Whiskers, Bones, Toes and Teeth

In Rag and Bone, author Peter Manseau explores the macabre world of religious relics—the bodily odds and ends of saints, gurus and prophets, scattered all around the world.  From Muhammed’s beard whisker to the Buddha’s tooth, he explains why we save and celebrate pieces of the dead.

Peter Manseau, author of Rag and Bone: A Journey Among the World's Holy Dead, founding editor of killingthebuddha.com

An American Bishop in Tehran

Last year, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington visited Iran to discuss the impact of democracy on politics and religion.  His audience? The man who is now at the center of Iran’s disputed elections, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.   In this special rebroadcast from January, Bishop John Chane recounts his conversation with the Aytaollah, who is that country’s spiritual leader and highest authority.

Bishop John Bryson Chane, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, D.C.

Religion Redux

An abortion doctor is murdered in church, Obama addresses the Muslim world, and gay marriage becomes legal in several states. Our regular news commentators discuss the ongoing impact of the most important stories on the religion beat over the last six months.

Kevin Eckstrom, editor of Religion News Service

Kim Lawton, reporter and managing editor of Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly

Witches, Goddesses and Public Radio

This week we're revisiting one of our favorite interviews from last year, with Margot Adler. Radio junkies know her as an NPR reporter whose pieces air regularly on Morning Edition and All Things Considered.  And pagans consider her a scholar of earth-based religion. 
The former Jewish-atheist joins us to talk about the changing perception of the "witch word" and why if you look far enough back, all of us come from a pagan heritage.

Margot Adler, NPR reporter, author of Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-worshippers, and Other Pagans in America

All About Eve

We often hear about Abraham, the Biblical father of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, but not so much about his wife, Sarah.  We hear God described as a man, a white-bearded disciplinarian in the sky…but rarely is God called a mother, a nurturer, a woman.  And then there’s Eve, who, according to the standard interpretation of the book of Genesis, sprung forth from Adam’s rib: the original second-class citizen. Feminist theology is trying to change these kinds of views, and this week, we find out how—and why.

Judith Plaskow, author of Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective

Mary Hunt, author of Fierce Tenderness: Toward a Feminist Theology of Friendship

Web Extra: Hear Maureen's unedited interview 

Remembering an Eco-Theologian

A commentary by Maureen Fiedler

The Science of Spirituality

National Public Radio's religion correspondent ponders the limits of science, and raises some big questions: Does spirituality run in families? Is there a God gene?  And how do we explain near-death experiences? She explains how new technologies are helping scientists study the brain during intense religious experiences, from drug-induced ecstasies to meditation.

Barbara Bradley Hagerty, author of Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality