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
Blake Leyerle, "Christians at Home: John Chrysostom and Domestic Rituals in Fourth-Century Antioch" (Penn State UP, 2024)
What did it mean for ordinary believers to live a Christian life in late antiquity? In Christians at Home: John Chrysostom and Domestic Rituals in…
- New Books in Religion
Paula Fredriksen, "Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years" (Princeton UP, 2024)
The ancient Mediterranean teemed with gods. For centuries, a practical religious pluralism prevailed. How, then, did one particular god come to dominate the…
- New Books in Religion
Hartley Lachter, "Kabbalah and Catastrophe: Historical Memory in Premodern Jewish Mysticism" (Stanford UP, 2024)
While premodern kabbalistic texts were not chronicles of historical events, they provided elaborate models for understanding the secret divine plan guiding…
- New Books in Religion
Jan Machielsen, "The Basque Witch-Hunt: A Secret History" (Bloomsbury, 2024)
In June 1609, two judges left Bordeaux for a territory at the very edge of their jurisdiction, a Basque-speaking province on the Atlantic coast called the Pays…
- New Books in Religion
Veronica Strang, "Water Beings: From Nature Worship to the Environmental Crisis" (Reaktion, 2023)
Jana Byars talks to Veronica Strang about her new book Water Beings: From Nature Worship to the Environmental Crisis (Reaktion, 2023). Looking to the vast…
- New Books in Religion
Ariel Evan Mayse, "Laws of the Spirit: Ritual, Mysticism, and the Commandments in Early Hasidism" (Stanford UP, 2024)
The compelling vision of religious life and practice found in Hasidic sources has made it the most enduring and successful Jewish movement of spiritual renewal…
- New Books in Religion
Nathan McGovern, "Holy Things: The Genealogy of the Sacred in Thai Religion" (Oxford UP, 2024)
Scholars of religion have mostly abandoned the concept of "syncretism" in which certain apparent deviations from "standard" practice are believed to be the…
- New Books in Religion
Justin Tse, "Sheets of Scattered Sand: Cantonese Protestants and the Secular Dream of the Pacific Rim" (U Notre Dame Press, 2024)
Justin K.H. Tse captures the voices of Cantonese Protestant Christians from the San Francisco, Vancouver, and Hong Kong metropolitan areas as they reflect on…
- New Books in Religion
Leyla Ozgur Alhassen, "Qur'ānic Stories: God, Revelation, and the Audience" (Edinburgh UP, 2022)
Leyla Ozgur Alhassen’s book Qur’anic Stories: God, Revelation and the Audience (Edinburgh University Press, 2021) provides excellent analyses of several…
- New Books in Religion
Yaacov Yadgar, "To Be a Jewish State: Zionism as the New Judaism" (NYU Press, 2024)
In one of the first books to ask head-on what it means for Israel to be a Jewish state, Yaacov Yadgar delves into what the designation "Jewish" amounts to in…
- New Books in Religion
Nathanael Homewood, "Seductive Spirits: Deliverance, Demons, and Sexual Worldmaking in Ghanaian Pentecostalism" (Stanford UP, 2024)
In this fascinating interview, Nathanael J. Homewood discusses his new book,Seductive Spirits: Deliverance, Demons, and Sexual Worldmaking in Ghanaian…
- New Books in Religion
Shehnaz Haqqani, "Feminism, Tradition and Change in Contemporary Islam: Negotiating Islamic Law and Gender" (Oneworld, 2024)
Shehnaz Haqqani's new book Feminism, Tradition and Change in Contemporary Islam: Negotiating Islamic Law and Gender (Oneworld 2024), masterfully blends textual…
- New Books in Religion
Suzanne Owen and Angela Puca, "Pagan Religions in Five Minutes" (Equinox, 2024)
Pagan Religions in Five Minutes (Equinox, 2024) provides an accessible set of essays on questions relating to Pagan identities and practices, both historically…
- New Books in Religion
Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials
Today’s book is: Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials (Scribner, 2024), by Dr. Marion Gibson, which explores the global history of witch trials across Europe…
- New Books in Religion
Michael Plekon, "Ministry Matters: Pastors, Their Life and Work Today" (Wipf and Stock, 2024)
In an era where congregations are shrinking and fewer people engage with faith communities, Michael Plekon's book Ministry Matters: Pastors, Their Life and…
- New Books in Religion
Mou Banerjee, "The Disinherited: The Politics of Christian Conversion in Colonial India" (Harvard UP, 2025)
An illuminating history of religious and political controversy in nineteenth-century Bengal, where Protestant missionary activity spurred a Christian…
- New Books in Religion
Aisha M Beliso-de Jesús, "Excited Delirium: Race, Police Violence, and the Invention of a Disease" (Duke UP, 2024)
In 1980, Charles Wetli---a Miami-based medical examiner and self-proclaimed “cult expert” of Afro-Caribbean religions---identified what he called “excited…
- 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
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, "Women and the Reformations: A Global History" (Yale UP, 2024)
The Reformations, both Protestant and Catholic, have long been told as stories of men. But women were central to the transformations that took place in Europe…
- New Books in Religion
Charles C. Helmer IV, "The Lord Who Listens: A Dogmatic Inquiry Into God as Hearer" (Brill, 2024)
What does it mean that God hears? Can a God who is "pure act" be affected in such a way? What does this mean for those whom God hears? Who are those people?…
- New Books in Religion
Zsuszanna Szanto, "The Jews of Ptolemaic Egypt: The History of a Diaspora Community in Light of the Papyri (De Gruyter, 2024)
The Jews of Ptolemaic Egypt: The History of a Diaspora Community in Light of the Papyri (De Gruyter, 2024) offers a comprehensive and nuanced history of the…
- New Books in Religion
Russell T.. McCutcheon, "Religious Studies Beyond the Discipline: On the Future of a Humanities Ph.D." (Equinox, 2024)
Given the continued challenges that face the higher education job market in the Humanities in North America, this multi authored volume offers (i) a critical…
- New Books in Religion
Talking with a Man Who Returned from the Dead (with Paul Zucarelli)
This is my second conversation with Paul Zucarelli who died in 2017 and returned from the dead through the intercessory prayer of Bishop Thomas Olmsted of…
- New Books in Religion
Yii-Jan Lin, "Immigration and Apocalypse: How the Book of Revelation Shaped American Immigration" (Yale UP, 2024)
The metaphor of New Jerusalem has long been used to justify dueling narratives of America as the land of freedom with open gates and the walled city closed to…
- New Books in Religion
W. Paul Reeve, et al., "This Abominable Slavery: Race, Religion, and the Battle over Human Bondage in Antebellum Utah" (Oxford UP, 2024)
On July 22, 1847, a group of about forty refugees entered the Salt Lake Valley. Among them were three enslaved men, two of whom shared the religion, Mormonism…
- New Books in Religion
Julia Kelto Lillis, "Virgin Territory: Configuring Female Virginity in Early Christianity" (U California Press, 2022)
Women's virginity held tremendous significance in early Christianity and the Mediterranean world. Early Christian thinkers developed diverse definitions of…
- New Books in Religion
Liliana M. Naydan, "Flat-World Fiction: Digital Humanity in Early Twenty-First-Century America" (U Georgia Press, 2021)
Flat-World Fiction: Digital Humanity in Early Twenty-First-Century America (University of Georgia Press, 2021) Dr. Liliana Naydan analyses representations of…
- New Books in Religion
Shalini Kakar, "Devotional Fanscapes: Bollywood Star Deities, Devotee-Fans, and Cultural Politics in India and Beyond" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023)
Devotional Fanscapes: Bollywood Star Deities, Devotee-Fans, and Cultural Politics in India and Beyond (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023) examines how fans worship…
- New Books in Religion
Owen Ware, "Indian Philosophy and Yoga in Germany" (Routledge, 2023)
Indian Philosophy and Yoga in Germany by Owen Ware (Routledge, 2024) takes the reader on a tour through the reception of Yoga philosophies in…
- New Books in Religion
Gil Student, "Articles of Faith" (Kodesh Press, 2024)
The advance of technology has revolutionized nearly everything in our world, bringing changes which have led to much confusion regarding faith and practice…
- New Books in Religion
Sara Glass, "Kissing Girls on Shabbat: A Memoir" (Atria, 2024)
Growing up in the Hasidic community of Brooklyn’s Borough Park, Sara Glass knew one painful truth: what was expected of her and what she desperately wanted…
- New Books in Religion
Steven J. Sandage and Brad D. Strawn, "Spiritual Diversity in Psychotherapy: Engaging the Sacred in Clinical Practice" (APA, 2021)
Although once marginalized in the field of psychotherapy, spirituality and religion have now become established ethical considerations in clinical research and…
- New Books in Religion
Matthew Elia, "The Problem of the Christian Master: Augustine in the Afterlife of Slavery" (Yale UP, 2024)
The Problem of the Christian Master: Augustine in the Afterlife of Slavery (Yale UP, 2024) offers a bold rereading of Augustinian thought for a world still…
- New Books in Religion
Jay Rovner, "In Every Generation: Studies in the Evolution and Formation of the Passover Haggadah" (Gorgias Press, 2024)
I spoke with Jay Rovner about his book In Every Generation: Studies in the Evolution and Formation of the Passover Haggadah (Gorgias Press, 2024). The Passover…
- New Books in Religion
Sharonah Esther Fredrick, "An Unholy Rebellion, Killing the Gods: Political Ideology and Insurrection in the Mayan Popul Vuh and the Andean Huarochiri Manuscript" (U Nebraska Press, 2024)
An Unholy Rebellion, Killing the Gods: Political Ideology and Insurrection in the Mayan Popul Vuh and the Andean Huarochiri Manuscript (University of Nebraska…
- New Books in Religion
Holy, Catholic, Apostolic (with Paul Zucarelli)
Paul Zucarelli died in 2017 and returned from the dead through the intercessory prayer of Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix and the faith of his family. Since…
- New Books in Religion
Joanne Rosenthal, "Sex: Jewish Positions" (Hirmer Verlag, 2024)
Freelance curator Joanne Rosenthal joins Jana Byars to talk about Sex: Jewish Positions (Hirmer, 2024) and its concomitant exhibition at the Jewish museums in…
- New Books in Religion
Mark Stoyle, "A Murderous Midsummer: The Western Rising of 1549" (Yale UP, 2022)
The Western Rising of 1549 was the most catastrophic event to occur in Devon and Cornwall between the Black Death and the Civil War. Beginning as an argument…
- New Books in Religion
Jonathan A. Allan, "Uncut: A Cultural Analysis of the Foreskin" (U Regina Press, 2024)
The “uncut” penis is viewed by some as attractive or erotic, and by others as ugly or undesirable. Secular parents of male infants worry about whether or not…
- New Books in Religion
Erika Engelhaupt, "Go to Hell: A Traveler's Guide to Earth's Most Otherworldly Destinations" (National Geographic, 2024)
With Go to Hell: A Traveler's Guide to Earth's Most Otherworldly Destinations (National Geographic, 2024) by Erika Engelhaupt, you can go to hell and back with…
- New Books in Religion
Nicholas Spencer, "Magisteria: The Entangled Histories of Science & Religion" (Oneworld, 2024)
Most things you 'know' about science and religion are myths or half-truths that grew up in the last years of the nineteenth century and remain widespread…
- New Books in Religion
Subhashini Kaligotla, "Shiva's Waterfront Temples: Architects and Their Audiences in Medieval India" (Yale UP, 2022)
The vibrant red sandstone temples of India's Deccan Plateau, such as the Pattadakal temple cluster, have attracted visitors since the eighth century or…
- New Books in Religion
Greg Epstein, "Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World's Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation" (MIT Press, 2024)
Technology has surpassed religion as the central focus of our lives, from our dependence on smartphones to the way that tech has infused almost every aspect of…
- New Books in Religion
Peter Harrison, "Some New World: Myths of Supernatural Belief in a Secular Age" (Cambridge UP, 2024)
In his famous argument against miracles, David Hume gets to the heart of the modern problem of supernatural belief. 'We are apt', says Hume, 'to imagine…
- New Books in Religion
Alister E. McGrath, "The Nature of Christian Doctrine: Its Origins, Development, and Function" (Oxford UP, 2024)
The Nature of Christian Doctrine: Its Origins, Development, and Function (Oxford UP, 2024) offers a groundbreaking account of the origins, development, and…
- New Books in Religion
Toni Alimi, "Slaves of God: Augustine and Other Romans on Religion and Politics" (Princeton UP, 2024)
Augustine believed that slavery is permissible, but to understand why, we must situate him in his late antique Roman intellectual context. Slaves of God…
- New Books in Religion
Larisa Jasarević, "Beekeeping in the End Times" (Indiana UP, 2024)
Every hundred years, as the story goes, two angels wonder out loud whether the bees are still swarming. For as long as the bees are swarming, the angels are…
- New Books in Religion
Daniela Bevilacqua, "From Tapas to Modern Yoga: Sādhus' Understanding of Embodied Practices" (Equinox, 2024)
Extensively based on fieldwork material, From Tapas to Modern Yoga: Sādhus' Understanding of Embodied Practices (Equinox, 2024) primarily analyses embodied…
- New Books in Religion
Emrah Yildiz, "Zainab's Traffic: Moving Saints, Selves, and Others Across Borders" (U California Press, 2024)
Emrah Yildiz's new book Zainab’s Traffic: Moving Saints, Selves, and Others Across Borders (University of California Press, 2024) is a masterful ethnographic…
- New Books in Religion
Bruce Gordon, "The Bible: A Global History" (Basic Books, 2024)
A “wonderful…highly comprehensive” (John Barton, author of A History of the Bible) global history of the world’s best-known and most influential book For…
- New Books in Religion
Shared Paths: Exploring Jewish and Muslim Experiences in America
This week on International Horizons, John Torpey, Director of the Ralph Bunche Institute, speaks with sociologists Mucahit Bilici and Samuel Heilman about…
- New Books in Religion
Ora Horn Prouser et al., "Under One Tent: Circus, Judaism, and Bible" (Ben Yehuda Press, 2023)
The study of Jewish text, over two millennia, has traditionally taken place in the Bet Midrash (the communal study hall), sitting at a table or desk. Studying…
- New Books in Religion
Judaism is About Love: A Discussion with Shai Held
A dramatic misinterpretation of the Jewish tradition has shaped the history of the West: Christianity is the religion of love, and Judaism the religion of law…
- New Books in Religion
Luke Clossey, "Jesus and the Making of the Modern Mind, 1380-1520" (Open Book, 2024)
For his fifteenth-century followers, Jesus was everywhere – from baptism to bloodcults to bowling. This sweeping and unconventional investigation looks at…
- New Books in Religion
Christopher Paul Clohessy, "Half of My Heart: The Narratives of Zaynab, Daughter of Alî" (Gorgias Press, 2020)
Today I talked to Christopher Paul Clohessy about Half of My Heart: The Narratives of Zaynab, Daughter of Alî (Gorgias Press, 2020). As Abû ʿAbd Allâh…
- New Books in Religion
Francesco Piraino, "Sufism in Europe: Islam, Esotericism and the New Age" (Edinburgh UP, 2024)
Francesco Piraino’s Sufism in Europe: Islam, Esotericism and the New Age (University of Edinburgh Press, 2024) is a vital contribution to the growing field of…
- New Books in Religion
Deepa Das Acevedo, "The Battle for Sabarimala: Religion, Law, and Gender in Contemporary India" (Oxford UP, 2024)
The Battle for Sabarimala: Religion, Law, and Gender in Contemporary India (Oxford UP, 2024) tells the story of one of contemporary India’s most contentious…
- New Books in Religion
Shalva Weil, "The Baghdadi Jews in India: Maintaining Communities, Negotiating Identities and Creating Super-Diversity" (Routledge, 2021)
Speaking with Professor Shalva Weil, one receives a glimpse into the wider world. Through her family ties, her personal journeys, and her research, she has…
- New Books in Religion
Jerome E. Copulsky, "American Heretics: Religious Adversaries of Liberal Order" (Yale UP, 2024)
A question has long hung over the the United States regarding the proper role of religion in public life. Those who long for a Christian America claim that the…
- New Books in Religion
Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom, "Desert Ascetics of Egypt" (ARC Humanities Press, 2020)
Egypt is revered as the home of the famous Desert Ascetics, who first embraced a monastic life and established homosocial communities on the borders of their…