Best Christian Franz Podcasts (2024)

1
The Politics of Translation 40:56

9m ago40:56

40:56

An interview with Professor Shenhav in which the politics of translation is discussed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-networkBy New Books

1
Na'ou Liu, "Urban Scenes" (Cambria Press, 2023) 1:01:08

9m ago1:01:08

1:01:08

"In this tango palace everything was swaying rhythmically to and fro, bodies of men and women, beams of colored light, brilliant wine glasses, red and green liquids, slender fingers, pomegranate-colored lips, and feverish eyes. Tables and chairs, together with the crowd of people, cast their reflections on the center of the shiny floor. Everyone wa…

1
Bill Martin: “Truman looked at him and said: ‘Traitor’” 48:26

9m ago48:26

48:26

More than any other global institution, the US Federal Reserve’s decisions and communications drive capital markets and alter financial conditions everywhere from Seattle to Seoul. While its interest rate are set by an expert committee, for almost a century, the Fed’s core philosophy and operational approach have been moulded by one person: the Cha…

1
Kenneth Atkinson, "A History of the Hasmonean State: Josephus and Beyond" (T&T Clark, 2019) 1:16:41

9m ago1:16:41

1:16:41

In A History of the Hasmonean State: Josephus and Beyond (T&T Clark, 2019), Kenneth Atkinson tells the exciting story of the nine decades of the Hasmonean rule of Judea (152 - 63 BCE) by going beyond the accounts of the Hasmoneans in Josephus in order to bring together new evidence to reconstruct how the Hasmonean family transformed their kingdom i…

1
The GiveWell Method 28:16

9m ago28:16

28:16

In this episode, Caleb Zakarin and Uri Bram dive into the world of effective charitable giving through the lens of GiveWell, an organization known for its rigorous evaluation of charities. Uri explains how GiveWell identifies and recommends high-impact charities, discussing the data-driven criteria and ethical considerations behind their assessment…

1
Samuel Ely Bagg, "The Dispersion of Power: A Critical Realist Theory of Democracy" (Oxford UP, 2023) 1:21:53

9m ago1:21:53

1:21:53

This year, many countries around the world, including most of the world's most populous democracies, have consequential nation-wide elections. In many of these elections, democracy itself is at stake. The Dispersion of Power: A Critical Realist Theory of Democracy (Oxford UP, 2023) is an urgent call to rethink centuries of conventional wisdom about…

1
Andrew Denning, "Automotive Empire: How Cars and Roads Fueled European Colonialism in Africa" (Cornell UP, 2024) 1:12:38

9m ago1:12:38

1:12:38

In Automotive Empire: How Cars and Roads Fueled European Colonialism in Africa (Cornell University Press, 2024), Dr. Andrew Denning uncovers how roads and vehicles began to transform colonial societies across Africa but rarely in the manner Europeans expected. Like seafaring ships and railroads, automobiles and roads were more than a mode of transp…

1
Eyal Regev, "The Temple in Early Christianity: Experiencing the Sacred" (Yale UP, 2019) 36:58

9m ago36:58

36:58

Eyal Regev's The Temple in Early Christianity: Experiencing the Sacred (Yale UP, 2019) is he first scholarly work to trace the Temple throughout the entire New Testament, this study examines Jewish and Christian attitudes toward the Temple in the first century and provides both Jews and Christians with a better understanding of their respective fai…

1
Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack, "What's Next: A Backstage Pass to The West Wing, Its Cast and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy of Service" (Dutton, 2024) 1:03:30

9m ago1:03:30

1:03:30

Twenty-five years ago, The West Wing premiered to great acclaim. This book is a behind-the-scenes look into the creation and legacy of the series, as told by cast members Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack. The authors help us step back inside the world of President Jed Bartlet’s Oval Office as they reunite the West Wing cast and crew, including…

1
Meet the New Host of "Madison's Notes" 13:10

9m ago13:10

13:10

Who is the new host of Madison's Notes? Season 2 and 3 host Annika Nordquist interviews the host of Season 4, Laura Laurent. They chat about her background and the how the James Madison Program is the natural transition from the interdisciplinary spaces she has inhabited. During the episode, Laura notes the following book as particularly influentia…

1
The Role of Psychoanalytic Mechanisms of Defense; What They Are and How They Work 41:35

9m ago41:35

41:35

Using one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s major ideas as a springboard for their discussion, “The truth will set you free,” the host and co-host discussed psychoanalytic mechanism of defense starting with denial which can emerge when a topic is too painful or difficult to face. A productive dialogue followed that focused on Dr. Filipe Copeland’s de…

1
Tore C. Olsson, "Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past" (St. Martin's Press, 2024) 1:15:43

8m ago1:15:43

1:15:43

Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption II, set in 1911 and 1899, are the most-played American history video games since The Oregon Trail. Beloved by millions, they’ve been widely acclaimed for their realism and attention to detail. But how do they fare as re-creations of history? In Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's…

1
Alexandra Popoff, "Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success" (Yale UP, 2024) 1:00:03

8m ago1:00:03

1:00:03

Ayn Rand is a provocative and polarizing figure. Strongly pro-capitalist and anti-communist, Rand was a dogmatic preacher of her moral philosophy. Based on what she called "rational self-interest", Rand believed in prosperity-seeking individualism above all. Alexandra Popoff's deeply researched biography traces Rand's journey from her early life as…

1
Megan Nolan, "Ordinary Human Failings" (Little, Brown, 2024) 48:06

8m ago48:06

48:06

It's 1990 in London and Tom Hargreaves has it all: a burgeoning career as a reporter, fierce ambition and a brisk disregard for the "peasants" -- ordinary people, his readers, easy tabloid fodder. His star seems set to rise when he stumbles across a sensational scoop: a dead child on a London estate, grieving parents beloved across the neighborhood…

1
Franz Nicolay, "Band People: Life and Work in Popular Music" (U Texas Press, 2024) 41:26

8m ago41:26

41:26

A close look at the lives of working musicians who aren't the center of their stage. Secret (and not-so-secret) weapons, side-of-the-stagers, rhythm and horn sections, backup singers, accompanists—these and other “band people" are the anonymous but irreplaceable character actors of popular music. Through interviews and incisive cultural critique, w…

1
Thomas A. Kerns and Kathleen Dean Moore, "Bearing Witness: The Human Rights Case Against Fracking and Climate Change" (Oregon State UP, 2021) 51:39

8m ago51:39

51:39

Bringing together philosophy, jurisprudence, and a deep concern for the environment, Bearing Witness: The Human Rights Case Against Fracking and Climate Change offers an inspiring and generative way of thinking about the impacts of anthropogenic climate change. In particular, Thomas Kearns and Kathleen Dean Moore provide readers with insight into t…

1
Marriner Eccles: Reform “may not have happened in 1935 if Eccles hadn't been there” 1:04:29

8m ago1:04:29

1:04:29

More than any other global institution, the US Federal Reserve’s decisions and communications drive capital markets and alter financial conditions everywhere from Seattle to Seoul. While its interest rate are set by an expert committee, for almost a century, the Fed’s core philosophy and operational approach have been moulded by one person: the Cha…

1
Emily Cousens, "Trans Feminist Epistemologies in the US Second Wave" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) 46:49

2d ago46:49

46:49

Why do "second wave" and "trans feminism" rarely get considered together? Challenging the idea that trans feminism is antagonistic to, or arrived after, second wave feminism, Emily Cousens re-orients trans epistemologies as crucial sites of second wave feminist theorising. By revisiting the contributions of trans individuals writing in underground …

1
Edward Shanks, "The People of the Ruins" (MIT Press, 2024) 1:01:02

8m ago1:01:02

1:01:02

In The People of the Ruins (originally published in 1920), Edward Shanks imagines England in the not-so-distant future as a neo mediaeval society whose inhabitants have forgotten how to build or operate machinery. Jeremy Tuft is a physics instructor and former artillery officer who is cryogenically frozen in his laboratory only to emerge after a ce…

1
Jason Blakely, "Lost in Ideology: Interpreting Modern Political Life" (Agenda Publishing, 2023) 40:26

8m ago40:26

40:26

If ideology has never before been so much in evidence as a fact and so little understood as it appears to be today then, Jason Blakely argues in his new book Lost in Ideology: Interpreting Modern Political Life (Agenda Publishing, 2023), this may not be because we are like travellers guided by old maps of the political world but because we make the…

1
Jessica Roda, "For Women and Girls Only: Reshaping Jewish Orthodoxy Through the Arts in the Digital Age" (NYU Press, 2024) 1:07:43

8m ago1:07:43

1:07:43

Mainstream portrayals of ultra-Orthodox religious women often frame their faith as oppressive: they are empowered only when they leave their community. For Women and Girls Only: Reshaping Jewish Orthodoxy Through the Arts in the Digital Age (NYU Press, 2024), by Jessica Roda, flips this notion on its head. Drawing on six years of fieldwork between …

1
Gregory A. Daddis, "Pulp Vietnam: War and Gender in Cold War Men’s Adventure Magazines" (Cambridge UP, 2020) 59:45

21m ago59:45

59:45

In his compelling evaluation of Cold War popular culture, Pulp Vietnam: War and Gender in Cold War Men’s Adventure Magazines (Cambridge UP, 2020), Gregory Daddis explores how men's adventure magazines helped shape the attitudes of young, working-class Americans, the same men who fought and served in the long and bitter war in Vietnam. The 'macho pu…

1
Shai Held, "Judaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life" (FSG, 2024) 56:46

21m ago56:46

56:46

A common misconception has shaped the history of the West: Christianity is seen as the religion of love, and Judaism as the religion of law. Addressing this misinterpretation, Rabbi Shai Held argues that love is as integral to Judaism as it is to Christianity. In Judaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life (FSG, 2024), Rabbi Held com…

1
Anne Gray Fischer, "The Streets Belong to Us: Sex, Race, and Police Power from Segregation to Gentrification" (UNC Press, 2022) 1:14:04

20m ago1:14:04

1:14:04

Anne Gray Fischer speaks about her path to and through research, including how sex workers informed her analysis of policing and state violence, the role of law enforcement in struggles over economic development, and the intellectual and practical factors of research design. Men, especially Black men, often stand in as the ultimate symbol of the ma…

1
Mark Walker, "Hitler's Atomic Bomb: History, Legend, and the Twin Legacies of Auschwitz and Hiroshima" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 1:01:04

21m ago1:01:04

1:01:04

Who were the German scientists who worked on atomic bombs during World War II for Hitler's regime? How did they justify themselves afterwards? Examining the global influence of the German uranium project and postwar reactions to the scientists involved, Mark Walker explores the narratives surrounding 'Hitler's bomb'. The global impacts of this proj…

1
The Dragonbear in the Geopolitics of the 21st Century 28:28

3h ago28:28

28:28

What is the “dragonbear”? It is a metophor of an emerging strategic alliance between Russia and China. In this episdoe, Julie Yu-Wen Chen talks to geostrategist Velina Tchakarova about the dragonbear in the geopolitics of the 21st century. What does the Dragonbear really aim to achieve in global affairs? First and foremost, it is about counterbalan…

1
Katherine Hempstead, "Uncovered: The Story of Insurance in America" (Oxford UP, 2023) 44:37

21m ago44:37

44:37

Historically, the insurance industry in America has been fragmented. As a result, there have been debates and conflicts over the proper roles of federal and state governments, business, and the responsibilities of individuals. Who should cover the risks of loss? And to what extent should risk be shared and by whom? In Uncovered: The Story of Insura…

1
Goth Diss 1:01:56

21m ago1:01:56

1:01:56

With My Gothic Dissertation, University of Iowa PhD Anna M. Williams has transformed the dreary diss into a This American Life-style podcast. Williams’ witty writing and compelling audio production allow her the double move of making a critical intervention into the study of the gothic novel, while also making an entertaining and thought-provoking …

1
Anna Bonnell Freidin, "Birthing Romans: Childbearing and Its Risks in Imperial Rome" (Princeton UP, 2024) 1:40:23

21m ago1:40:23

1:40:23

Across the vast expanse of the Roman Empire, anxieties about childbirth tied individuals to one another, to the highest levels of imperial politics, even to the movements of the stars. Birthing Romans: Childbearing and Its Risks in Imperial Rome (Princeton UP, 2024) sheds critical light on the diverse ways pregnancy and childbirth were understood, …

1
Race, Gender, and the 2024 Presidential Election Cycle 51:38

21m ago51:38

51:38

Vice President Kamala Harris is poised to become the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. The path to this nomination and the generation election has been a bit unusual—with President Joe Biden deciding not to pursue re-election but doing so after the primary season has concluded. Thus, there is a rather condensed election season, and Vice Pre…

1
Janine P. Holc, "The Weavers of Trautenau: Jewish Female Forced Labor in the Holocaust" (Brandeis UP, 2023) 55:47

10m ago55:47

55:47

Beginning in late 1940, over three thousand Jewish girls and young women were forced from their family homes in Sosnowiec, Poland, and its surrounding towns to worksites in Germany. Believing that they were helping their families to survive, these young people were thrust into a world where they labored at textile work for twelve hours a day, lived…

1
Jeremy Black, "Histories of War" (Pen & Sword Military, 2024) 36:03

10m ago36:03

36:03

A global account of histories of war, from Antiquity to the present day, Histories of War (Pen & Sword Military, 2024) shows how the varied modes of representation record political, cultural and social developments as well as military events. Covers all forms of discussion and commemoration from statuary to scholarship, films to novels. Important n…

1
Dan Gutman, "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" (Holiday House, 2024) 49:34

10m ago49:34

49:34

Dan Gutman is the renowned, prolific author of some 190 books for kids from kindergarten up to middle school. His books include Rappy the Raptor (picture book) and the "My Weird School" series (early readers) about kids who go to a school in which all the grownups are crazy. Over thirty five million books have been sold . He has also written “Wait!…

1
Jonathon Lookadoo, "The Shepherd of Hermas: A Literary, Historical, and Theological Handbook" (T&T Clark, 2021) 1:08:34

10m ago1:08:34

1:08:34

Written in Rome as a book with revelatory intentions, the early Christian work known as the Shepherd of Hermas flourished especially in the second, third, and fourth centuries CE, was quoted as scripture by several church fathers, and, on the balance of manuscript attestation and translations from Greek to other languages, “is one of the most widel…

1
Petra Goedde, "The Politics of Peace: A Global Cold War History" (Oxford UP, 2019) 57:04

10m ago57:04

57:04

Earlier histories of the Cold War haven’t exactly been charitable toward the peace activists and pacifists who led peace initiatives. Pacifists in the United States were either simplistic and naïve, or they were fellow travelers of the Soviet Union. Peace proposals coming from the Soviet Union were nothing more than propaganda. Activists in Europe,…

1
Yiman Wang, "To Be an Actress: Labor and Performance in Anna May Wong's Cross-Media World" (U California Press, 2024) 1:00:16

10m ago1:00:16

1:00:16

Between 1919 and 1961, pioneering Chinese American actress Anna May Wong established an enduring legacy that encompassed cinema, theatre, radio, and American television. Born in Los Angeles, yet with her US citizenship scrutinised due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, Wong—a defiant misfit—innovated nuanced performances to subvert the racism and sexism…

1
Douglas Greene, "The New Reformism and the Revival of Karl Kautsky: The Renegade's Revenge" (Routledge, 2024) 1:26:14

10m ago1:26:14

1:26:14

Returning to the New Books Network is Doug Greene, here to discuss his book The New Reformism and the Revival of Karl Kautsky (Routledge, 2024). Split into three main parts, the book first surveys Kautsky’s own life and thought, starting with his early interest in socialist politics and turn towards Marxism, followed by a slow but steady turn away …

1
Nadirah Simmons, "First Things First: Hip-Hop Ladies Who Changed the Game" (Twelve, 2024) 1:17:16

10m ago1:17:16

1:17:16

This enlightening book reframes the history of hip-hop—and this time, women are given credit for all their trailblazing achievements that have left an undeniable impact on music. First Things First: Hip-Hop Ladies Who Changed the Game (Twelve, 2024), hip-hop is not just the music, and women have played a big role in shaping the way it looks today. …

1
Nicholas Orme, "Going to Church in Medieval England" (Yale UP, 2021) 1:10:27

10m ago1:10:27

1:10:27

For people in medieval England, the parish church was an integral part of their community. In Going to Church in Medieval England (Yale University Press, 2021), Nicholas Orme describes how parish churches operated and details the roles they played in the lives of their parishioners. While there was a considerable variety of experience over the cent…

1
Yoram Meital, "Sacred Places Tell Tales: Jewish Life and Heritage in Modern Cairo" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) 1:03:50

10m ago1:03:50

1:03:50

Cairo's synagogues shed new light on the transformation Egyptian society and its Jewish community underwent from 1875 to the present. Sacred Places Tell Tales: Jewish Life and Heritage in Modern Cairo (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) is the previously untold history of Egyptian Jewry and the ways in which Cairo's synagogues historically functioned as a…

1
Swati Chattopadhyay, "Small Spaces: Recasting the Architecture of Empire" (Bloomsbury, 2023) 56:47

5m ago56:47

56:47

Swati Chattopadhyay's book Small Spaces: Recasting the Architecture of Empire (Bloomsbury, 2023) recasts the history of the British empire by focusing on the small spaces that made the empire possible. It takes as its subject a series of small architectural spaces, objects, and landscapes and uses them to narrate the untold stories of the marginali…

1
Rochelle Potkar, "Coins in Rivers: Poems" (Hachette India, 2024) 32:49

5m ago32:49

32:49

Fierce and unflinching, Rochelle Potkar's poetry springs from the deeply personal and ripples out to the world, capturing lovers' whispers and reverberations of explosions with equal ease. Vividly depicting love, grief, anger, and defiance, these poems glimmer like coins beneath the water surface, tethered with the weight of wishes clinging to them…

1
Nik Ribianszky, "Generations of Freedom: Gender, Movement, and Violence in Natchez, 1779-1865" (U Georgia Press, 2021) 1:17:42

5m ago1:17:42

1:17:42

In Generations of Freedom: Gender, Movement, and Violence in Natchez, 1779-1865 (U Georgia Press, 2021), Nik Ribianszky employs the lenses of gender and violence to examine family, community, and the tenacious struggles by which free blacks claimed and maintained their freedom under shifting international governance from Spanish colonial rule (1779…

1
Iman Mersal, "Traces of Enayat" (Transit Books, 2023) 1:03:13

5m ago1:03:13

1:03:13

Traces of Enayat (Transit Books, 2023) is a work of creative nonfiction tracing the mysterious life and erasure of Egyptian literature’s tragic heroine. It begins in Cairo, 1963. Four years before her lone novel is finally published, the writer Enayat al-Zayyat takes her own life at age 27. For the next three decades, it’s as if Enayat never existe…

1
Rachel M. Scott, "Recasting Islamic Law: Religion and the Nation State in Egyptian Constitution Making" (Cornell UP, 2021) 1:05:23

5m ago1:05:23

1:05:23

By examining the intersection of Islamic law, state law, religion, and culture in the Egyptian nation-building process, Recasting Islamic Law: Religion and the Nation State in Egyptian Constitution Making (Cornell University Press, 2021) highlights how the sharia, when attached to constitutional commitments, is reshaped into modern Islamic state la…

1
David M. K. Sheinin and David S. Koffman, "Promised Lands North and South: Jewish Canada and Jewish Argentina in Conversation" (Brill, 2024) 1:05:45

5m ago1:05:45

1:05:45

This book puts two of the most significant Jewish Diaspora communities outside of the U.S. into conversation with one another. At times contributor-pairs directly compare unique aspects of two Jewish histories, politics, or cultures. At other times, they juxtapose. Some chapters focus on literature, poetry, theatre, or sport; others on immigration,…

1
Kate Hext, "Wilde in the Dream Factory: Decadence and the American Movies" (Oxford UP, 2024) 1:10:06

5m ago1:10:06

1:10:06

Hollywood is haunted by the ghost of playwright and novelist Oscar Wilde. Wilde in the Dream Factory: Decadence and the American Movies (Oxford University Press, 2024) by Dr. Kate Hext is the story of his haunting, told for the first time. Set within the rich evolving context of how the American entertainment industry became cinema, and how cinema …

1
Kate Brandes, "Stone Creek" (Wyatt-MacKenzie, 2024) 48:57

5m ago48:57

48:57

Kate Brandes' new novel, Stone Creek (Wyatt-MacKenzie, 2024) introduces readers to Tilly and Frank Stone. Seventeen years ago, after living as a fugitive, Tilly Stone (then, age 13) is left to fend for herself in remote Pennsylvania when her infamous eco-terrorist father disappears under mysterious circumstances. She tries to forget the dams they b…

1
Susan Stryker, "When Monsters Speak: A Susan Stryker Reader" (Duke UP, 2024) 1:00:15

5m ago1:00:15

1:00:15

Susan Stryker is a foundational figure in trans studies. When Monsters Speak: A Susan Stryker Reader (Duke UP, 2024) showcases the development of Stryker’s writing from the 1990s to the present. It combines canonical pieces, such as “My Words to Victor Frankenstein,” with her hard to find earlier work published in zines and newsletters. Brought tog…

1
Laura Beers. "Orwell’s Ghosts Wisdom and Warnings for the 21st Century" (Norton, 2024) 46:06

5m ago46:06

46:06

Is Orwell still relevant today? In Orwell’s Ghosts Wisdom and Warnings for the 21st Century (Norton, 2024), Laura Beers, a Professor of History at American University examines the life and writing of Orwell to offer lessons for contemporary politics and society. The book examines the influences that shaped Eric Blair’s nom de plume, as well as show…

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