Allie Ward

So this brings up the big notion that evil is kind of in the eye of the beholder, as is justice and vengeance.

So how is all this stuff defined between individuals and then among cultures and even used by leaders to polarize or vilify or categorize acts that actually require concrete action?

So does everyone use the word evil about the same amount?

They don't.

So in another Spooktober episode about mummies, mommiology with Dr. Kara Cooney and Dr. Salima Ikram, we discuss religion versus ritual and magic.

And also we dive into that in our witchology episode with Phil Parma, who themselves is a practicing witch with roots in Eastern and Western cultures.

So the term evil and religion go hand in hand.

But the word evil has, of course, leaked into secular culture to describe unspeakable cruelty without the religious context.

So how does Kenneth handle this at a dinner party?

So you're not going to leave with a pamphlet at all.

Ken published a book in 2023 titled Evil, a Critical Primer, which examines academically the way that the word evil is very contextually bound and it dives into different cultural factors that seek to define it.

I like to envision Ken.

with a smart leather satchel, handing out hardcover copies at his wife's work functions, or passing out the volume to a table of friendly strangers at a cousin's wedding.

I would be thrilled to be on the receiving end and ask him one million questions and leave with a copy, which to be honest is what essentially this episode is.

Now, did you grow up in a religious household or did you grow up a D&D nerd or both?

Ken's family was less religious than his wife's because, you know, being Pentecostal and speaking in tongues, it's a real lifestyle commitment.

Okay, I get that.

In the Genocidology episode, Dr. Dirk Moses said that taking the temperature down on these discussions is what moves things forward.

But also, let's say that you have deep, fundamentally different views of what other people ought to be doing with their bodies or lives or how people should be treating each other or how they might judge each other, especially if you know that it's simmering right under the surface because it involves people's ideology and their identities.

And what if you were pissed?