New Books Network

About Jack Petranker

Jack Petranker is Founder and Senior Teacher at the Center for Creative Inquiry and Director of the Mangalam Buddhist Research Center, both in Berkeley. He has studied and taught in the fields of Buddhism, consciousness, political theory, and mindfulness for more than 40 years.

Jack Petranker is Founder and Senior Teacher at the Center for Creative Inquiry and the Director of the Mangalam Research Center in Berkeley, CA. He presents programs in Full Presence Mindfulness, an approach grounded in the teachings of Tibetan lama Tarthang Tulku.

Jack's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Jack:

Politics & Polemics June 28, 2021

Open Democracy

Reinventing Popular Rule for the Twenty-First Century

Hélène Landemore

Hosted by Jack Petranker
Students of American history know that the framers of the Constitution were deeply concerned that the United States would founder on the shoals of mob rule. They designed a system …
Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness June 25, 2021

Buddhism and Human Flourishing

A Modern Western Perspective

Seth Zuihō Segall

Hosted by Jack Petranker
Western Buddhism is still in its infancy, but as it grows, it is evolving, as has been true in every country where Buddhism was introduced over the past two millennia …
Politics & Polemics June 8, 2021

Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes

Steven B. Smith

Hosted by Jack Petranker
In a time when questions about patriotism, nationalism, multiculturalism, and the like are sure to stir up controversy, Steven Smith offers a careful, balanced defense of what he calls “enlightened …
Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness February 18, 2021

How God Becomes Real

Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others

T. M. Luhrmann

Hosted by Jack Petranker
Tanya Luhrmann has spent much of her career as an anthropologist investigating the complex ways that people engage religion and the supernatural. In How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence …
Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness December 14, 2020

Inward

Vipassana Meditation and the Embodiment of the Self

Michal Pagis

Hosted by Jack Petranker
There is a strong interest today in turning inward to explore the mind and body. Mindfulness meditation exemplifies this trend, and has become increasingly well-known and widely practiced. In Inward …
Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness February 20, 2020

Green Buddhism

Practice and Compassionate Action in Uncertain Times

Stephanie Kaza

Hosted by Jack Petranker
Stephanie Kaza is Professor Emerita of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont, and has written widely on Buddhism and the environment. She describes herself as a long-time lover of …
Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness October 24, 2019

Prescribing the Dharma

Psychotherapists, Buddhist Traditions, and Defining Religion

Ira Helderman

Hosted by Jack Petranker
Buddhism and psychotherapy have been in conversation since the days of Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Erich Fromm. Today, when practices drawn from Buddhism have entered the mainstream, that conversation …
Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness August 30, 2019

American Dharma

Buddhism Beyond Modernity

Ann Gleig

Hosted by Jack Petranker
With Buddhism entering the mainstream of American society, it inevitably encounters the cultural and social forces that make ours a postmodern society. Ann Gleig’s new book traces out the multifaceted …