The Classical Ideas Podcast

Michael Vanhartingsveldt (featured in episode 47 & 92) is a contributing columnist at Buddhistdoor Global. He works at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). He did his masters in East Asian Art Business at Sotheby's Institute of Art, and he also works as a lecturer for the Japan Foundation. Link to episode #37 from "The Way Of Improvement Leads Home" podcast episode mentioned in the introd...

Dr. Rachel Lindsey is Assistant Professor in Saint Louis University's Department of Theological Studies . She has a Ph. D. and M.A. in American Religion from Princeton University, and a B.A. in Religious Studies from Missouri State University. She is the author of Communion of Shadows: Religion and Photography in Nineteenth Century America from University of North Carolina Press. We discussed Comm...

Dr. Chris Jones holds a Bachelor of Arts from Oklahoma Baptist University, a Master of Theology from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and a PhD from Univ of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the sole religious studies professor at Washburn University. You can find his spectacular Twitter presence here:  https://twitter.com/ProfChrisMJones You can find his professional website here:  https://hcommo...

Dr. Michael Coogan is lecturer on Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at Harvard Divinity School and the director of publications for the Harvard Semitic Museum . He is the author of God and Sex, The Ten Commandments: A Short History of an Ancient Text, The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures, and numerous textbooks on the Old Testament. He joined me on the phone...

Dr. Nicole Kirk is a historian of American religious history, associate professor, and the Frank and Alice Schulman Chair of Unitarian Universalist History at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, Illinois. She joined the faculty at Meadville Lombard in 2012 after earning her Ph. D. in American Religious History at Princeton Theological Seminary. She is the author of "Wanamaker's Temple...

Dr. Andrew Chesnut earned his Ph. D degree in Latin American History from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1995 and joined the History Department faculty at the University of Houston in 1997. He quickly became an internationally recognized expert on Latin American religious history. Professor Chesnut was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Bishop Walter Sullivan Chair in Catholi...

Jonathan Homrighausen is an Episcopal writer and scholar on Scripture, art, and interreligious dialogue. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Duke University, after earning his MA in Biblical Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. His latest book, Illuminating Justice: The Ethical Imagination of The Saint John's Bible (out from Liturgical Press in 201...

Alicia Batten  received her BA in Humanistic Studies from McGill University, and completed an MA and PhD in Theology, with a focus on the New Testament, at the University of St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses upon the origins and development of early Christianity, with particular emphasis upon the ancient Mediterranean cultural context (s), including material...

Rima Fujita was born in Tokyo and now resides in Southern California. She graduated from Parsons School of Design with her B.F.A. and has exhibited her work internationally to much acclaim. As a descendant of the Last Samurai her creative aesthetics is strongly influenced by the philosophy of Bushido and Buddhism. Known for her distinctive style with vivid colors on black surface, Rima's works are...

Dr. Barbato researches the mechanisms and strategies of interreligious communication with a focus on high-level actors and cultural diplomacy, such as the Pope. She is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Münster in Germany and is in partnership with the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies in the UK. She is currently developing a project on Hindu-Christian dialogue. She's also a scholar of...

Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson is the elected Allsherjargoði (high priest) of the Icelandic pagan group, Ásatrúarfélagið, or  Ásatrú  Association. He is also a musician and composer.  You can find Ásatrú Association's translatable website at:  https://asatru.is/

Dr. Giulia Evolvi is the author of "Blogging My Religion: Secular, Muslim, and Catholic Media Spaces in Europe," out now from Routledge. Evolvi is a Research Associate at the Centrum für Religionswissenshaftliche Studien ( CERES ) in Germany and she manages the  Religion and Materiality  Focus Group for the Käte Hamburger Kolleg project.  Follow her on Twitter here:  https://twitter.com/giuliaevol...

Buy  American Sutra from Harvard Press here Bio from:  https://www.duncanryukenwilliams.com/ Duncan Ryuken Williams was born in Tokyo, Japan to a Japanese mother and British father. After growing up in Japan and England until age 17, he moved to the U.S. to attend college (Reed College) and graduate school (Harvard University, where he received a Ph. D. in Religion). Williams is currently an Profe...

Roger Lipsey is a biographer, art historian, translator, and, for many decades, a participant in the Gurdjieff teaching. Among his recent books is  Hammarskjöld: A Life, which has been hailed as the definitive biography of Dag Hammarskjöld. His latest book,  Gurdjieff Reconsidered: The Life, the Teachings, the Legacy, is out now from Shambhala Publications.  Buy the book here:  https://www.shambha...

Sean   Michael Wilson is an award-winning Scottish graphic novel/comic book writer. He has written more than 30 books, published by a variety of US, UK and Japanese publishers and translated into 12 languages. His books are of two broad types: 'western' style graphic novels, including original story ideas and various books on social issues; and a unique line of manga style books on Japanese themes...

Dwight Hwang is a California-based Gyotaku artist. His notable artistic achievements include a 2018 solo showcase by Los Angeles County Museum of Art and The Japan Foundation, as well as providing cover art for the book "Simply Fly Fishing" by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard.  You can follow Dwight Hwang on Instagram here:  https://www.instagram.com/fishingforgyotaku/ You can find Dwight Hwang's...

Dr. Margaret Winslow is Professor Emeritus of Earth and Atmospheric Science at City College of New York. She was a field geologist for three decades and is the author of two travel memoirs recounting her field experiences in South America. Those titles are "The Cusp of Dreadfulness: Fifteen Seasons in Tierra Del Fuego and Patagonia," and "Over My Head: Journeys in Leaky Boats from the Strait of Ma...

George Coe is a religious studies, current events, and world history teacher in Fairfax County, Virginia. He runs a popular blog with teaching resources at: https://worldhistoryeducatorsblog.blogspot.com/ . This conversation talks about constitutionality of teaching about religion; how to arrange a semester of teaching high school religious studies, a wide-range of resources that he and I have use...

Allison Coffelt lives and writes in Columbia, Missouri. She works as the director of education and outreach for the annual documentary-based True/False Film Festival, as well as hosting the fantastic True/False Podcast, featuring interviews and commentary with documentary filmmakers, available anywhere you get podcasts. Her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Oxford Public Hea...

Dr. Christopher Ives teaches in the area of Asian Religions at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. In his scholarship, he focuses on modern Zen ethics. In 2009 he published Imperial-Way Zen, a book on Buddhist social ethics in light of Zen nationalism. Currently he is engaged in research on Zen approaches to nature and Buddhist environmental ethics. He is the author of "Zen on the Trail: Hiking as...

Sam Kestenbaum is an independent religion journalist. He writes for The New York Times and is a contributing editor and former staff writer for The Forward. Sam Kestenbaum on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/skestenbaum To find his work, you can visit Sam Kestenbaum's website:  https://samkestenbaum.com/

Sylvia Chan-Malik is Associate Professor in the Departments of American and Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. She talks, teaches, and writes about the intersections of race, gender, and religion, with a focus on the history and cultures of Islam and Muslims in the United States. Her research highlights the lives, voices, histories, and representations of Muslim women,...

Charles C. Haynes is vice president of the Freedom Forum Institute / Religious Freedom Center and a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center. Haynes is best known for his work on First Amendment issues in public schools. Over the past two decades, he has been the principal organizer and drafter of consensus guidelines on religious liberty in schools, endorsed by a broad range of religious and...

Chris Grosso  is a youth mental health group facilitator with  Newport Academy , public speaker, writer, and author of  Indie Spiritualist   (Beyond Words/Simon & Schuster, 2014),  Everything Mind   (Sounds True, 2105) and  Dead Set On Living  (Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books, 2018). He writes for  Revolver Magazine ,   ORIGIN Magazine , and  Huffington Post ,   and has spoken and performed at Wand...

Andrea Miller is the deputy editor of Lion's Roar magazine (formerly the Shambhala Sun), a publication force within Buddhism that so many of you will already know,  and the author of two picture books: The Day the Buddha Woke Up and My First Book of Canadian Birds . She's also the editor of three anthologies, most recently All the Rage: Buddhist Wisdom on Anger and Acceptance . I spoke with Andrea...