Podcast Episodes

28.2: Hildegard von Bingen (Interview Special Part Two)

Season 28 Episode 2

Magnolia Strange returns to complete her account of the life and significance of Hildegard. Included is some of Hildegard's music performed by Magnolia.

Published on 2 days, 8 hours ago

28.1: Hildegard von Bingen (Interview Special Part One)

Hildegard von Bingen was a medieval polymath—writer, philosopher, musician, physician, artist, mystic, and in the twenty-first century she’s been named a doctor of the church. We sit down with Hilde…

Published on 2 weeks, 2 days ago

27.7: The Tamil Saint in a Locked Room Mystery

Season 27 Episode 7

Chidabaram Ramalingam was one of the most famous Tamil poets of his day. He taught a new form of religion that recognized all gods as one, established hospitals and temples, and disappeared from insi…

Published on 4 weeks, 1 day ago

27.6: Morgan and the Anti-Masons

Season 27 Episode 6

After promising to publish a full account of the rites and practices of the Freemasons, William Morgan disappeared. A group of Masons were accused of kidnapping him and the case grew more sensational…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

27.5: The Devil in the Machine

Season 27 Episode 5

Dr. Rob is flying solo for this exploration of the spiritual, ethical, and educational ramifications of the rise of consumer artificial intelligence; namely large language models like ChatGPT. Rob ta…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago

27.4: The Book of Enoch (Interview Special)

Tobias Churton, author of The Book of Enoch Revealed, talks about how the texts ascribed to Enoch, most famously the story of the Watchers, came to the West. What is the significance of Enoch's anci…

Published on 2 months ago

27.3: John Mandeville's Wild Ride

Season 27 Episode 3

John Mandeville, who may or may not be a real person, claimed to travel the lands of Prester John where he saw chameleons the size of goats and hairy men who could swim really fast. Mandeville also m…

Published on 2 months, 1 week ago

27.2: The Priest-King of Africa

Season 27 Episode 2

In the twelfth century, Pope Alexander III received a letter from Prester John, a legendary Africa priest king rumored to be as powerful as the Great Khan. The letter made fantastic claims about the…

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

27.1: The Irish Witch Vanished

Season 27 Episode 1

Alice Kyteler was the first woman to be tried for witchcraft in Ireland and her servant, Petronilla of Meath, was the first to be burned for heresy. Kyteler's stepchildren with her three deceased hus…

Published on 3 months, 1 week ago

26.9: The Sacred Stage (Interview Special)

Season 26 Episode 9

Renowned Renaissance Festival performers Judas and Magnolia return to discuss the sacred and spiritual components of performance. In a conversation that ranges from Plato to Georges Bataille, the the…

Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago