America’s New Religions & the Cult of Self-Making | Tara Isabella Burton

Hidden Forces

Demetri Kofinas

Government, Business

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2023

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Episode 314 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with novelist, sociologist, and theologian Tara Isabella Burton about America’s new religions, the evolution of the self in contemporary culture, and what it all means for the future of Western society.

Tara Isabella Burton’s writings about religion and culture provide some of the sharpest, most insightful commentary about contemporary life that you will find anywhere. Her two most recent books explore the revival of religious practices and the evolution of what she calls self-making (i.e., the increased focus on oneself and one’s own experiences as the focal point of human experience) in Western society. Her insights are nothing short of revelatory.

In their conversation, Tara and Demetri discuss three different manifestations of religion that Burton has identified: (1) social justice culture, (2) techno-utopianism, (3) and what she calls “right-wing atavism,” an ideology whose more extreme elements combine nostalgia for proto-humanity with a sort of black-pilled nihilism that rejects both contemporary progressive society and any possibility of meaningfully escaping from it.

While the first hour of their conversation is dedicated to exploring these themes it isn’t until the second hour that Demetri and Tara Isabella Burton begin to discuss their implications for contemporary life and for the durability of our institutions in the face of social and political upheaval. What our response to these changes should be and why there are reasons to be hopeful form an important part of that discussion.

If you want to listen to that part of the conversation you can subscribe to our premium content and gain access to our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports (or Key Takeaways) at HiddenForces.io/subscribe.

If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page. If you still have questions, feel free to email [email protected], and Demetri or someone else from our team will get right back to you.

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Episode Recorded on 05/22/2023

Transcript

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0:00.0	What's up, everybody? My name is Demetra Gafinas and you're listening to Hidden Forces,
0:05.8	a podcast that inspires investors, entrepreneurs and everyday citizens to challenge consensus
0:12.8	narratives and to learn how to think critically about the systems of power shaping our world.
0:18.7	My guest in today's episode is Tara Isabella Burton, a novelist, sociologist and theologian
0:25.5	whose writings about religion and culture provide some of the sharpest and most insightful
0:30.4	commentary about contemporary life that you will find anywhere. Her two most recent books
0:36.2	explore the evolution and revival of religious practices in Western society, alongside
0:41.9	the manifestation of the self as the focal point of human experience. Her insights are
0:47.9	nothing short of revelatory. In our conversation today, we discuss three different manifestations
0:54.7	of religion that Tara has identified, social justice culture, techno-utopianism and what she
1:00.9	calls new or right-wing activism, whose more extreme elements combine an nostalgia for
1:07.1	proto-humanity with a sort of black-pilled nihilism that rejects both contemporary progressive
1:13.1	society and any possibility of meaningfully escaping from it. While the first hour of our
1:19.5	conversation is dedicated to exploring these themes, it isn't until the second hour
1:24.2	that we begin to discuss their implications for contemporary life and for the durability
1:29.3	of our institutions in the face of social and political upheaval. What our response should
1:34.7	be as concerned citizens and why there are reasons to be hopeful for an important part of that
1:41.1	discussion. If you want access to that part of the conversation and you're not already
1:45.8	subscribed to Hidden Forces, you can join our premium feed and listen to the second hour of
1:51.0	today's episode by going to hiddenforces.io-subscribe. All of our content tiers give you access to
1:58.7	our premium feed, which you can listen to on your mobile device using your favorite podcast app
2:04.3	just like you're listening to this episode right now. If you want to join in on the conversation
	...

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