Religion and Spirituality (Audio)

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes political scientist Robert A. Pape for a discussion of how social science can help us understand suicide terrorism. Professor Pape also reflects on international relations theory and its implications for foreign policy. Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 11599]

News program on religion and beliefs produced by students at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Series: "California News Service (CNS)" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 11649]

Jeffrey Schloss, Professor of Biology at Westmont College and Director of Biological Programs for the Christian Environmental Association; and Nancey Murphy, Professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary reflect on current debates about intelligent design, emergent research on science and religion, the environment, and other issues of contemporary concern. Series: "New Visions"...

Born between 1962-1982, Gen-Xers grew up with computers, video games, and MTV. Who are they and what are their values, beliefs, and world views? Wade Clark Roof, Director of the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life at UCSB explores how are they changing American religion and notions of spirituality. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Cen...

Two acclaimed thinkers about religion—Reza Aslan and Jack Miles—conduct an enlightening on-stage conversation about the state of Islam. An author and scholar of comparative religions the Iran-born Aslan challenges the “clash of civilizations” mentality that he claims has distorted the West’s view of Islam and he examines this critical faith in all its complexity, beauty and compassion. Series: "Hu...

Can ecology and the newer cognitive sciences inform understandings of religion? Join Professor Robert Ulanowicz and Professor Antje Jackelen as they explore scientific and theological issues. Series: "New Visions" [Humanities] [Show ID: 11525]

Abraham is often described as the common father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the three traditions that venerate his memory. Noted Harvard Professor of Jewish Studies, Jon D. Levenson argues that Abraham both separates and links the surviving Abrahamic religious communities and does so in interesting ways. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 11497]

Former Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart presents a critical analysis of the impact of religious fundamentalists taking over mainstream political parties in Part One of the 2006 Writer's Symposium by the Sea, sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 11449]

Does evolution inform or frame human moral action? Jeffrey Schloss, Professor of Biology at Westmont College and Director of Biological Programs for the Christian Environmental Association; and Nancey Murphy, Professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary, provide accessible and non-technical perspectives on biological and philosophical aspects of altruism. Series: "New Visions"...

Host Harry Kreisler welcomes Historian Juan Cole for a discussion of U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East. He also explores the importance of religion in understanding events in Iran and Iraq and he addresses the impact of the communications revolution on his own work as a scholar involved in the policy debate. Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 11296]

Yossi Klein Halevi, contributing editor and Israeli correspondent of the New Republic gives a talk on the dismantling of the Israeli settlements on the West Bank and the question of whether the Palestinian people and leadership are willing to accept a Jewish state at all in the Middle East. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 11387]

Mario Garcia talks about his new book called “Padre: The Spiritual Journey of Father Virgil Cordano” that deals with the story of a priest's tumultuous and challenging journey toward his place in the Catholic Church. An oral history life-story of Father Virgil Cordano, now the spiritual head of Santa Barbara's Old Mission, Garcia's book also discusses the emerging freedom of the Catholic lay commu...

Jonathan D. Sarna, Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University, discusses his new critically-acclaimed book, "American Judaism: A History." While American Jews have always worried about intermarriage, assimilation and continuity, Sarna argues that they have found answers in regeneration, revitalization and renewal. Sarna's talk entitled The Future of Am...

This program evaluates the roles and themes of both government-inspired and populist antisemitism. Featuring Peter Kenez, Professor of History at UC Santa Cruz, and historian and Holocaust scholar Yehuda Bauer, Professor of Holocaust Studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This program is presented as part of the Santa Cruz Jewish Studie...

UC Berkeley hosts this four-part series examining the relationship between democracy and global Islam. In Part One, several noted academics look at the Muslims in Europe to explain how globalism has affected Islamic practices in democratic nations. [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 9867]

In this inaugural event in the Martin E. Marty Lectureship on Religion in American Life at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Professor Marty provides a map for those who wish to increase their understanding of the various spiritualities available in America today. He probes what people mean when they identify themselves as spiritual, and explores some of the wildly disparate options and...

Professor Wendy Doniger has published over twenty books about Hindu and cross-cultural religion and mythology, particularly about issues of illusion, animals, gender, and sex. Series: "Burke Lectureship on Religion and Society" [Humanities] [Show ID: 9344]

Conversations Host Harry Kreisler welcomes Steve Coll, Pulitzer prize winning author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden for a discussion of how the superpower conflict in the last stages of the Cold War, U.S. foreign policy before and after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the political dynamics of South Asia created the setting in which Islamic terrorism...

Wendy Doniger is a Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago and one of the most important interpreters of myth. In this Fourth Annual Ninian Smart Memorial Lecture at UC Santa Barbara she explores the narrative convention in myth. Series: "Humanitas" [Humanities] [Show ID: 9410]

Professor Eck is interviewed by Professor Wade Clark Roof, Director of the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion and Public Life at UC Santa Barbara. Their conversation centers on the growing diversity of religious thought in America and the impact that this is having on American culture and society. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Huma...

Jim Wallis, author of the best-selling "God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It.," and his wife Joy Carroll Wallis join Dean Nelson for a spirited talk on religion, writing and politics in this program from the 2005 Writer's Symposium by the Sea sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show I...

Author and Harvard professor Diana Eck documents the growing presence of Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh and other religious communities in the United States and offers insight into how people of all faiths should celebrate this rich diversity in this event sponsored by the Helen Edison Lecture Series and the San Diego Public Library. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 9339...

Political Scientist Vali Nasr joins host Harry Kreisler for a discussion of the role of Islam in politics. Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 9171]

A pre-eminent voice for liberal Christianity, John Shelby Spong was the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark for 24 years before his retirement in 2000. His admirers acclaim his making contemporary theology accessible to the ordinary lay person—he's considered a champion of an inclusive faith by many both inside and outside the Christian church. His challenges to the church have also made him...

Rabbi James Rudin, senior inter-religious adviser at the American Jewish Committee, and Professor Akbar S. Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and professor of International Relations at American University in Washington, D.C. discuss Judaism and Islam. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 9088]