It’s striking to me how often, with what little resistance, the many scholarly forums this book has now generated have…
O tedious selfhood, O aftertaste of splinters
religious studies
Reading the paranormal writing us: An interview with Jeffrey Kripal
Jeffrey Kripal, who chairs the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University, is an authority on the mysterious. His books…
“I would love to read the biography of a book . . .”
As part of our discussion of the “Lives of Great Religious Books” series out this March from Princeton University Press,…
Talking about religion
This Friday, as soon as you are done filing your taxes, consider attending a very interesting event at Marymount Manhattan College called…
Moments from the lives of great religious books
“The Lives of Great Religious Books,” a promising new series from Princeton University Press, debuted this month with three titles—Martin…
Adrift on common dreams
What a strange, provocative experience it has been to dwell with Kathryn Lofton’s Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon during…
“The hegemony of her sway”
Oprah’s “gift is not her interviewing strategy but her confessional promiscuity.” While claiming only to tell you what she herself…
Words, war, and worldviews
In the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Mark Juergensmeyer, former president of the AAR, weaves together a brief…
NEH seminar on the study of religion
A professional seminar on the study of religion, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, will be held next…
Paranormal activity
Mark Oppenheimer, of The New York Times, profiles Jeffrey Kripal, author of Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion…