New Books Network
Christian Studies
Children's Literature January 17, 2022

The Weed That Woke Christmas

The Mostly True Tale of the Toledo Christmas Weed

Alayne Kay Christian

Hosted by Mel Rosenberg
Alayne Kay Christian is the content and developmental editor for Blue Whale Press and an award-winning children's book author. We talked about her recent book, The Weed That Woke Christmas …

Christian Studies

Subscribe:

Interviews with scholars of Christianity about their new books.

Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 14, 2022

Ravenna

Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe

Judith Herrin

Hosted by Mark Klobas
At the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. Here …
Biblical Studies December 23, 2021

The Reception of Exodus Motifs in Jewish and Christian Literature

"Let My People Go!"

Beate Kowalski and Susan E. Docherty

Hosted by Michael Morales
The account of the exodus of Israel out of Egypt led by Moses has shaped the theology and community identity of both Jewish people and Christians across the centuries, blossoming …
Christian Studies December 17, 2021

Reformed Systematic Theology

Volume 3: Spirit and Salvation

Joel Beeke and Paul M. Smalley

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
The aim of systematic theology is to engage not only the head but also the heart and hands. Only recently has the church compartmentalized these aspects of life--separating the academic …
General History January 12, 2022

The Corrupter of Boys

Sodomy, Scandal, and the Medieval Clergy

Dyan Elliott

Hosted by Jana Byars
In the fourth century, clerics began to distinguish themselves from members of the laity by virtue of their augmented claims to holiness. Because clerical celibacy was key to this distinction …
Religion January 11, 2022

Butinage

The Art of Religious Mobility

Yonatan N. Gez, Yvan Droz, Jeanne Rey, and Edio Soares

Hosted by Irene Promodh
Based on comparative ethnographic research in four countries and three continents, Butinage: The Art of Religious Mobility (U Toronto Press, 2021) explores the notion of "religious butinage" as a conceptual …
Music January 6, 2022

Lying in the Middle

Musical Theater and Belief at the Heart of America

Jake Johnson

Hosted by Kristen Turner
Jake Johnson, author of Lying in the Middle: Musical Theater and Belief at the Heart of America (University of Illinois Press, 2021) takes as his subject the artifice of musicals—no …
Christian Studies January 3, 2022

The Book of Revelation and Its Eastern Commentators

Making the New Testament in the Early Christian World

Thomas Schmidt

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
In The Book of Revelation and Its Eastern Commentators (Cambridge UP, 2021), T. C. Schmidt offers a new perspective on the formation of the New Testament by examining it simply as …
General History December 22, 2021

Zwingli

God's Armed Prophet

Bruce Gordon

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
Zwingli: God's Armed Prophet (Yale, 2021) is a major new biography of Huldrych Zwingli--the warrior preacher who shaped the early Reformation. Zwingli (1484-1531) was the most significant early reformer after Martin Luther. As the …
Biblical Studies December 22, 2021

Sin, the Human Predicament, and Salvation in the Gospel of John

Mathew E. Sousa

Hosted by Jonathan Wright
In Sin, the Human Predicament, and Salvation in the Gospel of John (Bloomsbury, 2021), Mathew E. Sousa demonstrates that in certain respects, John's doctrine of salvation fails to align with its …
Indian Religions December 16, 2021

Savoring God

Comparative Theopoetics

Gloria Maité Hernández

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Gloria Maité Hernández's Savoring God: Comparative Theopoetics (Oxford UP, 2021) compares two mystical works central to the Christian Discalced Carmelite and the Hindu Bhakti traditions: the sixteenth-century Spanish Cántico espiritual …
Education December 14, 2021

Traditions of Eloquence

The Jesuits and Modern Rhetorical Studies

Cinthia Gannett and John Brereton

Hosted by Thomas Discenna
Traditions of Eloquence: The Jesuits and Modern Rhetorical Studies (Fordham UP, 2016) explores the important ways Jesuits have employed rhetoric, the ancient art of persuasion and the current art of …
Christian Studies December 13, 2021

When Did Eve Sin?

The Fall and Biblical Historiography

Jeffrey J. Niehaus

Hosted by Ryan Shelton
There's a small discrepancy between the divine proscription against forbidden fruit in Genesis 2 and Eve's re-telling of that prohibition to the serpent in Genesis 3. Jeffrey J. Niehaus, senior …
World Christianity December 10, 2021

The Scots Afrikaners

Identity Politics and Intertwined Religious Cultures in Southern and Central Africa

Retief Muller

Hosted by Byung Ho Choi
Drawing primarily on Dutch and Afrikaans archival sources including the Dutch Reformed Church Archive and private collections, Retief Muller's The Scots Afrikaners: Identity Politics and Intertwined Religious Cultures in Southern and …
Academic Life December 9, 2021

Shoutin’ In the Fire

A Conversation with Graduate Student Dante Stewart

Dante Stewart

Hosted by Christina Gessler
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Dante Stewart’s path through college and into his current graduate school, playing football for Clemson, why former college athletes …
World Christianity December 8, 2021

Kwame Bediako

African Theology for a World Christianity

Tim Hartman

Hosted by Byung Ho Choi
Kwame Bediako was one of the great African theologians of his generation. Challenging the assumption that Christianity is a Western religion, he presented a non-Western foundation for theological reflection, expanded …
Catholic Studies December 1, 2021

The Priest Who Put Europe Back Together

The Life of Rev. Fabian Flynn, CP

Sean Brennan

Hosted by Carlos Ruiz Martinez
Philp Fabian Flynn led a remarkable life, bearing witness to some of the most pivotal events of the twentieth century. Flynn took part in the invasions of Sicily and Normandy …
Eastern European Studies December 1, 2021

The Secret Police and the Religious Underground in Communist and Post-Communist Eastern Europe

James A. Kapalo and Kinga Povedák

Hosted by Roland Clark
This new book by James Kapaló and Kinga Povedák explores the complex intersection of secret police operations and the formation of the religious underground in communist-era Eastern Europe. In sixteen …
Eastern European Studies November 26, 2021

Romania's Holy War

Soldiers, Motivation, and the Holocaust

Grant T. Harward

Hosted by Roland Clark
What motivated conscripted soldiers to fight in the Romanian Army during the Second World War? Why did they obey orders, take risks, and sometimes deliberately sacrifice their lives for the …
Sociology November 24, 2021

Agents of God

Boundaries and Authority in Muslim and Christian Schools

Jeffrey Guhin

Hosted by Nafeesa Andrabi
Jeff Guhin joins us today to talk about his book Agents of God: Boundaries and Authority in Muslim and Christian Schools (Oxford University Press, 2020). Jeff, an Assistant Professor of …