Re-Enchantment

Father Adam Bucko is a committed voice in the movement for the renewal of Christian Contemplative Spirituality and the growing New Monastic movement. My conversation with him was one of my favorite from the Open Div Summit and I'm happy to share it with you here.

The Open Div Summit is done! You can access around 70 pre-recorded conversations with academics, thought leaders, and practitioners by searching "Open Div Summit" on Spotify or Anchor.fm.

This episode is dedicated to the Open Div Summit! The summit is happening Thursday Feb 25th - Sunday Feb 28th. To help make sense of the many amazing speakers and live events we've organized, I've decided to list some of my favorite pre-recorded talks and the live events I'm looking forward to most. Register for free and view the full schedule for yourself at summit.opendiv.org — I'll see you there!

This episode is an exclusive sneak-peak at the Open Div Summit I'm co-hosting at the end of this month, Feb 25-28th. Register for the summit by going to Summit.OpenDiv.org — it's free and welcoming to those of any faith and no-faith.

How does a two-millennia old myth find relevance in the modern age? Gnosticism can be interpreted as both a critique of an overly simplistic, human-like God, and an empowering story about our own participation in the ongoing creation of reality.

Gnosticism was believed to have been lost to time—a relic of history—until two boys stumbled upon a hidden library in the desert. Enter into the Nag Hammadi Library, where the scrolls are kept in jugs, where God is not necessarily good, and where Jesus might have something to say about gender fluidity. Welcome to the esoteric world of the gnostics.

On psychedelics, people claim they see the face of God. They claim the existence of energies and universal consciousness. But if you're a naturalist like Dr. Chris Letheby, how do you interpret these experiences? Daniel speaks with Chris about naturalizing psychedelic spirituality and making it applicable to those skeptical about supernaturalism and yet find immense value in psychedelics.

Science fiction isn't just entertainment. It's not just about technology. It's also about imagining, and reimagining, the future. That future includes the ways in which we live together and the ways in which we fulfill our spiritual needs. Daniel speaks with Taj Smith about Afrofuturism, alternate paradises, who gets to be human (and who doesn't).

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The Urantia Book appeared in the 1950s. It doesn't have a known author. It doesn't have churches or temples built in its name. What it has is 2,000 pages of imaginative writing that tries to combine spirituality with science. Angie Thurston speaks about what lies between the covers of the Urantia Book and why she accepted it as her central spiritual text later in life.

Philip Morris is the CEO of Proctors, the largest performing arts organization in the Capital Region of New York. He helped lift a struggling theater from the brink of collapse, and with it, revitalize downtown Schenectady and beyond. What's more, he did it with a care and loyalty for his employees and the surrounding community that's often talked about but rarely practiced.

Most people know about Richard Dawkins's atheism. Few people know about his spirituality. I speak with Professor Eric Steinhart about his new book, "Believing in Dawkins: The New Spiritual Atheism." In Dawkins's writings, Steinhart sees a grand but fragmented vision for what lies beyond atheism. He attempts to collect and connect these fragments to create a "cathedral of mind" that could rival, and even surpass, theism.

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Listen to my bonus conversation with Steinhart by becoming a Patreon subscriber: patreon.com/reenchantment

Get "Believing in Dawkins" and support Re-Enchantment when you buy through this link: https://bookshop.org/shop/reenchantment