Pod Only Knows
Hosted by Dr. Kelly J. Baker and John Brooks. Kelly and John invite other people from the wide and wild world of religious studies to talk to them about why and how they do what they do and why their work matters to us all. They also talk to each other about the ideas, stories, and histories that fascinate them and that they think you should know about, too.
- Update frequency
- every 11 days
- Average duration
- 65 minutes
- Episodes
- 67
- Years Active
- 2023 - 2025
#019 - The Cult of Peloton?
Is Peloton a cult?
Well, Kelly owns one, so she is uniquely qualified to answer.
In all seriousness, a Google search for terms like "peloton cult" or "fitness cult" yields a lot of results.
Fairly or…
01:03:33 |
Tue 16 Jan 2024
#018 - David Feltmate - The Simpsons, Religion, and Other Stuff
34 years ago, in December of 1989, Fox aired Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, a Simpsons Christmas special, the de facto pilot to the subsequent primetime sitcom, and a cultural phenomenon was born…
01:20:31 |
Tue 02 Jan 2024
#017 - Ghosts of Christmas Past - with Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman
But Scrooge was all the worse for this. It thrilled him with a vague uncertain horror, to know that behind the dusky shroud there were ghostly eyes intently fixed upon him, while he, though he stretc…
01:11:05 |
Tue 19 Dec 2023
#016 - A Brief History of the War on Christmas
It's December, which means it's time for everybody's racist uncle's favorite holiday tradition, the War on Christmas.
Every year, sure as silver bells chime and lit wreathes line the streets of Ameri…
00:59:34 |
Tue 05 Dec 2023
#015 - Unraveling the Thanksgiving Myth - with Dr. David J. Silverman
What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than to have Kelly and John ruin it for you?
Just kidding! We're not here to cancel Thanksgiving and we hope you have a lovely one.
But holidays are weird th…
01:25:18 |
Tue 21 Nov 2023
#014 - Mike Johnson - Christian Nationalist Wolf in Normal Guy Clothing
Mike Johnson is the new Speaker of the House or Representatives.
And what the media seems to think you should know about him is that he's very nice, he's smart. he's well-respected by his colleagues,…
01:02:47 |
Tue 07 Nov 2023
Halloween Special - NEVERMORE: Poe, Pain, and "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Jenn Tisdale joins John and Kelly to talk about Edgar Allan Poe and the new Netflix series from Mike Flanagan The Fall of the House of Usher
Like he did for Shirley Jackson with The Haunting of Hill …
01:13:26 |
Tue 31 Oct 2023
#013 - Religion of Fear - Horror in Conservative Evangelical America - with Jason Bivins
Jason Bivins is a specialist in religion and American culture an is the author of 2008's Religion of Fear: The Politics of Horror in Conservative Evangelicalism.
He has also published multiple artic…
01:13:46 |
Wed 25 Oct 2023
Midnight Mass Rerelease - From Hard to Believe 10/20/2021 (RAIN DELAY FILLER CONTENT!!)
Mike Flanagan's "Midnight Mass" revisits a lot of the themes of much of his previous work: grief, death, trauma, loss (and you can listen to our discussion of his "Haunting Of" Netflix series here).
…
01:21:02 |
Tue 24 Oct 2023
(Emergency Alert) Chit-Chat Episode #5 - The 5G FEMA Zombie Endtimes
If you've been feeling a little off lately, it's probably because FEMA recently tested a new emergency alert system and it activated the nanotech in your covid vaccine and now you're a zombie.
As lea…
00:52:32 |
Sat 14 Oct 2023
#012 - The Power of Christ Compels You - Catholic Horror with Matthew J. Cressler
Horror would be nothing without Catholic horror. From crucifixes to demon possession, from Dante's "Inferno" to the "The Nun II", Catholic imagery and imagination have shaped horror for centuries.
Bu…
01:10:40 |
Tue 10 Oct 2023
Weekend Chit-Chat Episode #4 -The White Christianity to Western Chauvinism Pipeline
In this Weekend Chit-Chat, we discuss:
How the Klan of 1920s used mainstream acceptance and the mantle of Christianity to push their agenda in the center of American life, and we ask how the descenda…
00:48:31 |
Sat 30 Sep 2023
#011 - God Has Forsaken Ashley: Chick Tracts ‐ with Chelsey Weber-Smith
If you happen to fall within a certain (fairly broad) age range, there is a very good chance that somewhere, at some point, you have encountered Chick Tracts.
Jack Chick's horrific, over-the-top, fev…
01:11:16 |
Tue 26 Sep 2023
#010 - Religion and The Labor Movement - with Dr. Heath Carter
For many, Labor Day is not much more than the end of summer movie season, a reason to have a cookout, or the symbolic beginning of the school year. It's the holiday we talk least about, in large part…
01:11:06 |
Tue 12 Sep 2023
#009 - Deus Ex Machina - Jesus Chatbots and the Religion of A.I.
Did you know A.I is not just the title of one of the best movies of the 21st century - it's a also a thing that's making a lot of news??
Well, we did, because we're very young and hip and with it.
In…
01:08:22 |
Tue 29 Aug 2023
#008 - Solomon Missouri - Twitter's Pastor
It's Kelly's birthday (John's was yesterday...) and so we decided to talk to one of her favorites - Solomon Missouri, known to those in the know as Twitter's Pastor.
In his own words, Rev. Solomon Mi…
01:09:09 |
Tue 15 Aug 2023
#007 - Preparing for War - Brad Onishi on the threat of Christian Nationalism
Dr. Bradley Onishi is the author of the recent Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism and What Comes Next as well as the co-host of the podcast Straight White America…
01:18:10 |
Tue 01 Aug 2023
Weekend Chit-Chat Episode #3 - Your True Authentic Self
On this chit-chat, we try to define what we mean when we say "authentic", what is "the true self", and we are all so prone to dividing religion into "real" and "fake".
Also - fitness cults, the conso…
01:01:57 |
Sat 29 Jul 2023
#006 - Dr. Shreena Gandhi - Yoga, White Supremacy, and Caste
Shreena Gandhi is a part of the Religious Studies Department at Michigan State University, where is primarily teaches classes on religion and race in the Americas.
She is currently finishing up edits…
01:16:51 |
Tue 18 Jul 2023
#005 - Is July 4th a Religious Holiday?
This week, Kelly and John take on July 4th and ask if it's possible to wrestle it away from the darker side of American history as well as its increasingly Christian Nationalist connotations.
Even th…
01:00:04 |
Tue 04 Jul 2023
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