This episode of ReligionWise features Chris Borick the Director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. In this conversation, we consider how pollsters try to understand religious identity and sentiment, the limitations of those methods for considering religious minorities, and how the rise of a religiously unaffiliated public has shown up in recent polls.

Religious stories and symbolism very often feature animals of all kinds. Over the last few decades, scholars have taken more notice of these non-human actors that often play an important role in religious belief and practice. Today's conversation features Arthur Walker-Jones and Suzanna Millar, the co-editors of a new book at the intersection of Animal Studies and Biblical Studies entitled Ask the Animals: Developing a Biblical Animal Hermeneutic. Our discussion explores the ways that we think about the appearance of animals in Biblical texts and considers, more generally, new approaches to understand the confluence of animals and religion.

Hindu traditions have been around for an incredibly long time. As with any religious or cultural system, however, the beliefs and practices of Hinduism have developed and adapted to new environments and contexts. In today's conversation, we talk with Dr. Abhishek Ghosh from the Institute for Vaishnava Studies about the translation of Hinduism to the West. From early encounters in the 19th century, to shifts in migration patterns in the 20th century, to contemporary wellness practice and mindfulness, we consider the ways that these ancient traditions have been introduced and understood in these new times and places.Show Notes:Institute for Vaishnava Studies (https://www.ivs.edu/)

We all know the aphorism about the unavoidability of death and taxes. On this episode of ReligionWise, we consider the former with funeral director Dustin Grim. Among other topics, this conversation reflects on changes in religious affiliation in the contemporary world and how these changes affect funerary practice. We also ask what these changes can tell us about shifting perceptions of the body, giving us a window into how people think about death itself.

This episode of ReligionWise features Vicki Garlock, Ph.D., the founder of World Religions for Kids. Trained as a cognitive psychologist, Dr. Garlock's longtime interest in religion and religious diversity has inspired her to produce children's books and train educators on the importance of religious literacy for even the youngest learners. Today's conversation considers the legal and pedagogical issues entailed with religious literacy for students and some of the practical concerns of such a curriculum.Show Notes:World Religions for Kids (https://worldreligions4kids.com/)

Today's conversation features Jane Fitzpatrick, a contributing writer to Religion Matters who covers the intersection of religion and the performing arts, with a particular emphasis on the opera. Conversations about religion in the public square happen in all kinds of contexts. This episode considers the many ways that religion is both represented and critiqued in the high cultural form of the opera. We also consider storytelling within both the performing arts and religion, in particular the interpretation and reinterpretation of narrative that is a hallmark of both.Show Notes:"What we can still learn from Dialogues of the Carmelites" (LSE):(https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2023/10/what-we-can-still-learn-from-dialogues-of-the-carmelites/)"Religious Pluralism at the Opera" (The Interfaith Observer):(http://www.theinterfaithobserver.org/journal-articles/2023/10/2-religious-pluralism-at-the-opera)"The Show Must Go On For Boris Godunov" (Appreciate Opera):(https://www.appreciateopera.org/post/the-show-must-go-on-for-boris-godunov)

Religious diversity on college and university campuses can be a complicated subject. Varieties of traditions and worldviews have been present at institutions of higher education for a long time, yet recognizing and welcoming those various religious identities has not always automatically followed.Today's episode of ReligionWise features Adeel Zeb, who has served as a Muslim college chaplain on several campuses over the last decade. Additionally, his work has been profiled in a number of outlets, including the Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, and the Washington Post. This wide ranging conversation considers not only Adeel's work as a Muslim chaplain, but also contemplates the path towards Islamic clerical leadership, pressures towards assimilation among 2nd and 3rd generation college students, and shared characteristics of minority religious identities at majority Christian institutions.

This episode welcomes back Tad Robinson, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy at Muhlenberg College.In his recent work, Robinson has asked how reframing questions of religious activity as spiritual rather than religious might lead to different insight and understanding of prayer, meditation, and a variety of other practices. We also discuss the realities of teaching a new generation that is less connected to religious institutions as well as the philosophical implications of considering spiritual practice from a new angle.

Every four years Iowa takes its stage in the national spotlight as the United States presidential race starts to heat up. This first opportunity for voters to choose a candidate to run in the national election, the Iowa Caucuses have an outsized place in our political geography. In this episode of ReligionWise, State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott and host Chip Gruen discuss many issues at the confluence of religion and politics. From the more diverse electorate than many would expect to Senator Trone Garriott’s unlikely path to state politics, today’s conversation provides context and local flavor to state politics and one politician who strives to make a difference in her own community.Show Notes:Religion News Service: Iowa pastor says running for office is a test of faith (https://religionnews.com/2020/01/21/in-iowa-a-lutheran-pastor-campaigns-for-state-senate-as-a-democrat/)Des Moines Register: This Iowan's first wedding was to a pair of satanists. What that taught her about love: (https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/entertainment/2023/03/27/what-a-wedding-for-satanists-taught-this-iowa-pastor-sarah-trone-garriott-about-love-storytellers/69924440007/)The Iowa Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church: Sen. Rev. Sarah Trone Garriott Encourages Laity to Counteract Christian Nationalism (https://www.iaumc.org/newsdetail/sen-rev-sarah-throne-garrett-encourages-laity-to-confront-christian-nationalism-18119210)

This episode of ReligionWise features Dr. Lorenzo Servitje, Associate Professor Literature and the Director of the Health, Medicine and Society program at Lehigh University. Trained in both Victorian Literature and Public Health, he considers the way that culture influences and is influenced by questions of health, healthcare, and disease. In this conversation we consider the broader field of Medical Humanities, where it came from and why it is important. We then dig into his particular area of interest, monsters of the Victorian era, from Dracula to Mr. Hyde, asking what can they tell us about both historic and contemporary understandings of health, sickness, and treatment.Show NotesMedicine Is War: The Martial Metaphor in Victorian Literature and Culture(https://sunypress.edu/Books/M/Medicine-Is-War)The Not-So-Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in Antibiotic Research: An Interdisciplinary Opportunity (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33379290/)The Walking Med: Zombies and the Medical Image(https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-07711-6.html)

This episode of ReligionWise features a slightly different format. Instead of an interview, Jessica Cooperman, Associate Professor and Chair of Religion Studies and Director of Jewish Studies at Muhlenberg College, and host Chip Gruen have a conversation that responds to a listener question about the methods of the Institute. We discuss the assumptions and implications of the dominant paradigm in public conversations of religion, "interfaith dialogue" and consider the possibilities for a less identity driven conversation that centers traditional educational methods and addresses religion as a part of human cultural production.

In this episode we talk with Nicole McGalla, Director of Communications and Community Engagement at the Parkland School District, in Eastern Pennsylvania. This conversation considers both the inclusion of the topic of religion into public school curricula as well as how religious diversity among both staff and students is addressed in the contemporary context.

This episode of ReligionWise features Dr. Bob Machamer who teaches courses on Health Care Ethics at the Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences. In this conversation we consider both the historical context for considering healthcare ethics and the changing dynamics of the field, particularly as it addresses the implications of a more diverse patient population. As a teacher, counselor, and pastor, Dr. Machamer brings a multifaceted approach to these questions; this discussion deals primarily with the practical considerations and implications that he deals with in his wide experience with students and clients.

Many current news, such as the overturning of Roe v Wade, the ongoing war in Ukraine, or recent investigations of unidentified aerial phenomenon, have increasingly become fodder for integration into fringe worldviews that we often refer to as conspiracy theories. This episode's encore presentation invites us to consider this development in our information ecosystem from another perspective. Rather than simply considering the claims themselves, what might we learn by considering how these theories contribute to  individual and community identity formation? This discussion invites us to contemplate these discursive strategies for their social significance and how they foster a sense of community around certain beliefs.  This episode of ReligionWise features a conversation with Dustin Nash, Associate Professor of Religion Studies at Muhlenberg College.In this conversation, we discuss conspiracy narratives and how the methods of religious studies can help us understand why individuals believe what they believe. Additionally, we consider how belief can lead to action as well as support an individual's view of self and identity.Show Notes:Dustin Nash article: Fossilized Jews and Witnessing Dinosaurs at the Creation Museum: Public Remembering and Forgetting at a Young Earth Creationist “Memory Place” (https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/scjr/article/view/11027)

This episode of ReligionWise features Rev. Dr. Falres Ilomo, Chair of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Iringa, Tanzania. Dr. Ilomo's work considers the intersections of traditional African religious systems with Christianity in Africa, as well as the history and development of Christianity in Tanzania and the surrounding region. In this conversation, we discuss the perceptions and realities of the varieties of religious expression in Africa and consider several aspects of the belief and practice of the Christian tradition in Tanzania.Show Notes: Cultural and Natural Heritage in Tanzania: A Case of Southern Highlands (https://heritagestudies.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Keynote-Falres-Ilomo.pdf)Interfaith Dialogue in an African Context (https://iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JPCR/article/view/55674)Hymns Translated by Berlin Missionaries in Southern Tanzania: Some Eschatological Implications of Translation (https://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JRDM/article/view/57746)African Religion: A Basis for Interfaith Dialogue Today, Dar es Salaam University Press, 2013

In this episode of ReligionWise, we talk with Sonja Thomas, Associate Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Colby College. In addition to her work on caste, class, and racial privilege in Kerala, India, Dr. Thomas has become a leading voice arguing against caste discrimination in the United States. This conversation considers caste alongside of race, gender, sexual identity, and religion as cite of discrimination and the efforts that are being made to confront it.Show Notes:Privileged Minorities: Syrian Christianity, Gender, and Minority Rights in Postcolonial India (https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295743844/privileged-minorities/)

In this episode of ReligionWise, we talk with Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, Professor of Rabbinic Judaism in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University in Israel. Though her research considers the intersections of Rabbinic thought and the development of the Talmud with early Christianity, she is also keenly interested in thinking about the role of the humanities in the context of the modern University. Through her collaborative work in a variety of institutional and governmental contexts, she has developed a novel perspective on the value of the humanities.

In this episode of ReligionWise, we talk with Dena Davis, Presidential Endowed Chair in Health and Professor of Bioethics at Lehigh University. In addition to her work in healthcare ethics, Dr. Davis has written on a brewing controversy over a group of ultra-Orthodox religious schools in New York. These Yeshivas concentrate their instruction, not on English, math, and science, but on the study of religious texts. The result of this curriculum is that students of these schools graduate without basic competence in skills necessary to navigate the modern world. Dr. Davis provides legal and ethical context for the collision between these religious and secular institutions.

This episode of ReligionWise features the Reverend Janelle Neubauer who currently serves as the College Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life at Muhlenberg College. Prior to holding that post, Pastor Neubauer has had a number of experiences in ministry abroad, including as a missionary pastor for the Lutheran Church of Rwanda. In this conversation, we discuss the contemporary practice of global mission work in the post-colonial experience as well as the opportunities and challenges of this type of work in the global south.

This episode of ReligionWise features Chris Borick the Director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. In this conversation, we consider how pollsters try to understand religious identity and sentiment, the limitations of those methods for considering religious minorities, and how the rise of a religiously unaffiliated public has shown up in recent polls.