New Books Network

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 …

Medieval History August 17, 2022

Weeds and the Carolingians

Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750-900

Paolo Squatriti

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In Weeds and the Carolingians: Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750–900 (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Dr. Paolo Squatriti asks: Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire …

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 16, 2022

On Vodun, Voodoo, and the Movies

A Discussion with Emily Crews

Emily Crews

Hosted by Gregory Soden

Emily Crews is a Ph.D. candidate in History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Her dissertation project traces the relationship between movement and identity formation in the …

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 …

On Religion August 11, 2022

On Mormon Fundamentalism

A Discussion with Cristina Rosetti

Cristina Rosetti

Hosted by Gregory Soden

Cristina Rosetti completed her Ph.D. in religious studies at the University of California Riverside. She writes about Mormon fundamentalism. …

Princeton UP Ideas Podcast August 8, 2022

Sonorous Desert

What Deep Listening Taught Early Christian Monks—and What It Can Teach Us

Kim Haines-Eitzen

Hosted by Mark Klobas

For the hermits and communal monks of antiquity, the desert was a place to flee the cacophony of ordinary life in order to hear and contemplate the voice of God …

On Religion August 8, 2022

On Online Churches

A Discussion with Tim Hutchings

Tim Hutchings

Hosted by Gregory Soden

Dr. Tim Hutchings is a sociologist of digital religion. His Ph.D. (Durham University, 2010) was an ethnographic study of five online Christian churches. Dr. Hutchings is interested in the relationship …

General History August 5, 2022

The Last Witches of England

A Tragedy of Sorcery and Superstition

John Callow

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

On the morning of Thursday 29 June 1682, a magpie came rasping, rapping and tapping at the window of a prosperous Devon merchant. Frightened by its appearance, his servants and …

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 …

On Religion August 1, 2022

On the Krampus Conundrum

A Discussion with Madison Tarleton

Madison Tarleton

Hosted by Gregory Soden

Madison Tarleton is a Ph.D. candidate and scholar of Medieval Judaism in Christian Europe, antijudaism and antisemitism. Madison is studying at the University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology’s joint PhD …

Literary Studies July 29, 2022

Bad Humor

Race and Religious Essentialism in Early Modern England

Kimberly Anne Coles

Hosted by John Yargo

Kimberly Anne Coles is Professor of English at the University of Maryland; her first book, Religion, Reform and Women’s Writing in Early Modern England, was published with Cambridge University Press …

Biblical Studies July 29, 2022

Eco Bible

An Ecological Commentary on Genesis and Exodus

Yonatan Neril and Leo Dee

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

What does the Bible say about ecology? As people face huge ecological challenges-including growing hurricanes, floods, forest fires, and plastic pollution-the groundbreaking Yonatan Neril and Leo Dee's Eco Bible (Interfaith Center for …

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 …

American Studies July 27, 2022

Benjamin Franklin

The Religious Life of a Founding Father

Thomas S. Kidd

Hosted by Zalman Newfield

Renowned as a printer, scientist, and diplomat, Benjamin Franklin also published more works on religious topics than any other eighteenth-century American layperson. Born to Boston Puritans, by his teenage years …

On Religion July 26, 2022

On Chrismukkah

A Discussion with Samira Mehta

Samira Mehta

Hosted by Gregory Soden

Dr. Samira Mehta a scholar of religion and the politics of the American Family and an assistant professor of Women and Gender Studies and Jewish Studies at the University of …

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 …

Architecture July 22, 2022

American Unitarian Churches

Architecture of a Democratic Religion

Ann Marie Borys

Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

The Unitarian religious tradition was a product of the same eighteenth-century democratic ideals that fueled the American Revolution and informed the founding of the United States. Its liberal humanistic principles …