How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality

PRX
  • 4.8 (187)
  • PHILOSOPHY
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

While religion and science often seem at odds, there’s one thing they can agree on: people who take part in spiritual practices tend to live longer, healthier, and happier lives. The big question is: Why? In How God Works, professor Dave DeSteno takes us on a journey to find out how spirituality impacts our minds and bodies, as well as the world in which we live. He speaks to leading scientists and philosophers, religious thinkers, and thought leaders to explore what we can learn from the world’s faith traditions to help us meet some of life’s biggest challenges. Along the way, he’ll look at how we can adapt and use spiritual practices in our own lives, whatever our beliefs, including none at all. It’s by working across the boundaries that usually divide us – science versus religion, one faith versus another – that we’ll find new ways to make life better for everyone.

  1. Deus Ex Machina

    7H AGO

    Deus Ex Machina

    We’ve always assumed that if there IS a God, that God made us. But what if it ends up being the other way around… and we’re already further along than we think? Artificial intelligence is now offering moral advice, generating new forms of scripture, even simulating conversations with the divine. For some users, the line between useful tool and spiritual authority is already starting to blur. Why does it feel so natural for us to imagine there’s a ghost in the machine? And what happens when the people building AI start to talk and think about their creation in religious terms?  On this episode, we’ll talk to journalist Sigal Samuel about where AI is showing up in religious spaces and how what it becomes will have major consequences for human agency and how we understand our place in the world. And we’ll talk to psychologist Paul Bloom about the quirks of human psychology that make us so prone to see minds, intention, and perhaps even the divine, in the machine. Along the way we’ll also ask: Can AI be morally formed? Could it ever have something like its own spiritual yearning? And if it could, what might it mean for us? Sigal Samuel is a senior reporter at Vox, where she covers religion, ethics, and the future of consciousness and AI. Check out her writing in Vox’s Future Perfect column and follow her on X or Bluesky. Paul Bloom is a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and the author of several books, including Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil and Against Empathy. Learn more about his work at his website. Also mentioned on this episode: Stewart Elliott Guthrie, author of Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion William Paley, author of Natural Theology (watch on a beach example) Catholic priest and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and futurist Ray Kurzweil, who have both influenced the philosophical movement of transhumanism.

    58 min
  2. Doubt (Part II)

    APR 26

    Doubt (Part II)

    Uncertainty about faith can be anxiety provoking and even cause people to leave religion altogether. But that's not the way it works in all traditions. In fact, some are exactly the opposite. In the second of a special two-part series exploring the promise and perils of doubt in faith, we talk with Rabbi Angela Buchdahl about how debate and questioning are central to the Jewish faith—both as methods for seeking truth and living a spiritual life. We also explore the guardrails that Jewish ritual and wisdom offer for channeling doubt productively to foster growth on a personal level and in the Jewish tradition itself.  Rabbi Angela Buchdahl is the Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City. She is the author of Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi's Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging.

    45 min
  3. Doubt (Part I)

    APR 12

    Doubt (Part I)

    Religion can help provide answers to many questions in life -  big and small.  And in doing so, give a sense of security and understanding of the world and our place in it. But what happens when doubt starts to creep in?  As more and more people leave organized religion, is doubt the cause, or could learning how to embrace doubt actually be the answer to the modern crisis of faith?  In the first of this special two part series on doubt and spirituality, we'll talk with author, poet and lecturer Christian Wiman, about what it means to have certainty that God exists, while also harboring major doubts about how to approach the divine.   And we'll talk to psychologist Julie Exline about how doubt tends to affect those who experience it, and her recommendations for constructive ways to embrace uncertainty for spiritual and personal growth. Christian Wiman is a Professor at Yale University and is an author and editor of numerous publications. His most recent books include My Bright Abyss and Glimmerings: Letters on Faith Between a Poet and a Theologian. To engage with more of his work, click here.  Julie Exline,Ph.D. is the Research Director and Bonner-Lowry Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

    39 min
  4. What Women Want

    MAR 29

    What Women Want

    In conversations about women’s rights, religion and feminism are often cast as incompatible. But religious women tend to see it differently.  In this episode, we’ll explore how religious women around the world are defining what liberation looks like on their own terms, and ask what we can all learn from their efforts, regardless of what we believe. We’ll talk to writer and lawyer Dania Suleman about how women of faith are defending their religious freedom in secular spaces while also challenging gender inequality within their own communities. And we’ll talk to Dr. Dianne Stewart about African heritage religions, where women have often held spiritual authority in ways that challenge familiar assumptions about gender and hierarchy. Dania Suleman is the author of A Different Cloth: Reimagining Faith and Feminism.  Dr. Dianne Stewart is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Emory University, and the author of Obeah, Orisa, and Religious Identity in Trinidad, Volume II, Orisa. Learn more about her work, and her many other publications, at her website. Also mentioned this episode: Asma Lamrabet is the author of Women in the Qur’an: An Emancipatory Reading. Learn more about her work on her website.  Learn more about Hind Makki’s Side Entrance Project here.  Chandra Talpade Mohanty is the author of the essay “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses”

    43 min
  5. DIY Spirituality?

    MAR 15

    DIY Spirituality?

    About 70% of all Americans consider themselves spiritual in some way, whether it be a belief in the soul, spirits or just the idea that something's going on beyond the natural world and what science can prove. But that doesn't mean they're ordering off the menu of organized religion.  In this episode, we’ll talk to religion professor Liz Bucar, about this “spiritual salad bar” approach: where people pick and choose ingredients from various religions. What’s lost if we take these traditions out of their intended context?  And could it even be causing harm?  We’ll explore this through the lens of yoga - practiced by one in every six Americans alive today. Practicing yoga regularly does have proven health benefits, but it’s rooted in a much deeper spiritual and religious tradition that many people aren’t even aware of. With Liz, we’ll explore how restoring some religion to secular or new age spiritual practices can make them more ethical, meaningful and effective. Liz Bucar is a professor of religion at Northeastern University. She is the author of four books and her writing, teaching, and public lectures cover a wide range of topics but generally focus on how a deeper understanding of religious difference can change our sense of what is right and good. She is the author of the forthcoming book Beyond Wellness, which you can pre-order here. Learn more about her work on her website.

    31 min

  6. TRAILER

    Season 10 Trailer

    Join us for Season 10 of How God Works, starting next week!

    2 min

  7. FEB 22 ·  BONUS

    Uniter or Divider? Explore Religion in Modern America. A How God Works Live Event (From the Archive)

    We’ll be back on March 15 with an all-new season of How God Works! In the meantime, we’re excited to share one of our favorite episodes — our very first live event. If you ask people what they think about religion, you often get one of two answers: Religion is the source of war, violence, abuse, and hypocrisy OR a route to love, kindness, tolerance, and mercy. Put another way, it’s either what divides us or it’s the thing that can actually bring us together. In a country deeply divided over social, political, and moral issues that seems to be moving further apart by the day, the answer’s not likely to be a simple one.  How God Works held its first live event in December to explore just that. Why does something that has the potential to connect us so deeply also have the ability to divide us so profoundly? And, regardless of what we believe, is there something we can learn from what religion gets right to find a way to come together? In a wide-ranging and often moving discussion, Dave spoke to a panel of leading spiritual thinkers and social scientists who have experienced both sides of the issue, including Central Synagogue Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, award-winning author and Christian Historian Diana Butler Bass, The University of North Carolina’s Deepest Beliefs Lab director Kurt Gray, and The Aspen Institute’s Religion and Society Program’s executive director Simran Jeet Singh.

    1h 22m

  8. FEB 8 ·  BONUS

    The Spiritual (and Political) Crisis in the US (From the Archive)

    A brand-new season of How God Works returns March 15! In the meantime, we’re revisiting a powerful episode from our archive that feels particularly relevant today.  Anger, loneliness, and despair are hitting record levels in the US. Our social and political fabrics are fraying. Is the turn away from religion in the US part of the problem? And if so, might a spiritual renaissance (even among the secular left) help us find new ways to flourish? Join Dave as he talks with podcast host Krista Tippett and US Senator Chris Murphy about the role spirituality (or the lack thereof) plays in our individual and societal wellbeing. Krista Tippett is the host of the acclaimed podcast and radio show On Being. Learn more about the On Being Project’s work in the world here, and be sure to check out their YouTube channel for a rich selection of inspiring and informative videos. Chris Murphy is a U.S. Senator representing the State of Connecticut. Learn more about his work on his website, and read his column on the need for a spiritual revival among the political left here.

    37 min
See All (112)

Trailers

4.8
out of 5
187 Ratings

About

While religion and science often seem at odds, there’s one thing they can agree on: people who take part in spiritual practices tend to live longer, healthier, and happier lives. The big question is: Why? In How God Works, professor Dave DeSteno takes us on a journey to find out how spirituality impacts our minds and bodies, as well as the world in which we live. He speaks to leading scientists and philosophers, religious thinkers, and thought leaders to explore what we can learn from the world’s faith traditions to help us meet some of life’s biggest challenges. Along the way, he’ll look at how we can adapt and use spiritual practices in our own lives, whatever our beliefs, including none at all. It’s by working across the boundaries that usually divide us – science versus religion, one faith versus another – that we’ll find new ways to make life better for everyone.

Information

You Might Also Like