Research On Religion » Race & Ethnicity

James Hudnut-Beumler on Religion in the Now South

tonygill — Sun, 27 May 2018 08:00:19 +0000

When you think if Christianity in the U.S. South, images of Southern Baptist congregations, conservative politics, and even snake-handling may come to mind. But Prof. James Hudnut-Beumler, the Anne Potter Wilson Distinguished Professor of American Religious History at Vanderbilt University, reveals that the spiritual tapestry is much more nuanced than might appear on initial glance. Prof. Hudnut-Beumler joins us to talk about his new book Strangers and Friends at the Welcome Table and reveals how several historical traditions have persisted in the region while significant transformations are also taking place.

We commence with a discussion of a definition of “the South,” which can be viewed geographically (starting just below Northern Virginia, running down to the top portion of Florida, and extending westward to Arkansas and encompassing the southern portions of Indiana and Illinois) and spiritually (those areas with a majority Southern Baptist population). Jim explains how this decade-long process took him on a “r0ad trip” around the region to experience the lives and institutions of those living in what he calls the “Now South,” a region with deep roots to its “Old Time Religion” past, but which is also changing in surprising ways. Looking at the historical roots first, we discuss how religion, food, and hospitality are intimately linked via kinship networks and a concern over scarcity being a daily lived experience. Food and visitation are viewed as an expression of love for folks who are ill, imprisoned, or otherwise facing difficult times. Jim also notes that food and hospitality also becomes a basis for various types of social activism as such community involvement is often viewed as a measure of piety. Sometimes such activism can take on hard-nosed policies towards drug addicts who are allowed assistance only if they quickly accept Jesus, or in more open terms that seek to get mentally ill individuals the help they need. We also chat about how Pentecostalism, technically a very small fraction of Southern Christians, has influenced the Christianity of the region, often leading to “Bapticostal” congregations that call their ministers bishops and have multiple offerings. Religion also manifests itself along racial lines in the South, as one might expect, and Jim talks about religiously-infused racial histories can wound but also offer up possibilities for forgiveness. He raises the horrific shooting at the Charleston Emmanuel AME Church in 2015 as an example of these racial divides and how the power of forgiveness is used not necessarily to “forgive and forget,” but to heal tragedies so it doesn’t wound the victims continuously.

The conversation then moves in the direction of the “Now South” and the new trends that have been reshaping the spiritual landscape over the past several decades. We look at how megachurches are setting new standards of worship not only for congregants in the suburbs, but in smaller rural and urban churches as well. Jim points out how the growth of homeschooling has responded to the integration of private religious schools (often called “segregation academies”). The growth of Catholicism with the influx of immigrants from Mexico and Central America has also diversified the religious tapestry of the region. And finally, we discuss the surprising increase in the number of congregations that have taken a welcoming position to the LGBT communities and how it has roiled the waters. Jim explains that while it is easy to preach hate, the culture is changing via kinship ties and the “power of one” wherein one individual can help to change the views of those around them. While still a very small minority of churches, the presence of LGBT-friendly congregations indicate progressive steps forward.

We finish off by asking Prof. Hudnut-Beumler what he would tell a younger version of Jim if he had the chance to travel back in time. The elder Jim provides some interesting words of advice for his younger self recognizing that things you never thought would have made an impression early on often come back to you as new opportunities for exploration and learning. Recorded: May 25, 2018.

Strangers and Friends at the Welcome Table, by James Hudnut-Beumler.

In Pursuit of the Almighty’s Dollar, by James Hudnut-Beumler.

The Future of Mainline Protestantism in America, edited by James Hudnut-Beumler and Mark Silk.

Looking for God in the Suburbs, by James Hudnut-Beumler.

RELATED PODCASTS

James Hudnut-Beumler on the History of Church Financing in the US.

Paul Harvey on Religion in the American South.

Lerone Martin on Preaching on Wax and Phonographic Religion.

David Dixon on Religious Rhetoric and the Civil Rights Movement.

Darin Mather on Evangelicals and Racial Attitudes.

Bradley Wright on Religion, Race, and Discrimination.

Sarah Dreier on Anglicans, Lutherans, and African Churches

tonygill — Sun, 14 May 2017 08:00:11 +0000

In recent years, movement towards progressive policies and values on gender and sexuality have caused cultural rifts within the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). Such tension is most apparent among their affiliated churches in the Global South, most notably Africa, with some African clergy becoming very outspoken against the policies adopted by Anglicans and Lutherans in Europe and the United States. Sarah K. Dreier, a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of Washington, engages research on transnational organizations to explore how these tensions arose and how they are being managed.

As often is the case, we begin our conversation exploring how our guest came to study her topic of interest. Ms. Dreier talks about the influence her parents had in her intellectual development and how certain mentors at Northwestern University also helped to shape her interests about the world. Sarah took these interests into a professional career working for religious non-governmental organizations, which further piqued her interests in the topic of how transnational groups in the developed North relate to their counterparts in the developing South. Sarah details some of the cultural changes that are manifesting themselves in policy changes within the Anglican Communion and the ELCA with a specific eye towards same-sex marriage, homosexuality, and women’s issues. Such changes have caused rifts within these denominations in Europe and the US, but have really risen concern within many parts of Africa such as Kenya and Tanzania, where Sarah did much of her dissertation fieldwork.

We then shift track a bit to discuss recent scholarship on transnational organizations, with Sarah pointing out that many researchers have not paid much attention, until recently, to how various development efforts by transnational groups headquartered in the OECD nations are received by the recipients of these efforts in the Global South. She regales us with a story wherein she was working with an African official of a Lutheran Church on a malaria initiative when the bishop told Sarah, at the outset of their interview, that he needs the ELCA to back down from their homosexual agenda, revealing that this cultural issue was of a huge importance to him and many others within his church. We explore this tension further and Sarah lays out her reason for why some African churches have been vocally opposed to these cultural issues whereas other ones have not. She explains that African churches that have a relatively stable source of funding outside the transnational network are more capable of raising critical voices as it doesn’t endanger their long-term viability as an organization as much as churches that are more reliant on international funding. Moreover, the presence of religious competition in the form of Pentecostals, evangelicals, and other charismatic religious movements that are growing rapidly in Africa, puts pressure on the African Anglican and Lutheran churches to signal their solidarity with the cultural norms of their home populations (which, by various polls, are overwhelmingly opposed to more progressive views on gender and sexual issues). When some Pentecostal ministers point to the policies of the Church of England and/or the ELCA and tag their local African affiliates as being part of the “gay church,” leaders of these mainline African congregations are compelled to signal their distance from their transnational partners. Many African Anglican and Lutheran members view the progressive doctrines as a “neo-colonial imposition,” an interesting conundrum in that both the Anglican Communion and the ELCA have been very critical of past colonialist practices. Tony then asks why some of these African churches don’t simply “go Pentecostal” and leave their denomination, prompting Sarah to provide an interesting response about the long-term benefits of a mainline denominational affiliation.

We further discuss how religious officials in Europe and the US are trying to do to respond to these concerns. While these officials have tried to note that such progressive policies are really only contained within Europe and the US, Sarah points out that “everything flows across borders,” making the situation rather difficult to manage. Sarah closes with some thoughts about what she has learned throughout her investigation of this topic and notes how culture is very dynamic and constantly shifting. Recorded: May 8, 2017.

Disclosure: Tony is serving as a member of Sarah’s dissertation committee at the UW.

RELATED LINKS

Sarah K. Dreier’s personal website and bio at the Dept. of Political Science, University of Washington.

Lutheran World Federation (mentioned in podcast).

RELATED PODCASTS

John Rees on International Development and Faith-Based Organizations.

Carrie Miles on Religion, Gender, and Missionaries.

Mari0n Larson on Bubbles, Bridges, and Multi-Faith Engagement.

Torrey Olsen on Faith-Based Humanitarianism and World Vision.

Jamie Aten on Religion and Disasters.

Robert Priest on Witchcraft Accusations in Africa.

Kyle Roberts on Evangelical Gotham

tonygill — Sun, 29 Jan 2017 09:00:32 +0000

Gotham. The Big Apple. The City that Never Sleeps. New York City. We have many images of New York City, but how many of us as thinking of that worldly city having a vibrant evangelical community in the 19th century? Kyle Roberts, an assistant professor of history at Loyola University (Chicago), takes us on a journey back to Manhattan Island from on a journey dating to the end of the Revolutionary War and to the eve of the Civil War to show how evangelical Christianity was shaped by this growing urban metropolis and how evangelicals, in turn, shaped the city. The interview is peppered with vivid characters who illustrate the distinct phases of evangelicalism during this seven decade period. Prof. Roberts defines what he means by evangelical Christianity, a religious movement that emphasized conversion, literalism, atoning for the death of Christ, individualism, and social activism/revivalism. He further lays out the interesting tension between the individualistic impulse of evangelicalism and its episodic concern for social activism. We then start the historical journey in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War and up to the War of 1812, meeting a businessman-turned-preacher, Charles Lahatt who was tapped to give a sermon on his voyage across the Atlantic as the Anglican pastor was too drunk to do so. New York, a port city of roughly 20,000 people, was beginning a major population and many individuals from Britain journeyed by boat to this new land. That voyage shaped the evangelical Christianity of this period with a focus on “crossing” (a conversion experience) and “dwelling” (creating a new life). We discover that evangelicals create and embrace the image of a “common church,” often built into storefronts, a tendency that defines much of New York religiosity to this day (see the podcasts by Tony Carnes below). He also emphasizes the role that women played in the expansion of evangelical Christianity as they were often the champions of benevolence societies. The second major period of Kyle’s study moves us from the War of 1812 to the Panic of 1837. New York is experiencing more growth, both demographically and economically. This becomes the “golden age of evangelical benevolence” as evangelicals move deeper into social activism, seeking to change the sinning ways of new arrivals and sailors. It is also a time when religious publishing booms as many pastors and religious groups disseminate spiritual tracts as a proselytism strategy to increasingly literate citizens. This highlights the interesting comfort that evangelicals have with modernity in this period, being willing to adapt to and adopt the new technologies at the time, often pushing them to new economic heights. The Panic of 1837 and long recovery shook the economic landscape of the city and issues a new era of urban evangelical Christianity that sees the limits of reform and social activism. Evangelicals turn inward and emphasize personal sanctification, with leaders such as Phoebe Worral Palmer creating the Ladies’ Home Missionary Society. Prof. Roberts finishes off with some of his thoughts regarding what he learned over the course of his studies, including how evangelicalism, and particularly the urban environment, is more complex than he had thought initially, and how the urban environment intersects in multiple ways with spiritual faith. He also leaves us on an optimistic note for the future noting how Protestants and Catholics found ways to mend their differences over time, which he looks forward to happening with the increased religious pluralism our nation is experiencing. Recorded: December 30, 2016.

Evangelical Gotham: Religion and the Making of New York City 1783-1860, by Kyle Roberts.

Crossings and Dwellings: Restored Jesuits, Women Religious, American Experience 1814-2014, edited by Kyle Roberts and Stephen Schloesser.

Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities.

Jesuit Libraries Project.

Jesuit Libraries Provenance Project.

Tony Carnes on Jesus’s Auto Body (and Soul) Shop & Blessed Pizza.

William Reimer on Religion and Violence in Toronto.

Maureen Fitzgerald on Irish Nuns and Welfare.

John Fea on the American Bible Society.

Timothy Neary on Race, Sports, and Catholics.

Jonathan den Hartog on Patriotism and Piety.

Leigh Eric Schmidt on Village Atheists.

Timothy Neary on Race, Sports, and Catholics

tonygill — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 09:00:06 +0000

In the first half of the twentieth century, the city of Chicago was going through a number of economic, political, and demographic changes that drew the attention of the Catholic Church. Prof. Timothy Neary, an associate professor of history at Salve Regina University (Newport, RI), discusses how a popular sports program – the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) – was developed by the Catholic archdiocese in response to growing challenges from secularism, communism, and a changing racial landscape. Prof. Neary recalls how he came to study such a topic in graduate school, taking us back to his past education in Jesuit institutions from high school through his doctorate. We then lay out the scope of his new book Crossing Parish Boundaries: Race, Sports, and Catholic Youth in Chicago 1914-1954, starting with what Chicago as a city looked like at the turn of the century and the changes it experienced over the next half century. This transformation included the rise of Catholic politicians and increased immigration from African Americans, transforming the formerly Irish Catholic neighborhoods of South Chicago into one with a majority black population. We explore the nature of the religious scene paying particular attention to an influential minority of African American Catholics. Tim then explains how an important auxiliary bishop in the Chicago archdiocese — Bernard Sheil — brought his interest in sports to bear on an increasing concern among the clergy to engage in social work as a counter to a number of changes they saw facing their communities in the era of urban industrialization. Inspired by the papal encyclicals Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno, Bishop Sheil creates the Catholic Youth Organization in 1930 to give adolescents — a newly identified demographic with more teenagers attending high school — an alternative outlet to other less savory activities. Partially inspired by the Protestant YMCAs that were popping up throughout the country, the CYO offered young men and women the opportunity to participate in a number of individual and team sports that crossed parish boundaries and brought disparate members of the Catholic community together in unified activity. We spend some time talking about a very popular sport at the time, boxing. Tim notes that despite being a competitive, martial sport, the CYO was able to use this activity to promote discipline, upright behavior, and a love of God, country, and the papal encyclicals. Open to non-Catholics, it also brought in some converts. Despite the Chicago branch of the CYO falling into disarray after the death of Bishop Sheil, Prof. Neary details the long-term influence this program had in terms of creating greater awareness for racial justice (a growing concern of Sheil) and cultivating a cohort of Black Democrat leaders including the likes of Ralph Metcalfe. (Tony points out that Mr. Metcalfe, a CYO participant and Olympian, was a graduate of Marquette University, his alma mater.) Tim finishes up by discussing what he learned throughout the course of his studies and what the future might hold for Catholics and race relations. Recorded: December 30, 2016.

Crossing Parish Boundaries: Race, Sports, and Catholic Youth in Chicago, 1914-1954, by Timothy Neary.

Urban History Association.

Parish Boundaries: The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth Century Urban North. by John McGreevy (mentioned in podcast).

Play Like a Champion Program (Notre Dame).

For God & Country: Bishop Sheil’s Vision for Youth Sports (Feb. 10, 2017 at the University of Notre Dame – public lecture by Prof. Neary).

RELATED PODCASTS

Maureen Fitzgerald on Irish Nuns and Welfare.

Jay Hein on the Quiet Revolution and Social Work.

Timothy Dalrymple on Religion, Sports, and Jeremy Lin.

Eric Carter on Religion and the NFL.

Byron Johnson on More God, Less Crime.

Paul Harvey on Religion in the American South

tonygill — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 09:00:10 +0000

“The South” is commonly referred to as the Bible Belt in the United States today, and despite New England having a more explicit Christian identity during colonial times, the region from Virginia down to Florida and out to Texas has been shaped by religious dynamics from its most early days. Prof. Paul Harvey, professor of history at the University of Colorado – Colorado Springs, takes us on a grand tour of this region and the history of Christianity there. After sorting through Prof. Harvey’s own intellectual trajectory to this topic, we define what is meant by “The South,” an identity-based term that really doesn’t become defined until roughly the Civil War era and shortly thereafter. Histories of religion in The South often begin with the arrival of the British in Jamestown and the Anglican influence there, but Paul reminds us that Florida was a northern outpost for the Spanish Empire and Catholicism came to the region during the 16th century. He discusses attempts by the Spaniards to missionize the indigenous populations and how the presence of the Spanish put pressure on the British to colonize up the coast. We then walk through the colonial period, through the First Great Awakening, the Revolutionary era, and then into to the Second Great Awakening discussing how Christianity factored into the socio-demographic environment of those two centuries. We focus on the role of Christianity with respect to slavery, touching upon the issues of whether to missionize slaves and how the Christian message was received, including mention of Charles Jones (“apostle to the slaves”) and the Stono Rebellion. Paul points out that the Great Awakenings had an impact on these marginalized groups and there was even a religious “Awakening” amongst the Indian population. Our discussion moves next to the Antebellum period, the Civil War, and Reconstruction, where religion plays a role in shaping the identify of the South, both amongst the White “evangelical” population and among former African-American slaves. Paul plays out these themes noting a period of segregation that occurs in religion after the Civil War. Journeying into the 20th century, we explore some of the themes we’ve visited in previous podcasts (e.g., Lerone Martin – see below) and how modern technology shaped the religious landscape, with an emphasis on phonograph religion and how that, in turn, influenced the musical trends of Americana, country music, and even Elvis Presley. Paul points out an interesting paradox in Southern culture in this time that juxtaposes an immense amount of racial violence and poverty with an enormous outpouring of artistic creativity, not only in music, but in literature as reflected in the works of individuals such as William Faulkner. We finish with a discussion of the role of religion in the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century, the rise of the Religious Right, and how interesting it has been to see the growth of the “prosperity gospel” message in the past few decades. Paul further notes the changing religious landscape as an influx of Latinos are adding to the pluralism of the region, not only in terms of Catholicism, but a new flavor of evangelical Protestantism as well. Prof. Harvey ends with a few reflections on where he sees religious and social trends moving in the future, offering up both some pessimistic concerns and optimistic hopes for the future. Recorded: December 23, 2016.

Christianity and Race in the American South, by Paul Harvey.

Bounds of their Habitation: Religion and Race in American History, by Paul Harvey.

Through the Storm, Through the Night: A History of African American Christianity, by Paul Harvey.

Redeeming the South: Religious Cultures and Racial Identities among Southern Baptists, 1865-1925, by Paul Harvey.

The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in American History, by Edward Blum and Paul Harvey.

Religion in American History (a fascinating blog on religious history with several historians).

Religion Dispatches.

RELATED PODCASTS

Lerone Martin on Preaching on Wax and Phonographic Religion.

David Dixon on Religious Rhetoric and the Civil Rights Movement.

Darin Mather on Evangelicals and Racial Attitudes.

Bradley Wright on Religion, Race, and Discrimination.

James Patterson on MLK, Fulton Sheen, & Jerry Falwell.

Merissa Davis on Bill Cosby, Religion, and African American Churches.

John Wilsey on American Exceptionalism & Civil Religion.

David Mislin on Embracing Religious Pluralism.

Joseph Castleberry on the New Pilgrims.

Hunter Baker on the Past and Future of the Religious Right.

Paul Sinitiere on the Osteens and Lakewood Church.

Lerone Martin on Preaching on Wax and Phonograph Religion

tonygill — Sun, 13 Nov 2016 09:00:57 +0000

For a few decades in the early-mid 20th century, the sermons of a number of African-American preachers were recorded on “wax” (or vinyl records) and distributed widely, a phenomenon that became known as “phonograph religion.” Prof. Lerone Martin, an assistant professor at the John C. Danforth Center for Religion & Politics at Washington University, joins us to discuss this fascinating period in history and bring along a couple audio clips for us to enjoy and analyze. Dr. Martin begins by explaining how he came to his dissertation project of examining “phonograph religion.” His upbringing in a religious household with many audio sources — radio, cassettes, CDs — piqued his interest and set him down an academic path to explore how “preaching on wax” all began. Lerone treats us to the story of Rev. James M. Gates as he makes a journey from Georgia to Columbia Studios in New York City to record a number of sermons. Amazingly, these recorded sermons sold upwards of 50,000 copies, which, when one considers the population of the United States and limited availability of phonographs (especially in poor rural areas), would be equivalent to a platinum album in today’s market (roughly a million copies). Prof. Martin lays out both the social, demographic, and religious landscape of African Americans in the first half of the twentieth century, noting that it was a period of migration from rural areas and into cities. Two strands of religious preaching emerge during this time — one associated with the black literati and that focused on a more urbane and educated approach to spiritual worship, and another that brought the folk worship practices of rural communities into the city. It is this latter stream that found a home in the phonographic recording medium, a method of distribution that was popular with the “common folk” and that lent itself well to the rhythmic preaching and use of music common in rural African America churches. We talk about the demographics and theological themes of phonographic preachers, noting that they tended to come from Southern Baptist or Pentecostal traditions instead of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) churches and how issues of personal piety, “fire and brimstone,” and “proper” gender roles were emphasize in many of the recordings. We discover that Rev. Gates recorded a couple of his sermons on the same day, and in the same studio, that Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong were recording “salacious” jazz and blues songs. This story prompts Tony to ask whether recording executives worried that promoting religious tracts that warned of the sinfulness of modern music might cut into the profits of the jazz side of the business. Lerone notes that many people listened to both and so long as the recordings sold well, labels such as Columbia, Okeh, and Merrit Records were happy to keep supplying them. Our conversation also covers how people used these recordings, often sharing them around the neighborhood or taking them on car and train trips (as many of the phonographs were hand cranked). The last portion of our conversation provides an audio taste of some of these sermons, with Dr. Martin explaining the relevance of each one. We hear Rev. FW McGee’s “Jonah in the Belly of the Whale” and J.C. Burnett’s “Downfall of Nebuchadnezzar,” estimated to be the highest selling sermon of that era. Lerone also explains how these sermons took on various social issues such as the concern over the rise of “chain stores” and how they might be displacing smaller “mom and pop” businesses in local communities. We hear part 1 of Rev. Gates’s sermon “Goodbye Chain Stores,” and Prof. Martin then discusses its characteristic style and significance. We note the interesting paradox that while Gates was critical of chain stores (such as Woolworth’s), the phonographs and recordings of these sermons were made more widely available because of these establishments, leading Lerone to note that embracing the medium of the culture that they often critiqued was a way of extending the evangelical reach of these pastors. We conclude with some thoughts on what Prof. Martin learned over the course of his studies, and he shares his surprise that he developed a growing respect for these preachers seeing them as very nuanced actors in a changing environment. Recorded: Nov. 9, 2016.

Note: The audio clips used are freely available to the public on YouTube. Further links can be found below.

Preaching on Wax: The Phonograph and the Shaping of Modern African American Religion, by Lerone A. Martin.

RELATED AUDIO LINKS (connected to YouTube where more sermons than those listed can be found).

“As An Eagle Stirreth Up Her Nest,” by Rev. Calvin “Black Billy Sunday” Dixon (first sermon recorded by an African-American pastor).

“Death’s Black Train is Coming,” by Rev. James M. Gates (the first popular sermon recorded).

“Downfall of Nebuchadnezzar,” by Rev. JC Burnett (probably the highest selling sermon of the pre-WWII era).

“Jonah in the Belly of the Whale,” by Rev. FW McGee (as heard in podcast).

“Goodbye Chain Stores: Part I” and “Part II,” by Rev. James M. Gates (part I heard in podcast).

“Dry Bones in the Valley,” by Leora Gates (example of a female preacher).

RELATED PODCASTS

David Dixon on Religious Rhetoric and the Civil Rights Movement.

Merisa Davis on Bill Cosby, Religion, and African American Churches.

Darin Mather on Evangelicals and Racial Attitudes.

James Patterson on MLK, Fulton Sheen, and Jerry Falwell.

Tony Carnes on Jesus’s Auto Body (and Soul) Shop, Blessed Pizza, and NYC Religions Part II.

Roger Luckhurst on Zombies!

tonygill — Sun, 23 Oct 2016 08:00:49 +0000

Our annual Halloween special takes us to the world of the undead, tracking the history and transformation of the zombie genre. Prof. Roger Luckhurst — a professor of Modern Literature at Birkbeck, University of London — joins us from across the Atlantic to discuss his fascinating research into science fiction, horror, trauma, and … of course … zombies. After finding out how Prof. Luckhurst became enthralled with this aspect of modern literature and the reaction he has received to his research, we go back a couple centuries to examine where the myth of the zombie originated. Interestingly, Roger notes that the vampire stories that originated in Europe during the early 18th century have a similar pattern to the zombie narrative in that both deal with superstitions about “the other” from a land far away that Europeans (and later North Americans) are beginning to contact. This then takes us to the island of Haiti that, the first post-colonial nation and one that begins to “haunt” the former colonists imagination. We learn that the term “zombi” first appears in the late 1880s and has its representations in many different forms including three-legged horses, ghosts hanging from trees, and other odd entities. The notion of the “undead human” as zombie begins to take shape with the writing of two very distinct literary figures — Lafcadio Hearn and William Seabrook. Prof. Luckhurst details their vivid lifestyles and contributions to fiction and pulp fiction. With literacy spreading rapidly and printing costs dropping quickly in the early 20th century, travel novels of the odd and bizarre were popular fodder for books and magazines. Roger then points out that much of the underlying narrative of zombie stories relates to anxiety of the US’s expanding empire and colonial subjects turning the table on their white masters. Stories about “dead men working in cane fields” for American sugar companies becomes to be seen as the form of the zombie, a concept that mixed well with a growing fascination with Vodou (Voodoo). We mention the interesting anthropological work of Zora Neale Hurston and her frightening experiences in Haiti as well. The conversation then turns to more contemporary notions of the zombie, tracking some of the film adaptations of the literary zombie and how it meshed with other science fiction genres during the post-WWII era, noting similarities with The Manchurian Candidate and other films depicting communist subjects as brainwashed others. The next major turning point discussed is George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and how it began to envision us as part of the zombie and the underlying subtext of America’s anxiety about the civil rights movement. We take this further into what Prof. Luckhurst considers to be one of the most important turning points in the zombie narrative in recent years, Romero’s follow-up film, Dawn of the Dead (a movie that Tony admits to being a cult fan of). It his here where it is modern living that turns us into the walking undead, meandering aimlessly through shopping malls in what might be a futile search for meaning. True to Tony’s concern over radiation from Venus causing problems with our Skype connection, the audio does break down at this point, but we have Roger call in a few days later to finish the discussion about how the zombies we now see have three distinct features that separate them from the historical images of the undead: 1) zombies can now run (cf. 28 Days Later) and mutate quickly; 2) zombies now represent a global contagion (mirroring anxiety about globalization); and 3) zombies begin to regain consciousness (cf. Warm Bodies and I, Zombie). All of this connects with other aspects of Prof. Luckhurst’s research that examines how “death” and “being dead” has been re-conceptualized ever since the definition of death was changed from a heart stoppage to “brain dead” in the late 1960s. Concerns over the prolongation of life and diseases such as Alzheimer’s that erase human memories and what it might mean to be human come into play. Roger finishes the conversation with some reflections about the future of the zombie narrative and what he has discovered over the course of several decades examining weird fiction. He notes that pop culture does serious research for us with respect to the great philosophical questions of what it means to be a human being. Recorded: October 14 and 17, 2016.

NOTE: We had some technical difficulties with the Skype connection that become most pronounced around the 40 minute mark of the podcast. As such, we decided to return to finish the interview a few days later. You will notice a significant break in the flow of the conversation around the 44 minute mark. Our apologies, but we blame the undead.

Zombies: A Cultural History, by Roger Luckhurst.

The Mummy’s Curse: The True Story of a Dark Fantasy, by Roger Luckhurst.

Science Fiction, by Roger Luckhurst.

The Invention of Telepathy, by Roger Luckhurst.

The Trauma Question, by Roger Luckhurst.

“Tentacles: The New Fangs (and Teaching Tools)” by Roger Luckhurst in The Times Higher Education.

The Magic Island, by William Seabrook (mentioned in podcast).

I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson (mentioned in podcast).

RELATED PODCASTS

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

Chris Bader on Ghosts, UFOs, and the Paranormal.

Peter Lesson on Witch Trials and Human Sacrifice.

Scott Poole on Monsters.

Chris White on Debunking Ancient Aliens.

Sarah Bond on the Church and Funerals in Late Antiquity.

Eleanor Power on Rituals, Community, and Signaling.

Brandon O’Brien on Paul Behaving Badly

tonygill — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 08:00:26 +0000

The Apostle Paul (née Saul) was a central figure in early Christianity, with his adventures being written about in Acts and his many writings making their way into the New Testament, earning him the title of Saint Paul in some Christian circles. But a careful reading of Paul’s writings through 21st century eyes would give the appearance that he was a racist, chauvinistic jerk. Prof. Brandon O’Brien, an assistant professor of Christian theology at Ouachita Baptist University and co-author with Randolph Richards of Paul Behaving Badly: Was the Apostle a Racist, Chauvinist Jerk? joins us to talk about who Paul was and what he represented in the culture of his time. He also helps us understand Paul in our own contemporary terms. The conversation begins with Brandon’s rationale for writing the book, which is a response to other popular titles such as God Behaving Badly and Jesus Behaving Badly. We review Paul’s history, including his pre-Christian life, his conversion, his proselytism, and his time in prison. Tony asks what his Roman captors were thinking when they allowed him to write letters while incarcerated, and Prof. O’Brien explains a bit of what Paul’s imprisonment entailed — from wallowing in a cistern to being under house arrest. Brandon then goes over the case for Paul being a jerk, with the principle reason being his brash arrogance that is contrasted with Jesus’s softer style. Paul’s tenor undoubtedly rubbed some of the original disciples the wrong way. Brandon also notes that Paul was an “occasional writer,” meaning not that he wrote here and there, but that he wrote to individuals and groups under very specific occasions. Indeed, Prof. O’Brien points out that we really only have one side of the conversation when we look at the various epistles in the New Testament; it is likely that there was much more context and give-and-take dialogue that formed the basis for his communications with the Galatians or Ephesians, to name a few. We then go through point-by-point some of the harsher criticisms that could be levied on Paul, including that he was a puritanical killjoy, that he was racist, that he didn’t denounce slavery, and that he was a male chauvinist pig. Brandon gives each of these critiques their full due, but also places them into context. Along the way, we learn about how race/ethnicity/religion were often combined in regional stereotypes in the first century after Christ, what slavery entailed in those early years, and what the life of women was like. We also learn why Brandon didn’t drink ginger ale as a kid! Brandon points out that while we might see Paul as being very culturally backwards in our day, he was indeed very progressive in his views for the era in which he lived. Along the way, we discuss how our cultural context can affect the way we view the historical record. Prof. O’Brien finishes the discussion with some reflection on what he learned by studying Paul more closely, and how pastors might approach the writings of Paul as they preach in the cultural ethos of our modern era. Recorded: September 30, 2016.

Paul Behaving Badly: Was the Apostle a Racist, Chauvinist Jerk?, by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon O’Brien.

Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon O’Brien.

The Strategically Small Church, by Brandon O’Brien.

Small Church, Big Impact, by Brandon O’Brien (an e-book short).

God Behaving Badly, by David Lamb (mentioned in podcast).

Jesus Behaving Badly, by Mark Strauss (mentioned in podcast).

RELATED PODCASTS

Jim Papandrea on the Church Fathers & Patristic Exegesis.

Jim Papandrea on the End of the World and Revelation.

Jim Papandrea on Christianity’s Seven Revolutions.

Rodney Stark on the Triumph of Christianity, Part I.

Tim Kelleher on the Nicene Creed and Hollywood.

Sarah Bond on the Church and Funerals in Late Antiquity.

Adam English on the Real Santa Claus, St. Nicholas of Myra.

Brian O’Neel on Saint Who? Some Holy Unknowns.

John Sweeney on the Pope Who Quit.

Jeff Rose on Street Preaching.

Colleen Haight on Jewish Peddlers in 19th Century America (Encore Presentation)

tonygill — Sun, 10 Jul 2016 08:00:16 +0000

In the 19th century, as the US population was expanding westward, Jewish immigrants and their children played an important economic role in moving supplies via merchant channels. Relative to their numbers in the population, Jews were disproportionately represented as peddlers and merchants. Prof. Colleen Haight, an associate professor of economics at San Jose State University, returns to the program to discuss this phenomenon and how it relates to the economics of religion.

After a bit of introductory chat about how Prof. Haight stumbled on this project, rituals, and her aunt’s oyster stew, our conversation about Jewish merchants begins with a rather odd and seemingly unrelated topic — used car lemons. Nobel Laureate George Akerloff’s famous “lemons problem” will become an important foundational point for Colleen’s argument about Jewish peddlers. Akerloff used the selling of used cars to highlight what is known as an asymmetric information problem in economics. While the seller of a used auto knows the various problems the car has, the buyer is uncertain whether or not the information about the car is correct or not. If no trust can be established between the buyer and seller, such economic transactions are likely to break down. We then discuss various solutions to this problem including, and most importantly, the role that reputation and investments in one’s trustworthiness makes.

We then turn to the issue of “middlemen” — peddlers and merchants who provide a very important role in the economy by transporting resources to their highest use, but who are often much maligned because they do not seem to add any value to the goods they are trading. Colleen notes that the role of the merchant is not one that many people like to do because of its negative image. We then discuss the very unique role that religious minorities and immigrants have played in this portion of the economy. She explains how dense networks of trust create the right environment to overcome many of the financing (credit) problems that beset peddlers. This then moves us to a discussion of the role that stigma plays in differentiating a community, binds people more tightly in their networks, and makes it difficult for members to defect upon agreements when it might be easy to do so. We note that Jews out in pioneer territory would have found it hard to “fit in” with the dominant community because of their religious rituals and particular ethnic markers. This was also exacerbated by a cultural hostility that was exhibited towards Jews in the 19th century. But we further note that this hostility created a “love-hate” relationship between pioneers and Jewish peddlers in that the pioneers needed the vital services of the travelling merchants even though they didn’t fit in with the community. Indeed, it was the fact that they didn’t quite fit in to the dominant culture that enhanced their ability to be trustworthy businesspeople.

We finish off the podcast with Colleen’s broader reflections this study and she notes that scholars need to look more closely at behaviors that seem odd or misplaced in order to find some interesting underlying logic to those cultural rituals and traits. Recorded: November 6, 2014.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Colleen Haight’s personal website.

“Hostile Territory: High-tension Religion and the Jewish Peddler,” by Colleen Haight.

“Lessons from Delphi: Religious markets and spiritual capitals,” by Laurence Iannaccone, Collen Haight, and Jared Rubin.

“Is Fair Trade in Coffee Production Fair and Useful?” by Colleen Haight (one of Tony’s favorite economic articles).

RELATED PODCASTS

Colleeen Haight on the Oracle of Delphi.

Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of American Judaism.

Larry Iannaccone on Sacrifice, Stigma, and the Economics of Religion.

Mike Munger on Middlemen (an EconTalk podcast).

Mark Koyama on the Economics of Jewish Expulsions.

Gary Richardson on Religion & Craft Guilds in the Middle Ages.

Mark David Hall on Religious Minorities in the American Founding.

Evan Haefeli on the Dutch Origins of Religious Tolerance .

Larry Witham on the Economics of Religion.

Joseph Castleberry on the New Pilgrims

tonygill — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 08:00:57 +0000

What role are immigrants to the United States playing in America’s religious landscape? Dr. Joseph Castleberry, president of Northwest University (Kirkland, WA), examines this question and discusses his recently-published book The New Pilgrims. While many pundits and commentators have focused on the role of immigration in labor markets, Dr. Castleberry adds to the conversation by showing how newcomers to our country have helped to revitalize our spiritual lives, both historically and in the present.

Tony first asks Joseph how he was able to research and write a book whilst also serving as the president of a growing university. Dr. Castleberry replies that because he has such a great staff and doesn’t have any direct teaching duties, he was able to pick up on a topic that has interested him for a long time. His experience as a missionary abroad informs many of his views on this topic and he brings fresh insights to the table. We then turn briefly to the contemporary religious landscape in America and Tony asks Joseph about his thoughts on the increase of “religious nones.” This facet of the conversation (and Castleberry’s book) is important to understand how people from around the world bring their own faiths with them and reshape and revitalize America’s spiritual life, both in terms of religion as we normally think of it, but also in terms of America’s “civic religion.” Joseph explains his thoughts here and notes that immigrants have always played an important role in various “great awakenings” in U.S. history.

We move next to a discussion of the dimensions of contemporary immigration, exploring both the demographics of the people who are coming, and their reasons for wanting to make the United States their home. Dr. Castleberry then provides a number of examples of how these “new pilgrims” are reshaping our cultural landscape with stories of students from his own university (Northwest) and places where immigrant churches are being planted or working in conjunction with existing denominations to “re-missionize” America. We finish with some of Dr. Castleberry’s thoughts on the current political conflict surrounding immigration issues and how this affects notions of Lex Rex (or the rule of law). He adds his thoughts on how Christians should be responding to all of this. Recorded: September 14, 2015.

The New Pilgrims: How Immigrants Are Renewing America’s Faith and Values, by Joseph Castleberry.

Joseph Castleberry’s blog in English and Spanish.

Joseph Castleberry on Twitter.

The Kingdom Net: Learning to Network Like Jesus, by Joseph Castleberry.

Your Deepest Dream, by Joseph Castleberry.

RELATED PODCASTS

Joseph Castleberry on Religious-Based Higher Education.

Rajdeep Singh on American Sikhs and Religious Liberty.

Bradley Wright on Religion, Race, and Discrimination.