I'm your host, Kelly Chase. In this episode, I'm bringing you something a little

different, an interview. I've recently taken the plunge to making this my full-time gig,

which means that I have more time to invest in getting more content to you all more quickly.

So going forward, interspersed between the regular scripted episodes will be interviews with experts whose work is referenced in the most recent episode so that we can dive deeper into their work and the themes we've explored there.

And I'm thrilled to share that the very first of these interviews will be with one of my personal heroes, Dr. Diana Walsh Pesulka.

If you're a regular listener of the podcast, you are

already familiar with Dr. Pesolka's work, which we discussed in both episodes 11 on the emergence

of UFO lore and in the most recent episode, Episode 16, on the occult origins of the space program.

And for this interview, you'll at least want to have listened to

episode 16 to get the full context of our conversation. But episode 11 would also be helpful.

If you haven't listened to those, I highly recommend that you go back and do so before continuing

on. Dr. Diana Walsh Pesolka is a professor of religious studies and chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.

She holds a bachelor's degree from UC Davis, a master's from Berkeley, and a PhD from Syracuse University.

She is the author of Heaven Can Wait, Purgatory in Catholic Devotional and Popular Culture,

and American Cosmic, UFO's Religion Technology, which we'll be discussing in this interview.

For me, American Cosmic is one of those rare books that changes everything about how you see the

world. And that process has been ongoing. I've gone back to it a

few times over the last year while also absorbing all of Diana's other interviews and lectures

that I could get my hands on. Each new reading builds upon itself and the closer I get to understanding

what she's really saying, the more astonished I become. To be clear, this book doesn't just bear

rereading. I'd argue that if one truly wants to absorb its full impact, it requires it. On its face,

the narratives and concepts laid out by Diana and American Cosmic are as compelling as they are

...