Ministry of Ideas
104 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 months ago - ★★★★★ - 146 ratingsA podcast about the ideas that shape our lives. Hosted by Zachary Davis and produced at Harvard Divinity School.
Learn more at ministryofideas.org
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 8: The Enemy of Morality Is Not Modernity, It’s Me
December 20, 2023 11:00 - 44 minutesThe great English essayist and linguist Samuel Johnson was writing during the Enlightenment – the period some historians identify as the beginning of the modern age. American author and philosopher David Foster Wallace worked more than two centuries later, in the “post-modern” style. But these two writers shared a common problem: once modernity fractured society’s sense of shared moral norms, how could you write persuasively about morality? This episode looks at how Johnson and Wallace attemp...
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 7: A Genealogy of Gun Violence
December 13, 2023 11:00 - 51 minutesThe problem of gun violence is as old as guns themselves. According to historian Priya Satia, America’s present epidemic of gun violence has its roots in the industrial revolution. Satia tells the story of British gun-maker Samuel Galton, Jr., who was called to task by his Quaker community for manufacturing rifles. As a professed pacifist, Galton had to wrestle with the large-scale uses to which his weapons were put. So where do we look for answers about how to regulate guns? Some claim the a...
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 6: A Medieval Anti-Racist
December 06, 2023 11:00 - 52 minutesWhat if racism shared an origin with opposition to racism? What if the condemnation of injustice gave rise both to an early form of anti-racism and to the racial hierarchies that haunt the modern era? Rolena Adornol, David Orique, María Cristina Ríos Espinosa tell the story of how Bartolomé de las Casas, a Dominican missionary to New Spain, came to racial consciousness in the presence of slavery. His intellectual rebellion spurred slavery’s apologists to more strident and sinister modes of de...
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 5: Picturing Race in Colonial Mexico
November 29, 2023 19:24 - 1 hourRace is sometimes treated as a biological fact. It is actually a modern invention. But for this concept to gain power, its logic had to be spread – and made visible. Art historian Ilona Katzew tells the story of how Spanish colonists of modern-day Mexico developed theories of blood purity and used the casta paintings – featuring family groups with differing skin pigmentations set in domestic scenes – to represent these theories as reality. She also shares the strange challenges of curating th...
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 4: Jamestown and the Myth of the Sovereign Family
November 22, 2023 14:23 - 45 minutesWhat is the “traditional American family?” Popular images from the colonial and pioneer past suggest an isolated and self-sufficient nuclear family as the center of American identity and the source of American strength. But the idea of early American self-sufficiency is a myth. Caro Pirri tells the story of the precarious Jamestown settlement and how its residents depended on each other and on Indigenous Americans for survival. Early American history can help us imagine new kinds of interdepe...
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 3: What Is Genealogy?
November 15, 2023 13:15 - 45 minutesGenealogy, in Charles Darwin’s terms, is the study of “descent with modification.” Taken as an analogy for the study of history, genealogy can guard against the potential dangers of claiming modernity. Against the effort to erase the past, genealogy asserts that our ancestry will always be with us. Against the effort to master the past, genealogy reminds us that our descendants have the freedom to create new futures. Sociologist Alondra Nelson tells the story of how African Americans have use...
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 2: What Is Modernity?
November 13, 2023 18:28 - 36 minutesWe often think of modernity as a distinct time period in history – one that is said to start at different places, but which always includes us. Yet people have been claiming to be modern since at least the third century BC. Harvard scholar Michael Puett takes us back to ancient China, when a series of emperors laid claim to modernity in order to consolidate their rule. Puett argues that modernity is best understood not as a period on a timeline but as a claim to freedom from the past. By reco...
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 1: Climbing the Mountains of Modernity
November 09, 2023 13:00 - 46 minutesWe all know many stories about how modernity came about. But what does it mean to be “modern”? This episode comes at the question through the test case of mountain climbing and rock climbing. Claims to becoming modern through climbing often point back to Italian humanist Francesco Petrarch’s ascent of Mt. Ventoux in 1336, a climb that made him, according to many historians, “the first modern man.” But Petrarch was by no means the first person to climb Mt Ventoux, and his own account is, if an...
Illuminations Episode 10: Universal Knowledge
August 02, 2023 11:51 - 32 minutesAt the dawn of European exploration, the Renaissance polymath Francis Bacon dreamed of resurrecting the Garden of Eden. Driving this vision was a relentless quest to fully understand—and catalog—God's created order. Guests Lorraine Daston, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Ann Blair, Harvard University Rebecca Bushnell, University of Pennsylvania Staffan Müller-Wille, University of Cambridge James Rosindell, Imperial College London Amy Tigner, University of Texas at Arlington L...
Illuminations Episode 9: Rituals for a Dying World
June 22, 2023 08:00 - 23 minutesAbsorbing the full reality of climate change will require more than a scientific approach. Some American Jews are showing how religious ritual can help us metabolize catastrophic grief while also pointing towards a future rebirth. Guests: -Jennie Rosenn, Founder & CEO of Dayenu -Andrue Kahn, Central Synagogue -Malkah Binah Klein, Community leader This episode was produced by Liya Rechtman. Zachary Davis is the host of Ministry of Ideas and Writ Large and the Editor-in-Chief of Wayfare Magazi...
Illuminations Episode 8: Watching Heaven
May 16, 2023 19:29 - 30 minutesThe story of Galileo has long been cited as evidence the Catholic Church is inherently opposed to scientific research. But in fact, astronomy has been built into the history of the Catholic Church – sometimes built literally into the churches themselves. Guests Guy Consolmagno, Director of the Vatican Observatory Ann Blair, Harvard Professor of History John Heilbron, Historian of Science Emeritus, University of Berkeley Stephen Barr, Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Delawa...
Illuminations Episode 7: Mirrors of Morality
April 19, 2023 14:38 - 27 minutesScientific origin stories promise to tell us who we really are. But that deepest question of human existence can never fully be answered by science. Guests Erika Milam, Princeton University Cecilia Heyes, Oxford University This episode was produced by Simon Brown and Maria Devlin McNair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Illuminations Episode 6: Manifest Mars
March 20, 2023 23:11 - 36 minutesA sense of divine destiny drove Americans to expand West. A similar spirit is behind the modern quest to conquer space. Guests Lois Rosson, Bergruenn Institute (Los Angeles) Catherine Newell, University of Miami Joni Kinsey, University of Iowa Episode produced by Liya Rechtman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Illuminations Episode 5: Moveable Feasts
March 16, 2023 19:52 - 30 minutesGod, we know, is outside space and time. But the need to date one faith’s most sacred feast drove a cutting-edge technological quest to accurately locate ourselves in time. Guests Simon Brown Philipp Nothaft Robert Poole Producers Simon Brown Maria Devlin McNair Voice Talent Blair Hodges Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Illuminations Episode 4: Quantum Buddhism
March 15, 2023 06:00 - 26 minutesWhat’s the spiritual significance of quantum mechanics? One answer comes from the Dalai Lama - a surprising but genuine lover of scientific investigation. Guests Jose Perillan - Associate Professor of Physics and Science, Technology and Society and the Pauline Newman Director of Science, Technology, and Society at Vassar College Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Illuminations Episode 3: Divine Technology
March 14, 2023 08:00 - 16 minutesIt’s common to feel that technology removes the magic of the world, but Hindu worshippers in Bangalore have shown that it's all in the approach. Guest Tulasi Srinivas, associate professor of anthropology at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College. Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and the Indian Sociological Society. Author of Winged Faith: Rethinking Globalization and Religious Pluralism, among other books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Illuminations Episode 2: Beyond Belief
March 13, 2023 08:00 - 25 minutesDo scientists ever reject science? Research data on the controversial topic of extraterrestrial life has met with resistance from some in the scientific community and openness from communities of faith. Guests Avi Loeb, professor of astrophysics and cosmology at Harvard University, where he serves as the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science. Author of Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth. Kate Dorsch, associate director of Philosophy, Politics and Economics a...
Illuminations Episode 1: Experimental Methods
March 12, 2023 08:00 - 35 minutesHave faith and science always been enemies? The story of Robert Hooke, a revolutionary working in the Scientific Revolution, exemplifies the ways in which Christianity has actually provoked scientific inquiry. Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Patricia Fara, director of studies and affiliated lecturer at the University of Cambridge’s Department of the History and Philosoph...
Illuminations Introduction
March 11, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutesIlluminations is a limited series that reveals the untold friendship of religion and science. Through interviews and stories drawn from a range of cultures, faiths, and eras, this series reveals the unknown and unexpected histories of how religion and science have been entangled across time. We hear why the Dalai Lama loves quantum mechanics; why the Mormon faith inspires a search for extraterrestrial life; why the Scientific Revolution was catalyzed by a religious quest to uncover divine cra...
Illuminations Teaser
March 10, 2023 09:00 - 2 minutesIlluminations is a limited series from Ministry of Ideas that reveals the untold friendship of religion and science. Through interviews and stories drawn from a range of cultures, faiths, and eras, this series reveals the unknown and unexpected histories of how religion and science have been entangled across time. We hear why the Dalai Lama loves quantum mechanics; why the Mormon faith inspires a search for extraterrestrial life; why the Scientific Revolution was catalyzed by a religious que...
Measure for Measure Episode 8: Star Ladder
March 09, 2023 09:00 - 17 minutesScientists discovered that some stars have heartbeats and that some of them can be used to measure the longest distances that exist. This episode was produced by Andrew Middleton and Liya Rechtman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Measure for Measure Episode 7: Kinsey
March 08, 2023 09:00 - 23 minutesScientist Alfred Kinsey tried to differentiate human sexualities on a seven-point scale. In so doing, he brought us the basics of bisexuality. But the scale leaves a lot to be desired. Instead of a spectrum, Special Guest Kate Sisk leads us into a gay fog. GUEST Kate Sisk (she/they/he) is a professional stand up comedian, amateur drag king, and co-host of the award-winning podcast, We’re Having Gay Sex. This episode was produced by Andrew Middleton and Liya Rechtman. Learn more about your ad ...
Measure for Measure Episode 6: IQ
March 07, 2023 09:00 - 25 minutesThe Intelligence Quotient is a measure of intelligence that has life-or-death consequences. Should we trust it? GUEST Alan Gouddis is a Partner with Sherman & Sterling. He was recognized by The Legal 500 as a “Leading Lawyer” in M&A Litigation Defense in 2021. This episode was produced by Andrew Middleton and Liya Rechtman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Measure for Measure Episode 5: Scoville
March 06, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutesTaste is a subjective experience. We know this because eggs pickled in human urine, cheese with live maggots living in it, fertilized and mostly-developed duck eggs, rotten shark, calf blood and cheese whiz are all delicacies somewhere. But there is a flavor that we can measure and compare objectively. Kind of. This episode was produced by Andrew Middleton and Liya Rechtman. Special thanks to our taste-testers: Brian Sexton, Daniel Siegel, Grace Gouddis, Gregory Fredle, Lois Rosson, Maiya Zwe...
Measure for Measure Episode 4: Movies
March 05, 2023 09:00 - 16 minutesWe’d rate today’s episode a ten out of ten, five star, certified fresh, two thumbs up. But we can’t speak for its IMdB score. This episode was produced by Andrew Middleton and Liya Rechtman. Measure for Measure is a limited series from Ministry of Ideas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Measure for Measure Episode 3: Mohs
March 04, 2023 09:00 - 10 minutesWe’re hitting up against the very nature of measurement: How can we best describe the world around us, in its infinite complexity, with finite measures? In other words, how hard are rocks? This episode was produced by Andrew Middleton and Liya Rechtman. Measure for Measure is a limited series from Ministry of Ideas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Measure for Measure Episode 2: Olives
March 03, 2023 09:00 - 19 minutesJews are ritually obligated to eat matzah during Passover. But how much matzah? Well, that depends on your views on the size of an olive. This episode was produced by Andrew Middleton and Liya Rechtman. Special thanks to Rabbi Natan Slifkin, founder of RationalistJudaism.com for his work on olives and biblical measurements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Measure for Measure Episode 1: Fathom
March 02, 2023 09:00 - 10 minutesWe love a good chart or graph but we think measurement is more complex and interesting than the data points. The fathom is a measure of depth from the surface to the ocean floorwhich is critical for navigating the Mississippi River and the Suez Canal. The fathom also shows us what’s beyond measurement: The unfathomable. This episode was produced by Andrew Middleton and Liya Rechtman. Measure for Measure is a limited series from Ministry of Ideas. The show is executive produced by Liya Rechtma...
Measure for Measure Episode 0: Birds
March 01, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutesCould you pick a white-breasted nuthatch out of a lineup? We explore the value - and limits - of birdwatching, categorization, and measurement. This episode was produced by Andrew Middleton and Liya Rechtman. Measure for Measure is a limited series from Ministry of Ideas. The show is executive produced by Liya Rechtman, created by Andrew Middleton, and sound engineered by Greg Fredle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Introducing Measure for Measure
February 28, 2023 09:00 - 1 minuteIntroducing Measure for Measure, a new limited series from Ministry of Ideas. We love a good chart or graph but we think measurement is more complex and interesting than data points. In each episode of the Measure for Measure, we look at a different unit of measure as a fundamental grammar of our lives. Learn more at ministryofideas.org/measure PRODUCTION TEAM Liya Rechtman is Executive Producer and co-host of Measure for Measure and Managing Producer of Ministry of Ideas. She is a climate a...
Making Meaning Episode 24: The Shining Surface
February 27, 2023 09:00 - 6 minutesIt's common to equate meaning with depth, but the surface of things, with its wild and rapturous beauty, can coax us into life. GUEST Stephanie Paulsell is the Susan Shallcross Swartz Professor of the Practice of Christian Studies in the Harvard Divinity School and served as the Interim Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church from 2019 to 2020. An ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), she is the author of Religion Around Virginia Woolf, (2019), editor (with David Carr...
Making Meaning Episode 23: Limits and Love
February 26, 2023 09:00 - 10 minutesWe are finite creatures who struggle to accept our finitude. But if we can learn to embrace our limits, we will find that our relations with one another, the created world, and God allow us to experience a love so exquisite, it need not last forever. Guest: Matthew Ichihashi Potts is Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard University. He studies the thought and practice of Christian communities through attention to diverse literary and theol...
Making Meaning Episode 22: Head and Heart
February 25, 2023 09:00 - 22 minutesMeaning paradoxically has to be both made and discovered, an inescapable entanglement of the singular and the universal. And though the fruit of such wrestling may not be uncomplicated happiness, it often leads to a deeper awareness of the sweetness of existence, the holiness of an hour. Guest: Zohar Atkins is the Founder of Etz Hasadeh, a Center for Existential Torah. He is a Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. He holds a DPhil in Theology from Oxford, where he was a Rh...
Making Meaning Episode 21: Throbbing with Life
February 24, 2023 09:00 - 7 minutesScience often draws a picture of the world as a giant machine, a meaningless mechanical clock ticking and tocking forever. But religion and poetry offer a different view, one that is teeming with life and overflowing with spirit. Guest: Michael Ruse is a British-born Canadian philosopher of science who specializes in the philosophy of biology and works on the relationship between science and religion. Making Meaning is a limited series from Ministry of Ideas that explores how life can be liv...
Making Meaning Episode 20: Love, Work, and Play
February 23, 2023 09:00 - 10 minutesThough life’s ultimate meaning may be elusive, the goods of love, work and play are so deeply rewarding that for most people they are sufficient for creating a happy life. And with new advances in neuroscience, we increasingly understand why that is at a molecular level. Guest: Paul Thagard is a philosopher, cognitive scientist, and author of many interdisciplinary books. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Waterloo, where he founded and directed the Cog...
Making Meaning Episode 19: Mysteries and Metaphors
February 22, 2023 09:00 - 12 minutesThere is a deep mystery to the existence of the universe. And although a final answer to the question of meaning is not possible, it is our highest responsibility and greatest hope to seek one. Guest: Francis J. Ambrosio is Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department at Georgetown University. Dr. Ambrosio’s teaching interests are in the areas of Plato, Dante, Existentialism, and Postmodernism. Making Meaning is a limited series from Ministry of Ideas that explores how life can be lived ...
Making Meaning Episode 18: Unfolding Narratives
February 21, 2023 09:00 - 12 minutesMeaning is less an objective thing to be discovered than a life-project, a narrative that unfolds over time. This doesn’t mean that every detail of our life fits a perfectly coherent plot, but rather we forge a beautiful expression of our deepest values. Guest: Todd May is Class of 1941 Memorial Professor of Philosophy at Clemson University and the author of A Significant Life: Human Meaning in a Silent Universe. Making Meaning is a limited series from Ministry of Ideas that explores how lif...
Making Meaning Episode 17: Remaking the World
February 20, 2023 09:00 - 11 minutesWe inherit a world that is already made, full of stories and structures and significance. But all of us have the capacity to remake the world and the meanings available in it. Guest: Simon Critchley is the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research. His work engages in many areas: continental philosophy, philosophy and literature, psychoanalysis, ethics, and political theory, among others. His most recent books include The Problem with Levinas and ABC of Impossi...
Making Meaning Episode 16: Passionate Engagement
February 19, 2023 09:00 - 13 minutesMeaning is more than pleasure or even happiness—it is an intense and fulfilling engagement in projects and relationships that bring forth the best within us and disclose mysterious, beautiful worlds of love. Guest: Susan R. Wolf is the Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Professor Wolf’s interests range widely over moral psychology, value theory, and normative ethics. Her research has focused especially on the relation betwe...
Making Meaning Episode 15: Subjectivity and Significance
February 18, 2023 09:00 - 16 minutesWe have a tendency to view our lives as meaningful only if we are involved in heroic acts of service, creativity, or achievement. But this is misguided. Even when we are ordinary, we are all, as living creatures, capable of an intense engagement with the world that infuses life with significance. Guest: Michael Hauskeller is the head of philosophy department at the University of Liverpool. He is a generalist, trying to come to terms with this "deeply puzzling world" (to borrow an expression ...
Making Meaning Episode 14: The Challenge of Choice
February 17, 2023 09:00 - 11 minutesThe vast range of choices we can make about our lives is one of the great blessings of modernity. But that very freedom makes it hard to know what to believe or where we belong. Even more difficult is that capitalism is constantly shaping our values and perceptions towards its own ethos. Perhaps there is a way out through making our worlds smaller. Guest: Paul Froese is a Professor of Sociology at Baylor University and the Director of the Baylor Religion Surveys. He is the author of three bo...
Making Meaning Episode 13: Flickers of Light
February 16, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutesThe realization that our lives are incredibly brief and we are almost certainly not going to be remembered by anyone 100 years from now can cause deep angst—but it can also liberate us to abandon work and activities that smother our spirit and instead embrace the exquisite pleasures of friendship, nature and simply being alive. Guest: Wendy Syfret is a Melbourne based writer, editor, and author of The Sunny Nihilist: How a Meaningless Life Can Make You Truly Happy. Making Meaning is a limite...
Making Meaning Episode 12: Expansion of Life
February 15, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutesExperiencing a crisis of meaning, a time when our life and world no longer cohere, is painful and wrenching. But these encounters with the abyss can also be moments of rebirth and expansion, when we lay down our smaller selves and discover deeper and more abundant ways of relating to the earth and one another. Guest: Mark Vernon is a psychotherapist and writer, with an interest in ancient philosophy, and a focus on the skills and insights that illuminate our inner lives. His most recent book...
Making Meaning Episode 11: Living Music
February 14, 2023 09:00 - 15 minutesMusic is not merely entertainment—it is a living tradition, a connective tissue linking generations together in a shared pursuit of joy and significance. And through those links across time and space, we build a world of meaning, one improvisation at a time. Guest: Vijay Iyer is an American composer, pianist, bandleader, producer, and writer based in New York City. The New York Times has called him a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker ...
Making Meaning Episode 10: Connection in Community
February 13, 2023 09:00 - 7 minutesMeaning is more than an abstraction—it is a sense that we matter to one another, woven together with threads of reciprocity. But in those times when we feel lost and cut off from our sources of strength, we may have to simply move forward in faith, holding out hope for renewal and restoration. Guest: The Rev. Dr. Stephanie M. Crumpton is a professor of practical theology at McCormick Theological Seminary. Prior to that, she was an assistant professor of practical theology at Lancaster Theolo...
Making Meaning Episode 9: Questing Spirits
February 12, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutesThe experience of existence is one of bewilderment and even anguish. Anguish because we feel that we are incomplete beings longing for completion, mired in immanence yet yearning for transcendence. Often, that questing spirit can lead us on the journey to God. Guest: John Cottingham is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Reading and an Honorary Fellow, St John’s College at Oxford University. He has published over thirty books—including In Search of the Soul and How to Belie...
Making Meaning Episode 8: Gifts of Belonging
February 11, 2023 09:00 - 10 minutesIn music, Kimbra found a way to create and share gifts. And through that gifting, she provides space for others to find deep connection and belonging. But music also offers something more mysterious—a language to wrestle with meaning, an attempt to capture and express the experience of life. Guest: Kimbra is a two-time Grammy Award and six-time Aria winner who mixes pop, R&B, jazz, and rock. Some of her most famous singles include “Cameo Lover,” “Belong,” and “Somebody that I Used To Know.” ...
Making Meaning Episode 7: Virtuous Stories
February 10, 2023 09:00 - 12 minutesThe human being is a storytelling animal, and no story is more important to us than our own. But we don’t write that story in a vacuum. We are born in media res and must develop ways of making sense of ourselves if we want to truly flourish. Guest: Jennifer Frey is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina and host of the philosophy and literature podcast Sacred and Profane Love. She writes about virtue, action, practical reason, and what it might mean to live ...
Making Meaning Episode 6: Here and Now
February 09, 2023 09:00 - 13 minutesIt’s common to look beyond life—to eternity or God—for meaning. But as the experience of seeing a cherry tree in bloom reveals, there is deep value in the immanent, the immediate, the now. Guest: Julian Baggini is a philosopher, journalist and the author of over 20 books about philosophy written for a general audience. He is co-founder of The Philosophers' Magazine and has written for numerous international newspapers and magazines. In addition to writing on the subject of philosophy he has ...
Making Meaning Episode 5: Beyond Happiness
February 08, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutesOrganizing our lives around the pursuit of happiness—defined as positive feelings—can ultimately leave our souls hungry. Instead, we should try connecting ourselves to deeper things: compassion, community, ritual, and awe. Guest: Emily Esfahani Smith is a writer, editor, and speaker in Washington DC. She draws on psychology, philosophy, and literature to write about the human experience—why we are the way we are and how we can find grace and meaning in a world that is full of suffering. Her ...