Weird Religion

About Weird Religion

Weird Religion is a podcast for people who think religion is weird but love it anyway. Your hosts, Leah Payne and Brian Doak, are both professors, authors, and pop culture aficionados, whose interests range from archaeology and history and linguistics to LARPing and The Walking Dead. Episodes tackle some piece of media highlighting the wonderful weirdness of religious experience—a documentary, a television show, a Twitter scandal—and use that as a "thread" on which to hang reflections on a wide variety of topics. Cults. The perils of fame within the evangelical world. Church attendance. Atheism. Gamer communities. Millennials and avocado toast. It's all here.

Publisher

Brian Doak and Leah Payne

Category

religion & spirituality · religion & spirituality · tv & film

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

17 Mar 2020

Latest episode

27 Dec 2024

Latest episodes

100 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   27 Dec 2024

   126 THE LEGITIMACY (has Christian television finally arrived)

   Let us discuss a DANGEROUS TV SHOW. And of course, we’re talking about a very family friendly Jesus TV show—The Chosen. What is the state of the evangelical search for validation, for legitimacy, in the American religious landscape today? Has Christian TV arrived? Can we tell who is an “evangelical” by what they purchase, what they consume? The Last Temptation of Christ (1988 film): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095497/ Artifact: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/the-chosen-dallas-jenkins-interview-season-4-1235909988/ Dallas Jenkins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Jenkins Ronald Numbers, The Creationists: https://books.google.com/books?id=GQ3TI5njXfIC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false “Name it and Frame It” Phony Doctorates in the Church: https://www.apologeticsindex.org/2794-name-it-and-frame-it-phony-doctorates-in-the-church The National Association of Evangelicals: https://www.nae.org/ The “Bebbington Quadrilateral”: https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481314435/the-evangelical-quadrilateral/ Leah Payne, “‘Sound of Freedom’ and the Media Fueling Belief in America’s ‘Special Role’ in Human History”: https://www.prri.org/spotlight/sound-of-freedom-and-the-media-fueling-belief-in-americas-special-role-in-human-history/ The “Holiness Movement”: https://www.thearda.com/us-religion/history/timelines/entry?etype=3&eid=13 Randall J. Stephens, The Fire Spreads: Holiness and Pentecostalism in the American South: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674046856

2. 

   24 Dec 2024

   125 THE MUTATIONS (battle on: Precious Moments vs. Precious Mutations)

   We celebrate the religious aesthetic—and mourn the loss—of Precious Moments creator Sam Butcher. A pastel-colored, Christian-infused aesthetic embodied by Precious Moments may of course prompt a reaction: like the “Precious Mutation” of Keith Busher. Did evangelical art (and theology) ever grow up? How can this couple have been married 25 years when they are children: https://www.preciousmoments.com/twenty-five-happy-years-together-figurine Jesus said: “wise as a serpent, gentle as a dove”: https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Matthew%2010%3A16 Daniel Silliman obituary of Sam Butcher: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/05/sam-butcher-precious-moments-art-artist-chapel-obit/ The Sam Butcher story on the Precious Moments website: https://www.preciousmoments.com/butcher-story/ Keith Busher, the “Precious Mutator” (Instagram): https://www.instagram.com/preciousmutator/?hl=en; (Etsy): https://www.etsy.com/shop/PreciousMutations Precious Mutations story: https://www.today.com/home/precious-mutants-are-terrifying-version-precious-moments-figurines-t161577 Thomas Kincaid, “The Painter of Light”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kinkade The “Precious Moments Chapel” mural: https://www.preciousmoments.com/blog/history-of-precious-moments-chapel-hallelujah-square Later Sam Butcher paintings of nude bodies: https://x.com/danielsilliman/status/1795890318853767351 Garbage Pail Kids example: https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/120329100954-garbage-pail-kids-leaky-lindsay.jpg?q=w_1248,h_1732,x_0,y_0,c_fill

3. 

   20 Dec 2024

   124 THE IMPOSSIBLE (is it OK now to believe in every miracle?)

   Today we’re discussing a book by religion and philosophy professor Jeffrey Kripal (Rice University), called How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else (University of Chicago Press, 2024). He seems to be suggesting…that we should believe…in impossible things. Miracles. Levitation. UFOs. Archetypes. And many other things Leah and Brian were told not to believe in during their time in secular graduate programs, of the type that Kripal himself would seem to teach in. What is happening here? We explore. Join us. “Authentic” was the 2023 Merriam-Webster word of year: https://www.georgefamilyfoundation.org/news/blog-post-title-three-x9s6e-h4jbh#:~:text=Merriam-Webster (https://www.georgefamilyfoundation.org/news/blog-post-title-three-x9s6e-h4jbh#:~:text=Merriam-Webster) Leah Payne, award winner, for God Gave Rock and Roll to You: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/12/christianity-today-book-awards-2024/? (https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/12/christianity-today-book-awards-2024/?) Here is the book on the publisher’s website, Jeffrey Kripal’s, How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo216049049.html (https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo216049049.html) “dual aspect monism” // double-aspect theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-aspect_theory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-aspect_theory) Jeffrey J. Kripal: https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/jeffrey-j-kripal (https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/jeffrey-j-kripal) Jonathan Z. Smith: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Z._Smith (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Z._Smith) Jonathan Z. Smith, “Religion, Religions, Religious”: https://womrel.sitehost.iu.edu/Rel433%20Readings/SearchableTextFiles/Smith_ReligionReligionsReligious.pdf (https://womrel.sitehost.iu.edu/Rel433%20Readings/SearchableTextFiles/Smith_ReligionReligionsReligious.pdf) Jonathan Z. Smith, “In Comparison a Magic Dwells”: https://classics.osu.edu/sites/classics.osu.edu/files/Magic_Dwells.pdf (https://classics.osu.edu/sites/classics.osu.edu/files/Magic_Dwells.pdf) Russel McCutcheon, Critics Not Caretakers: https://www.routledge.com/Critics-Not-Caretakers-Redescribing-the-Public-Study-of-Religion/McCutcheon/p/book/9781032467924 (https://www.routledge.com/Critics-Not-Caretakers-Redescribing-the-Public-Study-of-Religion/McCutcheon/p/book/9781032467924) Mircea Eliade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mircea_Eliade (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mircea_Eliade) The Nietzsche book Brian was trying to remember: The Birth of Tragedy: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51356/51356-h/51356-h.htm (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51356/51356-h/51356-h.htm) Book Leah mentioned, that she taught this past semester: Charles Freeman, Holy Bones, Holy Dust: How Relics Shaped the History of Medieval Europe: https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Bones-Dust-History-Medieval/dp/0300184301 (https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Bones-Dust-History-Medieval/dp/0300184301) Carlos Eire, They Flew: A History of the Impossible: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300280074/they-flew/ (https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300280074/they-flew/) The mystery of where socks go in the washer: https://youtube.com/shorts/lh64cnjDsWg?si=P15MsWcO3Op2eC3t (https://youtube.com/shorts/lh64cnjDsWg?si=P15MsWcO3Op2eC3t) The Coach bag Brian is describing, note outer side pocket, and there is an identical one on the other side: https://photos-us.bazaarvoice.com/photo/2/cGhvdG86bWFjeXM/0f759b29-68af-5b3c-85e7-cc3983a4cd24 (https://photos-us.bazaarvoice.com/photo/2/cGhvdG86bWFjeXM/0f759b29-68af-5b3c-85e7-cc3983a4cd24)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

89 ratings

Contact Weird Religion

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.