Episode 417: WRP in Review: Religions in Space
Transcript!
PDF transcript. Also available via our Buzzsprout page.
Shownotes
(because citations are political)
Can you believe it? A whole academic year — gone! 17 episodes — done! And what, chilibabies, have we learned in this extended examination of the HISTORY OF THE WORLD RELIGIONS, PART 1? Well, that’s what we’re spending time on in this final episode of the MEGASEASON.
So, let’s dig in, shall we?
In this episode we dramatically reveal:
why on earth we chose Mel Brooks’ 1981 classic History of the World, Part 1 as our season-long runner, because you didn’t think that was a mistake, right? Of course not.
how on earth a 40 year old movie has anything to do with religion, at all, and not even in a jokes way
what the heck is the deal with the world religions paradigm, why we still need to care about it even if we can’t stand it, and how we might continue to navigate the ways in which religion is factually imperial as a framework and also a framework through which billions of people find agency, liberation, hope, joy, and creative imagination of their worlds (and, of course, the opposite of all those things)
The 101:
(where we did the professor-work)
This whole, long season was dedicated to thinking through, and doing better with, the world religions paradigm we’re all stuck with and in.
We know that the idea of “world religions” is rooted in some white Christian imperialist nonsense, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t operating in our various institutions. So, we’re not here to say: ignore the critique! Don’t listen to seasons 1-3! We did the thing here, in HISTORY OF THE WORLD RELIGIONS PART I to say: we have to confront this system every single day because we live in the world and some of us have to teach within this paradigm (because jobs) and most of us who want to learn about religion (that’s you, nerds) are learning it in this model with or without your knowledge or consent. So how can we do it *better*, how can we show what’s behind the curtain and also make sense of how people do religion?
It was a season of deep track Mel Brooks references. Ilyse isn’t even a little bit sorry.
But Ilyse’s deep love of witty shtick is only part of the story; the real why of Mel is actually about religion. Because Mel Brooks got that religion was related to power. He got that Christian imperialism was doing some violence. For goodness sake, he wrote a musical number about the Inquisition where he played Torquemada and comedian-cum-Rabbi Jackie Mason sings about being tortured for being Jewish whilst chained up in a dungeon. You don’t write that stuff—that zany, skewering, satirical stuff—if you do not fundamentally understand how religion, power, and history worked.
History of the World Part 1 is basically a series of sketches about history, how power works, and why it’s ridiculous. As Ilyse says often, one of the reasons she loves being a historian is that you cannot make this shit up—if you wrote fiction with some of the twists and turns in actual historical events, an editor would tell you it’s too much, too unbelievable, you’ll lose the audience. That’s the mess we’re in. That’s the mess Mel Brooks joked about.
HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART 1 is the most perfect joke for our work on HISTORY OF THE WORLD RELIGIONS is that basically every single scene in this movie is about—you’ll never guess, nerds—religion.
There’s two gags in in the Mel Brooks History of the World Part 1, and no lie, they’ve been our gags this season too.
The first is that “part 1,” because there was no part 2—even though part 2 was confirmed to be in production by a slew of now-established younger-than-Mel’s-90-years comedians, like Wanda Sykes and Nick Kroll. Anyway, the gag in 1981 is: history is ongoing, we’ll say there’s part 1, but there is never a part 2.
And that’s true for us too. We could keep going with world religions. We are not going to. This part 1 insinuates a part 2 but it’ll never be our part 2. At least for now. Call us when we’re 90, like Mel.
The second gag is, quite frankly, religion and power. Which is our whole gag! The whole thing! Brooks’ history of the world is a master class in showing an audience how power worked across history, and in the movie, power is never far off from religion. Let’s be clear, the religion most often skewered by Mel? Christianity. Because religion is imperial and white Christians from Europe and America have dominated the way we tell world history, and Mel, a Jewish man from Brooklyn, doesn’t miss an opportunity to show just how antisemitic Christians have been in the name of Christianity.
You agree we picked a good runner by now, no?
Anyway, beyond just good references, here’s our take homes for the whole ass season:
The FRAMEWORK -- why we call things “religions” -- was popularized during the height of European and (later) American imperialism, and operates from the starting point that Christianity (and especially Protestantism) is not only an inherent good--it is inherently above all else.
World religions are world in relationship to--DUN DUN DUN--Christians, and especially Protestant, Western Euro Christians.
How a religion relates to Christianity matters for how that religion “ranks” in a world religions model.
And this little list helps y’all understand how and why we started our dive into world religions with African Diaspora and Indigenous Religions—religions historically ignored, maligned, and excised from this very model. It’s why we tried to show internal diversity within religions, regardless of how they have been classified. It’s why we keep asking how come Sikhi never shows up on a “Big 5” list despite being the 5th largest religion. It’s why we won’t ever stop talking about how Islam gets vilified from the jump in the WRP, which still shows up in how we talk about Muslims, how we order knowledge about Islam, and why Islam is “western” sometimes and “eastern” other times and rarely African, despite what history and common sense tells us. We could go on, but we already did. There’s 17 episodes to check out.
Little Bit, Leave It
(the segment where we leave you with a little bit to remember)
Megan said that she wants to leave you with this: “the real history is the religion we made along the way.”
Ilyse told the story of spite and rage upon learning that Mel Brooks was not deemed appropriate for her 5th grade Hebrew School book report on an “important Jewish person.” She turned it in anyway and failed. This season is therefore dedicated in part to Mrs. Wieznowski.
If You Don’t Know, Now You Know
(the segment where we share fun facts)
Megan shared that Mel Brooks’ son Max Brooks is the author of Zombie Survival Guide, a classic in the zombie-resurrgance literature of the early 00s.
Ilyse said that if, as we have said before, it is only together that we are a genius, then this season proves it. Many thanks to our incredible and incredibly deep bench of scholars: Akissi Britton, Fadeke Castor, Jolyon THomas, ABel Gomez, Simran Jeet Singh, Arun Brambhatt, Shreena Nikita Gandhi, Dheepa Sundaram, Hussein Rashid, Kristian Petersen, Debra Majeed, Jorge Rodriquez V, Shari Rabin, Yujin Chen, Tom Borchert, Kay-naz Amaria, and Andrew Aghapour.
A Bonus Word of Gratitude
As you may remember, Dr. Debra Majeed was our guest expert on the You Still Don’t Know About Islam, Part 2 episode earlier this season. Devastatingly, Dr. Majeed died in March 2022, shortly after that episode aired. We ended this episode with her audio remarks, hoping to let her teach us once more this season. May her memory be a blessing, and may we continue to learn from her scholarship and example.
Homework
(that’s right, nerds, there’s always more to learn)
Ilyse suggests:
Do her man Mel Brooks his honor.
Please go watch History of the World, Part 1. Listen to the classic 2000 year old man bit. Rewatch Spaceballs. Marvel over the fever dream that is Young Frankenstein. Critique but also enjoy Blazing Saddles. And watch the original Producers.
Also, read All About Me, Mel’s recent memoir. It is everything I wanted—but for us academics, it is also a really lovely love letter to collaboration, writing, and research. Yes, research. And joy.
Megan says:
nap a lot, from now until the end of time
watch Dracula: Dead and Loving It
Coming Soon:
Next year we have big funds, new segments, new research assistants, new mics. We’ll divide half the season into a segment called INCORRECT, where we dispel our favorite/most hated misconceptions about religion. And the other half will be SO GLAD YOU ASKED, where we answer listener questions!