I stopped acquiring audiobooks because of the inordinately large number of podcasts to which I subscribe: while I listen to an hour or more a day whilst doing chores or working out (anything to distract myself from the misery of physical exertion), I can find myself two or more weeks behind their release dates. However, so many podcasts went into reruns or hiatus at last year's end that, come Christmas, my podcast playlist almost dwindled down to nothing.
Almost.
That was when Russ Robert's Econtalk (my second-favorite podcast after The New Yorker's fiction podcast [because I love the short story and appreciate hearing intelligent readers discuss them]) did a joint episode with Tony Gill's Research on Religion, a weekly discussion on the social scientific study of religion. For anyone with any level of interest in the role of religion in our culture or in how religions (and in practice, Christian Churches) function as social organizations, it's a terrific resource. In my opinion, it's indispensable for pastors and Church leaders given the ever-changing, and evermore forgetful of the First Amendment's free exercise clause, legal landscape: for example, this week's episode on religious property cases coming before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Not every episode is equally indispensable; I felt no compunction over skipping the one on Roman Catholic saints, for instance. That, however, is a fairly high mark: one has to check out each installment for fear of missing something absolutely necessary. If you subscribe to podcasts, add this one to your list.
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