In this episode of Sacrilegious, Gary has a whale of a good time with his friend, colleague, and boss, Charles Howard Candler Professor of English, and Dean of Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Michael Elliott, talking about Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. The entire episode. While we focus on the religious currents in this epic, seafaring story, we also celebrate its sacrilegious qualities and sacred standing in American culture. Some of the topics they touch on include death, drugs, friendship, men without women, meaning, meaninglessness, the white whale, and even a mention of God.
Sacrilegious Episode 09: Michael Elliot; Me, My Dean, and Moby Dick
Sacrilegious Episode 8: Deepak Sarma
What are some of the topics covered in the latest episode of Sacrilegious, you ask? Pharmaceuticals and religion; brain trauma and memory; yoga and charisma gone awry; and a recurring, particularly popular topic for the host: religious studies in public spheres. Professor of Indian religions and philosophy, Deepak Sarma, from Case Western Reserve University, is the guest with Gary in this conversation. Sarma’s wide-ranging experiences, as a guest museum curator, as a cultural consultant for projects at Netflix, as a survivor of a serious brain injury while rock climbing, contribute to a lively time and a free-flowing vibe.
“It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way”: An Interview with André Henry
André Henry People love it when we’re snarky about white people and racism online. But I’m trying to talk about anti-racism, specifically about nonviolent struggle, the kind that King was talking about in his final days.
Sacrilegious Episode 07: Jeffrey Harris
In the latest episode of Sacrilegious, Gary delves into religion and …. fast food–vegan fast food to be exact–with guest Jeffrey Harris, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of the new vegan food phenomenon, Plant Power. Vegan fast food? A sacrilege to many Americans who worship at the golden arches and ritually consume a host of animal-based, fast-food products morning, noon, and night. On the other hand, vegan fast food may provide spiritual as well as dietary nourishment to many who are backing Plant Power’s not-so-modest, but certainly modestly religious, goal of “changing the world, one burger at a time.” Plus, Jeffrey […]
Sacrilegious Episode 06: Dr. Ali John Zarrabi
Religion, death, health, drugs–these topics and more are included in Gary’s conversation with Sacrilegious guest, Dr. Ali John Zarrabi, assistant professor, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University. Dr. Zarrabi’s clinical work and research focus on palliative care, including but not limited to cannabis and psychedelic treatments for cancer patients. How do we understand a mystical experience? Is the Church of Cannabis legit? Can psilocybin ease anxieties about death? Just a few of the questions raised in this episode of Sacrilegious.
Sacrilegious Episode 05: Anthony Pinn
In this episode, Laderman converses with guest Anthony Pinn, Agnus Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities, Department of Religion, Rice University. Some of the topics they cover include atheism, death, music, Afro-Pessimism, and the pandemic. A brief conversation but it packs a punch.
The Abuse of Yoga and Proposition YSB: Herd Immunity for Troubling Times
Patrick McCartney What precisely does a Yogic way of life consist of? How might evidence-based policy be generated? From what evidence are these policies derived?
My Dad Died While I Was Teaching Death and Dying
Gary Laderman In addition to all these peculiar and profound circumstances, I also watched and assisted in my dad’s death while teaching “Death and Dying” in the spring of 2021, simultaneously professing about data and history and comparisons to students, while learning in the real world that I know nothing, that I am a child in a world of wonders and mystery, and misery.
Animal Abuse in Modern Yoga Gastropolitics
Jonathan Dickstein Scholars have expressed that “‘abuse’ extends beyond individual yoga communities and is often performed through unacknowledged race, gender, and class privilege.” But what about unacknowledged species privilege?
Sacrilegious Episode 04: Kathryn Lofton
Kathryn Lofton, Religious Studies scholar and Dean of Humanities at Yale University, joins Gary in this freewheeling but religion-focused episode of Sacrilegious. In under 60 minutes they tackle a variety of topics, including Bob Dylan and Beyoncé; religious literacy and canon wars; public scholarship and the pandemics, all with an eye on the shifting power dynamics driving academic and public understandings of “religion.”