Traditionalism and Russian Orthodox Converts – Laurie Taylor talks to Mark Sedgwick, Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at Aarhus University, about the radical project for restoring sacred order. Traditionalism is founded on ancient teachings that, its followers argue, have been handed down from time immemorial and which must be defended from modernity. How has this mystical doctrine come to have contemporary sway on the political right, inspiring ex President Trump's former chief strategist, as well as the Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, sometimes dubbed as “Putin’s brain”?
They’re joined by Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, Assistant Professor of Religion and Anthropology at Northeastern University, Boston, who has uncovered an extraordinary story of religious conversion in one corner of Appalachia. Here, a group of American citizens has embraced the Russian Orthodox Church and through it Putin’s New Russia. They look to Russian religion and politics for answers to Western secularism and the loss of traditional family values.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
Time
Disasters
Immortality - transhumanism
Cool
Serial killers
Estates
Land and territory
War in the air
Engineers of Jihad. Orange jumpsuits
TV in prison - Live music in prison
Organised crime in the UK
The ways women age - Beauty politics
The meaning of the face
A special programme on Pierre Bourdieu
Michel Foucault - a special programme on his work and influence.
Erving Goffman - a special programme
Walter Benjamin - a special programme on his work and influence
Conspiracy theories
No-Go Zones and Dangerous Holidays
Detective fiction - homicide and social media
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Global News Podcast
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
The Infinite Monkey Cage
You’re Dead to Me
Elis James and John Robins