Multifaith Matters

Joseph Laycock on vampires, gaming and social panics, spirit possession and exorcism, and more

In this episode we explore an overview of the work of Joseph Laycock. Laycock is an assistant professor of religious studies at Texas State University. He has written several books on new religious movements and American religious history. He is also a co-editor for the journal Nova Religio.

Books we discuss in this podcast include Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampires, Dangerous Games: What the Moral Panic over Role-Playing Games Says about Play, Religion, and Imagined Worlds, Spirit Possession Around the World: Possession, Communion, and Demon Expulsion Across Cultures, Speak of the Devil: How The Satanic Temple is Changing the Way We Talk About Religion, The Penguin Book of Exorcisms, and Religion, Culture, and the Monstrous: Of Gods and Monsters. We also briefly talk about the paranormal and a special edition on this in Nova Religio.

Catherine Wessinger on "cults" and Euro-American Nativist Millennial Movements

After Trump, QAnon, and the January 6 insurrection at the nation's capitol, a lot of analysis and commentary has ensued on how to understand them. Some have suggested they are cults and the followers brainwashed. In an article at Religion Dispatches, noted scholar of new religions and millennialism, Catherine Wessinger, took exception to such approaches. In this podcast we unpack her essay and discuss problems with the "cult" term and concept, and how to understand the Trump movement, QAnon, and January 6 as manifestations of Euro-American Nativist Millennialism.

Catherine Wessinger is the Rev. H. James Yamauchi, S.J. Professor of the History of Religions at Loyola University New Orleans. She is co-director of the Loyola Himalaya Adventure: Summer Study in Dharamsala, India program. Her primary research and teaching areas are women in religions, new religious movements, and Tibetan and Indian religions. Her articles in journals and chapters in edited books include history of religions and theoretical treatments of women and religion, millennialism, new religious movements, and religion and violence. Since 2000 Dr. Wessinger has served as co-general editor of Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions published by University of California Press.

Jared Byas on His Book "Love Matters More"

Many conservative Christians are deconstructing and reconstructing their faith. One of the areas in which this takes place is how to understand the Bible. Jared Byas is our guest who talks about this in relation to his book Love Matters More: How Fighting To Be Right Keeps Us From Loving Like Jesus. Along the way we discuss our respective faith journeys and how our understanding of the Bible has changed through the process Jared Byas is co-host of the popular podcast The Bible for Normal People and co-author of the book Genesis for Normal People. As a former teaching pastor and professor of Philosophy & Biblical Studies, he speaks regularly on the Bible, truth, creativity, wisdom, and the Christian faith. He and his wife, Sarah, live outside Philadelphia, PA with their four children, Augustine, Tov, Elletheia, and Exodus. Connect with Jared at jaredbyas.com.

Benjamin Zeller on UFO Religions

As a part of our series in response to the Pentagon report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAPs/UFOs), the noted scholar of new religious movements, Benjamin Zeller, discusses UFO religions. Zeller is associate professor of religion at Lake Forest College. He is the author of a number of books including Heaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion, and editor of Brill's Handbook of UFO Religions.

Darryl Caterine on the Paranormal and Popular Culture

Belief in the paranormal has remained high among Americans. What is the paranormal, what phenomena are involved, what can be said about the recent Pentagon UFO/UAP report, and why should religion scholars take the paranormal seriously? Darryl Caterine discusses this and more. Caterine is a professor of religious studies at LeMoyne College. He is a historian of religions whose research focuses on the intersections of religion, culture, and politics in the US and parts of Latin America. His areas of academic research include metaphysical/occult religions in America, and religion in popular culture. He is the author and co-editor of several books including an ethnography, Haunted Ground: Journeys Through a Paranormal America, and the volume we co-edited, The Paranormal in Popular Culture: A Postmodern Religious Landscape.

Chenxing Han and the Voices of Asian Buddhists in America

In her book, Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists, Chenxing Han writes that, "more than two thirds of U.S. Buddhists are Asian American. But you’d never guess this from mainstream representations, which all too often whitewash the racial and cultural diversity of American Buddhist communities.

"Be the Refuge is both critique and celebration, countering the erasure of Asian American Buddhists while uplifting their stories and experiences. The Oriental monk, the superstitious immigrant, the banana Buddhist: dissatisfied with these tired tropes, Han asks, Will the real Asian American Buddhists please stand up? Her journey to answer this question led to in-depth interviews with a pan-ethnic, pan-Buddhist group of eighty-nine young adults."

Chenxing Han is a Bay Area-based writer whose publications have appeared in Buddhadharma, Journal of Global Buddhism, Lion's Roar, Pacific World, Tricycle, and elsewhere. She holds a BA from Stanford University and an MA in Buddhist studies from the Graduate Theological Union. After studying chaplaincy at the Institute of Buddhists Studies in Berkeley, California, she worked in spiritual care at a nearby hospital in Oakland.

David Feltmate on religious satire in adult animation

Programs like The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy include a lot of humor related to religion. But what does it mean? David Feltmate discusses his book Drawn to the Gods where he examines how these animated comedies feature Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Native American religions, Hinduism, new religious movements, and atheism. Feltmate is Associate Professor of Sociology at Auburn University in Montgomery, Alabama.

Thomas Johnson and C. Holland Taylor Discuss a New Festschrift

This episode brings together Thomas K. Johnson and C. Holland Taylor to discuss the publication of the significant volume they co-edited, God Needs No Defense: Reimagining Muslim-Christian Relations in the 21st Century, a festschrift in honor of Dr. Thomas Schirmacher, Secretary General and CEO of the World Evangelical Alliance. This book brings together Christian and Muslim thinkers who articulate a vision for better relations between these religious traditions. Johnson and Taylor co-chair the Humanitarian Islam/WEA Joint Working Group. Johnson is Senior Theological Advisor to the WEA, which represents and connects over 600 million Christians in 140 countries. Additionally, he serves as Special Envoy to engage Humanitarian Islam. Taylor is Chairman and CEO of the LibForAll Foundation, and Emissary for the UN, Americas and Europe for Gerakan Pemuda Ansor, the world's largest Muslim young adults movement, with over 5 million members. Good Needs No Defense is available for purchase on Amazon in Kindle format, and via free digital download at Multifaith Matters.

Ted Peters on Astrotheology and UFOs

Given the work of the Perseverance Rover on Mars, and the recent release of the Pentagon's report on UFOs or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, speculation about the possibility of the existence of alien life is on our minds. Ted Peters helps shed light on this in this podcast episode. Dr. Peters teaches systematic theology and ethics at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He co-edits the journal, Theology and Science at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. He is the author of God-The World's Future: Systematic Theology for New Era, and God in Cosmic History: Where Science and History Meet Religion. He is co-author of Evolution from Creation to New Creation. Along with colleagues he has edited, Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Life, as well as Astrobiology: Science, Ethics and Public Policy.

Robert Skvarla on Jeremiah Films, Conspiracies and Satanic Panics

Jeremiah Films produced a number of films and pseudo-documentaries that included satanic conspiratorial elements. Think of Gods of the New Age and The Pagan Invasion. In an article in Diabolique, Robert Skvarla argued that this didn't stop with the end of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, but instead shifted from religion to politics. Skvarla is a freelance writer from Philadelphia. His focuses include conspiracy culture, fringe communities, and new religious movements. He has written for Atlast Obscura, Philadelhia City Paper, and Cinepunx, and served as a programmer for the Cinedelphia Film Festival.