Let's Talk Religion

Who was the historical John the Baptist? Beyond the Gospel stories, John was a Jewish prophet and baptizer whose movement rivaled that of Jesus himself. In this episode, we look at what historians can actually say about him, from the accounts of Josephus and the New Testament to his relationship with Jesus of Nazareth, and his execution by Herod Antipas. We also explore his surprising afterlives: as Yahya in the Quran and Islamic tradition, and as a central prophet of the Mandaeans.

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Sources/Recommended Reading:

Marcus, Joel (2018). "John the Baptist in History and Theology". University of South Carolina Press.

McGrath, James F. (2024). "John of History, Baptist of Faith: The Quest for the Historical Baptizer". William B Eerdmans Publishing Co.

McGrath, James F. (2024). "Christmaker: A Life of John the Baptist". William B Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Taylor, Joan (1997). "The Immerser: John the Baptist Within Second Temple Judaism". Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Webb, Robert L. (2006). "John the Baptizer and Prophet: A Socio-historical Study". Wipf and Stock.
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In this episode, we explore the history of witches and witchcraft, from ancient sorceresses and magic in Mesopotamia and Rome, through medieval ideas about heresy, demons, and folk magic, to the demonology and panic of the 15th-17th centuries that produced the witch as we know it.

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Sources/Recommended Reading:
Abusch, I. Tzvi (2020). "Babylonian witchcraft literature: case studies". Brown Judaic Studies. Scholars Press, Atlanta, Georgia.

Abusch, I. Tzvi (2020). "Mesopotamian Religion". In Essays on Babylonian and Biblical Literature and Religion, Vol. 65: 5-23. Brill.

Abusch, Tzvi & Daniel Schwemer (ed.) (2011). "Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals". Brill.

Bottéro, Jean (2004). "Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia". Translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan. University of Chicago Press.

Hutton, Ronald (2018). "The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present". Yale University Press.

Konstantopoulos, Gina (2020). "Demons and exorcism in ancient Mesopotamia". Article. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.

Kors, Alan Charles & Edward Peters (ed.) (2000). "Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700: A Documentary History". University of Pennsylvania Press.

Levack, Brian P. (2015). "The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe". Routledge.

Levack, Brian P. (ed.) (2015). "The Witchcraft Sourcebook". Second Edition. Routledge.

Mackay, Christopher S. (transl.) (2009). "The Hammer of Witches: A Complete Translation of the Malleus Maleficarum". Cambridge University Press.

Van Buylaere, Greta; Mikko Luukko; Daniel Schwemer & Avigail Mertens-Wagschal (2018). "Sources of Evil: Studies in Mesopotamian Exorcistic Lore". Brill.
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In this episode, we explore Solomon as an occult authority in the Islamicate world: from the Quranic stories of Sulayman commanding the jinn and the winds, to the legendary Seal of Solomon, to his role in Islamic magic, talismans, letter science (ʿilm al-ḥurūf), and grimoires. We’ll look at how the Quran itself deals with Solomon and magic (Surah al-Baqarah 2:102), the figure of Asaf ibn Barkhiya, and how Solomonic lore became a foundation for the Islamic occult sciences, and ultimately influenced Western esoteric traditions as well.

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Sources/Recommended Reading:

Al-Buni, Ahmad ibn ‘Ali. “The Sun of Knowledge (Shams al-Ma’arif): An Arabic Grimoire in Selected Translation”. Translated by Amina Inloes & Illustrated by J.M. Hamade. Revelore Press, 2021.

Coulon, Jean-Charles (2022). “Amulets and Talismans in the Earliest Works of the Corpus Bunianum”. In “Amulets and Talismans of the Middle East and North Africa in Context” (Edited by Marcela A. Garcia & Petra M. Sijpesteijn). Brill.

Coulon, Jean-Charles (2022). "Salomon dans les traités de magie arabes médiévaux*". Le roi Salomon au Moyen Âge: Savoirs et représentations, éd. par Jean-Patrice Boudet, Jean-Charles Coulon, Philippe Faure et Julien Véronèse, Turnhout, 2022 (Bibliothèque d’histoire culturelle du Moyen Âge, 22), p. 55-78.

Gardiner, Noah (2012). “Forbidden Knowledge? Notes on the production, transmission, and reception of the major works of Ahmad al-Buni”. Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 12 (2012). University of Michigan.

Gardiner, Noah (2017). “Esotericist Reading Communities and the Early Circulation of the Sufi Occultist Aḥmad al-Būnī’s Works”. Arabica 64 (2017) 405-441. Brill.

Melvin-Koushki, Matthew & Noah Gardner (2017). "Islamicate Occultism: New Perspectives". Brill.

Saif, Liana (2015). "The Arabic Influences on Early Modern Occult Philosophy". Palgrave Macmillan.

Saif, Liana; Francesca Leoni; Matthew Melvin-Koushki & Farouk Yahya (2021). "Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice". Brill.

Savage-Smith, Emily (ed.) (2004). "Magic & Divination in Early Islam". Ashgate Publishing.

“Shams al-Ma’arif al-Kubra”. Arabic Printed Edition by Dar al-Mizan.
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Iblis (Satan) refused to bow to Adam, and the Qur’an condemns him for it. But some of the most daring Sufi mystics read that refusal very differently: as the act of a perfect monotheist and a tragic lover who would not bow to anything but God, even at the cost of eternal separation. In this video we explore how Iblis was reinterpreted in Islamic mysticism, from Mansur al-Hallaj’s Kitab al-Tawasin to the Persian “School of Love” (madhhab-i ‘ishq) of Ahmad Ghazali and ‘Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani.

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Sources/Recommended Reading:

Knysh, Alexander (2000). "Islamic Mysticism: A Short History". Brill.

Lumbard, Joseph E.B. (2016). "Ahmad al-Ghazālī, Remembrance, and the Metaphysics of Love". SUNY Press.

Massignon, Louis (1979). "The Passion of Hallaj: Mystic and Martyr of Islam". Vol. 1-4. Translated by Herbert Mason. Princeton University Press.

Pourjavady, Nasrollah (translated by) (2015). "Sawanih: Inspirations from the World of Pure Spirits". Routledge.

Rustom, Muhammed (translated and edited by) (2022). "The Essence of Reality: A Defense of Philosophical Sufism". New York University Press.

Rustom, Muhammed (2024). "Inrushes of the Heart: The Sufi Philosophy of Ayn al-Qudat". State University of New York Press.

Safi, Omid (2019). "Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition". Yale University Press.
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What is the Anqa? In this episode we explore the Anqa (عنقاء), the elusive, legendary bird of Arabic and Islamic tradition, often compared to the phoenix and the Persian Simurgh. We look at its origins in pre-Islamic Arabian lore, the story of how it vanished from the world, and how "the Anqa of the West" (ʿanqāʾ mughrib) became a proverb for something that exists in name but can never be found. We also trace how Sufi mystics like Ibn ʿArabi and Farid al-Din ʿAttar turned this mythical creature into a powerful symbol of the hidden, the unknowable, and the divine.

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Or through a one-time donation: https://paypal.me/talkreligiondonate

Sources/Recommended Reading:

Chittick, William (1989). "The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn 'Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination".

Elmore, Gerald T. (1999). "ISLAMIC SAINTHOOD IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME - Ibn al-Arabl’s Book of the Fabulous Gryphon". Brill.

Jaffray, Angela (translated by) (2006). "The Universal Tree and the Four Birds". Anqa Publishing.

Ron-Gilboa, Guy (2021). "ʿAnqāʾ Mughrib: The Poetics of a Mythical Creature". Journal of Abbasid Studies 8 (2021) 75–103.

Ibn 'Arabi - "The Openings Revealed in Makkah: al-futuhat al-makkiyya". Translated by Eric Winkel. Volumes 1-7. Pir Press.
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