Religion and Spirituality (Audio)

UCTV

Explore both traditional religions and what it means to be spiritual in a rapidly changing and diversifying religious world.

  1. Jun 2

    Religion in Motion: The Identity and World-Creating Powers of Religious Action

    What does it mean to rethink religion from the ground up? University of Colorado's religious studies professor Sam Gill draws on biology, philosophy, and decades of research and dance practice to argue that we are moving, whole organisms before we are divided into mind and body. Gill proposes that humans possess a biologically enabled capacity to hold together what we know to be different as if it were the same—a dynamic that underlies the powers of metaphor, masking, dancing, ritual action, symbol, and language. Through vivid examples from Hopi initiation, Javanese shadow puppetry and dance, and Navajo prayer ceremonials, Gill shows how religious actions create worlds, identities, and enduring cultural coherence. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 41541]

    54 min

  2. May 23

    Climate Faith and Collective Responsibility with Bill McKibben

    Environmentalist and author Bill McKibben has helped shape how the world understands climate change. In this conversation with Marco Werman, host of The World, McKibben offers a clear-eyed look at the climate crisis and the solutions that could help reduce the damage of a warming planet. As part of the Burke Lectureship at UC San Diego, McKibben also explores the moral and spiritual questions at the heart of climate change. More than three decades after The End of Nature brought climate change to a broad audience, his work continues to connect science, ethics, and grassroots action, including the global climate campaign 350.org and the fossil fuel divestment movement. Series: "Burke Lectureship on Religion and Society" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 41265]

    1h 27m

  3. Jan 28

    Indigenous Religious Traditions and Law in the Current Political Moment

    How are Indigenous communities in the U.S. facing challenges to their ways of life in the current political moment? Focusing on questions concerning repatriation, land access, education, and diverse forms of sovereignty, our panelists explore the intersection of Indigenous religious traditions and law. The discussion begins at the regional level, with specific reference to Chumash contexts, and then expands outward to borderland settings, Oklahoma, the Great Lakes, and the Pacific. The panelists are Greg Johnson, Director, Walter H. Capps Center, Cristina Gonzales, Registrar, Santa Rosa Rancheria, Amrah Salomón, Assistant Professor of English, UCSB, Walter Echo-Hawk, Former President of Pawnee Nation, and Vicente Diaz, Professor of American Indian & Indigenous Studies, UCLA. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 41294]

    1h 8m

  4. 12/13/2025

    Addressing Antisemitism Islamophobia and Religious Intolerance

    A collaborative effort examines how organizations confront religious intolerance, focusing on antisemitism and Islamophobia. It maps an ecosystem of practices across individual, community, and structural levels. Using surveys, interviews, and existing research, the project documents what people and organizations do and why. Approaches include education and skills training; supports for healing and wellbeing; bridging divisions, leadership, coalitions, safer online spaces, and civic engagement; work on policy and law; research and evaluation that advance evidence-based programs; and storytelling that promotes inclusion while challenging hateful speech. Together, these efforts clarify how combined work builds belonging, trust, understanding, and accountability. Findings are shared to help communities adapt effective practices locally, including on campus and across the region. The goal is to support practical, adaptable strategies that cultivate safer, more inclusive environments. [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 40703]

    1h 7m

  5. 08/30/2025

    Righting Wrong When Sorry Isn’t Enough: Constructing an Asian American Theology of Reparations with Grace Yia-Hei Kao

    How should federal governments attempt to right, or at least remedy, past wrongs? Is it appropriate for victims of group-based harms or their descendants to press current generations to atone for the sins of their predecessors? Grace Kao, Professor of Ethics and the inaugural Sano Chair in Pacific and Asian American Theology at Claremont School of Theology, explores these questions by drawing upon the emerging human rights standard for reparations, theological resources from her Presbyterian faith tradition, and four case-studies of acknowledged wrongdoing against AAPI communities. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 40876]

    50 min

  6. 07/26/2025

    Making a Refuge of Resistance: A History of the U.S. Sanctuary Movement with Lloyd Barba

    Is sacred space protective space? This question lies at the heart of the Sanctuary Movement. From the 1980s to the present, this practice has protected undocumented immigrants at risk of deportation by offering them refuge in churches, where federal immigration agents to this day still fear to tread. In this lecture, Lloyd Barba, Assistant Professor of Religion and Core Faculty in Latinx and Latin American Studies at Amherst College, asks how these houses of worship in the 1980s protected migrants from immigration enforcement authorities. What histories and testimonies rendered such spaces sacred and lent houses of worship qualities of safe refuge? And what is the applicability of these practices today? Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 40877]

    55 min

  7. 06/28/2025

    Rain of Ash: Roma Jews and the Holocaust

    What paradoxes arise when victims of related persecution tell their stories next to, and after, each other? This question is at the heart of Ari Joskowicz’s highly acclaimed book “Rain of Ash,” which examines the unlikely entanglement of the histories of Jews and Romani people—the only two racialized groups the Nazis targeted for wholesale extermination. Joskowicz, professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University, explores the encounters between Jews and Romani people on the killing fields of Europe and seeks to understand how survivors and historians have discussed Romani and Jewish suffering during World War II in relational terms. Series: "Library Channel" [Humanities] [Show ID: 40533]

    1h 6m

  8. 04/04/2025

    Addressing Antisemitism on Campus: Lessons from History Challenges for Today

    John A. Pérez, Regent Emeritus of the University of California, sits down with Robert Williams, Ph.D., CEO and Finci-Viterbi Executive Director of the USC Shoah Foundation, for a critical conversation about the rise of antisemitism on college campuses. They explore how history shapes present-day challenges, the dangers of misinformation, and the role of higher education in confronting hate. Drawing on lessons from the Holocaust and other historical atrocities, they discuss the urgent need for courage and action to combat antisemitism. Series: "Education Channel" [Humanities] [Education] [Show ID: 40249]

    1 hr
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Ratings & Reviews

2.5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Explore both traditional religions and what it means to be spiritual in a rapidly changing and diversifying religious world.

Information

  • Creator
    UCTV
  • Years Active
    2007 - 2026
  • Episodes
    200
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024 Regents of the University of California
  • Show Website
    Religion and Spirituality (Audio)

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