Gregory Soden

The Classical Ideas Podcast

Religion EN ↓ 357 episodes

Simply stated, religion matters. Religion matters not only for personal reasons, but also for social, economic, political, and military purposes. Unfortunately, studies suggest that religious knowledge and cultural literacy for any religious tradition is either in decline or is non-existent in the United States, despite being one of the most religiously diverse nation on earth. Today, religion is implicated in nearly every major national and international issue. The public arena is awash in religious explanations and arguments for nearly every issue. The goal of The Classical Ideas Podcast is...

Author

Gregory Soden

Category

Religion

Latest episode

Jul 7, 2026

Where to listen?

Podcasts in the app Replaio Radio Coming soon

Podcasts are coming to the app soon. Install now and be the first to see a whole new take on podcasts

Get it on Google Play Install for free Android 5M+ downloads · 4.8 rating iOS soon

Episodes

EP 230: The Rise of the Muslim Sitcom w/Dr. Kristian Petersen 16.01.2022

Kristian Petersen is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies at Old Dominion University. He is the author of Interpreting Islam in China: Pilgrimage, Scripture, and Language in the Han Kitab (Oxford University Press in 2017), and editor of Muslims in the Movies: A Global Anthology (ILEX Foundation & Harvard University Press, 2021), and New Approaches to Islam in Fil...

EP 229: Migrational Religion and Latinx Diaspora w/Dr. João Chaves and Dr. Arlene Sánchez-Walsh 02.01.2022

In this episode, Dr. João Chaves and Dr. Arlene Sánchez-Walsh discuss Brazil and the book " Migrational Religion: Context and Creativity in the Latinx Diaspora,"  out now from Baylor University Press.  

EP 228: Mexican American Religions w/Dr. Brett Hendrickson and Arlene Sánchez-Walsh 19.12.2021

In this episode, Dr. Arlene Sánchez-Walsh is in conversation with Dr. Brett Hendrickson on the book " Mexican American Religions: An Introduction (Religion in America)," out now from Routledge! Follow Dr. Hendrickson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bbhendrickson Follow Dr. Sánchez-Walsh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmichelSW Visit Dr. Hendrickson at Routledge: https://www.routledge.com/authors/...

EP 227: Meatpacking, Migration, and Faith w/Dr. Kristy Nabhan Warren & Dr. Arlene Sanchez Walsh 03.12.2021

Dr. Kristy Nabhan-Warren is the V. O. and Elizabeth Kahl Figge Chair of Catholic Studies and a professor in the Departments of Religious Studies and Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Iowa. She is the author, most recently, of Meatpacking America: How Migration, Work, and Faith Unite and Divide the Heartland, out now from the University of North Carolina Press. Follow Dr....

EP 226: Jewish-Christian Dialogue w/Dr. Alana Vincent 30.11.2021

Dr. Alana M. Vincent is Associate Professor of Jewish Philosophy, Religion and Imagination at the University of Chester. She works on post-Holocaust Jewish thought, Jewish-Christian dialogue, and popular culture (primarily science fiction and fantasy). Dr. Alana Vincent on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProfAMV Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/

EP 225: Catholic Library, Muslim Books w/NA Mansour 20.11.2021

N.A. Mansour is a historian and a PhD candidate at Princeton University's Department of Near Eastern Studies, where she is writing a dissertation on the transition between manuscript and print in Arabic-language contexts. She produces podcasts for different venues, co-edits Hazine.info , and works for different museums and archives. She also writes for the general public on culture, Islam and hist...

EP 224: Religious Pluralism in South Africa w/Dr. Lee Scharnick-Udemans 13.11.2021

Dr. Lee-Shae Salma Scharnick-Udemans is the Senior Researcher in the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice at the University of the Western Cape. With degrees in religious studies and media from the University of Cape Town, she also has extensive experience working in television production. Dr. Scharnick-Udemans researches, teaches, and supervises in the areas of religious diversity,...

EP 223: Muslim Religious Spaces and the Lives of Muslim College Students w/Dr. Krista Riley 09.11.2021

Dr. Krista Melanie Riley (she/her/hers) is a pedagogical advisor at a college in Montreal, Quebec. She holds a PhD in Communication Studies from Concordia University, where her research focused on discussions about gender, bodies, and sexuality on Muslim feminist blogs. She is the former Editor-in-Chief of Muslimah Media Watch .

EP 222: Working Beyond the Academy w/Dr. Shannon Trosper Schorey 06.11.2021

Dr. Shannon Trosper Schorey is a scholar, writer, and researcher in the tech industry. She is an expert in science and technology studies, American religious history, and new religious movements. After leaving higher education, she began working in the private sector and is focused on emerging and cloud technologies. https://www.shannontrosperschorey.com/ https://twitter.com/STSchorey https://www....

EP 221: The Two Faces of Religious Freedom w/Dr. Jolyon Thomas 24.10.2021

Jolyon Baraka Thomas (he/him/his) is assistant professor and interim graduate chair of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Faking Liberties: Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan and Drawing on Tradition: Manga, Anime, and Religion in Contemporary Japan . He is currently finishing a book on religion and public schooling in Japan and the United States, an...

EP 220: Comedy and Islam w/Dr. Samah Choudhury 18.10.2021

Dr. Samah Choudhury is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Ithaca College. She speaks and writes about Islam, humor, and the politics that accompany what it means to be socially legible in the United States. Her current book manuscript looks at the ways that Islam and Muslims are articulated through standup comedy and how they speak back to broader transnational practices and discourses...

EP 219: The Young Lords w/ Dr. Jorge J. Rodriguez V 12.10.2021

Jorge Juan Rodríguez V, the son of two Puerto Rican migrants, was raised by his mother, father, grandmother, and uncle in a small affordable housing community outside of Hartford, Connecticut. He has completed degrees in Biblical Studies, Social Theory, and Liberation Theologies and is currently completing a PhD in History at Union Theological Seminary. In addition to his academic work which explo...

EP 218: Weddings, Marriage, and Divorce in Islam w/Dr. Kecia Ali 06.10.2021

Kecia Ali (Ph. D., Religion, Duke University) is Professor of Religion at Boston University, where she teaches a range of classes on Islam. Her research focuses on Islamic law; women and gender; ethics; and biography. Her books include Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence (2006, expanded ed. 2016), Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam (2010), Imam Shafi...

EP 217: Religion, Science, and the Brain w/Dr. Andrew Ali Aghapour 30.09.2021

Andrew Ali Aghapour (he/him/his) is a scholar and comedian based in Durham, North Carolina. He is the Consulting Scholar of Religion and Science for the Religion in America Initiative at the National Museum of American History, and the co-author, with Peter Manseau, of the forthcoming Discovery and Revelation: Religion, Science, and Technology in America (Smithsonian Books, 2021). Andrew holds a P...

EP 216: The Unraveling of Nepal's Hindu Monarchy w/Dr. Anne Mocko 24.09.2021

Anne Mocko is Associate Professor of Asian Religions at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. She is a specialist in the religions of South Asia, and has spent several years living in Nepal, but has also spent time in India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. She is primarily interested in the ways ritual performances and ritual change can shape collective ideas and ideology. Her first book on the role of ritu...

EP 215: Transnational Online Shinto and Educational YouTube w/Kaitlyn Ugoretz 18.09.2021

Kaitlyn Ugoretz (she/her) is a digital anthropologist and Ph. D. candidate in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She earned a BA and MA in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Pennsylvania with a double concentration in Chinese and Japanese studies. Her research interests include Japanese religions, g...

EP 214: Social Media and Hinduism w/Dr. Dheepa Sundaram 12.09.2021

Dr. Dheepa Sundaram (she/her/hers) is scholar of performance, ritual, yoga, and digital culture in South Asia at the University of Denver which sits on the unceded tribal lands of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe people. Her research examines the formation of Hindu virtual religious publics through online platforms, social media, apps, and emerging technologies such as virtual reality and artificial inte...

EP 213: Ecological Ethics in the Jewish Community Farming Movement w/Dr. Adrienne Krone 06.09.2021

Dr. Adrienne Krone is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Director of Jewish Life at Allegheny College. She has a Ph. D. in American Religion from Duke University. Her research focuses on contemporary religious food justice movements in North America and her current project is an ethnographic and historical study of the Jewish community farming movement. Follow Adrienne Krone on Twitter:...

EP 212: Heaven Narratives w/Dr. Brook Wilensky-Lanford 31.08.2021

Brook Wilensky-Lanford is the author of Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden (Grove Press, 2011), and former editor-in-chief of the online magazine of religion, culture and politics Killing the Buddha. She received her PhD in American Religion from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her M.F.A. in Nonfiction Writing from Columbia. An Associate Editor of The Commons at the As...

EP 211: Paid Family Leave and the Catholic Church w/Dr. Annie Selak 25.08.2021

Annie Selak (she/her/hers) is a systematic theologian, specializing in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. She earned her Ph. D. from Boston College, and is also a proud graduate of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (M.Div) and Santa Clara University (BA, BS). Dr. Selak's dissertation, "Toward an Ecclesial Vision in the Shadow of Wounds," examined the wounds of racism and sexis...

EP 210: Muslim Women and French Anti-Separatism w/Sahar Ahmed 19.08.2021

Sahar Ahmed is a PhD candidate in the School of Law at Trinity College Dublin. Her research examines and offers a reinterpretation of the right to freedom of religion under International Human Rights Law and Islamic jurisprudence. Sahar is from Lahore, Pakistan, where she worked as a Barrister for many years.  Follow Sahar Ahmed on Twitter: here .  Visit Sacred Writes online: https://www.sacred-wr...

EP 209: Muslim Philanthropy and Pillars Fund w/Kashif Shaikh 02.08.2021

Kashif Shaikh is the Co-Founder and President of Pillars Fund. In 2010, Kashif and a small group of Muslim philanthropists founded Pillars to strategically organize wealth within their communities and support American Muslim civic institutions and leaders building a more just, equitable society. For the next five years, Kashif volunteered his time and resources to grow and lead Pillars. In 2016, h...

EP 208: Medieval Queer Magic w/Kersti Francis 23.07.2021

Kersti Francis is a writer, editor, and medievalist based in Tucson and Los Angeles. Francis' works at the intersections between religion, magic, gender, and sexuality is so interesting. I loved this conversation, and I hope you enjoy it. She is on Twitter ( @kerstifrancis ), where she tweets about feminism, queerness, history, and much more.  

EP 207: A conversation w/ Dr. Felipe Hinojosa and Dr. Arlene Sánchez-Walsh 02.07.2021

Dr. Arlene Sánchez-Walsh: https://twitter.com/AmichelSW Guest host Arlene M. Sánchez-Walsh, Ph. D., is a professor of religious studies and the author of the award-winning book Latino Pentecostal Identity: Evangelical Faith, Self, and Society  (Columbia University Press, 2003). She has authored more than a dozen articles and book chapters on the subject of Latino/a Pentecostalism, and has served a...

EP 206: How God Becomes Real w/Dr. Tanya Luhrman and Dr. Brian Carwana 23.06.2021

Dr. Tanya Luhrmann is the author of "How God Becomes Real" and is the Watkins University Professor in the Stanford Anthropology Department. She is a medical and psychological anthropologist, and also an anthropologist of religion. Dr. Brian Carwana Brian has a PhD in religion, a business degree, and worked as a strategy consultant. He is the Executive Director of Encounter World Religions where he...

Listen to the The Classical Ideas Podcast podcast in Replaio

Radio and podcasts in one app - free, with no sign-up. Install today and do not miss the launch

Get it on Google Play

Replaio is not a podcast publisher; show names, artwork and audio belong to their authors and are distributed through public RSS feeds.