The Journal of Southern Religion Podcast

In this podcast, Art Remillard speaks with Edward Blum about his new book, co-authored with Paul Harvey, The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America. Professor Blum an associate professor of history at San Diego State University, and author of Reforging the White Republic: Race, Religion, and American Nationalism, 1865–1898. To open the conversation, Blum explains his personal reasons for writing this book. Next, he discusses the complicated story of Jesus’s skin color, and the various ways that Americans of different races, religions, and backgrounds have imagined Christ. Blum concludes by reflecting on his experiences writing about this topic for popular media outlets, such as the New York Times, the Huffington Post, and CNN. Coming soon, JSR co-editor Mike Pasquier will interview Paul Harvey about the book’s website.

In this podcast, Art Remillard speaks with Joshua Rothman about his new book Flush Times and Fever Dreams: A Story of Capitalism and Slavery in the Age of Jackson. Professor Rothman is an associate professor of history at the University of Alabama and the director of the Summersell Center for the Study of the South. During this conversation, Rothman recounts the fascinating story of Virgil Stewart and John Murrell, as well as the gruesome details of Mississippi’s notorious wave of violence in the summer of 1835. He also reflects on how his research might raise valuable questions for scholars of southern religion.

In this podcast, Art Remillard speaks with William A. Link about his new book, Links: My Family in American History. Professor Link is the Richard J. Milbauer Professor of History at the University of Florida and author of seven books, to include Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism and The Paradox of Southern Progressivism. During this conversation, Link shares insights about his parents, the great American historian Arthur Link and his wife, Margaret, who was the “emotional core” of her family and a dedicated social activist.

In this podcast, Art Remillard speaks with Eric Bain-Selbo about his new book, Game Day and God: Football, Faith, and Politics in the American South. Bain-Selbo teaches at Western Kentucky University, where he is the Department Head of Philosophy and Religion. During this conversation, Bain-Selbo discusses the rise of college football in the South and how it developed a religious dimension. He also reflects on the game’s violence and recent scandals in the world of college athletics. This is the second JSR podcast recorded at the annual meeting of the Society for Values in Higher Education.

In this podcast, Art Remillard speaks with Kelly Baker about her new book, Gospel According to the Klan: The Ku Klux Klan’s Appeal to Protestant America, 1915–1930. Baker teaches religious studies and American studies at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. During this conversation, Baker discusses how she used ethnographic and historical methods to examine the print culture of this “unloved group.” She also talks about how and why the Klan translated its identity through a Protestant lens in their time, and where similar rhetorical constructions of nationalism, nativism, and intolerance appear today.This podcast originates from the annual meeting of the Society for Values in Higher Education.

In this podcast, Art Remillard talks with Michael Sean Winters about his new book, God’s Right Hand: How Jerry Falwell Made God a Republican and Baptized the American Right. Winters writes for the National Catholic Reporter, where he also blogs at ”Distinctly Catholic.” During this conversation, Winters first explains what compelled him to write this biography. He then discusses Falwell’s early career, his rise to political prominence, his curious friendships with the likes of Larry Flynt, and his “mixed” legacy as it relates to American religious and political culture.

In this podcast, Michael Pasquier speaks with Jeff Wilson about his new book, Dixie Dharma: Inside a Buddhist Temple in the American South. Wilson is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and East Asian Studies at Renison University College, University of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada. During this conversation, Wilson talks about his ethnographic and historical study of a Buddhist community in Richmond, Virginia. He provides unique insight into the pluralistic dimensions of religion in the contemporary South.

In this podcast, Art Remillard talks with Patrick Mason about his new book, The Mormon Menace: Violence and Anti-Mormonism in the Postbellum South. Mason is the Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University. During this conversation, Mason explains what initially drew him to this unique project, which represents a significant contribution to both southern religious history and Mormon history. He offers insights into how he conceptualized violence to frame his narrative, and how anti-Mormonism differed from the prejudices faced by Jews and Catholics. Mason also looks ahead, discussing future projects and sharing his thoughts on what Mitt Romney’s candidacy might mean for Mormons in the South and nationally. [Mason’s book was reviewed in volume 13 of the JSR.]

In the JSR’s first podcast, Art Remillard interviews Paul Harvey about his new book, Moses, Jesus, and the Trickster in the Evangelical South. Professor Harvey discusses a range of topics, from his experiences at the Lamar Lectures in Southern History at Mercer University, to his unique collection of sources. (He recently uploaded some of the book’s folk art images to his website.) He also explains his decision to frame the book as a “throwback to an earlier kind of religious history that centered on Protestantism and marginalized other traditions.” Paul qualifies that it is a “throwback” only insofar as the book examines the evangelical majority. Otherwise, as he explains, this “center” is quite complex, particularly on matters of race.