The following "Researcher Reflection" from Dr. Amy Fu is part of an ongoing series spotlighting CSWR scholars and their research.

Zhu Xi’s Reflections on Things at Hand (hereafter, Reflections on,12th century) and St. Ignatius’s The Spiritual Exercises (16th century) may vary in rhetoric, content, and style, but their attitudes, methods, and mechanisms for personal self-cultivation overlap. The Neo-Confucian premise of wanwuyiti and St. Ignatius’s prescription for “Finding God in All Things” galvanize human action through self-...

In 1945, near the village of Nag Hammadi along the east bank of the Nile River, a local farmer, digging for fertilizer in the arid desert, made an unlikely discovery: a sealed jar containing a collection of leatherbound, previously unknown early Christian texts. Now known as the Nag Hammadi Library, the findings, dated to the 4th century and including now-famous works such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Truth, revealed to scholars a much more diverse, if not confounding, version of early Christianity than...

The following "Researcher Reflection" from Dr. Alicia Mayer is part of an ongoing series spotlighting CSWR scholars and their research.

Calvinist Christian doctrines brought to New England by the Puritans inspired adverse reactions against the many “different others” they encountered, especially Indigenous Americans, who did not fit a Calvinist God’s providential scheme of salvation. In this unknown, unexplored American landscape, native others were considered unsaved, nor could they be saved. The idea fueled the difficult, tense, and frequently violent relationships...

The following "Researcher Reflection" from Dr. Nicholas Low is part of an ongoing series where we spotlight CSWR scholars and their research.

For millennia, humans have dreamed of “superhuman” beings, in the form of gods, ghosts, demons, and heroes. These superhumans humble us mortals: they transcend human life, and possess powers, abilities, and knowledge that we do not.

However, we seem to be unlearning this humility before superhumans: many have come to embrace the superhuman as a real possibility, even claiming it as our birthright and destiny. Friedrich...

The following "Researcher Reflection" from Dr. Tara B. M. Smith is part of an ongoing series where we spotlight CSWR scholars and their research.

Flow is a positive state of mind achieved when engaging a physical or mental task with great focus. You might feel flow in an interesting problem at work, driving long stretches of road, or reading a good novel. Warhammer 40,000 (or 40K) was first produced by Games Workshop Players in 1987 and in 2023 was published in its tenth edition; it is a wild success.... Read more about Miniature Mindfulness: Finding Flow with Warhammer 40,000 Figurines

The following "Researcher Reflection" from Dr. Barakatullo Ashurov is part of an ongoing series where we spotlight CSWR scholars and their research.

Traditional healthcare practices in Central Asia are embedded in local cultures, histories, and religiosities. They are more than just different or alternative healing methods that contrast modern medicine. Interpreting such healing practices as religious survivals, reflections of pre-Islamic culture, or evidence of some universal shamanism fails to appreciate their holistic approach to care, which resonates with diverse...

The following "Researcher Reflection" from Dr. Eve Sada is part of an ongoing series where we spotlight CSWR scholars and their research.

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...

The following "Researcher Reflection" from Dr. Russell Powell is part of an ongoing series where we spotlight CSWR scholars and their research.

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....

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...

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...

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

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...

The following "Researcher Reflection" from Dr. Fabien Muller is part of an ongoing series where we spotlight CSWR scholars and their research.

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