First Impressions #73: Barbara Ambros on Women in Japanese Religions
A new look at Japanese religious history through the eyes of women. Kristian Petersen talks with Barbara Ambros, Professor of Religious Studies at
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First Impressions
First Impressions #72: Seth Dowland on Family Values and the Rise of the Christian Right
“Family values” is more than a political slogan. It’s a core feature in the identity of conservative evangelicals born from a response to
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First Impressions # 71: Marc Van De Mieroop on the Pursuit of Truth in Ancient Babylonia
Long before Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, Babylonians developed their own rational system for exploring truth. Joseph Ryan Kelly talks with Marc Van De
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First Impressions #70: Stephen Prothero on Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars
Culture wars have more to do with defining who is real American than policing what people do in the bedroom. Dave Krueger speaks
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First Impressions #69: Joseph Reiff on White Methodism and Civil Rights in 1960s Mississippi
In 1963, a small group of white Methodist pastors in Mississippi signed a protest statement against segregation. Although harshly criticized by their peers,
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First Impressions #68: Roland Boer on the Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel
How a Marxist-inspired theory and Soviet-era Russian scholarship help us better understand the world of the Bible. Joseph Ryan Kelly talks with Roland
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First Impressions #67: Karine Walther on the History of American Involvement in the Islamic World
Long before 9/11, Islamophobia has had a complicated history in American culture and politics. Art Remillard talks with Karine Walther about her new
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First Impressions #66: James Benn on the Religious and Cultural History of Tea in China
Tea has impacted Chinese society far beyond economics and agriculture. Kristian Petersen talks with James Benn, Professor of Religious Studies at McMaster University,
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First Impressions #65: Joseph Loconte on Tolkien, Lewis, and the Great War
The writings of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis are best understood as responding to the cataclysm of the First World War. Dave Krueger
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First Impressions #64: Diana Butler Bass and the Emerging Spiritual Revolution
Even though church attendance is on the decline, signs of a new spiritual consciousness are springing up from the ground beneath us. Art
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