Common Threads: An Interfaith Dialogue

Back in the 70s, a religious punchline often included "The Moonies." That's what members of the Unification Cult were called, in reference to their messy messiah Sun Myung Moon. We haven't heard much of them as of late, but they hardly disappeared. Well, Moon died (What? No resurrection?), and now a battle is taking place between Moon's widow and 2 of her sons who are allied against her. And here'...

In November of 2021 Calvin University presented an online conference that focused on how Evangelical Christianity has, over time, defined just what made a woman "godly." Needless to say, in this 21st century there has been a movement among women to deconstruct these notions and replace them with what many would call a more enlightened understanding. In these episodes we speak with the author of th...

These are wonderful conversations that I had in 2021 with author Susan Garthwaite. We discuss the wisdom of St. Hildegard, a 12th century mystic who was a woman of great regard by the Catholic Church. These days her influence spreads far beyond denominations. What's interesting when speaking to people like Susan, who struggle between cultivating the great spiritual tradition that birthed and raise...

The movie The Kashmir Files was slated for a massive release in India in January of 2022. Due to Covid it is being held back. Here in the US there were some private screenings in major metro areas. While I did not see the film myself, several friends did, and were very encouraging when I told them I'd be speaking with director Vivek Agnihotri. This was a powerful conversation about one of the worl...

I do take great pains to correctly ID the year of original broadcast of these oldies; but remember, they all came out of 2 big boxes sequestered in my basement. Very few had any markings on the cassette tape itself or the cover. Much of the time I can tell the timeline when I interview an author. We normally bring them on very close to the release date of their book, which is easily found. But som...

We're taking a break from uploading shows from The Vault of the Ancients to bring you 2 episodes that aired in early 2022. Here we converse with Prof. Humberto Casanova, a Chilean theologian. Mr. Casanova has impeccable credentials in the school of Reformed theology. But his thinking as taken a turn toward the more progressive end of Christianity. In his book Imagining God he examines the poetry,...

I chortled more than a bit listening to these 2002 episodes. Our guest Quentin Shultze discusses how to engage with new technology from a moral & ethical foundation. But think about where we were then & where we are now. It would be like hearing a discourse on the automobile from 1915 20 years later. So, here we discuss computers, cell (but not smart!) phones, e-dating in its infancy, and this who...

These episodes from 2005 feature conversations with author Kristin Swenson, who wrote the book "Living Through Pain: Psalms & the Search for Wholeness." Regardless of ones' religion, there is some deep wisdom here. And for such a heavy subject, we do chuckle from time to time. Enjoy. Theme music "Nigal."

These are 2 episodes from 2008, where I speak with contributors to the book A Global Guide to Interfaith, which came out the previous year. I've mentioned before that for a program with the word "Interfaith" in its title, we don't really examine actual interfaith movements all that often. We did near the beginning, back in the 1990s. But feedback has been almost unanimously favorable on our decisi...

While many gentiles know about the 3 main movements within Judaism (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox) the more contemporary movements of Reconstruction & Jewish Renewal do not get as much ink or members. But they are important none the less. In these 2 episodes I'll discuss them with Rabbi Arthur Waskow. He's a remarkable man, so this is not to be missed. We aired these in 2006. Theme music "Nigal."

If you're familiar with our vault of classic episodes, you're aware of the fact that in the past we've interviewed several wonderful authors within the genre of historical fiction to discuss religion, culture and literature of the middle ages. Here is an especially interesting couple of shows that aired in the early 00s. This time, our guest is not an author herself, but an academic who reviews bo...

This one is a real oldie. Back in 2002 we held our annual interfaith conference, with the theme of environmentalism. We shared the duties with the West Michigan Environmental Action Committee. So remember, all this happened a long time ago. Don't go trying to register for it. But like all of these ancient episodes, the conversation is still valid. Our guest is Dr. John Grim. You'll hear how good h...

I'm very pleased to find the cassette that had these 2005 episodes on it. I didn't think I would. Here I enjoy a conversation with Swami Chidananda, one of the main editors that worked intensely on the Gospel commentaries written over the span of many years by Paramhansa Yogananda. The noted Hindu mystic saw the Judeo-Christian scriptures through a Vedantic lens that is quite close to that of some...

We have such an interesting relationship with age here in the US. We tend to worship youth and disregard the wisdom and life experience that comes with more candles on the cake. Of course, it's also possible to gain years and stupidity. Think of the audiences who rely on Tucker and Sean for their news analysis. But I digress... In these episodes from 2022 we speak to therapist and spiritual adviso...

These episodes are from 2003. They feature the women who wrote the stories in the book "Daughters of the Desert." This is a wonderful book that examines the very underappreciated role of women in the development of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity & Islam. I don't have much to say other than do listen to these. Excellent conversations. Theme music "Nigal."

OK, if you skip this one you're forgiven. I'm still going through a big box of ancient shows, and the other day i came across this cassette. It is not an episode of Common Threads, but a recording of a conference we held on 11/6/1999. The problem is that this is a very, very BAD recording. I think someone just set up a tape recorder in the back of the room and hoped for the best. Some portions are...

I'd really thought we'd exhausted the episodes featuring my cousin, Fr. Tom Stella. But lo & behold, I reached into my box of old cassettes & pulled out these episodes from 2004 that promoted his book A Faith Worth Believing. If you've listened to any of the others already posted then you know you're in for a very intimate conversation on deep spirituality. Theme music "Nigal."

This is a fascinating couple of episodes that deal with a rather radical Christian ecology. Mark Wallace proposes a worldview that claims all sentient beings are coequal in value. Not many people can say with all sincerity that a human life is no more valuable than a housefly. Regardless of your opinion on this, Dr. Wallace is really worth listening to. We aired these episodes in 2005. Theme music...

These 2 episodes were used to promote our interfaith conference in 2003. So please remember to ignore all references to the information I share. Even thought the event is long past the story of our guests bears repeating. In the 1980s Rabbi David Blumenfeld was shot by a terrorist. He survived, and lived to forgive his attacker, who then renounced violence. Episode 1 is a conversation with David's...

I'm pretty sure this episode is from 2004. Our guest is John Rao from the Theosophical Society. I really enjoyed listening to this right now. John, as I recall, was really a good guy. He gave much of himself to his path. As I do a great deal of the time, when I come across an old cassette to digitize and upload I check to see what might have come of our dear guest. To save you the work I can say t...

While I try to tackle a wide variety of subjects with equal interest, it's easy to tell which subjects really excite me. Just look through the archives to see how many times I revisit a subject. I just came across these 2007 episodes and realized that I'd done a total of 6 episodes (3 guests doing 2 episodes each) on Jewish humor. I don't believe there are any more, but I still have a few more old...

Recently we posted the episodes that focused on The Gospel According to The Simpsons. This week I came across a show we did a year later (2004) with Jana Riess, the author of "What Would Buffy Do?" This book follows along the same lines, seeking the deep spirituality that is embedded in the series. I was never really a fan of the show, though I always thought Sarah Michelle Gellar was quite fetchi...

Somewhere in the archives you'll find episodes with Dr. Jefferey Long, who offered us some great conversations on the subject of rebirth. These here were done a long time before. I believe these aired in 2003--or close to it. By the way, you can now see the video that we speak about here by going to: https://vimeo.com/6962342 Enjoy. Theme music "Nigal."

OK, these episodes from 2004 might not be the most popular with folks, but I could be wrong. Way back then we never figured that anyone outside of West Michigan would ever hear these, so much of the subject matter was local in nature. This is when podcasting meant using beans for bait, I guess. Anyway, I don't mean to disparage our guest. Sacha Bier has been a great advocate for interfaith activis...

These episodes are really among my favorites. Aired in 2008, we hosted Rabbi David Rosen, a gent with an impressive resume. David Shlomo Rosen is the former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and currently serves as the American Jewish Committee's International Director of Interreligious Affairs. He has participated in some of the world's more seachanging conferences in the arena of multi-faith engagement. In...