Research On Religion » New Age & Paranormal

Robert Joustra on Zombies, Cylons, Charles Taylor, and the Apocalypse

tonygill — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 08:00:13 +0000

It is the end of the world as we know it! Actually, when hasn’t it been the end of the world as we know it?! That is the question that motivates a fascinating new book looking at the world going to hell. Dr. Robert Joustra, an associate professor of international relations at Redeemer University College (Canada), calls in to talk about the book he co-authored with Prof. Alissa Wilkinson (King’s College) entitled How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse: Zombies, Cylons, Faith, and Politics at the End of the World. This is a fascinating work that employs the thinking of political philosopher Charles Taylor (also Canada) to understand how we have come to terms with the coming apocalypse through the ages. While reviewing the history of the apocalypse — because it always has been coming as long as there have been humans around — we spend most of our time talking about recent apocalyptic movies, television series, and literature, including Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead, The Hunger Games, and – of course – Mad Men! As Jerry Garcia would agree, this is one long, strange trip.

Prof. Joustra kicks us off by indicating that he might go trick-or-treating as Martin Luther on Reformation Day, but then we settle things down to the more serious issue of looking at the history of the apocalypse. We start with Revelation in the Christian Bible, but also acknowledge that the ancient Greeks had their own visions of the end. Indeed, the end of the world has always been coming and it actually serves to help us understand our contemporary times, including such desperate eras as the age of medieval plagues, Mongol invasions, and the threat of nuclear war. Robert notes that something interesting has happened in the past century or so, and that has been a turn to viewing the apocalypse as something humans bring upon themselves through their own actions rather than something visited upon all of us from “on high.” This insight comes by way of Charles Taylor, who penned the monumental book The Secular Age. Robert explains how he and Prof. Wilkinson were able to filter his thinking through a wide variety of popular culture movies and get their work published at Eerdmans, the purveyors of fine spiritual books.

We review the thinking of Charles Taylor and his concern over the “malaise of modernity” (the title of one of his other books, though published under a different title in the U.S.). Robert reveals how Taylor points out three “pathologies” of our contemporary age that include being adrift in the cosmos, making efficiency king of all goals, and the paradox of freedom’s double bind. Battlestar Galactica illustrates the first pathology and Robert lays out the plotline of that television series (both the old and new), showing how the robotic Cylons that humans created want to destroy the human race but simultaneously cannot live without the humanity instilled in us. The move Her, a story of a man who falls in love with a disembodied artificial intelligence, also harkens to this theme, which leads Tony to point out how he and Matthew Moore talked about artificial intelligence and the Robopocalypse via Buddhism a few months back (see below for a link to this incredible discussion). We jump forward to talk about the third pathology of malaise — the paradox of freedom — in relation to zombies (The Walking Dead) and The Hunger Games. All throughout this conversation, Robert isn’t simply satisfied with laying out the comic book version of these stories for Tony, but he drops important names such as St. Francis of Assisi and Thucydides connecting what Tony thought was the totally un-connectable. We go through the third theme of Taylor’s “malaise of modernity” with reference to television shows that at first glance do not appear apocalyptic, namely Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and House of Cards. (Tony admits to not watching any of these series given that he prefers happy endings, which prompts Dr. Joustra to cite G.K. Chesterton!) All of these shows, Prof. Joustra argues, talk about “end times” in terms of the transformation of humans into something other than the ethical beings they were meant to be — a radical individualism and desire for efficiency gone awry. Robert concludes the podcast with his own thoughts about what he learned throughout the process of writing this book. Recorded: October 16, 2017.

Prof. Robert Joustra’s personal web page.

How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse: Zombies, Cylons, Faith, and Politics at the End of the World, by Robert Joustra and Alissa Wilkinson.

The Religious Problem with Religious Freedom, by Robert Joustra.

God and Global Order: The Power of Religion in American Foreign Policy, by Jonathan Chaplin and Robert Joustra.

The Church and Religious Persecution, by Kevin den Dulk and Robert Joustra.

The Secular Age, by Charles Taylor.

The Ethics of Authenticity (a.k.a. The Malaise of Modernity), by Charles Taylor.

RELATED LINKS

Our Halloween Episodes (including zombies, Bigfoot, ghosts, UFOs, monsters, ancient aliens, and many other tricks and treats).

Matthew Moore on Buddhism, Meditating Machines, and the Robopocalypse.

Chris Bader on the Paranormal

tonygill — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 08:00:20 +0000

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Who believes in the ghosts, UFOs, and Bigfoot? And why? This has been the topic of investigation of Prof. Christopher Bader, a professor of sociology at Chapman University, for over two decades. As Chris was one of our very first guests on this podcast, we invite him back to discuss the second edition of his book Paranormal America, co-written with Joseph Baker and Carson Mencken. Few scholarly books receive such an honor as to be published in a second edition, but the popularity of this work combined with a great deal of new data and fieldwork made the decision easy for NYU Press. Prof. Bader notes that nearly 75% of the content of this work is new and updated material. Our discussion begins with one of Chris’s new tales — an account of a haunted classroom in Smith Hall on the campus of Chapman University. Chris found it exciting to be at the “ground floor” of this “making of a ghostly legend,” and he details how the professor involved and his students investigated the strange footsteps that several people heard. After another tale of a night spent at a haunted coffee house, Chris explains what falls under the scope of “paranormal” and provides some of the basic demographics for who is most likely to be attracted to beliefs in different phenomenon. He emphasizes the point that his work is about how such beliefs affect the behavior of individuals holding these ideas, and that he is not out to prove whether such things as ghosts or UFOs exist. We also discuss how beliefs in the paranormal relate to both religion and science, with Chris noting that paranormal beliefs fall between those two realms and are “doubly damned.” Getting into the sociology of religion, Chris explains how religious organizations that are fairly strict will often see the paranormal as a main competitor to their faith tradition and spend a great deal of time denouncing such beliefs, whereas individuals who do not have strong attachments to strict religious traditions will often dabble in a portfolio of beliefs. We further explore the reasons why many individuals are drawn to the paranormal, with Chris laying out two major reasons — a search for meaning in one’s life and/or a thrill of being in on a discovery of something new. He peppers the discussion with examples of each, including his visit to various psychic fairs and a conversation with a women who claims to be abducted by extraterrestrials. Over conversation also covers the extent to which such paranormal beliefs can find an organizational representation and what the future holds for such beliefs, particularly in an era when the religiously non-affiliated (or “nones”) appears to be increasing. We finish off with a brief discussion on Chris’s new research on fear in society and what he has learned over the course of his two decades investigating these topics. Recorded: October 3, 2016.

Paranormal America (2nd Edition), by Christopher Bader, Joseph O. Baker and F. Carson Menken.

America’s Four Gods, by Paul Froese and Christopher Bader.

The Association of Religion Data Archives (The ARDA).

RELATED PODCASTS

Chris Bader on Ghosts, UFOs, and the Paranormal.

Scott Poole on Monsters.

Peter Leeson on Witch Trials and Human Sacrifice.

Chris White on Debunking Ancient Aliens.

Gary Laderman on Resting in Peace: The Death Industry in American History.

Joseph Baker on American Secularism.

Paul Froese on the Meaning of Life.

Paul Froese on America’s Four Gods.

Chris White on Debunking Ancient Aliens

tonygill — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 08:00:32 +0000

Were our historical ancestors visited by extraterrestrial beings who provided us with knowledge and technology? Is The Bible nothing more than a description of human encounters with ancient aliens? Were the Egyptian pyramids constructed with the help of flying saucers? And what about those strange statues on Easter Island? Surely, they could not be the work of primitive humans. On our special Halloween Week episode of Research on Religion, we look at these age old mysteries and more with Chris White, an independent filmmaker who produced a feature length film called “Ancient Aliens Debunked.” Chris also runs a website of the same name devoted to calling into question a number of assertions made on Ancient Aliens, the popular History Channel series.

Our journey back in time begins with an examination of Ezekiel’s vision of God on the banks of the Chebar River. In the Book of Ezekiel (Chapter 1), there appears to be a description of some type of hovering craft with “wheels in wheels” and led by creatures with four faces. Given that air travel was not common in this era, and imagination severely limited, it would seem only natural that this was a description of an alien spacecraft from a distant galaxy. But Chris White dissects this claim by noting how Ezekiel’s description of the throne of God was a fairly common one in that age, wheels were known to exist for functional and decorative purposes, and Ezekiel himself was perhaps the most detail-oriented and expressive writer in the Old Testament.

We travel next to ancient Egypt, where Tony challenges Chris to explain how a technologically backward society could build such monumental structures without the help of some futuristic technology. Tony admits that it might be possible to build the first couple levels of the pyramids merely by dragging large blocks on the ground, but once you get to the very top it would seem impossible to pile those stones unless you had some amazing flying machine. Chris takes this myth apart as well, pointing to some interesting new theories regarding inner ramps within the pyramids that would explain how the stones were transported to the top, as well as some of the internal chambers within the pyramids. He also addresses the issue of whether or not the alignment of the pyramids along a north/south axis could have been achieved without modern GPS mapping gizmos, and then explains that contrary to assertions by ancient alien theorists, the Egyptians probably did not have an incandescent light bulb.

Thoroughly disappointed that these two major claims about ancient aliens may not hold water, Tony then challenges Chris with one of his favorite ancient aliens tropes — the Nazca lines of Peru. These lines and various pictographs, including a drawing of an astronaut that looks like one of Tony’s kindergarten drawings of Neil Armstrong, apparently can only be seen from an aerial flyover. Moreover, the lines look suspiciously like a modern airport tarmac. Chris once again puts on his debunking hat and notes a number of problems with the alien interpretation of the Nazca line, including the ease in which they could be built and that it is also possible to see these drawings from a neighboring mountain. The fact that an alien life form capable of traveling over millions of light years would need a 15 mile long landing strip when they had hovering technology in Ezekiel’s day also makes the story pretty implausible.

But what about Easter Island?! How could an ancient tribe build statues so massive and why were they looking outward to the sea? Chris bats away all of the alien myths surrounding this site with relative ease noting how it was relatively easy to carve and transport these monolithic statues. We also look at Pacal’s rocket, an artistic inscription on a Mayan sarcophargus, that has been claimed to be an accurate drawing of a person in an interstellar space capsule, complete with breathing tubes and propulsion flames. Again, Chris shows that if you take a broader look at this claim, you can see how all the different artistic representations in this drawing are rather common in Mayan culture in ways that do not look at all like spaceships. And then it is on to the most amazing and implausible claims made by ancient alien scholars, namely that interstellar visitors detonated a nuclear weapon in ancient Pakistan. Not surprisingly, Chris White isn’t buying it and he explains why.

We finish with Chris’s thoughts on a miscellaneous mixture of topics including why the aliens stopped coming to Earth two thousand years ago, why so many people, including Tony, seem to be mesmerized by these ancient alien theories, and whether or not he has received any blowback from his efforts to debunk these theories. Overall, this was an interesting and entertaining interview. Recorded: October 17, 2013.

NOTE: This interview was recorded over Skype and there are several points during the recording where we have echoes and skips. These audio blips were due to interference with the Skype process and not interference by extraterrestial intelligence.

RELATED LINKS

Ancient Aliens Debunked, Chris White’s website where you can find a free download of the movie by the same name.

Jean-Pierre Houdin’s internal ramp theory of pyramid construction on National Geographic (referenced in podcast).

Secrets of the Great Pyramids, by Peter Tompkins (as referenced in podcast).

RELATED PODCASTS

Scott Poole on Monsters

Chris Bader on Ghosts, UFOs, and the Paranormal.

Scott Poole on Monsters

tonygill — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:00:44 +0000

What do monsters tell us about ourselves — our fears, anxieties and history in general? W. Scott Poole, professor of history at the College of Charleston, dives into this somewhat disturbing question and reveals a darker side to American history via his book Monsters in America (Baylor University Press). We start by examining why monsters are fascinating to us and whether or not they shed light into the darkened corners of history. Tony asks whether or not this is a universal phenomenon and whether the negative aspects of American history can be highlighted too much as sometimes the notion of American innocence can, leading to an interesting discussion of the role of the historian as a particularist and what America’s place in history really is. We then take a non-chronological tour of the world of American monsters, starting with Tony’s favorite genre, alien invaders and radioactive lizards o the 1950s-60s. Scott talks about the anxiety over nuclear annihilation and the external (and internal) threat of communism that defined the era. We then note another new trend in horror stories that emerged at this time and continued to the present day — what Prof. Poole calls “deviant bodies,” refering to the “true crime” stories of serial killers. We then rewind the clock to our colonial beginnings and talk about witches, frontier monsters and sea serpents, including a surprising discussion of why Herman Melville’s classic Moby Dick qualifies as a horror story. The role of slavery in generating monstrous imagery is also examined. We then take a journey into Gothic America, from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow to more recent incarnations. America’s interesting anxiety about science then becomes our focus looking at the world of Frankenstein through recent movies such as Contagion and The Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Scott finishes with some observations about the wide variety of contemporary monsters, including strains of the things that appeared in the past with a strong dose of zombies, and what that may all mean for what fears lurk in the back of our minds today. Recorded: October 7, 2011.

RELATED LINKS

Scott Poole’s website at College of Charleston.

Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting, by Scott Poole.

Monsters in America official website (complete with cool flash animation). WARNING: Potentially disturbing imagery.

Scott Poole at PopMatters.com

RELATED PODCASTS

Chris Bader on Ghosts, UFOs, and the Paranormal.

Chris Bader on Ghosts, UFOs and the Paranormal

tonygill — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 08:00:59 +0000

How pervasive is belief in UFOs, Bigfoot and the paranormal in America? Christopher Bader — professor of sociology and resident scholar at ISR at Baylor University — discusses his extensive research into this topic. Our podcast begins with an examination of the survey data, demonstrating that belief in the paranormal is wider than many have supposed. We examine various demographic patterns related to these beliefs. Interestingly enough, dabbling in the paranormal is not exclusively the purview of the uneducated. Chris describes how conventional religious belief has a curvilinear relationship with interest in the paranomal — individuals who are marginally associated with mainstream religions are more likely to be adherents to belief in one aspect of the paranormal, whereas those in strict religion or those with no interest in religion typically have no interest in UFOs, ghosts, astrology or other such things. We also find out that adherents to the paranormal are average, everyday kind of folks. In the second half of the podcast, Chris discusses his in-depth field work into this area, including participation in Bigfoot hunts, attending UFO abduction sessions, having his aura photographed at paranormal conferences and spending the night in a haunted coffee house. You won’t want to miss these stories!

We finish the podcast with discussion of The Association of Religious Data Archives (housed at Penn State University). Prof. Bader is the manager of web development at The ARDA and tells us what a great resource this is for scholars, students, homeschoolers and anyone interested in religion. In addition to having an extensive collection of databases, The ARDA also has several features that makes it easy for anyone to explore what people believe in the cities that they live in. Give it a try! Recorded: September 28, 2010.

RELATED LINKS

Chris Bader’s website at Baylor University.

Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and other Curiosities in Religion and Culture by Christopher Bader, F. Carson Mencken, and Joseph Baker.

Website for Paranormal America.

The Association of Religious Data Archives (www.TheARDA.com).