Nina Paley journeyed from grief to unexpected blessings with the help of a couple of Hindu gods.  In the process, she made a feature-length animated film, Sita Sings the Blues, based on a portion of the 3,000 year old epic, the Ramayana. 

Also on the show, Katy Scrogin reviews In the Presence of Absence, by the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.

In this bonus podcast, Nina Paley describes the difficulties she had in using the music of Annette Hanshaw in her film, and the steps she took to help the film clear the copyright hurdles.

Constitutional scholar and Boston University Law professor Jay Wexler answers questions about the relationship between Church and State.

This is a bonus audio portion of material we were not able to include in the broadcast show.

What does the Bible actually say about forgiveness?  The answer may surprise you.  New Testament scholar and Huffington Post writer Maria Mayo challenges traditional Christian assumptions about forgiveness in her research.  While not dismissing the idea of forgiveness or diminishing its importance, she takes issue with the current practice of forgivenes as an individual, psychological act.

Also on the program, Katy Scrogin reviews David Foster Wallace's posthumous novel, The Pale King.

This is bonus audio from our interview with Maria Mayo.

The object Christians call "The Bible" seems simple and straightforward.  As our guest Tim Beal shows us, however, a closer look reveals not "The" Bible, but many (and many different) Bibles.  In our conversation, we explore what that means for the past, the present, and the future, of consumer Bible culture. Beal is the author of The Rise and Fall of the Bible: The Unexpected History of an Accidental Book.

Later on the broadcast, David J. Dunn reflects on the recent shootings in Colorado, with an impassioned plea for rational gun control.

In this extra audio podcast for show #1205, we continue our conversation with Timothy Beal, and explore the deeper meanings of the word "religion," as well as the strange new world of American Bible culture.