Summary
Blood - Laurie Taylor explores the metaphorical, as well as material, reality of blood. He's joined by Gil Anidjar, Professor of Religion and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies at Columbia University, and author of a study which explores the relationship between the history of Christianity and blood. What are the social and political implications of the way in which Christian blood come to be associated with purity and kinship?
Also, Janet Carsten - Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, considers the extraordinary symbolic power of blood. She traces the multiple meanings of blood as it moves from donors to labs, hospitals, and patients in Penang, Malaysia, telling the stories of blood donors, lab staff and hospital workers. In the process, she shows that blood is a lens for understanding the entanglements of modern life.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.5 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.5 | BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. This is a Thinking Loud Podcasts from the BBC and for more details and much, much more about |
| 0:42.4 | thinking aloud, go to our website BBC.co. |
| 0:47.0 | UK. Hello, I remember the wonderfully laconic Scottish comedian Arnold Brown, once remarking that his childhood Glasgow home |
| 0:55.3 | contained so many pictures of the British King and Queen that he assumed until |
| 0:59.8 | puberty that he was a member of the Royal Family. |
| 1:03.0 | Well, anyone visiting houses in my Liverpool neighborhood, |
| 1:07.0 | especially the lines of terrace houses in Bhutle, |
| 1:10.0 | might have been equally convinced |
| 1:12.0 | that at least some of the residents were putative cardiologists. |
| 1:16.0 | For in such homes they readily discover not one but several close-up technical representations of open heart surgery, |
| 1:24.6 | representations no less of the sacred heart of Jesus. |
| 1:28.9 | The blood of Jesus speaks for me. |
| 1:37.0 | He's still my soul redeeming love out of the dust of cavalry is rising to the throne |
| 1:52.0 | yes that evening Yes, that image with Jesus drawing back his garments to reveal a ruby red open heart was |
| 2:00.8 | ubiquitous in Catholic literature and art. My own junior boarding school, a nasty perverse |
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