While We're Here

Ben and Matt discuss the question of Biblical authorship and offer a quick crash course on contemporary Biblical scholarship.  They also dig into some theological questions related to the nature of Scripture.  

While We're Here spent the night out on the town and recorded a live podcast at Commune Cafe in Newburyport, MA. "Know Your Neighbor" is both the name of this episode and also the name of a documentary film project that the Newburyport Human Rights Commission is working on throughout the year. The film will be a collection of interviews with people in different locations throughout Newburyport. The purpose of the project is to help folks throughout the city get to know their neighbors and to celebrate the diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and worldviews that contribute to our life together.  Ben and Matt help to kick off the project by discussing the importance of knowing our neighbors. The first half of the episode is the usual back and forth banter that you are used to hearing from our hosts. In the second half, we get to hear voices from the crowd as Ben and Matt open up a time of questions and answers with the audience.  Here is an article from the Newburyport Daily News about the podcast recording

Ben and special guest Dr. Arnold Eisen, Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, talk about spirituality and fatherhood.  They also talk about movies, theology, baby-monitors and Freud.  

We brought you the first part of this conversation on the night before Hanukkah began. Here is part two on the night before Christmas. Matt and Ben shift focus to Christmas as we continue to explore our winter festivals. 

Ben and Matt talk about the winter festivals of their faith traditions. In part one of this conversation, we get to hear Ben explain the real meaning of Hanukkah. 

Ben and Matt talk about ghosts, spirituality, and religion. They also have a less than academically rigorous discussion of Halloween and the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation with some questionable dates and facts (by Matt especially.. ie.. St. Patrick definitely did not go to Ireland before Constantine's legalization of Christianity).  all sounds on this episode used with permission © http://www.freesound.org/people/klankbeeld/

Ben and Matt pick up the conversation where they left off in part 1. The focus now shifts from the machines to what life will look like for us humans. 

Ben and Matt prepare for the rise of the machines as they discuss strong AI, weak AI, and what it means for both us and the machines. 

Ben and Matt talk about drugs and spiritual experience both through the lens of their own experiences and as the topic appears throughout the history of various religious traditions.  

Special guest, Rabbi Ethan Witkovsky from Park Avenue Synagogue, joins us for a journey through Religion and Game of Thrones. Ben and Ethan take a deep dive and geek out over this fantastic topic, while Matt runs tech and closes his ears to spoilers. By the way, there aren't any major spoilers in case you're worried about that. 

In this episode we talk about radicalism, fundamentalism, radical fundamentalism, sports, and why the Sunny character from Post Raisin Bran should be our new logo.  This is also the episode where we learn that podcasting is hard.  Enjoy 30 something minutes of our multiple hour attempt to make sense of violent radical religious movements, why they exist, and what hope we might have for radical goodness. 

Part 2 of the first episode of While We're Here. Ben & Matt continue talk about life after death picking up the conversation with reincarnation. 

Welcome to part 1 of the first episode of While We're Here. Ben and Matt jump right in to some big questions as they explore different ideas around death, dying, and what happens after (or before) life as we know it.