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I liken this new book entitled "Boond" to the classic "Little Prince." That is, while it may have a certain childlike charm, it is not really a children's book. This is a tale of the Divine Quest. Boond is Sanskrit for "drop," as in a drop of water. And that is exactly what the star of our story is: an anthropomorphic drop of water. We rarely feature books of fiction on Common Threads, but we made an exception here due to the intelligence, wit and whimsy contained in this tale. It really could be called a modern day myth.
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Growing up in an Italian-American family, I was introduced to Malocchio (the Evil Eye) at a young age. I loved having this eccentric idea as part of my heritage. For centuries, some cultures have been able to accommodate both their Christian traditions along with various elements of folk magic, esoteric healing and what has come to be known as "witchcraft." Italy is no exception. Angela Puca is about the most perfect person to discuss these issues with. She was raised in Naples and has advanced degrees in Religious Studies. In her research she was able to gain the confidence of many folk magic practitioners who are no longer living in seclusion in tiny rural Italian villages.
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A groundbreaking, expansive new account of Reconstruction that fundamentally alters our view of this formative period in American history. We are told that the present moment bears a strong resemblance to Reconstruction, when freedpeople and the federal government attempted to create an interracial democracy in the south after the Civil War. That effort was overthrown and serves as a warning today about violent backlash to the mere idea of black equality and the weaponization of religion. In The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic , acclaimed historian Manisha Sinha expands our view beyond the usual temporal and spatial bounds of Reconstruction (1865–1877) to explain how the Civil War, the overthrow of Reconstruction, the conquest of the west, labor conflict in the north, Chinese exclusion, women’s suffrage, and the establishment of an overseas American empire were part of the same struggle between the forces of democracy and those of reaction. Highlighting the critical role of black people in redefining American citizenship and governance, Sinha’s book shows that Reconstruction laid the foundation of our democracy.
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It is hard to imagine anyone living in the USA today who does not either have someone close to them dealing with severe mental health challenges or suffering themselves from the same. An educated guess is that not only are we experiencing a rise in such maladies, but thankfully, the stigma of admitting to having them is much less than in the past. This encourages an openness we not seen in the past.
And one thing that comes to us from mental health professionals loud and clear is that religion/spirituality can either help or hurt, depending on how it is expressed in one's development. On these episodes we speak to Anna Gazmarian, the author of Devout:A Memoir of Doubt. She grew up in an Evangelical community that encouraged "happy thoughts" and prayer to chase away the clouds of gloom. This approach is as beneficial as "pray the gay away" is to those in the LGBT community.
It's not hard to hear the pain in Anna's voice in our conversation. Life has been rough, and the scars are still there. What you will hear is deeply personal and somewhat frustrating when we think of all the others like Anna who may be in similar situations and keep thinking that they just aren't good enough or don't love Jesus enough to be made whole. -
Not long ago Convicted Felon D. Trump began shamelessly hawking "Greenwood" Bibles that include not only all 66 Protestant canonical books but The Constitution and Bill of Rights as well. A serious problem we have in the USA is that a number of American citizens believe that our founding documents are quasi-scriptural. In their minds, the Founding Fathers were tapping into The Mind of God when composing such.
Now, it's hard to deny that these writings offer some literally world changing ideas that have allowed us as a country to evolve in ways that other nations were not able to do. But they are far from infallible. And of course, any documents are only as good as the people who interpret them. In these episodes our guest Aziz Rana shares his concerns as to how The Constitution has failed us in many ways, and how this Supreme Court is poised to do serious damage to the American people.
Not for the faint of heart, but a great conversation. Listen. Learn. Repeat. -
Places of pilgrimage tend to be held as sacred spaces by particular religions. But it's not universally true. Sometimes there are holy sites that are venerated by 2 or more faiths. Adam's Peak in Sri Lanka is one of them. It is climbed constantly by Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and secularists. I suspect it would be climbed by Jews if there were any in the country. Each religion has its own myth and history surrounding the mountain. And surprise, surprise...Adam's Peak is not without religious conflict and controversy. But that's what makes for a good story, yes? Thankfully, Alexander McKinley has written one. In these episodes we discuss the blessings and challenges of the multi-faith engagement that is a part of this tradition. His book is Mountain at a Center of the World. Listen. Then read.
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Ever run into one of those people whose resumes are so bloody full of awesome accomplishments that you wonder why they even let you take up precious space on earth? Well this is one of those guys. James Thornton is a world-renowned environmental lawyer, author, poet, and Zen Buddhist priest. The New Statesman named him as one of 10 people who could change the world, and he has won the Financial Times Lifetime Achievement Award for Innovation in Law. James is the founder and president of Client Earth, the leading global not-for-profit law group who represent the natural world, advocate for policy changes that protect it, and hold governments and corporations accountable where policies have been violated. James is also the author of Client Earth which won the Judge’s Choice Business Book of the Year Award. In 2021, he was a judge of the Laurel Prize for the world’s best collection of eco-poetry, pointing to his deep understanding of the genre.
Nature, My Teacher is his latest work. It is divided into 12 books, each a sequence of intimate essays, James investigates the nature of human consciousness. James discusses his own anxiety, why anxiety is a rational response to climate change, and he explains why environmental problems are mental problems. Both from his work as an environmental lawyer and his role as a Zen Buddhist priest, James shows us ways to find hope in a world under threat. This book is a meditation on those principles that will serve to both ease our fears and invigorate us to take action.
Of course, I kid about those of us lesser mortals "taking up space" here. We all are worth something. Still. People like James do make one take stock. -
For centuries theologians, clergy and laity within the Abrahamic traditions have made great attempts to define where the concepts of love and justice fall within their faiths.
Many Christians are quick to acknowledge that Christianity is indeed a religion founded on the principle of love, but look upon the Hebrew scriptures as being little more than a set of moral codes provided by a deity who is more concerned with the performance of ritual and appeasement. A similar view is held by many about Islam.
But in Kelly Clark's new book 'Raging Fire of Love' he takes a deep dive into the sacred scriptures of these religions to offer evidence that all of them hold as their high priority the understanding that the God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam is a loving God; and that adherents to those religions are expected to replicate that love to our "neighbors" (read: everyone) in daily life. -
One of the most important aspects of the interfaith movement is raising the bar from mere tolerance (Hey, I'll let you live!) to pluralism, which encourages actual engagement with those of different theologies while still maintaining one's own personal beliefs. For years now, Harvard has measured this movement in the US and occasionally helps those interested in our religious landscape get a better understanding of where we are and the conversations that still need to happen.
In her new book "Pluralism in Practice" Elinor Pierce examines several recent case studies where members of religious groups have had to work out challenging issues with other groups or local governments. Each one is a compelling story in its own right. -
Fred Stella welcomes MSU historian Emily Conroy-Krutz to Common Threads to discuss her book, Missionary Diplomacy
The American Christian church has historically been at the forefront of the missionary movement abroad. This is not news. But what many people are not aware of is that for much of the 19th century, Church and State engaged in a serious effort to marry the work of missionaries with a burgeoning diplomatic corps. So, along with evangelizing the peoples of many nations, these churchmen and women were influencing foreign policy and international relations.
As with most human endeavors, there are bright spots and dark ones. In her new book, Missionary Diplomacy, Prof. Conroy Krutz illuminates the crucial place of religion in nineteenth-century American diplomacy. From the 1810s through the 1920s, Protestant missionaries positioned themselves as key experts in the development of American relations in Asia, Africa, the Pacific, and the Middle East.
Missionaries served as consuls, translators, and occasional trouble-makers who forced the State Department to take actions it otherwise would have avoided. Yet as decades passed, more Americans began to question the propriety of missionaries’ power. Were missionaries serving the interests of American diplomacy? Or were they creating unnecessary problems?
As Emily Conroy-Krutz demonstrates, they were doing both. Across the century, missionaries forced the government to articulate new conceptions of the rights of U.S. citizens abroad and of the role of the US as an engine of humanitarianism and religious freedom. By the time the US entered the first world war, missionary diplomacy had for nearly a century created the conditions for some Americans to embrace a vision of their country as an internationally engaged world power. Emiy’s book, Missionary Diplomacyexposes the longstanding influence of evangelical missions on the shape of American foreign relations.
Emily Conroy-Krutz is a historian of the global history of nineteenth-century America. She has particular interests in American empire and the international dimensions of American religion and reform. She is also the author of Christian Imperialism: Converting the World in the Early American Republic (Cornell, 2015). Along with Michael Blaakman and Noelani Arista, she edited The Early Imperial Republic: From the American Revolution to the U.S.-Mexcian War (Penn, 2023).
At Michigan State, she teaches courses on American foreign relations, women’s history, revolutionary America, religion, and legal history. She serves as undergraduate honors advisor and mentors the History Scholars. -
Over the years we've had many discussions on human sexuality and spirituality, including religion's response to homosexuality. As of late, Pope Francis has been making headlines and encouraging controversy with his recent declaration that gives permission to priests to bless gay couples.
While many have accused the pontiff of opening the door to a future that endorses same-sex marriage, allies are insisting that this is not the case. The issue here is quite technical and nuanced.
To unravel it all we called upon Ryan Di Corpo, a protege of Fr. James Martin (an advocate encouraging dialogue on this issue who has appeared on Common Threads several times). Ryan has a great understanding of the history of how the Church has dealt with this hot-button topic and where they may go from here.
Ryan Di Corpo is the managing editor of Outreach. A former Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J., fellow at America, his work has appeared in The Washington Post, Boston College Magazine, The Emancipator and elsewhere. He holds a B.A. in film from Fordham University and an M.A. in journalism from Northeastern University, in Boston.
He has been interviewed by several outlets, including Newsweek, the National Catholic Reporter and The Washington Times. He is originally from Massachusetts. -
For centuries, Judeo-Christian culture has held a place for the more esoteric elements of spirituality. These would include alchemy, magic, astrology, mysticism and more. Most western religions reject them now as superstitious, or even dangerous.
But several millennia ago, the practitioners of these arts (as they were classified then) were members in good standing of their churches, synagogues and mosques.
In this episode, Fred discusses the subject "Esoterica" with a man who has a Ph. D in the subject: Justin Sledge. -
Rabbi David Krishef & I have been friends & colleagues for years. We've had him on before to discuss a fascinating event in his life several years ago. We're having him on again, this time to discuss a remarkable new book of his. If you are a fan of the poetry of the Psalms, I think you'll find this compelling.
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A cynic might chalk this up to a bit of nepotism, but I would protest. Tom Stella, my cousin, has made more appearances on Common Threads than any other guest. But aside from the sharing of DNA, Tom continues to explore the deeper parts of spirituality in which so many find resonance. In these 2 episodes we discuss his latest book "Meditation for Mediocre Mystics."
Tom was ordained a Catholic priest at Notre Dame in 1972; an event I'm pleased to say I witnessed. He currently serves as a chaplain, retreat leader, spiritual advisor and author. Oh, and he continues to marry and bury a good number of members in his large extended Italian-American family.
I suspect you'll enjoy this. -
Even though it's been over 40 years, the memory of Jonestown and the massacre that ended it still haunts the American psyche. Few realize that the number of Americans killed on that fateful day is the highest right under the Twin Tower attacks of 9/11. Since the initial reporting of the event, little attention has been paid to any Michigan connections. Recently, MLive reporter Cole Waterman learned of a small group of citizens from various parts of the state who did meet their end in Guyana. He decided to focus on the life and death of one person in particular--Shirlee Fields. In this episode we discuss how Jonestown fascinated Cole, who was not yet born when this all happened. And we get a glimpse of a hometown girl who grew up with a passion to fight social injustice, but was ultimately led into a toxic cult that belied the ideals she held so strongly. Here are the 2 episodes where we featured Cole.
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One of the most contentious issues of 19th Century Christian America revolved around the veracity of the story of Joseph Smith and his discovery of golden plates that became the foundation of the Book of Mormon. In these episodes we speak with Prof. Richard Bushman, whose book on this subject is perhaps the most detailed on the subject you'd want to see.. What piqued my interest is that while Dr. Bushman is a practicing Mormon, his academic credentials are impeccable. And he retired from Columbia University. This is interesting because so many academicians in the field of Religious Studies are actually quite secular. Above & beyond the main focus of our conversation, I question him on what it's like to be a believer in a conservative religion in the midst of the liberal landscape of college campus. Listen to what he says.
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In these episodes we converse with 4 writers of religion who contributed to the now best selling book Sitting In the Shade of Another Tree. And yeah, I'm in it as well, but please don't hold that against the book and these fine minds. We were all tasked with writing an essay on a religion not our own that we hold in high estimation for one reason or another. This is a very intimate look into the personal journeys of people who in most cases did not find much value in faiths outside of their fold. Great conversations. Listen!
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Armin Langer is a DAAD Visiting Assistant Professor at the Center for European Studies. Prior to joining CES, he was a Visiting Research Scholar at Brandeis University's Schusterman Center for Israel Studies in Waltham, MA, a Transatlantic Partnership on Memory & Democracy Fellow at the Center for German Studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and worked for the Center for Jewish Ethics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, PA.
His research interests are migration, identity politics and populism in Europe and the US. He is author of a monograph on
German-Jewish integration, co-edited an anthology on Jewish-Muslim entanglements and published several articles in edited volumes and peer-reviewed journals, including the German Studies Review (SSCI, AHCI), Studi Irlandesi. A Journal of Irish Studies (ESCI) and Journal of Jewish Ethics (ESCI). He has received various prizes and grants, such as the Western Jewish Studies Association's Baron Award or the University of Notre Dame's Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism Grant.
Armin holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the Humboldt University of Berlin. He also studied philosophy and Jewish studies in Budapest, Jerusalem, Potsdam, and Washington, D.C., and graduated with two M.A.'s and two B.A.'s. He was ordained as a rabbi by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and has had teaching and pulpit positions in Jewish communities in the US, Mexico, Sweden, Germany, Austria and Hungary. -
Eschatology (the study of end times predictions) has always fascinated me. I'm pleased that these 2023 episodes explain a great deal that I'm sure many of us did not know. Prof. Donald Akenson provides great details on how fundamentalist theology made its way from Britain and Ireland to these shores. This scriptural interpretation has been the cause of a great cacophony of imprecise prognostications that have left many Christians heartbroken and disillusioned. Yet, the beliefs continue...and continue..and, well, you know.
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