Marcus Borg on Idolatry and the Great Religions

A new podcast will be coming online in just a few days. It will contain my interview with Dr. Marcus Borg, the pre-eminent scholar of the historical Jesus and Distinguished Hundere Professor of Religious Studies and Culture here at Oregon State. Our discussion was based on the lecture he gave that started the Philosophy Department's Ideas Matter lecture series for 2007: "Does Religion Matter?"

In our discussion, Dr. Borg talked about the deep potential for both good and evil in the great religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc, and the conditions that tend to make a religious community become evil, focusing on the problem of religious idolatry. We also discussed changes in the field of religious studies and what Dr. Borg thinks ought to be the role of religious studies scholars in American public life. Stay tuned for the podcast!