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Catholic Studies
Religion September 20, 2022

Passion Plays

How Religion Shaped Sports in North America

Randall Balmer

Hosted by Jackson Reinhardt
Randall Balmer was a late convert to sports talk radio, but he quickly became addicted, just like millions of other devoted American sports fans. As a historian of religion, the …

Catholic Studies

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Interviews with scholars of Catholicism about their new books.

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On Religion September 16, 2022

On How the Vatican Makes Saints

A Discussion with Joe Drape

Joe Drape

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Joe Drape is an award-winning sportswriter for the New York Times. He is the author of six books, including the New York Times bestsellers Our Boys: A Perfect Season on …
Christian Studies September 14, 2022

Restless Devices

Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age

Felicia Wu Song

Hosted by Ryan Shelton
We're being formed by our devices. Unpacking the soft tyranny of the digital age, Felicia Wu Song combines insights from psychology, neuroscience, sociology, and theology as she considers digital practices …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones September 6, 2022

The Future of the Jesuits

A Discussion with Markus Friedrich

Markus Friedrich

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
After its founding in 1540 by an aristocrat turned spiritualist turned intellectual, Ignatius of Loyola, the Society of Jesus—or the Jesuits—established itself as one of the most influential and successful …
On Religion August 30, 2022

On Men and Catholic Devotion in Brooklyn

A Discussion with Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada

Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada is Assistant Professor of Religion at Kalamazoo College where she teaches classes on religion and masculinity, Catholics in the Americas, urban religion, and religions of Latin America. She …
Italian Studies August 29, 2022

Catholic Spectacle and Rome's Jews

Early Modern Conversion and Resistance

Emily Michelson

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Starting in the sixteenth century, Jews in Rome were forced, every Saturday, to attend a hostile sermon aimed at their conversion. Harshly policed, they were made to march en masse …
Catholic Studies August 26, 2022

Afro-Atlantic Catholics

America's First Black Christians

Jeroen Dewulf

Hosted by Allison Isidore
Black Christianity in America has long been studied as a blend of indigenous African and Protestant elements. Jeroen Dewulf redirects the conversation by focusing on the enduring legacy of seventeenth-century …
Catholic Studies August 19, 2022

Contesting Catholics

Benedicto Kiwanuka and the Birth of Postcolonial Uganda

Jonathon L. Earle and J. J. Carney

Hosted by Allison Isidore
Assassinated by Idi Amin and a democratic ally of J.F. Kennedy during the Cold War, Benedicto Kiwanuka was Uganda's most controversial and disruptive politician, and his legacy is still divisive …
On Religion August 18, 2022

On Surviving Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church

A DIscussion with Brian Clites

Brian Clites

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Dr. Brian Clites is a professor at Case Western Reserve University. He is an expert in clergy sexual abuse, and he has spent the last eight years interviewing Catholic survivors …
Religion August 17, 2022

Hungarian Catholic Intellectuals in Contemporary Romania

Reforming Apostles

Marc Roscoe Loustau

Hosted by Diana Dukhanova
Set against the backdrop of the rise of right-wing Christian nationalism in Eastern Europe, this book declares that Catholic theologians ought to be understood and studied as intellectuals: socially and …
On Religion August 17, 2022

On African-American Catholic Identity, Sex Abuse, and Systemic Racism

A Discussion with Tia Noelle Pratt

Tia Noelle Pratt

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt is a higher education professional, researcher, and inclusion and diversity specialist based in Philadelphia, PA. She received her PhD in sociology from Fordham University. A sociologist …
Christian Studies August 12, 2022

Beyond Missio Dei

Contesting Mission, Rethinking Witness

Sarosh Koshy

Hosted by Tiatemsu Longkumer
In Beyond Missio Dei: Contesting Mission, Rethinking Witness (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021), Sarosh Koshy strives to go beyond the mission model of Christianity that emerged alongside and within the colonial enterprise and …
On Religion August 11, 2022

Islamophobia

What Christians Should Know (and Do) about Anti-Muslim Discrimination

Jordan Denari Duffner

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Jordan Denari Duffner is an author and scholar of Muslim-Christian relations, interreligious dialogue, and Islamophobia. Jordan is currently pursuing a PhD in Theological and Religious Studies at Georgetown University. A …
Jewish Studies August 3, 2022

The Bible with and Without Jesus

How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently

Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler

Hosted by Zalman Newfield
In The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently (HarperOne, 2020), Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler take readers on a guided tour …
Religion July 28, 2022

The Origin of Sin

Greece and Rome, Early Judaism and Christianity

David Konstan

Hosted by Tiatemsu Longkumer
Where did the idea of sin arise from? In The Origin of Sin: Greece and Rome, Early Judaism and Christianity (Bloomsbury, 2022), David Konstan takes a close look at classical …
Religion July 25, 2022

The Story of Religion in America

An Introduction

James P Byrd and James Hudnut-Beumler

Hosted by Jackson Reinhardt
The Story of Religion in America: An Introduction (Westminster John Knox Press, 2021) presents the broad scope of the story of religion in the American colonies and the United States. While …
Medieval History July 22, 2022

Orthodox Cyprus Under the Latins, 1191-1571

Society, Spirituality, and Identities

Chrysovalantis Kyriacou

Hosted by Evan Zarkadas
Medieval and Renaissance Cyprus was a fascinating place of ethnic, cultural, and religious encounters. Following almost nine centuries of Byzantine rule, Cyprus was conquered by the Crusaders in 1191, becoming …
Catholic Studies July 19, 2022

The Genocide Against the Tutsi, and the Rwandan Churches

Between Grief and Denial

Philippe Denis

Hosted by Allison Isidore
Why did some sectors of the Rwandan churches adopt an ambiguous attitude towards the genocide against the Tutsi which claimed the lives of around 800,000 people in three months between …
Religion July 12, 2022

Demonic Bodies and the Dark Ecologies of Early Christian Culture

Travis W. Proctor

Hosted by Tiatemsu Longkumer
Drawing insights from gender studies and the environmental humanities, Demonic Bodies and the Dark Ecologies of Early Christian Culture (Oxford UP, 2022) analyze how ancient Christians constructed the Christian body …
Catholic Studies July 11, 2022

Subversive Habits

Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle

Shannen Dee Williams

Hosted by Allison Isidore
In Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle (Duke UP, 2022), Shannen Dee Williams, provides the first full history of Black Catholic nuns in the …