When did Christianity become cool? How did an Australian church conquer the world and expand into Brazil, a country with its own crop of powerful megachurches?
In her exciting new book, Cool Christianity: Hillsong and the Fashioning of Cosmopolitan Identities (Oxford UP, 2023), anthropologist Cristina Rocha analyses the creation of a transnational Pentecost ... Show More
Apr 2025
Amy Zhang, "Circular Ecologies: Environmentalism and Waste Politics in Urban China" (Stanford UP, 2024)
After four decades of reform and development, China is confronting a domestic waste crisis. As the world's largest waste-generating nation, the World Economic Forum projects that by 2030, the volume of household waste in China will be double that of the United States. Starting in ... Show More
1h 7m
Yesterday
Katie Barclay, "The Kiss: A History of Passion and Power" (Reaktion Books, 2025)
The Kiss: A History of Passion and Power (Reaktion, 2026) by Professor Katie Barclay tells the surprising history of our most intimate gesture: the kiss. Richly illustrated, it explores a millennium of kisses, asking how and why the kiss has retained its power over the centuries, ... Show More
31m 30s
May 3
Arely M. Zimmerman, "Contentious Citizenship: Salvadoran Activism and Belonging Across Borders" (U Arizona Press, 2026)
Contentious Citizenship: Salvadoran Activism and Belonging Across Borders (U Arizona Press, 2026) reshapes how we understand belonging, identity, and political participation in the context of migration. Drawing on decades of Salvadoran activism from the 1980s solidarity movement ... Show More
23m 24s
Aug 2021
The Cult of Celebrity Megachurches
One of our favorite topics to date: In this can’t-miss episode, we’re unpacking the wave of trendy evangelical church groups (like Hillsong, Mosaic, and Churchome), which use Silicon Valley-savvy marketing, celebrity endorsements, charismatic pastors, and a slew of doubtlessly cu ... Show More
35m 43s
Feb 2023
Introducing - Faith on Trial: Hillsong
<p>From humble beginnings in a suburban Sydney warehouse to an international pentecostal powerhouse, Hillsong has changed the world around it, filling stadiums with screaming congregations and counting politicians, business tycoons and A-list celebrities among its true believers. ... Show More
3m 49s
Jun 2021
Boomers, The Big Sort, and Really, Really Big Churches
In the mid-1950s, Rev. Robert Schuller began preaching in a drive-in movie theater in Southern California. He melded traditions like vestments with a theology of post-war optimism and self-esteem. As his ministry grew, guest preaching in his pulpit became a mark of celebrity achi ... Show More
55m 59s
Mar 2023
Kyama M. Mugambi, "A Spirit of Revitalization: Urban Pentecostalism in Kenya" (Baylor UP, 2020)
Perhaps more than anywhere else in the world, Africa has generated unique expressions of Christianity that have, in their rapid development, overtaken older forms of Christianity represented by historic missionary efforts. Similarly, African Christianity has largely displayed its ... Show More
1h 38m
Sep 2023
Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age
<p>Clad in a Texas flag shirt, Carl and his button-down-wearing cohost Todd welcome their good friend Rosaria Butterfield back to the podcast to discuss her latest book, Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age. In this powerful book, Rosaria uses Scripture to confront cultural lies s ... Show More
31m 21s
Jul 2023
#37 T.M. Luhrmann - How Does God Become Real?
<p>Tanya Marie Luhrmann is an American psychological anthropologist known for her studies of modern-day witches, charismatic Christians, and studies of how culture shapes psychotic, dissociative, and related experiences.</p> <p>She is the author of <a href="https://amzn.to/3Y3pT4 ... Show More
1h 5m
Sep 2022
Introducing Hillsong: A Megachurch Shattered
The dark secrets of Hillsong Church were exposed, setting off a chain reaction of shocking new leaks and revelations. A follow-up to the documentary series Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed, this 7-part podcast series, Hillsong: A Megachurch Shattered, follows documentary filmmaker ... Show More
2m 9s