Converging Dialogues

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Paula Fredriksen about the various Christianities in the early 1st and 2nd centuries. They discuss how there are many Christianities, contradictions within the New Testament, integration of Jews and pagans in the Mediterranean in the 1st century, and Jewish diaspora. They also talk about the crucifixion of Jesus, the idea of Israel, and persecution of early Christians. They discuss early eschatology, early church fathers, Constantine, Asceticism, and many more topics.

Paula Fredriksen is fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Aurelio Professor of Scripture emerita at Boston University and Distinguished Visiting Professor emerita in the Department of Comparative Religions at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has degrees from Wellesley College, Oxford University and Princeton University and is published widely on the social and intellectual history of ancient Christianity and on pagan-Jewish-Christian relations in the Roman Empire. She is the author of numerous books, including the most recent, Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years.

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Ben Goldfarb about road ecology. They define road ecology, discuss current landscape of roadways in the U.S., and discuss road crossings. They talk about the human impact of animal roadkill, Banff National park, current state of road crossings, Federal and State involvement, road crossings in cities, future of road crossings, and many more topics.

Ben Goldfarb is an independent conservation journalist who has written fiction and non-fiction in various outlets such as The Atlantic, Science, The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Guardian, Outside Magazine, Smithsonian, Audubon Magazine, Scientific American, and other publications. His non-fiction work was also anthologized in The Best American Science and Nature Writing. He is the author Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, winner of the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and the recent book, Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping The Future of Our Planet, named one of the best books of 2023 by the New York Times.

Website: https://www.bengoldfarb.com/

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Alex Christofi about the history of Cyprus. They discuss Cypriot identity, Greek and Turkish involvement, and the origins and mythology of Cyprus. They talk about olive culture and royal purple, Cyprus in the Bible, Islam, the Ottomans, British involvement, independence, the 1974 coup d’etat, present and future of Cyprus, and many more topics.

Alex Christofi is Editorial Director at Transworld Publishers. He is the author of numerous essays, reviews, and short pieces that have appeared in the Guardian, New Humanist, Prospect, New European, The White Review, The Brixton Review of Books and The London Magazine. He is the author of Dostoevsky In Love and the latest, Cypria: A Journey to the heart of the Mediterranean.

Website: https://alexchristofi.com/

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Benjamin Winegard about the 2024 U.S. Elections. They discuss their overall thoughts, examine the results and the county shifts nationwide, and talk about Trump and Trump-lite candidates. They talk about split-ticket voting, current state of MAGA, Latinos, gender, ballot measures, Trump’s 2nd term, how Democrats reset their agenda, and many more topics.

Benjamin Winegard is an Assistant Professor of psychology at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. He holds a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology with an emphasis on evolution. His current interests are on human progress, polarization, and political issues.

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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Arlie Hochschild about pride and shame in Appalachia. They discuss the political Right in Appalachia and framework of pride and shame, demographic makeup of the population in Appalachia, current challenges in Appalachia, and the emotions of pride, shame, and guilt. They talk about the appeal of the far Right, immigration and nationalism, liberals abandoning the working class, how we repair the politics divides, and many other topics.

Arlie Hochschild is writer and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California-Berkeley, where she also earned her PhD. Her main interests have been on social relationships with politics, emotions, and culture. She is the author of numerous books, including Strangers In Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, and the most recent, Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right.

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jason Stanley about the importance of preserving history. They talked about why authoritarians attempt to erase history, fascist ideas, nationalism, immigration, book burning, classical education, how to defend history, and many other topics.

Jason Stanley is the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University and honorary professor at the Kyiv School of Economics. Before coming to Yale in 2013, he was Distinguished Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Rutgers University and was also Professor at the University of Michigan (2000-4) and Cornell University (1995-2000). He has his PhD in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT and his BA from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is the author of seven books, which include How Propaganda Works, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them , and the newest book, Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future.

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Mario Livio about finding life in our universe. They define life, discuss if we are alone, and the improtance of telescopes showing galaxies. They talk about the goldilocks zone, how life began on earth, proteins and genes, and building blocks of life on other planets. They talk about tidal forces, exoplanets, UAPs, intelligent life, and many more topics.

Dr. Mario Livio is an astrophysicist, author, and speaker. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has published more than 500 scientific articles and has made significant theoretical contributions to topics ranging from cosmology, supernova explosions, and black holes to extrasolar planets and the emergence of life in the universe. He has received numerous awards and recognitions for his research. He is the author of eight popular science books, including the most recent in collaboration with Nobel laureate Jack Szostak, Is Earth Exceptional?

Website: https://www.mario-livio.com/

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Sheena Mason about race and culture. They talk about the increased focus on race, racelessness and the wayfinder, defining race/ism and history of the categories of race. They talk about culture, history, and ethnicity, mixed race and ethnicity, anti-racism, practical ways to end racism, and many more topics.

Sheena Michele Mason is an assistant professor of English at SUNY Oneonta. She holds a PhD with distinction in English from Howard University and specializes in Africana and American literature studies and philosophy of race. She is published with Oxford University Press, Palgrave MacMillan, Cambridge University Press, and the University of Warsaw among other presses. She is the innovator of the togetherness wayfinder (formerly and alternatively called the theory of racelessness) and founder of Togetherness Wayfinder, an educational firm. Her book The Raceless Antiracist: Why Ending Race Is the Future of Antiracism shows how ending our belief in “race” and practice of racialization is required toward the goal of ending the causes and effects of racialized dehumanization.

Website: https://www.togethernesswayfinder.org/

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Emily Herring about the life and philosophy of Henri Bergson. They discuss who he was and why he is forgotten, changes in his childhood, and how he choose philosophy. They talk about his concepts of Durée, freedom, and memory. They talk about his relationship with Proust, his global popularity, evolution, later life, his legacy, and many more topics.

Emily Herring is a writer based in Paris. She has her PhD in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Leeds. Her writing has appears in Aeon and Times Literary Supplement. She is the author of the latest book, Herald Of A Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People.

Website: https://www.wellreadherring.com/

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones about the history of the various Cleopatra queens. They discuss the 7 major Cleopatras, gender roles and norms in Egypt, and the context of the Antigonids, Ptolemies, and Seleucids. They talk about Cleopatra I, incestuous marriages, Potbelly and Cleopatra II and III. They discuss the ethnicity of Cleopatra VII, her various romantic relationships, her suicide, legacy of the Cleopatras, and many more topics.

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones is Chair and Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University. He has his PhD in Ancient History from Cardiff University and has taught previously at the University of Edinburgh. His main interests are in Greek socio-cultural history, women’s history, and ancient Persia. He is the author of many books including the most recent book, The Cleopatras: The Forgotten Queens of Egypt.