The Classical Ideas Podcast

Anne Watts is one of the co-editors of the new book, "The Collected Letters of Alan Watts," released in January 2018 from New World Library. Anne Watts is a facilitator and educator who is committed to creating a world where everyone wins.  She honors each individual for the gift she or he is, and believes that love and nurturance are the most important aspects in human healing. She regularly lead...

Alan Watts was one of the first to interpret Eastern wisdom for a Western audience. Joan Watts, Alan's eldest daughter, is the co-editor (along with her sister, Anne) of the new volume, "The Collected letters of Alan Watts," out now from New World Library. This is part one in a two-part series on the Life of Alan Watts, featuring Joan and Anne Watts. 

Anita Feng (Zen Master Jeong Ji) serves as the guiding teacher at Blue Heron Zen Community in Seattle, Washington.  She has practiced Zen in the lineage of Zen Master Seung Sahn since 1976. In the late '70s she lived and studied intensively with Zen Master Seung Sahn at the Providence Zen Center. She received Inka from Zen Master Ji Bong 2008 and received final transmission as a Zen Master in 2015...

Patricia Riely  is a student in the Ruhaniat, a universal Sufi order founded by Samuel Lewis, whose teacher, Inayat Khan, lived from 1882-1927. Riely also is an important organizer for the Ozark Sufi Camp, a large, biannual Sufi gathering at the Lake of the Ozarks in mid-Missouri, United States. We talk a lot about the Sufi camp in this episode. Anyone wishing to learn more can check out OzarkSufi...

A Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, Ian Johnson is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and the New York Times; his work has also appeared in The New Yorker and National Geographic. He is an advising editor for the Journal of Asian Studies and teaches courses on religion in Beijing. He is the author of The Souls of China, Wild Grass, A Mosque in Munich, and The Rise of the Muslim...

Max Perry Mueller received his PhD from Harvard University. He  is a historian of American religion and an assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is the author of Race and the Making of the Mormon People , published by the University of North Carolina Press in September 2017.

Dinty W. Moore is author of The Accidental Buddhist  and  The Mindful Writer . He is a professor of nonfiction writing at Ohio University, the editor of Brevity Magazine, and lives in Athens, Ohio. www.dintywmoore.com

Brandon used to be a member of a church called the " Church of God Preparing for The kingdom of God."  The group holds an apocalyptic view of end times prophecy and the end of the world as we know it. Brandon left in 2013.

Kim 'Skipper' Corbin is the host of the New World Now podcast at New World Library, where she serves as a senior publicist/social media manager. She has also been a passionate promoter of the benefits of adult skipping since 1999 via her iskip.com website, which has been featured in Time, Newsweek, and People Magazines. Her website iskip.com offers an information source and gathering place for peo...

Gregg Deal is an artist, a husband, a father and a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. 

Dr. Li Dan is professor of Chinese Literature in the College of Humanities and Communications at Shanghai Normal University, China. She was appointed the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at the University of MIssouri from 2015-2017. She is the author of 44 academic articles and one book, Approaching to the Poetics. We spoke at the University of Missouri Confucius Institute on November 2...

Brad Warner is most recently the author of It Came from Beyond Zen! and numerous other titles including Don't Be a Jerk , Sit Down & Shut Up , Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate, There is No God and he is always with you, Sex, Sin, and Zen, Hardcore Zen, and Hardcore Zen Strikes Again . A Soto Zen priest, he is a punk bassist, filmmaker, Japanese-monster-movie marketer, and popular blogger b...

Rev. Molly Housh Gordon started her tenure as the third settled minister of the Columbia, Missouri Unitarian Universalist congregation 2012. She  holds a Bachelor's Degree in Religion from Hendrix College in Conway, Ark. and a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass.  Rev. Housh Gordon Sermon Archive Link:  https://uuchurch.net/sermon-archive

Dennis Kelley is an associate professor of Religious Studies at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He received his Master's and Doctorate from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with emphases in American Indian Religious Traditions, Religion in American Culture, and Myth and Ritual Theory. His most recent book is  Tradition, Performance, and Religion in Native America: Ancestral Ways,...

Rev. Josh Privitt was called as Associate Pastor at St. Peter's UCC in Ferguson, Missouri in August of 2014 after graduating from Eden Theological Seminary with a Masters of Divinity.

Baha'u'llah is the founder of the Baha'i Faith. 2017 marks the 200th anniversary of his birth. This discussion with Dr. Sahba Jalali and Kurt Saxton offers insight into the auspicious nature of 2017 for the world's Baha'i population. 

Seido Ray Ronci is a Rinzai Zen monk and the director of the Hokoku-An Zendo meditation center in Columbia, Missouri. He is the author of the poetry collection The Skeleton of the Crow, winner of the 2009 PEN Center USA Award for Poetry, and This Rented Body (2006). He contributed to the Zen poetry collection America Zen: A Gathering of Poets , published in 2004. His work has also appeared in Tric...

Dr. Sheetal Dharmadhikari is a member of the Brahma Kumaris. The Brahma Kumaris are a spiritual movement associated with the United Nations and are present in UNICEF. Founded in India in 1937, Brahma Kumaris has spread to over 110 countries on all continents and is an international NGO. 

Dr. Gopal and Anantha Gopalaratnam are founding members of the Shanthi Mandir Hindu Temple and Community Center of Mid-Missouri. 

Jessie Starbuck, a Columbia, Missouri native, grew up attending the Columbia Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).  She went on to study art at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI and returned to Columbia in 2006 to pursue an education degree.  Jessie is now an Art Teacher in Columbia, Missouri.

This is a discussion about Islam, Palestinians, Al-Aqsa, and Peace Fellowship. 

Ryan is the author of "The Assassination of Joseph Smith: Innocent Blood on the Banner of Liberty," published in 2015. After obtaining his Master of Education from Weber State University in 2004, Ryan began writing opinion pieces for Northern Utah newspapers on family, freedom, politics, and religion. He was a blogger on the subject of faith for two years; many of his posts were featured on realcl...

Dr. Gabrielle Malfatti serves as Director of Global Engagement and Associate Teaching Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Missouri College of Education. In 2013 she established Mizzou Ed Teach Abroad, a program designed to give future teachers an opportunity to internationalize their preparation with international co-teaching experiences and cross-cultural mentoring.  She is a...

Jainism is an ancient Indian religion emphasizing non-violence. This conversation is an introduction and a deep dive all at once with Nishant Jain.  Suggested follow-up episode on the concept of Ahimsa can be found on the "History of Philosophy of India" podcast.  Link:  https://hopwag2.podbean.com/e/hpi-15-mostly-harmless-non-violence/

Mary Hartigan is a conservative Jewish woman and has been an ardent Zionist since age 15. She converted to Judaism in the 1980's and is an active presence in her local congregation.