Religious studies

I was an empath, so I naturally attracted narcissists into my life unknowingly.

Yet let's use this narcissistic and empath dichotomy to examine my time at the UCSB Religious Studies in East Asian Studies departments from 1990 to 1997, where I got both my undergraduate and graduate degrees.

I entered those programs after attending a class titled The History of Zen Buddhism.

My professor was Dr. Alan Gepard.

That false perception treats every being as identical with matching needs, wants, and desires, which is ultimately untrue.

My professors were looking at the external stones, doctrines, and physical structures missing the internal temple.

I didn't get accepted into the PhD program at UCSB Religious Studies, and I never attended my graduation for my master's degree.

I was busy visiting family in Israel with my ex-husband.

Death podcast.

She has a BA in religious studies from Marylhurst University, an MA in pastoral care from Fordham University, and a Doctor of Ministry in pastoral care and counseling from the San Francisco Theological Seminary.

So as I said, Derry, uh, Terry, welcome.

We're so glad to have you here with us today.

So I said-

Yeah

... "You know what? I'm gonna go to school and get the required degrees and training to be a chaplain." So I started going to college for the first time at age 56 and got a degree in religious studies, then I got a master's, and I did all this stuff, uh, so I could become a hospice chaplain.

So I did that, and the more time I spent in school studying counseling and psychology and religious history and all of that, the more I kind of moved into the more scientific end of this.

I'm speaking with Jamie Kaczynskis.

Associate Professor of Sociology and Chair of Religious Studies at Hamilton College.

Jamie's book, The Loyalty Trap, Conflicting Loyalties of Civil Servants Under Increasing Autocracy, was recently reviewed in Contemporary Sociology by Ben Merriman.

Jamie, thank you so much for joining me today.

I love your YouTube channel.

I think you're doing great work, especially bringing really important work in religious studies out to a wider audience.

I think a lot of times Those of us writing for academic audiences are not very good at communicating our central insights to the world at large.

And there tends to be this ivory tower effect where we're mostly writing to other people who don't have much of an impact on society as a whole.

I think the average book in religious studies is cited less than 10 times.

So anyway.

Thank you.

Part of the reason why your book came to mind recently for me was because The Atlantic published an article back in January that pitched the question, is exorcism increasing in popularity in the United States? And the journalist goes through some data that shows that Catholic exorcists in particular are just, you know, the phone is ringing off the wall like, constant requests for exorcisms, more so than maybe 30 or 40 years ago.

I am your Bible Brothers Corporation sanctioned host, Dan Klein, and it is my pleasure to welcome you back to the hardest podcast to make, because reading the Bible is hard, and I'm tired, and it's hard for me to schedule, to do, to get through.

but we've got something huge here a secret weapon because we have someone on the show today that actually might understand what's in this book and it's always helpful to get feedback from you guys in the emails on socials on the discord of from the god squad but we've got a true member of the gods of god's god squad okay not our god squad different gods god squad um Professor David Stewart, who is an actual religious studies professor and, dare I say, a cool guy.

So King David, step aside, because Professor David, welcome to the Bible.

Or, well, thank you for welcoming us to the Bible.

If you didn't like the episode, five stars.

But let us know in the comments or in your review.

You know, if you're a religious studies professor and you're on the show, give us five stars.

I mean, come on.

Yeah

...in religious studies was primarily focused-

Drink

...on...

...tier one done by now.

Um-

Central Asia and Scythians and Religious Studies, we do need to make a drinking ga- listeners please make us a drinking game.

I would love to see or like a duo Stolti bingo.

It has been because it simplified what we had to do.

For example, in a traditional university, and I'm going to take the school that we call Shippers, which is School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies.

And so they mashed those three together.

And I had a degree early on.

We had a history degree, a philosophy degree, and a religious studies degree, right? If I would have had to go to three separate departments, three different department chairs, it would have taken longer to get done.

But because there was a single head of shippers, that guy figured out early on, let's put all of these programs up.

And so it simplified it in that way.

Today, we're really honored to have Dr. Mehmet Salih Selgan on The Weird with us.

You're an associate teaching professor of theology and religious studies at Georgetown University, where you focus on Islamic theology, Quranic studies, Islamic ethics, Islam in America, and the relationship between Muslims and other faith traditions.

You are also the author of several books exploring some of the deepest questions of faith.

Your latest book, Following the Prophet, asks a question that I think sits beautifully at the heart of what we're trying to do over here at The Weird.