Mysticism, Meaning, & Belief Across Cultures A Conversation With Dr. Steven Engler

Finding Genius Podcast

Richard Jacobs

Medicine, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2026

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this engaging conversation with Dr. Steven Engler, we explore esoteric traditions, mystical experiences, and how spiritual meaning shows up across cultures and belief systems. Dr. Engler is a Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Humanities at Mount Royal University, whose work bridges scholarship, lived experience, and cross-cultural inquiry.

His research spans fieldwork with Afro-Brazilian and esoteric spirit-incorporation traditions in Brazil, as well as methodological and theoretical approaches to understanding religion, spirituality, and meaning-making. Dr. Engler's work also examines how concepts like tradition, lived religion, and esotericism shape both personal experience and broader cultural narratives.

Beyond his research and teaching, Dr. Engler is a co-editor of leading journals and book series in religious studies and has closely analyzed the academic landscape of religion and spirituality in Latin America.

Click play to uncover:

How people's stories reflect the beliefs of their respective traditions.
The ways that belief makes a difference in experience.
Experiences that have impacted Dr. Engler's perspective.

You can find more about Dr. Engler here! and on his blog.

🎧 Listen now on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/30PvU9C

🛍️ Recommended Books from this Episode

📖 The Book of Magic: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment – A fascinating exploration of the history, traditions, and cultural influence of magic from ancient civilizations through the Enlightenment era.
👉 Get it here

📘 Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) – A foundational political philosophy text examining law, governance, and the principles that shaped modern democratic systems.
👉 Check it out

📕 When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God (Vintage) – An insightful look into modern faith practices and how believers experience and interpret spiritual communication.
👉 Discover it here

📗 The Varieties of Religious Experience (with Biographical Introduction) – A classic examination of spiritual experiences, belief systems, and the psychology of religion across cultures.
👉 See it here

Note: These are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps support the podcast. Thank you!

Transcript

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0:25.1	Sleep science, cancer, stem cells, ketogenic diets, and more.
0:28.6	Here come the geniuses.
0:30.3	This is the Finding Genius podcast with Richard Jacobs.
0:37.4	Hello, this is Richard Jacobs with the Finding Genius podcast.
0:41.1	Yesterday is Stephen Engler.
0:42.5	He's a professor of religious studies in the Department of Humanities at Mount Royal.
0:46.9	We're going to talk about a whole bunch of it's unusual topics, the esoteric tradition of mesmerism,
0:52.8	as I guess as in mesmerizing people, and the self-help movement that began in the 18th century, I didn't know that. And then we're going to talk about other areas of his work that if I described them, I'll probably completely butcher them. So I'll let him do it. But welcome, Professor Engler. Welcome, Stephen. Thank you. Thanks much. Good to be here. Yeah. Well, if you would tell me about your work, what is it encompass?
1:13.1	It seems like a lot of unusual, you know, religiously tied aspects. But how would you describe it?
1:18.7	I do fieldwork with spirit incorporation religions in Brazil, so Cardasist spiritism and Umbanda and some fieldwork with Afro-Brazilian religions and neo-Pentecostal traditions.
1:31.3	And what I'm interested in is the fact that people have similar sorts of experiences in different religious traditions,
	...

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