Ep119. Filled with the Spirit, Ellen Lewin

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Ep119. Filled with the Spirit, Ellen Lewin

I sat down with anthropologist Ellen Lewin to discuss her recent work, Filled with the Spirit: Sexuality, Gender, and Radical Inclusivity in a Black Pentecostal Church Coalition. The book (and our interview) focuses on Lewin’s time participating in and researching the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries. Through our discussion Lewin shares about the emergence of the coalition, its values, how she became connected, and why spirituality and religion are still under-observed/under-researched in discussions of race, gender, and sexuality.

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Ep106. Religion and the History of the CIA, Michael Graziano

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Ep106. Religion and the History of the CIA, Michael Graziano

I sat down with Michael Graziano to talk about his book Errand into the Wilderness of Mirrors which investigates the dangers and delusions that ensued from the religious world-views of the early moulders of the CIA. We discuss how the religious studies of the time (both in the academy and in popular culture) shaped the CIA's view of and approach to religion - particularly the developing World Religions Paradigm. Along the way we discuss American exceptionalism, shifting attitudes to Catholicism, and the strongly held belief within the CIA that a religious person would always, ultimately, side with the good ol' USofA.

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Ep97. The Miracle of Religion in Modern Manhattan, Jon Butler

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Ep97. The Miracle of Religion in Modern Manhattan, Jon Butler

I sat down with historian Jon Butler to discuss his book God in Gotham which explores religion in Manhattan from the last C19th to midC20th. We discuss how - contrary to much opinion (then and now) - modernity, urban density, and plurality did not prove a stranglehold on religion in this most city of cities but proved fertile ground for its flourishing. We also discuss religion, race, and activism in this period, in particular the efforts of the Reverends Adam Clayton Powell and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. We also explore what he dubs 'God's Urban Hothouse' the particularly fertile theological institutions (Union and the Jewish Theological Seminary) and prominent theologians and religious figures who worked in this time (e.g. Heschel, Day, Niebuhr, Tillich, Ida Bell Robinson, the Powells again). It is a rich discussion about an incredible story.

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Ep81. Dying to be Normal, Brett Krutzsch

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Ep81. Dying to be Normal, Brett Krutzsch

I sat down with Brett Krutzsch to talk about his book Dying to Be Normal: Gay Martyrs and the Transformation of American Sexual Politics. The book highlights how, through the process of commemoration, secular gay activists deployed Protestant Christian ideals to present gays as similar to upstanding heterosexuals and, therefore, as deserving of equal rights. Our conversation centres on the treatment of Harvey Milk, Matthew Shepard, and Tyler Clementi who, in the wake of their deaths, had aspects of their life, politics, and personality erased in order that they might make more appropriate martyrs in the eyes of white Protestant America. Through this we see the way Christian language of sacrifice and redemption, and the symbol of crucifixion still hold sway in American society and thus limit the ways (and the who) of seeking equality and dignity. As Krutzsch writes, "Ultimately, this is a story of exclusion, built on a politics of inclusion, shaped and foreclosed by a white Protestant vision of “normal” American citizens."

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