Heaven Bent

After Tara Jean lost her faith, she says there's an empty void that she tries to fill with other explanations for why there's anything. But why does that frighten her so much? And what does it have to do with the US government's release of the UFO files last week? On this episode, Tara Jean's interview with Harvard Professor Avi Loeb. He's a theoretical physicist who works on astrophysics and cosmology.

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Tara Jean unpacks her fear of the rapture with Dr. Amy Frykholm, the author of "Rapture Culture: Left Behind In Evangelical America."

https://www.amyfrykholm.com/rapture-culture
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Retching. Snarling. Supernatural strength. Tara Jean deconstructs the exorcism ritual with psychological anthropologist Tayna Marie Luhrmann. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At one youth group night in 1993, a church leader taught Tara Jean about the 'witching hour'. Why does this ominous time of night still haunt her decades after she left the church and where does this concept come from? On this episode, retired professor Sabina Maglioccom, author of "Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America.."

*The first 3 episodes of S11 are temporarily available under S9, for Apple subscribers and patrons on Patreon.
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Growing up in the church, Tara Jean was instilled with a spirit of fear that has stayed with her decades after she stopped calling herself a believer. On this season, she'll lean on expert guests to help demystify some of these specific fears, like exorcisms, the female body, and on this episide the antichrist. Her guest is reknowned scholar Bernard McGinn, author of "Antichrist: 2 Thousands Years of the Human Fascination With Evil."

*For now, Apple Podcast subscribers can still access the first 3 episodes, under S9.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.