Episode 4: Thinking Nature and the Nature of Thinking, featuring Willemien Otten

In this episode, Laura Lieber, Professor of Religious Studies at Duke University, discusses her current research on the intersection between synagogue practices and the theatre in late antique Judaism. She highlights theatrical features especially in Jewish liturgical poetry, explaining how such features can be identified and what they suggest for understanding ancient Jewish communities. Her goal, she says, is a lively, dynamic reconstruction of what synagogue life. Lieber also explains that the intersection between synagogue and theatre is just one of the ways that Jews engaged in what she describes as the glittering cultural moment that was late antiquity.

In this episode, we talk with William Schultz, Fellow in the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University, about his forthcoming book, Jesus Springs: How Colorado Springs Became the Capital of the Culture Wars (University of North Carolina Press). Schultz describes the rise of Colorado Springs, CO, as a stronghold of Evangelical Christianity in the late 20th century and explains the confluence of economic, social, and political factors that contributed to the city's new identity. He also discusses the ways that this Christian identity intersected with other major cultural forces in Colorado Springs, including the city's substantial military presence. The conversation concludes with Schultz’s comments on contemporary Evangelical Christianity in America and its enduring political significance.

In this episode, Meira Kensky, Joseph E. McCabe Associate Professor of Religion at Coe College, discusses her work on ancient and medieval Jewish and Christian apocalyptic texts. She explains, in particular, the appeal of their fictive descriptions of otherworldly journeys—including to hell—and the realness of these other worlds for the communities in which the texts circulated. In addition, Kensky discusses the continuing role that apocalyptic thought plays in contemporary American religious communities, using the example of the Evangelical Christian book series Left Behind. Speaking in the aftermath of the Capitol attack and in the lead up to the presidential inauguration, she also draws connections between ancient apocalypse and modern conspiracy theories, with special focus on QAnon and its distinctly religious qualities.

In this episode, David Lambert, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, discusses his new research on the idea of Scripture, especially in the context of ancient Judaism. Professor Lambert suggests that the concept of "assemblages" is a productive way to understanding the development of, and interactions with, religious texts in antiquity. He also discusses the relevance of these ideas for contemporary interactions with the Bible, both religious and non-religious.

This episode features Patrick T. Smith, Associate Research Professor of Theological Ethics and Bioethics and Senior Fellow in the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. The conversation focuses on Professor Smith’s new research, which addresses the intersection of race and bioethics. Professor Smith discusses the impact of both racist attitudes and structural racism in pregnancy outcomes in the United States as well as the role of the Christian ethicist in addressing such social problems. Professor Smith also contextualizes this work in relation to both the current moment and the longer push for racial justice in America across the past two centuries.

In this episode, we interview Willemien Otten, Professor of Theology and the History of Christianity at the University of Chicago and Director of the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion. The discussion focuses on Professor Otten's new book, Thinking Nature and the Nature of Thinking: From Eriugena to Emerson (Stanford University Press, 2020). The conversation ranges from cosmology, history, and medieval theology to ecumenism and the contemporary environmental crisis. Professor Otten makes the case for a new natural theology relevant for the 21st century.

In this episode, our guest is Wendy Doniger, the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor Emerita of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School. We speak with her about her current project, a translation of portions of the ancient Sanskrit poem the Mahabharata. We discuss its themes—including love, death, survivor’s guilt, and more—and their enduring relevance in the present moment. We also explore the practice of translation—what can be translated, what can’t be, and why—and how Professor Doniger's Mahabharata translation fits into her larger research and writing interests. The conversation offers insight into both an ancient literary masterpiece and the practice and accomplishment of one of the most important scholar of religion of our time.

In this episode, we talk with Nyasha Junior, Associate Professor of Religion at Temple University, about her new book, Black Samson: The Untold Story of an American Icon, co-authored with Jeremy Schipper. Professor Junior explains the central and sometimes controversial role that the biblical Samson character has played in discussions of race and freedom in America. She also suggests why contemporary conversations about race have moved in new directions.

Hosted by Professors Kevin Hector and Jeffrey Stackert, The Biggest Questions Podcast will feature interview-style conversations with scholars, including The University of Chicago Divinity School faculty members. Its aim is lively discussion of both the broad range of ideas and practices that constitute religion and how scholars make sense of them. The name of the podcast, then, is meant in both of its senses: as a set of conversations on religion, it addresses what are for many their biggest and most important concerns. At the same time, in engaging new research, these conversations will probe the most pressing questions of the scholars interviewed. We will even put the question to each of our guests directly: “What’s your biggest question?” (and perhaps even its corrolate, “What’s your smallest question?”).