Mary-Jane Rubenstein: Pantheism and the Godness of Nature

What if nature isn’t just alive—but divine? Pantheism, once branded heresy, is finding new adherents among those who don’t consider themselves religious but still sense something sacred and wondrous in the living world.

Mary-Jane Rubenstein, a scholar of philosophy and religion, traces the long, contested history of wonder—from medieval mystics to modern seekers. She reflects on the Overview Effect, that disorienting moment when astronauts gaze back at Earth and feel both its fragility and its radiance. And she talks about the obsession that tech titans like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have for space exploration, which may be the new frontier of awe—even a new religion.

But awe is never simple. It can be as unsettling as it is beautiful, as terrifying as it is astonishing. It breaks us open even as it draws us in—leaving us to reckon with a world that is stranger than we thought.

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• Faculty profile
• "Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race"
• "Pantheologies"
• "Strange Blood"

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0:00 Introduction
3:50 Pantheism: History and Ethics
11:15 Personal Spirituality
19:55 Awe, Wonder, and the Overview Effect
28:35 Space as Religion
35:50 The Wonder Cabinet

Wonder Cabinet is hosted by Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson. Find out more about the show at https://wondercabinetproductions.com, where you can subscribe to the podcast and our newsletter.