jewish life in the ancient world, from activities as obvious as attending synagogue to those which have lost their…
- New Books in Religion
D. E. Osto, "Paranormal States: Psychic Abilities in Buddhist Convert Communities" (Columbia UP, 2024)
A number of converts to Buddhism report paranormal experiences. Their accounts describe psychic abilities like clairvoyance and precognition, out-of-body…
New Books in ReligionOn Alcohol, Islam, and the Ontic
An interview with Dr. Mustapha Sheikh on his co-authored paper on alcohol, Islam and the ontic. Support our show by becoming a premium member!…
- New Books in Religion
Steven E. Lindquist, "The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya" (SUNY Press, 2024)
In The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya (SUNY Press, 2024), Steven E. Lindquist investigates the intersections between historical context and literary production…
- New Books in Religion
Laura Yares, "Jewish Sunday Schools: Teaching Religion in Nineteenth-Century America" (NYU Press, 2023)
The earliest Jewish Sunday schools were female-led, growing from one school in Philadelphia established by Rebecca Gratz in 1838 to an entire system that…
- New Books in Religion
Gilad Sharvit, "Dynamic Repetition: History and Messianism in Modern Jewish Thought" (Brandeis UP, 2022)
Dynamic Repetition: History and Messianism in Modern Jewish Thought (Brandeis UP, 2022) proposes a new understanding of modern Jewish theories of messianism…
- New Books in Religion
Francis X. Clooney, S.J., "Hindu and Catholic, Priest and Scholar: A Love Story" (Bloomsbury, 2024)
This autobiography--Hindu and Catholic, Priest and Scholar: A Love Story (Bloomsbury, 2024)--traces Francis X. Clooney's intellectual and spiritual journey…
- New Books in Religion
Travis B. Williams, "History and Memory in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Remembering the Teacher of Righteousness" (Cambridge UP, 2019)
The nature and reliability of the ancient sources are among the most important issues in the scholarship on the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is noteworthy, therefore…
- New Books in Religion
Mark Letteney, "The Christianization of Knowledge in Late Antiquity: Intellectual and Material Transformations" (Cambridge UP, 2023)
The Christianization of Knowledge in Late Antiquity: Intellectual and Material Transformations (Cambridge UP, 2023) traces the beginning of Late Antiquity from…