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Sacred Sounds: Assyrian Chant Legacy

March 14, 2024

I am a choral conductor of Assyrian origin from Iraq. I am passionate about preserving our unique music tradition, which could rapidly be altered and could soon be forgotten if not properly documented. When talented Assyrian chanters from elder generations are not recorded, content is lost forever. I believe Assyrian communities and churches should be spaces to experience traditional music. Assyrian music should also be available to musicians and conductors worldwide who seek diverse and meaningful content for performance.

Assyrians’ native land is the northern region of Iraq...

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Religion and Emersonian Decadence in American Politics

March 13, 2024

Political talk is increasingly incendiary. Threats of violence against lawmakers in both parties are on the rise; political epithets like “fascist” and “criminal” fly free. American politics has always been entangled with religion. The breakdowns in American political discourse we’re seeing in the runup to November’s presidential election are entangled with religion, too, just not the religion we assume is usually in play.

Ronald Reagan’s courtship of the so-called Moral Majority in the 1980s established evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics as emblematic of...

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Audio: Pop Apocalypse: Aliens, Eros, and Life After Death - An Interview with Whitley Strieber

March 7, 2024

For our third episode, we welcome the #1 New York Times best-selling author Whitley Strieber. Whitley discusses his boyhood as a Roman Catholic, the erotic dimensions of alien contact, his lifelong meditative practice, evolving views of the afterlife, and the recent U.S. Congressional testimony concerning Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs).

Whitley Strieber is the author of "Communion", one of the most iconic books in the literature of the unexplained and the bestselling nonfiction book on UFO-related subjects in history. His most recent book about...

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Audio: Pop Apocalypse: Ecstatic Knowledge and the Study of Religion featuring Jeffrey Kripal

March 6, 2024

For episode five of the pod, we are honored to welcome Jeffrey J. Kripal, J. Newton Rayzor Chair of Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. In this career-spanning chat, we discuss Kripal’s Catholic upbringing, psychoanalysis, and the ecstatic experience in Calcutta that changed the direction of his career. From there, we touch on Jeff’s role at Esalen, historical mystics and paranormal powers, telepathic insects, and how the study of religion and popular culture come together in film, comedy, and comics.

Jeffrey J. Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in...

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Audio: Pop Apocalypse: Inside the Mind of a Spirit Channel – A Conversation with Paul Selig

March 6, 2024

For our sixth episode, we welcome the spirit channel, teacher, and playwright Paul Selig. In this conversation, we explore Selig’s early career as a playwright and professor, his spiritual awakening during the Harmonic Convergence of 1987, how he cultivated his mediumship abilities, and the twelve books Selig has channeled from “the Guides.” On the way, we explore what happens to Selig in the channeling state and the metaphysics of mind that make these states possible.

Paul Selig is considered to be one of the foremost spiritual channels...

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Towards Intersectionality in Critical Psychedelic Studies: The Psychedelic Intersections Conference

March 5, 2024

The "Psychedelic Intersections: Cross-cultural Manifestations of the Sacred" conference, held at Harvard Divinity School on February 17, 2024, provided an unprecedented forum for the exploration of psychedelic spirituality across diverse cultural and disciplinary landscapes, and welcomed more than 230 in-person and 800 remote attendees. Hosted by the Center for the Study of World Religions, the conference sought to deepen the understanding of how psychedelics intersect with religion, spirituality, and medicine across traditions, modern and ancient, as well as across social stratifications, such as race, class, gender and culture. This year's programming built upon the foundational work of the previous year's conference, expanding the conversation beyond Harvard and investigating the capacity for psychedelic spirituality encounters at the intersections of diverse belief systems, disciplines, and communities.... Read more about Towards Intersectionality in Critical Psychedelic Studies: The Psychedelic Intersections Conference

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Reflections on the Reimagining Psychedelic Integration Workshop

March 4, 2024

Since participating in Tristan Angieri’s “Reimagining Psychedelic Integration” workshop at the Center for the Study of World Religion (CSWR) Psychedelic Intersections Conference, I’ve been thinking and moving differently. The workshop was about psychedelic integration, but the questions that arose apply to other areas of my life, too. What’s the point of “integrating” or “processing” something? What does that mean—and do we always necessarily need to do it? When might an experience stand on its own or even be the very integration we’re seeking?  

Tristan started the...

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Andrew Jacobs

The Vulnerable Bible in Fact and Fiction

February 27, 2024

In 2023 the Society of Biblical Literature released a print edition of the newest scholarly translation of the Bible: the “updated edition” of the New Revised Standard Version, or NRSVue. This new version introduced minor alterations to the NRSV, which was itself a revision of the Revised Standard Version first published in 1952. New translations and critical editions of the Bible are nothing new in biblical studies; the field is grounded in new discoveries and developments in textual...

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The Science and Philosophy of Plant Intelligence: A Reflective Encounter with Dr. Luis Eduardo Luna

February 27, 2024
On February 16th, the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) at Harvard Divinity School became the meeting ground for an exploration into the realms of plant intelligence, consciousness, and the symbiosis between science and spirituality. The event offered attendees the opportunity to delve into the intricacies of human and non-human interaction, guided by the insights of Dr. Luis Eduardo Luna.... Read more about The Science and Philosophy of Plant Intelligence: A Reflective Encounter with Dr. Luis Eduardo Luna
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Is Religion True? Christians, Buddhists, and the Difficult Quest for Truth

February 27, 2024

In the twentieth century, certain Christian theologians argued that religion cannot be true, for that would imply that it is coherent with other forms of truth, such as scientific or historical truth. Ancient and medieval Christian thinkers believed that the truth of religion and the truth of science were not only compatible but ultimately identical. The God of the Bible was also the primordial cosmic cause, and nature confirmed the supernatural. One overarching Christian truth encompassed all singular truths.... Read more about Is Religion True? Christians, Buddhists, and the Difficult Quest for Truth