A careful look at monastic fear of God as a practiced discipline.
Daniel Eastman's discussion stays close to a practical question: what fear of God meant in late antique monastic life, and how monks learned it through Psalms, prayer, and discipline.

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This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: newbooksnetwork.com Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetworkSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · August 2026
New Books in Religion turns scholarly religion books into patient conversations about texts, communities, power, and lived practice.
New Books in Religion belongs in the study, not the pulpit. The show turns religion books from university presses into long-form conversations where the argument can breathe.
You want scholars to make apocalypses, charity, and archives behave.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A careful look at monastic fear of God as a practiced discipline.
Daniel Eastman's discussion stays close to a practical question: what fear of God meant in late antique monastic life, and how monks learned it through Psalms, prayer, and discipline.
A careful look at how Hinduism travels, settles, and is reframed beyond South Asia.
The episode treats Hinduism as something shaped by travel, settlement, and teaching across South Asia and the diaspora. Its main thread is the idea of the "spiritual migrant," and the discussion stays grounded by returning to Yogananda, Prabhupada, and Tamil Brahmin priests.
Apocalyptic prophecy becomes a lens for reading empire, Daniel, and Revelation across late antique interpretation.
The conversation treats apocalyptic prophecy as a serious lens through which late antique and early Christian readers made sense of empire and scripture.
A serious interview about self-transformation and political possibility.
Daniel Weisch's interview asks what it means to treat care of the self as political practice. It moves patiently through Foucault and the idea that self-transformation can reach into the social forces and relations of power that shape people.
A sharp conversation on Islamophobia, empire, and the afterlives of the war on terror.
Khaled Beydoun's conversation on New Books Network treats The New Crusades as a book about Islamophobia, the war on terror, and the longer history of American settler colonialism.
A careful look at how Buddhist charity becomes community, ethics, and belonging in urban Vietnam.
Sarah Swenson's account of Buddhist charity in urban Vietnam frames care as a collective practice, shaped by groups, projects, and the search for belonging.
A process-forward look at how a scholarly book took shape.
This episode stays close to Hazard's bookmaking and the larger problem it is trying to solve: how print and media history become readable on the page. The book's structure is the part that sticks.

A season-by-season history show pairing dramatized Rasputin and Salem narratives with historian interviews.

Two Bible translators unpack Scripture's hardest passages, from Revelation's 666 to the Witch of Endor.

Weekly Portuguese-language sermons from Pastor Pedro Bastoge on scripture, end times, and church life.

MJ Dorian's solo deep dives trace genius through Blake, McQueen, da Vinci, and Jung's Red Book.

Two Methodist pastors and guests work through forgiveness, control, and grief in scripture.

An academic interview discussing Michael Satlow's book on the shared religious landscape of late antiquity.
An interview with Dr.
This episode features an ad for GMC trucks and BetMGM, followed by a survey request from the New Books Network, which hosts academic interviews about new books in religion.
A scholarly interview discussing Thomas C.
An interview with Leland Brown about his book on early Christian ministry and the first pastors.
An interview with author Amir Saimi discussing his book on morality, revelation, and a new problem of evil in Islamic thought.
An academic interview discussing Professor Thomas C.
Dr.
Knut A.
Christopher Bonura discusses his book on the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius, a 7th-century Syriac text that spread globally and reshaped Christian views of the Roman Empire's role in eschatology.
Dr.
Daniel Wyche discusses his book on the relationship between self-care practices and political transformation, drawing on thinkers like Foucault and Hadot, and historical events like the Montgomery bus boycott.
Sarah Swenson discusses her ethnographic book on Buddhist charity in urban Vietnam, exploring grassroots volunteerism, intersectional identities, and how communities use charity to navigate rapid urbanization and social change.
Dr.
Host Raditya interviews editors of the New Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions about their recently published academic book.
An academic interview series where scholars discuss their recently published research in religion.
An academic interview podcast discussing recently published research in Jewish studies.