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...

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...

On the evening of November 30, 2023, the much-anticipated event celebrating the launch of Peripheries, the Center for the Study of World Religions’s (CSWR) annual literary and arts journal, unfolded with a blend of poetry, music, and art, drawing over 140 attendees both in-person and virtually. The air buzzed with excitement as guests, including Chef Daniella Malfi, a MRPL candidate and musician deeply inspired by the journal, expressed their eagerness to delve into the 6th edition. 

As part of the Psychedelics and the Future of Religion series, the Center for the Study of World Religions presented an interview with author Mike Jay about his two most recent books, Psychonauts: Drugs and the Making of the Modern Mind, and Mescaline: A Global History of the First Pychedelic.... Read more about Video: Psychedelics and the Future of Religion: Mescaline and Psychonauts with Mike Jay

As part of the Psychedelics and the Future of Religion series, the Center for the Study of World Religions hosted scholars Drs. Christine Hauskeller and Peter Sjostedt-Hughes. Philosophers Prof. Hauskeller and Dr. Sjöstedt-Hughes present a multi-perspectival hermeneutics of psychedelic-occasioned experiences. They discuss the question: How do we make sense of the myriad of experiences and extraordinary states of being that psychedelics can evoke through lenses ground from the discipline of Philosophy?... Read more about Video: Psychedelics and Philosophy: Metaphysics and Meaning-Making in Psychedelia

As part of the Psychedelics and the Future of Religion series, the Center for the Study of World Religions hosted scholars Dr. Amanda Lucia, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California-Riverside and Dr. Arun Saldanha, Professor in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Society at the University of Minnesota for a discussion on "Race and Exoticism in Global Psychedelic Spirituality".... Read more about Video: Psychedelics and the Future of Religion: Race and Exoticism in Global Psychedelic Spirituality

The Center for the Study of World Religions was thrilled to host, along with HDS Buddhist Ministry Initiative, Dhamma Chakra Day: Buddhism and Emancipation of Marginalized Classes in India.  This event was initiated by CSWR resident, Dr. Santosh Raut.... Read more about Video: Dhamma Chakra Day: Buddhism and Emancipation of Marginalized Classes in India

Center for the Study of World Religions hosted our first Gnoseologies series webinar of the academic year on October 18, 2023.  Dr. Giovanna Parmigiani engaged in conversation with Dr. Angela Puca.  In this discussion, Dr. Puca describes how she pioneers an innovative approach to academia by utilizing popular social media platforms, aiming to bridge the gap between esoteric academic scholarship and the wider community.... Read more about Video: ​​​​​​​Gnoseologies: Angela’s Symposium: YouTube, Esotericism, and the Academia

Center for the Study of World Religions hosted our annual List Lecture Speaker Adam Afterman. Dr. Adam Afterman is a Professor at the Department of Jewish Philosophy and Talmud at Tel Aviv University, specializing in Jewish philosophy and Kabbalah. He is a senior scholar and director of the John Paul II Center for Interreligious Dialogue and a senior fellow of the Kogod Center for the Renewal of Jewish Thought at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.... Read more about List Lecture in Jewish Studies: Adam Afterman: Kabbalistic Neoplatonism: Divine Emanation and Mystical Integration

Center for the Study of World Religions hosted a talk by Raashid Goyal, who is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tübingen, Germany. In his talk, Goyal proposes that the term a‘rāb signified “Arabs” and not “nomads,” and that the former entity were originally considered as apart from the nascent community of believers.

Professor Charles Stang, CSWR Director delivered a lecture entitled, “Apophasis and Angelology: Henry Corbin’s Neoplatonism” at the 2023 Eranos conference in Switzerland. 

“This is not merely a minor chapter in the history of ideas, but rather a case study in how Neoplatonism has come to serve as a perennial source, or resource, for the reification of modern thought. … Throughout his work [Corbin] champions the Platonic tradition, over against what he perceives to be the deadening influence of Aristotelianism, Sunni orthodoxy, and modern materialism, secularism, and historicism. For Corbin, Plato – or Aflatûn as he is known in Arabic – is the sage whose name stands for what is most worth preserving in the philosophical tradition, especially when wed to the prophetology of the Abrahamic traditions, or ‘peoples of the book.’” 

... Read more about Video: Eranos Conference 2023, "Ideas and Influences on Eros"

Professor Charles Stang, CSWR Director, delivered a lecture entitled, “The Call of the Ancient: Psychedelic Pasts and Futures” at the "Archives of the Impossible" Conference at Rice University on May 13, 2023. 

... Read more about Video: "The Call of the Ancient: Psychedelic Pasts and Futures", Professor Charles Stang

On Monday, May 8, 2023, CSWR Resident Fellow and Editor-in-Chief of Peripheries, Sherah Bloor hosted a Poetry Craft Talk and Reading with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Tracy K. Smith for a capacity Zoom audience.  "During the Zoom lecture, Smith read aloud not just her own poetry, but the works of poets with parallel themes to her own: divinity, healing, history, race, and love—to name a few." (Quote provided courtesy of HDS Communications Intern, by Cecily Powell Tolleson. Full story here.)

... Read more about Video: Poetry Craft Talk and Reading with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith

On April 27, 2023, The Center for the Study of World Religions co-hosted this discussion with panelists Sam S. B. Shonkoff, Taube Family Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union. Melila Hellner-Eshed, professor of Jewish mysticism in the Department of Jewish Studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and senior research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and Rabbi Dr. Jay Michaelson, author and affiliated assistant professor at Chicago Theological Seminary.

... Read more about Video: Are Psychedelics Theologically Significant for Judaism?

Wednesday, April 26, 2023 - As part of the T&T Gnoseologies Series, CSWR Research Associate Giovanna Parmigiani engages in a fascinating conversation with Black Feminist ethnographer and African diaspora studies scholar, Assitant Professor N. Fadeke Castor.  

... Read more about Video: Multiple Subjectivities and the Ethnographic Study of Lived Religion

Thursday, April 6, 2023 - Center for the Study of World Religions held its annual Greeley Lecture in Peace and Social Justice (Race, Religion, and Nationalism Series), welcoming Biko Gray, Assistant Professor of American Religion at Syracuse University to the podium.... Read more about Video: Dis/appearing: Black Life, Theodicy & the Study of Religion with Biko Mandela Gray

Center for the Study of World Religions Research Associate Dr. Giovanna Parmigiani led a conversation with Dr. Natalie Dyer on April 5, 2023, titled "Reiki, Energy Medicine, and Post-Materialism." Dr. Dyer is a research scientist with Connor Whole Health at University Hospitals, the President of the Center for Reiki Research, and a practicing Reiki master. In this discussion they talked about the role of Reiki and energy healing in improving health and well-being, the possibility of a non-materialist scientific paradigm, and Dr. Dyer’s latest research on universal love.