I don't know if this was the path you wished to take, but I'm glad you did. This is one of the precious few yt channels where you can (gasp) learn something. And one where I eagerly await new videos.
You are an inspiring person. I finished my Bachelor's in Linguistics last May and I've been completely lost in what I want to do moving forward. I don't think I'll go back to academia, but I admire the people who do decide to contribute to studies of historical culture and language.
Hey, super later here. I’ve been watching for years but never checked this video out. You are a huge inspiration to me. I’m currently 24 and every day I regret not following my heart and studying history and poli sci. My father influenced me into take business and that’s where my life has taken me. I often wish I took your path and explored what interested me. I only wish I had this hindsight at 19. Thank you for showing me what I missed and informing me on what I find interesting. I really appreciate it.
I was a religious scholar for a couple of years in a very conservative Baptist college. Needless to say, my views were controversial. I realized pretty quickly that this was not the place for me and left. The Babylonian text project sounds really cool. Many of the Babylonian stories have matching stories in the Gospels with only minor changes. This is quite common of course. Many faith systems borrow from other systems as a way to boot strap their own texts and tenants of faith. The early Christian Magic sounds really fascinating. It was stamped out pretty quick, but it certainly existed and was taken directly from Jewish tradition, particularly Solomon and his many magical Seals and control of Demons which he, according to legend, used to build the temple. The early days had a lot more freedom for believers to make use of traditional magick and ritual. It was stamped out by the early church as heretical of course. Please do keep it up and let us know what you find :)
Can't wait to see the vid on your dissertation :) I hope you can post your dissertation somewhere, if allowed, for us to read. Yeah, it's been a bit of an Academic mess :) But it was a fun mess :) I stopped after M.A. but someday I would like to continue to a terminal degree.
Reference books are good for details and also for larger context ..... Oxford Handbook of the Study of Religion, 2016, 862 pages. Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion, 2005, 550 pages. Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology, 2009, 609 pages. Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology, 2013, 632 pages. Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology, 2007, 708 pages. Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology, 2020, 704 pages. Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of Theology, 2017, 627 pages. Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 4th ed., 2022, 2 vols., 2143 pages.
I worked on my Master's in Religious Studies and just as I was finishing up, I realized that the world of academia wasn't for me. Still, Religious Studies is one of my biggest passions and your channel has really resuscitated my interest in the topic! It's great to see somebody with such a historical knowledge of early Christianity and the various thoughts around the time as that was my main focus! I absolutely love this channel and have forwarded it to everybody I know. As an aside, I'd be really interested in seeing more of your video-game religious topics as well. Video games were the reason I got into the field in the first place (Valkyrie Profile)! Please please please keep up the great work and I anxiously look forward to binge watching your channel. :D
oh wow, so whatre you doing now, this is something im thinking aswell. im planning to get into the study of religion soon (undergrad) and wanna know ur experience
It's amazing how much I didn't know about my own faith (let alone the faiths of others) until I found your content. Your channel is truly making a difference in the world, so I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the impact you've had on my perception of the world around me. God bless you.
Thank you for posting this video. Before I watched it I figured you were just a really religious Christian church-goer who studies religion. But now I know you really are more of an academic than a priest.
Congratulations on all your great videos. You have inserted intelligence and real knowledge into discussions on comparative religion in a way which is very accessible to the interested layperson. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for sharing and as someone in a similar situation (different field of study), it's actually helpful to hear your story and assists in putting things in perspective. Keep up the excellent video's and pushing good information to the masses!!!
Very cool. I have a BA in religious studies. Thought about going forward with MA and Phd but realized it wasn't for me. I'm glad you are though, we always need more people studying and researching religion!
ReligionForBreakfast I loved learning about religions. Hope you did too! It really opened my mind to a lot of different stuff and I continue to be opened minded to this day.
Thanks for reminder of Kalos kagathos - to be balanced and all embracing, a more complete person in thought, action and creative expression. So hard to get the idea across in English.
Bill Borucki never got or accepted a PhD though the number of NASA projects he originated or fostered in early development is astounding. He's now known for Kepler (planet finding) but worked (quietly) with Sagan, Stanley Miller, physicists and biologists (even chemists!) on origins of life, Mars, nuclear winter, greenhouse affect, etc, etc, etc. He even had high school students work on many of those projects, often chosen for practical skills (mechanical, wiring, etc) as well as conceptual intelligence. He came onto NASA as a grad student during Apollo project and stayed and was quite firm about being "mister" Borucki, not "doctor". It was the content of someone's mind and talents that were important and not the letters after their name. Actively had research crossing all disciplines and I can't tell you how rare that is and especially was 40 years ago. He also made friends of all the maintenance people and sought the advice of some who had been around for decades and seen more science than most phds around.
I'd be really interested in reading through some of your work. I've been really enjoying your videos and I have a serious interest in Early Church History & Christian Mysticism, since much of your work seems to explore this area, I'd really like to read through anything you can offer on the subject. Thank you for all the insight and for opening up about how you got to be a Religious Studies Major. It's encouraging to hear as someone who is in a season of self-study at this point but deeply wants to pursue a degree in sociology.
Andrew, please tell us one key piece of your biography that you have left out, if you feel comfortable. How did you come to be interested in early Christian magic?
I first discovered the topic when I wrote a major paper during my last year in college. I wrote the paper on late antique bishops condemning the use of amulets. I’ve continued my interest in the topic because I’m drawn by the sheer existentialism of magic: the fact that humans will try anything to try to augment their ability to deal with sickness or death...even resorting to rituals that we moderns consider “weird” or “pointless.”
Thanks for this. The right teachers help a lot with languages; people often think it's about just learning the vocabulary but gotta get the _feeling_ of the language & culture too. My first year Greek tutor was wonderful for that, rejecting literal translation, asking things like "what facial expression did Aristophanes have when he wrote that line?" I learned a lot. Second year was terrible with someone who just checked against a loeb for "correctness" and the group just became soul-less (and never got any of the jokes in Herodotus). You point out the _consilience_ going on (screw Aristotle) though it takes much more work and less opportunity in traditional academia or economic environment where they want people with titles to satisfy their egos.
You have a wonderful channel! I always learn a lot watching your videos. I'm currently studying for my BA in history with minors in curatorial studies and religious studies, so your videos definitely pertain to my scholarly journey! My plan is to complete my MA in ancient near eastern studies (specifically Hebrew/Judaic studies) and work my way into a biblical studies PhD program focussing on the Old Testament so I can do research connecting to the Exodus. As someone who has already gone on a very similar path, do you have any helpful suggestions or insights?
Thanks for the encouragement! i'm glad you've liked the channel. As for suggestions....languages, languages, languages. If you're going to do ancient history, start studying the languages now! In your case: Hebrew, Aramaic, Ugaritic, or maybe Greek (if you do later 2nd Temple Judaism for your research). One of my biggest regrets is not starting my language study earlier. PhD programs will accept you or decline you based on how many years of the relevant languages you have studied and mastered.
ReligionForBreakfast okay, dually noted. Currently, I'm learning Arabic at University for one of my modern languages (french being the other) & I intend do learn Ancient Greek and Hebrew afterwards. Hopefully that'll be enough for what I need. Thanks for the suggestion! I look forward to more videos :)
I'm training to be a mathematics researcher. I'm starting a master of research (MRes) degree next year and then, hopefully, a doctor of philosophy (PhD) degree. If I'm feeling ambitious I may even get a higher doctorate after that. In many Commonwealth countries like Australia higher doctorates are degrees people can get after getting a PhD (often there's a period they must wait after getting their PhD before applying for the higher doctorate, for Australian universities this period seems to be 7-10 years) by submitting a portfolio of work that must be at a higher standard that than required for the awarding of a PhD.
Interesting to hear your story. I am curious (if you care to share) were/are you a religious person prior to studying religion? Did being a religious studies scholar make you more or less of a religious person? For me, I got into religious studies as an extension of my personal spiritual journey. But, over time, the "studies" became more my focus than the "religious" part.
Thanks this explains how you are so open with the subject matter... This makes you worth listening to, unlike countless other channels. Do you follow Campbell much?
The big money in religion seems to be more in the practical than the academic side. The extreme case is L Ron Hubbard, who transitioned from New Age therapist to religious entrepreneur, but even those who just run their own sect, church or on-line ministry can move up from collecting Rolls-Royces to private jet ownership.
Hey Andrew, I'm curious if you've ever taken into consideration Derrida's ideas of logocentricism/deconstructionism into the interplay between orality, performativity, and the actual words written on the magical artifacts you're researching? Just a thought. Absolutely love the channel and keep up the good work!
Just a suggestion: How about a program about the early Christians in India? They say that Thomas made his way to S.W. India, i.e. the state present day state of Kerala. Later on, when the catholic Portugese arrived there, they were absolutely horrified by what they saw...these people were not catholic!! They got permission from the Vatican to give the Indians an ultimatum: either burn all of their books on St. Thomas, and convert to the catholic church or die.
I am writing this from my home state in India, which is Kerala. The historic Christian community in Kerala, the Syrian Christians, are not all Catholic. They are divided approximately 50%-50% into Catholics and Eastern Churches. The Syrian Christian community in Kerala is at least 1200 years old, and quite possibly 1700+ years old, but there is scant evidence for the Apostle Thomas legend, that is, there isn't much historical data to support the claim that it was Thomas who converted the ancestors of today's Syrian Christians. I do enjoy the Religion for Breakfast channel's clips on the full panoply of religious beliefs of our species!
He said that he'll work on it Tackling Manichaeism is very tricky due to the scarce direct source of their main theology, let alone it's reported of sects existence which diverged from Persian Manichaeism, Roman manichaeism to Uyghur and Chinese Manichaeism, some of them has major differences of perception on their understanding of cosmos, for example that Roman Manichaeans considering "The Seal of the womb" as the prohibition of reproduction while the Persian Manichaeans viewed it as an allegory of part of cosmic wars between Kingdom of Light (lead by Zurvan and his son Ahura Mazda, literally taken from Zurvanite zoroastrianism but re arranged into absolute dualism rather than mitigated dualism) and Kingdom of Darkness (led by Ahriman and his children Ashaqlun, the latter is taken from Gnostic entity Saklas which is seen as far animalistic inferior being akin to Old Jewish Testament God), their mishmash of cosmos is taken more complicated with Chinese Manichaeism acquire heavily on Buddhism to further separate theological and cosmological differences from other branches which using Mani as an image of Buddha and taken complete nirvana instead of blending with Cosmic dualist kingdoms from traditional Manichaeism And I'm just talking about it's general cosmology of Manichaeism, not even talking about their historical adherence which has it's branches not just in former ancient Roman and Uyghur region, but also active in Baghdad prior to certain Caliphs like Al Mahdi forbidding their teaching and forced them to take changes of centre in Samarkand Manichaeism is literally a lost religion that has major significance in the foundation of Western perception of life subconsciously, they unawarely turning Satan figure in Christianity into literal being through Manichean conception of God vs Satan conception as dualistic contention for humanity, despite it's changed of reverence from dualistic view to Monotheistic and existentialist view of humanity's hopelesness and incapability to see through free will due to endless cosmic tragedy within Manichaean genesis and human dualistic nature on material sense, all of this through the former Mancihaean hearer St.Augustine in his "confession" which had still a lot of cosmological influences in his mind, even his "Civita di Dei vs Civita Diaboli" (City of God vs City of Devil) has dualistic tone even though he's ashamed of his Manichaean past
I hope you'll take your time and made parts on different aspects on Manichaeism though, I personally wanted to see some experts or scholars commentary on it's theology, especially compared to Gnosticism and Zoroastrianism, even they have it's own "Mithra" akin to Holy Spirit and prophets they acknowledged
My ideal situation would be sitting down with a scholar of Manichaeism as a co-host since it isn't my subfield. As of now, I'd make it one 20 minute video (similar to my Mithras vid), but some day I'd love to expand on all of these topics into 3 or 5 video series.
Fascinating stuff. The limit of my historical effort is looking for a stone set by the Deputy US Surveyor in 1873 (for example). We have the Official Government Field Notes which are officially accurate but in reality not thought to be entirely truthful. Anyway I found it, found one numeral scribed, a 4 (originally 1/4S).
I love these things...History of religion, knowledge of society, basically most of things related to humanity science...Should I go to university? Getting degrees?
Cool story looking forward to your dissertation. I first you haven't read N.T. Wright's "Paul and the Faithfulness of God" I think you would really enjoy it.
I've flipped through Wright's book (its so long!). Most of my research is late antiquity though, so I don't spend much time in New Testament scholarship.
One question I have ( and I think alot of people probably already asked lol), are you religious in anyway personally? And if so, what is your religious tradition? I'm a Karaite Jew myself. Your videos are incredibly informative and I enjoy them. Keep up the good work!
In any academic endeavor it seems that answering one question leads to asking further questions. Indeed, that's the heart of academia. While your video has answered one important question it begs further questions. First you state that you had always viewed yourself as a historian rather than a religious studies scholar. Are the two fields not so closely related as to be almost inseparable at least as far as the intersection of Roman society and religion? It would seem to me that one cannot study the one to the exclusion of the other? Second, I'm facing a similar situation in continuing my studies after several years away from the classroom. I'm very interested in your perspective not just on choosing an academic field, but on the nuts and bolts, the practical everyday matters of life such as income, expenses, medical insurance, work/life balance, etc. While I would love to do nothing but read books, write papers, discuss ideas, etc. the mortgage still has to be paid, the dishes still have to be done, etc. What's your experience in attending to the everyday matters of life as a professional student/scholar? Where does your income come from? Does your work support the kind of lifestyle you want or expect? Is the amount of debt you might have to take on manageable while working in your chosen field? Is there a job market for the kind of work you want to do? I'd be very interested in these nuts and bolts.
I found your channel while reading Rubio, Ana Martos. Paul of Tarsus, Apostle or Heretic? (Spanish Edition) looking for exactly aspects of the Mitha religion. I'm happy to have found and signed your channel. If you do not mind I would like to know your age and your religion. You know, when discussing religion, it's good to know to which one the debater belongs or whether to none of them, even better.
Honestly I wish RUclips was around when I was younger. I struggled to figure out what I wanted to do. I was lost. I ended up doing a stupid test to place me and It went with teacher. I walked out two years later. I am a mom now and homeschool. Hahaha irony. I love it though. I want to explore Religious studies. History and religion can keep me going for days. I loved debating with my teachers who were more theology minded. But how the heck does one of start this journey kind of late in the game?
psammiad No one needs you edgy atheists to come here and annoy us. Just because you don't have a God to worship, doesn't immediately make everyone who worships a God primitive. That thought just makes you an annoying narcissist.
Even thought I agree that comments like his are not beneficial I do think that by calling him out in this manner does not help the situation. The more that us theists attack atheists the harder it gets to be the moral high ground. I don't know if you are a Christian or not but I think that it is at least important that we don't push people away from us and the beliefs that we hold so sacred (Whether it be from Christianity or Theism in general).
There are archaeology courses available at the Phd level (religious studies) in the us!? Only seems available for the anthropologists here in Canada! Makes me wonder if I took the right path.
The most obvious question is one I hope you will be forthright and transparent about. What is your personal religious background and what are the religious backgrounds of your parents? It should be self evident why this is a relevant question.
There is no better moment than this moment to become professional preachers。 It is getting easier to build mega congregations and mega churches。 Many corners of the world still available for proselytisation。 The modern economic system makes the work very rewarding。
How much do you make as a religious studies researcher? I’m very interested in pursuing a similar major (religion or philosophy of religion) but I also want to get married and have kids before I get too old. Is it possible to be financially self-sufficient in your field soon after graduation.
Now a days academics is a difficult field to be in. Many professors do not get tenure and those who do find that tenure is not as secure as it used to be. Professor friends of mine have to piecemeal jobs together to make their work full time and have to work at different universities. Money is a big issue for religious studies because many original major sources like mainline denominations are shrinking and may be non-existent in 20 years and evangelicals for the most part aren't interested in a non-religious-based academic approach. As Andrew implies in his talk, the competition in academics can be very tough and you don't always end up where you first want to be.
How long did it take you to get a phd? Also, why did they teach you about marx? I thought that they would only teach about him in economics or philosophy.
@@socksumi well No, free will does exist, but at the same time God does guide you to places with you, trust me. Well a sort of belief that took me to places.
@@socksumi It’s like getting advice from someone, you can be influenced by their advice and follow it, or you can leave it and not be guided by that advice.
Have you looked into the baptismal rite of the Mandaeans? Their rite has alot of gnostic magical liturgies that probably originated from same sources as the ancient Christian magic.
That’s what I am starting to do on my own I won’t get a degree but at least I will have the experience of attending the service of each religion and any other ones I can find. Already have a catholic and a Jewish friend I will be studying with and attending their services. There’s so many connections between religions that no one ever looks at and admits they just go by the name of the religion they are in and don’t believe anything about other religions
Thank you for sharing. I am a grad student aiming at PhD studies and I am very interested in how you managed with failure of your 15 applications? This must have been a quite depressing turnoff. I'd be very very thankful if you shared your way to cope with this.
Actually I myself look towards asian religion studies MA, but my BA is Chinese studies (mostly history). Are there any tips for how to adjust to a new methodology? What IS the methodolgy in religion studies, is it different than others? Where should one start, Weber? Durkheim? something else? (If I want to study religion in philosophical and theological pespective, should I also learn it in the sociological perspective?) And BTW what was your work in the museum?
Funny that you ask about the methodology. In my opinion, there is no "religious studies methodology." We are a hybrid discipline that borrows the methods from different fields. Having said that, we do have some pillars of the discipline that have helped shape it. Weber, Durkheim, Frazer, and Tylor are important early voices. Then Mary Douglas and Geertz. Then modern scholars Catherine Bell and JZ Smith. I'd say start with Durkheim's "Elementary Forms of Religion." He is kind of the grandfather of Religious Studies. If you want to approach religion from a philosophical or theological perspective, those have slightly different methods, and I'm admittedly not that qualified to recommend who to start with. I was a digitization specialist, meaning I learned how to photograph, scan, and edit images of Babylonian tablets. I later moved into an assistant curatorial role.
So, it seems to me that you went to a relatively benign sector of academia to quite a controversial one; i.e. most people don't have a personal opinion on what Roman history means to them, but, at least in my experience, most people, whether religious, agnostic, atheist, or unsure, at least engage seriously with that topic. I don't necessarily want to ask you what exactly your religious background and/or beliefs are (which I'm sure is a question you get a lot), but I am curious about how you mediate between your academic interests (which seems to be most directly about the diversity of early Christianity and magic around the same period) and your own worldview. I'm an anthropology undergrad who's potentially looking at continuing his education in a post-graduate context, and holy crap am I struggling with ideas of ghosts and witchcraft. A particular question that I'm dealing with is, can I dismiss these ideas as objectively true because positivism and modernism suggests that they aren't true, or is that, in some way, ethnocentric? Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that these types of academic questions, no matter how hard you try to be objective and not make theological or cosmological conclusions about them, confront whoever is studying them, pressuring them to make a decision. So, overall as a religious studies researcher, how do you deal with that?
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How am I just now finding this channel?? Just binged most of your videos. Thanks for your work.
Glad you found me! RUclips algorithms don't always favor small channels.
@@ReligionForBreakfast Well, its favoring you right now because I'm on a binge too!
Same process for me: found this channel, loved it, binge watched it till death.
Discovered your channel yesterday. Started from the first video. The binge continues. Great channel!
@@ReligionForBreakfast i have question. Do u affiliate to any religion?
I don't know if this was the path you wished to take, but I'm glad you did. This is one of the precious few yt channels where you can (gasp) learn something. And one where I eagerly await new videos.
Thanks! It means a lot to hear that. Glad you're liking the channel.
You are an inspiring person. I finished my Bachelor's in Linguistics last May and I've been completely lost in what I want to do moving forward. I don't think I'll go back to academia, but I admire the people who do decide to contribute to studies of historical culture and language.
Hey, super later here. I’ve been watching for years but never checked this video out. You are a huge inspiration to me. I’m currently 24 and every day I regret not following my heart and studying history and poli sci. My father influenced me into take business and that’s where my life has taken me. I often wish I took your path and explored what interested me. I only wish I had this hindsight at 19.
Thank you for showing me what I missed and informing me on what I find interesting. I really appreciate it.
I was a religious scholar for a couple of years in a very conservative Baptist college. Needless to say, my views were controversial. I realized pretty quickly that this was not the place for me and left. The Babylonian text project sounds really cool. Many of the Babylonian stories have matching stories in the Gospels with only minor changes. This is quite common of course. Many faith systems borrow from other systems as a way to boot strap their own texts and tenants of faith. The early Christian Magic sounds really fascinating. It was stamped out pretty quick, but it certainly existed and was taken directly from Jewish tradition, particularly Solomon and his many magical Seals and control of Demons which he, according to legend, used to build the temple. The early days had a lot more freedom for believers to make use of traditional magick and ritual. It was stamped out by the early church as heretical of course. Please do keep it up and let us know what you find :)
Thanks for the encouragement! I plan on posting a video about my dissertation eventually. Sounds like you've had an interesting academic journey too.
Can't wait to see the vid on your dissertation :) I hope you can post your dissertation somewhere, if allowed, for us to read. Yeah, it's been a bit of an Academic mess :) But it was a fun mess :) I stopped after M.A. but someday I would like to continue to a terminal degree.
This is petty and pretty late, but... *tenets of faith. A tenant is a person who occupies land or property rented from a landlord
@@techniqueswithtodd hows ur journey thosyear sir? Did you survive covid-19? Hope you still alive
Reference books are good for details and also for larger context .....
Oxford Handbook of the Study of Religion, 2016, 862 pages.
Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion, 2005, 550 pages.
Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology, 2009, 609 pages.
Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology, 2013, 632 pages.
Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology, 2007, 708 pages.
Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology, 2020, 704 pages.
Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of Theology, 2017, 627 pages.
Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 4th ed., 2022, 2 vols., 2143 pages.
I worked on my Master's in Religious Studies and just as I was finishing up, I realized that the world of academia wasn't for me. Still, Religious Studies is one of my biggest passions and your channel has really resuscitated my interest in the topic! It's great to see somebody with such a historical knowledge of early Christianity and the various thoughts around the time as that was my main focus! I absolutely love this channel and have forwarded it to everybody I know.
As an aside, I'd be really interested in seeing more of your video-game religious topics as well. Video games were the reason I got into the field in the first place (Valkyrie Profile)!
Please please please keep up the great work and I anxiously look forward to binge watching your channel. :D
I suspect many young people became interested in religion by playing video games. I'd love to see the numbers.
oh wow, so whatre you doing now, this is something im thinking aswell. im planning to get into the study of religion soon (undergrad) and wanna know ur experience
It's amazing how much I didn't know about my own faith (let alone the faiths of others) until I found your content. Your channel is truly making a difference in the world, so I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the impact you've had on my perception of the world around me. God bless you.
Thank you for posting this video. Before I watched it I figured you were just a really religious Christian church-goer who studies religion. But now I know you really are more of an academic than a priest.
Congratulations on all your great videos. You have inserted intelligence and real knowledge into discussions on comparative religion in a way which is very accessible to the interested layperson. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for sharing and as someone in a similar situation (different field of study), it's actually helpful to hear your story and assists in putting things in perspective. Keep up the excellent video's and pushing good information to the masses!!!
Very cool. I have a BA in religious studies. Thought about going forward with MA and Phd but realized it wasn't for me. I'm glad you are though, we always need more people studying and researching religion!
Yeah the PhD is definitely not for everyone. So cool that you were a religious studies major though! I hope you enjoyed it.
ReligionForBreakfast I loved learning about religions. Hope you did too! It really opened my mind to a lot of different stuff and I continue to be opened minded to this day.
I hope all is going well for you !! I came across your videos a few months ago and really enjoy watching them !!
καλός τε καὶ ἀγαθός· sounds like quite a journey!
ευχαριστώ! Huge fan of your channel!
Yay! The people I like on RUclips like each other on RUclips! I don't know why I think that is important but hooray!
Thanks for reminder of Kalos kagathos - to be balanced and all embracing, a more complete person in thought, action and creative expression. So hard to get the idea across in English.
Please do a colab video one day
@@ReligionForBreakfast Do you have a religion? Do believe in a god? Or are you an atheist?... agnostic? Why don't you say?
This is really inspiring! I should make a video on my academic journey on my channel as well.
Thanks for sharing your amazing journey.
Just gets better and better, thank you Andrew and keep up the Good work!
Thanks for sharing a bit of your background with us. I love your channel, very educational.
Bill Borucki never got or accepted a PhD though the number of NASA projects he originated or fostered in early development is astounding. He's now known for Kepler (planet finding) but worked (quietly) with Sagan, Stanley Miller, physicists and biologists (even chemists!) on origins of life, Mars, nuclear winter, greenhouse affect, etc, etc, etc. He even had high school students work on many of those projects, often chosen for practical skills (mechanical, wiring, etc) as well as conceptual intelligence.
He came onto NASA as a grad student during Apollo project and stayed and was quite firm about being "mister" Borucki, not "doctor". It was the content of someone's mind and talents that were important and not the letters after their name. Actively had research crossing all disciplines and I can't tell you how rare that is and especially was 40 years ago. He also made friends of all the maintenance people and sought the advice of some who had been around for decades and seen more science than most phds around.
It's funny how life takes you places you thought you never be in. Congratulations sir and keep up the good work.
I not only want this profession, I feel called to it. God bless you and thank you sir.
All of a sudden his knowledge and niche insight makes so much sense.
I'd be really interested in reading through some of your work. I've been really enjoying your videos and I have a serious interest in Early Church History & Christian Mysticism, since much of your work seems to explore this area, I'd really like to read through anything you can offer on the subject. Thank you for all the insight and for opening up about how you got to be a Religious Studies Major. It's encouraging to hear as someone who is in a season of self-study at this point but deeply wants to pursue a degree in sociology.
I think you're very fortunate to be in a field that you like, it shows in the passion you have for the subject
Thanks for doing this. I enjoy your clips very much.
always thrilled for a new video, keep it up!
Thanks!
I love the idea behind your dissertation topic. Early Christian magic and the liturgy. Fascinating. I’d love to hear more about that.
Splendid journey, excellent choice, wise educator. Thank you for sharing this.
Please continue with your blog. I find this extremely interesting.THANKS
Best wishes young man on your journey. Great channel.
Andrew, please tell us one key piece of your biography that you have left out, if you feel comfortable. How did you come to be interested in early Christian magic?
I first discovered the topic when I wrote a major paper during my last year in college. I wrote the paper on late antique bishops condemning the use of amulets. I’ve continued my interest in the topic because I’m drawn by the sheer existentialism of magic: the fact that humans will try anything to try to augment their ability to deal with sickness or death...even resorting to rituals that we moderns consider “weird” or “pointless.”
Thank you! You are such a gifted teacher and presenter. I can't wait to see what good things the future holds for you.
I'm totally happy,I've found this channel and trust me you're really inspiring human being.
I'd love to hear more about your dissertation topic and its content ☺
I have just discovered your videos. Enjoying immensely!!!
I've a History BA. Watching your video, you sound like a Historian to me.
That would've been cool to study Cuneiform tablets for that library.
I really love you and admire so much of your honesty! I hope (and pray if we can be friends) btw, roman graduate philo and theo here🤗
Thanks so much for making the videos that you do . You help me understand religion more .
Hehe, I use CDLI all the time :) Thank you for helping with that wonderful project!
Thank you, Andrew Henry!
I love the "I better not drop this," and the immediate cut.
Not that I think you dropped it, but it was a kind of funny effect.
Thanks for this. The right teachers help a lot with languages; people often think it's about just learning the vocabulary but gotta get the _feeling_ of the language & culture too. My first year Greek tutor was wonderful for that, rejecting literal translation, asking things like "what facial expression did Aristophanes have when he wrote that line?" I learned a lot. Second year was terrible with someone who just checked against a loeb for "correctness" and the group just became soul-less (and never got any of the jokes in Herodotus).
You point out the _consilience_ going on (screw Aristotle) though it takes much more work and less opportunity in traditional academia or economic environment where they want people with titles to satisfy their egos.
Thank you so much.
You have a wonderful channel! I always learn a lot watching your videos. I'm currently studying for my BA in history with minors in curatorial studies and religious studies, so your videos definitely pertain to my scholarly journey! My plan is to complete my MA in ancient near eastern studies (specifically Hebrew/Judaic studies) and work my way into a biblical studies PhD program focussing on the Old Testament so I can do research connecting to the Exodus. As someone who has already gone on a very similar path, do you have any helpful suggestions or insights?
Thanks for the encouragement! i'm glad you've liked the channel. As for suggestions....languages, languages, languages. If you're going to do ancient history, start studying the languages now! In your case: Hebrew, Aramaic, Ugaritic, or maybe Greek (if you do later 2nd Temple Judaism for your research). One of my biggest regrets is not starting my language study earlier. PhD programs will accept you or decline you based on how many years of the relevant languages you have studied and mastered.
ReligionForBreakfast okay, dually noted. Currently, I'm learning Arabic at University for one of my modern languages (french being the other) & I intend do learn Ancient Greek and Hebrew afterwards. Hopefully that'll be enough for what I need. Thanks for the suggestion! I look forward to more videos :)
Nice vid can you make a video on hermeticism?
Congratulations and thank you for sharing. I like very much your chanel.
I'm training to be a mathematics researcher. I'm starting a master of research (MRes) degree next year and then, hopefully, a doctor of philosophy (PhD) degree. If I'm feeling ambitious I may even get a higher doctorate after that. In many Commonwealth countries like Australia higher doctorates are degrees people can get after getting a PhD (often there's a period they must wait after getting their PhD before applying for the higher doctorate, for Australian universities this period seems to be 7-10 years) by submitting a portfolio of work that must be at a higher standard that than required for the awarding of a PhD.
Grade school was great, I loved the academy, enjoy it while you can
Greek! better you than me!
Interesting to hear your story. I am curious (if you care to share) were/are you a religious person prior to studying religion? Did being a religious studies scholar make you more or less of a religious person?
For me, I got into religious studies as an extension of my personal spiritual journey. But, over time, the "studies" became more my focus than the "religious" part.
Thanks this explains how you are so open with the subject matter... This makes you worth listening to, unlike countless other channels.
Do you follow Campbell much?
The big money in religion seems to be more in the practical than the academic side. The extreme case is L Ron Hubbard, who transitioned from New Age therapist to religious entrepreneur, but even those who just run their own sect, church or on-line ministry can move up from collecting Rolls-Royces to private jet ownership.
Hey Andrew, I'm curious if you've ever taken into consideration Derrida's ideas of logocentricism/deconstructionism into the interplay between orality, performativity, and the actual words written on the magical artifacts you're researching? Just a thought. Absolutely love the channel and keep up the good work!
Just a suggestion: How about a program about the early Christians in India? They say that Thomas made his way to S.W. India, i.e. the state present day state of Kerala. Later on, when the catholic Portugese arrived there, they were absolutely horrified by what they saw...these people were not catholic!! They got permission from the Vatican to give the Indians an ultimatum: either burn all of their books on St. Thomas, and convert to the catholic church or die.
I am writing this from my home state in India, which is Kerala. The historic Christian community in Kerala, the Syrian Christians, are not all Catholic. They are divided approximately 50%-50% into Catholics and Eastern Churches. The Syrian Christian community in Kerala is at least 1200 years old, and quite possibly 1700+ years old, but there is scant evidence for the Apostle Thomas legend, that is, there isn't much historical data to support the claim that it was Thomas who converted the ancestors of today's Syrian Christians.
I do enjoy the Religion for Breakfast channel's clips on the full panoply of religious beliefs of our species!
Can you make a video on Manichaeism?
He said that he'll work on it
Tackling Manichaeism is very tricky due to the scarce direct source of their main theology, let alone it's reported of sects existence which diverged from Persian Manichaeism, Roman manichaeism to Uyghur and Chinese Manichaeism, some of them has major differences of perception on their understanding of cosmos, for example that Roman Manichaeans considering "The Seal of the womb" as the prohibition of reproduction while the Persian Manichaeans viewed it as an allegory of part of cosmic wars between Kingdom of Light (lead by Zurvan and his son Ahura Mazda, literally taken from Zurvanite zoroastrianism but re arranged into absolute dualism rather than mitigated dualism) and Kingdom of Darkness (led by Ahriman and his children Ashaqlun, the latter is taken from Gnostic entity Saklas which is seen as far animalistic inferior being akin to Old Jewish Testament God), their mishmash of cosmos is taken more complicated with Chinese Manichaeism acquire heavily on Buddhism to further separate theological and cosmological differences from other branches which using Mani as an image of Buddha and taken complete nirvana instead of blending with Cosmic dualist kingdoms from traditional Manichaeism
And I'm just talking about it's general cosmology of Manichaeism, not even talking about their historical adherence which has it's branches not just in former ancient Roman and Uyghur region, but also active in Baghdad prior to certain Caliphs like Al Mahdi forbidding their teaching and forced them to take changes of centre in Samarkand
Manichaeism is literally a lost religion that has major significance in the foundation of Western perception of life subconsciously, they unawarely turning Satan figure in Christianity into literal being through Manichean conception of God vs Satan conception as dualistic contention for humanity, despite it's changed of reverence from dualistic view to Monotheistic and existentialist view of humanity's hopelesness and incapability to see through free will due to endless cosmic tragedy within Manichaean genesis and human dualistic nature on material sense, all of this through the former Mancihaean hearer St.Augustine in his "confession" which had still a lot of cosmological influences in his mind, even his "Civita di Dei vs Civita Diaboli" (City of God vs City of Devil) has dualistic tone even though he's ashamed of his Manichaean past
+olly chapman Manichaeism is high on the priority list!
I hope you'll take your time and made parts on different aspects on Manichaeism though, I personally wanted to see some experts or scholars commentary on it's theology, especially compared to Gnosticism and Zoroastrianism, even they have it's own "Mithra" akin to Holy Spirit and prophets they acknowledged
My ideal situation would be sitting down with a scholar of Manichaeism as a co-host since it isn't my subfield. As of now, I'd make it one 20 minute video (similar to my Mithras vid), but some day I'd love to expand on all of these topics into 3 or 5 video series.
Fascinating stuff. The limit of my historical effort is looking for a stone set by the Deputy US Surveyor in 1873 (for example). We have the Official Government Field Notes which are officially accurate but in reality not thought to be entirely truthful. Anyway I found it, found one numeral scribed, a 4 (originally 1/4S).
You have great content. You might want to research Constantines 50 bibles. And explain how they did not choose a canon.
Do something on the strengths and weaknesses of Religious Studies as a discipline...
I love these things...History of religion, knowledge of society, basically most of things related to humanity science...Should I go to university? Getting degrees?
I enjoy your videos.
Cool story looking forward to your dissertation. I first you haven't read N.T. Wright's "Paul and the Faithfulness of God" I think you would really enjoy it.
I've flipped through Wright's book (its so long!). Most of my research is late antiquity though, so I don't spend much time in New Testament scholarship.
I find the New Perspective on Paul to be quite refreshing.
One question I have ( and I think alot of people probably already asked lol), are you religious in anyway personally? And if so, what is your religious tradition? I'm a Karaite Jew myself. Your videos are incredibly informative and I enjoy them. Keep up the good work!
I don't know when you were at the Penn museum, but did you know a Shannon while you were there?
can you do a video about yazidism or other traditional middle eastern religion
This is a great background video for your profession! Thanks for sharing. 🙏👍 Now, what does your channel name "Religion for Breakfast" mean?
I find the topic fascinating,
I also started as a Classicist but for various reasons I'm doing physics.
In any academic endeavor it seems that answering one question leads to asking further questions. Indeed, that's the heart of academia. While your video has answered one important question it begs further questions. First you state that you had always viewed yourself as a historian rather than a religious studies scholar. Are the two fields not so closely related as to be almost inseparable at least as far as the intersection of Roman society and religion? It would seem to me that one cannot study the one to the exclusion of the other?
Second, I'm facing a similar situation in continuing my studies after several years away from the classroom. I'm very interested in your perspective not just on choosing an academic field, but on the nuts and bolts, the practical everyday matters of life such as income, expenses, medical insurance, work/life balance, etc. While I would love to do nothing but read books, write papers, discuss ideas, etc. the mortgage still has to be paid, the dishes still have to be done, etc. What's your experience in attending to the everyday matters of life as a professional student/scholar? Where does your income come from? Does your work support the kind of lifestyle you want or expect? Is the amount of debt you might have to take on manageable while working in your chosen field? Is there a job market for the kind of work you want to do? I'd be very interested in these nuts and bolts.
Yes! Wonderful!
I found your channel while reading Rubio, Ana Martos. Paul of Tarsus, Apostle or Heretic? (Spanish Edition) looking for exactly aspects of the Mitha religion. I'm happy to have found and signed your channel. If you do not mind I would like to know your age and your religion. You know, when discussing religion, it's good to know to which one the debater belongs or whether to none of them, even better.
In a certain way You have responded part of my questioning through the video What is the Difference Between Theology and Religious Studies. Thanks
Honestly I wish RUclips was around when I was younger. I struggled to figure out what I wanted to do. I was lost. I ended up doing a stupid test to place me and It went with teacher. I walked out two years later. I am a mom now and homeschool. Hahaha irony. I love it though.
I want to explore Religious studies. History and religion can keep me going for days. I loved debating with my teachers who were more theology minded. But how the heck does one of start this journey kind of late in the game?
Wow, interesting life. Religious Studies is the most interesting discipline ever, and anyone who disagrees is lame at the very least ;)
Agreed. It is interesting.
oof
psammiad No one needs you edgy atheists to come here and annoy us. Just because you don't have a God to worship, doesn't immediately make everyone who worships a God primitive. That thought just makes you an annoying narcissist.
Even thought I agree that comments like his are not beneficial I do think that by calling him out in this manner does not help the situation. The more that us theists attack atheists the harder it gets to be the moral high ground. I don't know if you are a Christian or not but I think that it is at least important that we don't push people away from us and the beliefs that we hold so sacred (Whether it be from Christianity or Theism in general).
There are archaeology courses available at the Phd level (religious studies) in the us!? Only seems available for the anthropologists here in Canada! Makes me wonder if I took the right path.
The most obvious question is one I hope you will be forthright and transparent about. What is your personal religious background and what are the religious backgrounds of your parents? It should be self evident why this is a relevant question.
That's a huge amount of work with what must have been some pretty upsetting setbacks. Congratulations.
3:59 "I always thought of myself as an ancient historian". Wait, how old are you...?
Well done. Good luck.
What a thrilling story. Had me by the hair.
There is no better moment than this moment to become professional preachers。 It is getting easier to build mega congregations and mega churches。 Many corners of the world still available for proselytisation。 The modern economic system makes the work very rewarding。
How much do you make as a religious studies researcher? I’m very interested in pursuing a similar major (religion or philosophy of religion) but I also want to get married and have kids before I get too old. Is it possible to be financially self-sufficient in your field soon after graduation.
*?
Now a days academics is a difficult field to be in. Many professors do not get tenure and those who do find that tenure is not as secure as it used to be. Professor friends of mine have to piecemeal jobs together to make their work full time and have to work at different universities. Money is a big issue for religious studies because many original major sources like mainline denominations are shrinking and may be non-existent in 20 years and evangelicals for the most part aren't interested in a non-religious-based academic approach. As Andrew implies in his talk, the competition in academics can be very tough and you don't always end up where you first want to be.
He'd rock the Tour Guide thing.
I see a poster of New Jersey behind you. Are you from New Jersey?
Hey dude , can you made a vídeo about the differences between Chíi and Suní Islam ?
You're in luck. I've already filmed an Intro to Islam video which is currently in post-production! Look for it in late September or early October.
ReligionForBreakfast excellent ! Thanks bro.
But ur presentation and language is equally enchanting as much as the subject u delve into
How long did it take you to get a phd?
Also, why did they teach you about marx? I thought that they would only teach about him in economics or philosophy.
It looks like God guided you to some terrificly interesting area of expertise. And you are doing pretty good. God bless you
Why do you assume it was god guiding him? I thought religious people were supposed to believe in free will.
@@socksumi well No, free will does exist, but at the same time God does guide you to places with you, trust me. Well a sort of belief that took me to places.
@@socksumi It’s like getting advice from someone, you can be influenced by their advice and follow it, or you can leave it and not be guided by that advice.
Have you looked into the baptismal rite of the Mandaeans? Their rite has alot of gnostic magical liturgies that probably originated from same sources as the ancient Christian magic.
This is most useful.
That’s what I am starting to do on my own I won’t get a degree but at least I will have the experience of attending the service of each religion and any other ones I can find. Already have a catholic and a Jewish friend I will be studying with and attending their services. There’s so many connections between religions that no one ever looks at and admits they just go by the name of the religion they are in and don’t believe anything about other religions
Can you make a how to self study religion video?
Thank you for sharing. I am a grad student aiming at PhD studies and I am very interested in how you managed with failure of your 15 applications? This must have been a quite depressing turnoff. I'd be very very thankful if you shared your way to cope with this.
you made the right choice bro.!!!!!😉
so interesting. thanks
This is inspiring.
Actually I myself look towards asian religion studies MA, but my BA is Chinese studies (mostly history). Are there any tips for how to adjust to a new methodology? What IS the methodolgy in religion studies, is it different than others? Where should one start, Weber? Durkheim? something else? (If I want to study religion in philosophical and theological pespective, should I also learn it in the sociological perspective?)
And BTW what was your work in the museum?
Funny that you ask about the methodology. In my opinion, there is no "religious studies methodology." We are a hybrid discipline that borrows the methods from different fields. Having said that, we do have some pillars of the discipline that have helped shape it. Weber, Durkheim, Frazer, and Tylor are important early voices. Then Mary Douglas and Geertz. Then modern scholars Catherine Bell and JZ Smith. I'd say start with Durkheim's "Elementary Forms of Religion." He is kind of the grandfather of Religious Studies. If you want to approach religion from a philosophical or theological perspective, those have slightly different methods, and I'm admittedly not that qualified to recommend who to start with.
I was a digitization specialist, meaning I learned how to photograph, scan, and edit images of Babylonian tablets. I later moved into an assistant curatorial role.
thanks
I really wish to collab with you about demonology!
Early Christian magic?? Need a video on that :)
@Religion for breakfast. What are your own personal religious or better worldview views?
He never says. I suspect he's theist of some kind. But who knows?
I got the feeling that he’s either a secularized Christian or agnostic, but definitely not an atheist nor a fundamentalist Christian
I would love to see some more videos on early Christian magic!
is that a picture of new jersey
So, it seems to me that you went to a relatively benign sector of academia to quite a controversial one; i.e. most people don't have a personal opinion on what Roman history means to them, but, at least in my experience, most people, whether religious, agnostic, atheist, or unsure, at least engage seriously with that topic. I don't necessarily want to ask you what exactly your religious background and/or beliefs are (which I'm sure is a question you get a lot), but I am curious about how you mediate between your academic interests (which seems to be most directly about the diversity of early Christianity and magic around the same period) and your own worldview. I'm an anthropology undergrad who's potentially looking at continuing his education in a post-graduate context, and holy crap am I struggling with ideas of ghosts and witchcraft. A particular question that I'm dealing with is, can I dismiss these ideas as objectively true because positivism and modernism suggests that they aren't true, or is that, in some way, ethnocentric?
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that these types of academic questions, no matter how hard you try to be objective and not make theological or cosmological conclusions about them, confront whoever is studying them, pressuring them to make a decision. So, overall as a religious studies researcher, how do you deal with that?
Great video
What are the top 5 books you would recommend for the academic study of religion?