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.
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2076
Adam Gaiser, “Shurat Legends, Ibadi Identities:...
Adam Gaiser‘s majestic new book Shurat Legends, Ibadi Identities: Martyrdom, Asceticism and the Making of an Early Islamic Community (University of South Carolina Press, 2016), treats readers to a dazzling analysis of a wide range of Shurat/Kharijite t...
38 min
2077
Andrea L. Turpin, “A New Moral Vision: Gender, ...
Andrea L. Turpin is an Associate Professor of History at Baylor University. Her book, A New Moral Vision: Gender, Religion and the Changing Purposes of American Higher Education, 1837-1917 (Cornell University Press, 2017),
54 min
2078
David L. Weddle, “Sacrifice in Judaism, Christi...
Is there one principal avenue of exploration that could lead to the very heart of the religious experience? For David L. Weddle, professor emeritus of Religion at Colorado College, that way in is the practice of ritual sacrifice. In his new book,
37 min
2079
Bruce B. Lawrence, “The Koran in English: A Bio...
As the basis for a major world religion, the Qur’an is one of the most influential books of all time. But when it first appeared, the Qur’an was in Arabic. Most Muslims today are not native-Arabic speakers. Bruce B.
59 min
2080
Raymond D. Bradley, “God’s Gravediggers: Why No...
In God’s Gravediggers: Why No Deity Exists (Ockham Publishing, 2016), Raymond D. Bradley takes a logical approach to examining the claim of most religions–Judeo-Christianity in particular–that there is a supernatural God of perfect wisdom and morality....
66 min
2081
David C. Mitchell, “Messiah ben Joseph” (Campbe...
Messiah ben Joseph, the slain Galilean messiah, is the most enigmatic figure in Rabbinic Judaism. David C. Mitchell‘s Messiah ben Joseph (Campbell Publications, 2016) proposes that this messiah is not a rabbinic invention at all, however,
18 min
2082
Justin R. Ritzinger, “Anarchy in the Pure Land:...
In his recent monograph, Anarchy in the Pure Land: Reinventing the Cult of Maitreya in Modern Chinese Buddhism (Oxford University Press, 2017), Justin R. Ritzinger examines the cult of Maitreya as developed during the Republican period by the Chinese m...
52 min
2083
Hugh Urban, “Zorba the Buddha: Sex, Spiritualit...
Many contemporary spiritual movements are characterized by denial of material pleasures, subjugation of the self, and focus on transcendence. A spiritual program that cultivates embodied satisfaction is often seen as inauthentic and fraudulent.
42 min
2084
John Fea, “The Bible Cause: A History of the Am...
I own many Bibles, but curiously, I didn’t purchase any of them. They were all given to me, almost all by Protestant Christians. And, considering the history of Protestant Christianity, that impulse to freely offer “God’s word” makes a lot of sense.
60 min
2085
Yakov M. Rabkin, “What Is Modern Israel?” (U. C...
In What is Modern Israel? (University of Chicago/Pluto Press, 2016), Yakov Rabkin, a professor of history at the University of Montreal, discusses some of the most fundamental issues pertaining to the history and socio-politics of Israel.
42 min
2086
Barry W. Holtz, “Rabbi Akiva: Sage of the Talmu...
Born in the Land of Israel around the year 50 C.E., Rabbi Akiva was the greatest rabbi of his time and one of the most important influences on Judaism as we know it today. Traditional sources tell how he was raised in poverty and unschooled in religiou...
51 min
2087
Rachel Seelig, “Strangers in Berlin: Modern Jew...
In Strangers in Berlin: Modern Jewish Literature between East and West, 1919-1933 (University of Michigan Press, 2016), Rachel Seelig, Visiting Scholar in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Toronto,
31 min
2088
Christopher R. Cotter and David G. Robertson, e...
When undergraduate students look through a course catalog and see the title World Religions they probably have some idea what the course will be about. But why is that? Why do World Religions seem so self-evident in this historical moment?
60 min
2089
Ruth Braunstein, “Prophets an Patriots: Faith i...
Ruth Braunstein is the author of Prophets and Patriots: Faith in Democracy across the Political Divide (University of California Press, 2017). Braunstein is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut.
24 min
2090
Henri Lustiger-Thaler and Habbo Knoch, eds., “W...
Witnessing Unbound: Holocaust Representation and the Origins of Memory (Wayne State University Press, 2017) is a collection of essays and interviews that offer fresh insight on the last of the primary witnesses to the Holocaust.
37 min
2091
Mairaj Syed, “Coercion and Responsibility in Is...
Within a few generations after the death of Muhammad Muslims developed complex legal and theological traditions that shaped the boundaries of what was deemed Islamic. In Coercion and Responsibility in Islam: A Study in Ethics and Law (Oxford University...
2 min
2092
Michael J. Altman, “Heathen, Hindoo, Hindu: Ame...
Scholars regularly assert that at Chicago’s World’s Parliament of Religions in 1893 Swami Vivekananda initiated Hinduism in America. Many histories of Hinduism in America reproduce this type of synthesizing narrative.
53 min
2093
Faegheh Shirazi, “Brand Islam: The Marketing an...
Religion is big business nowadays. Within the global context of Muslim consumers Islamic commodities have become increasingly popular over the past few decades. Faegheh Shirazi, Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of...
28 min
2094
Johari Jabir, “Conjuring Freedom: Music and Mas...
What is the labor for Black soldiers of the regiment? That is the question Johari Jabir asks in his book Conjuring Freedom: Music and Masculinity in the Civil War’s “Gospel Army” (Ohio State University Press, 2017).
27 min
2095
Hanna Tervanotko, “Denying Her Voice: The Figur...
In Denying Her Voice: The Figure of Miriam in Ancient Jewish Literature (Vandenhock and Ruprecht, 2016) Hanna Tervanotko first analyzes the treatment and development of Miriam as a literary character in ancient Jewish texts,
38 min
2096
Rahuldeep Singh Gill, “Drinking From Love’s Cup...
There is a long tradition of the study of Sikhism in Western academia. However, historiographical accounts still lack a clear vision of the early formation of the tradition. Rahuldeep Singh Gill, Associate Professor of Religion at California Lutheran U...
46 min
2097
Adrian Reimers, “Hell and the Mercy of God” (Ca...
A central theological and philosophical problem facing Christians is the question “How could a merciful God damn people to hell?” It is tempting to solve this issue by developing an image of God that leaves out mercy or an understanding of Christian do...
52 min
2098
Robert Wright, “Why Buddhism is True: The Scien...
All “true believers” believe their beliefs are true. This is particularly true of true religious believers: for Christians, Christianity is the true religion, for Jews, Judaism is the true religion, for for Muslims, Islam is the true religion.
55 min
2099
Anthony Kaldellis, “Streams of Gold, Rivers of ...
In the 10th century, a succession of Byzantine rulers reversed centuries of strategic policy by embarking on a series of campaigns that dramatically reshaped their empire. This effort and its consequences for the history of the region is the focus of A...
55 min
2100
Marcia Walker-McWilliams, “Reverend Addie: Fait...
Addie Wyatt stands at the intersection of unionism, feminism, and civil rights activism in post-World War II America. In Reverend Addie Wyatt: Faith and the Fight for Labor, Gender, and Racial Equality (University of Illinois Press, 2016),
47 min