© The LUCAS ALEXANDER SHOW 2024
“Remembering TINA TURNER The Queen Of Rock”!
"The Mysticism & Science of BUDDHISM & Chanting: LifeJourney of a Spiritual Soul Survivor" with Author, Lecturer and PhD Scholar on Religions from the Stanford University, Dr. RALPH H. CRAIG III.

Welcome to this special edition of "The Lucas Alexander Show" "Remembering The Queen of Rock" series, where Lucas Alexander is joined by Dr. Ralph Craig lll, a PhD Scholar in Religious Studies, where he specialized in American Religions and Japanese Nichiren Buddhism at Stanford University, for a fascinating, indepth and spiritual conversation about the late, great TINA TURNER, her spiritual path and practice from her Baptist roots to becoming one of the worlds most wellknown Nichiren Buddhists, and great insight to Buddhism in general.

Her journey is unique, her lifestory, well known, shocking and controversial, but her inner most spiritual beliefs, efforts and outlook, has not been explored as much as her sensational catalogue of music, legendary performances and dramatic lifestory of domestic abuse by former husband and musical partner, Ike Turner. Eventually a Triumph over Tragedy story, leading to enormous success as an artist, which she attributed very to her Buddhist practice.

RALPH H. CRAIG III is a scholar of religion whose research focuses on premodern South Asian Buddhism and late nineteenth and twentiethcentury American religious history. He received his B.A. in Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University and his Ph.D. in Religious Studies at Stanford University. His dissertation is a study of early medieval representations of Buddhist preachers across South Asian Buddhist literature. His research interests include religious authority, religion and race, popular culture, metaphysics, and philosophy. He has a forthcoming religious biography of Tina Turner titled, Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans Publishing, 2023), which explores the place of religion in the life and career of pop culture icon Tina Turner and examines her development as a Black Buddhist teacher. His future projects include a monograph on Buddhist preachers in Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras, a Black Buddhism documentary reader, and a monograph on the SGIUSA Nichiren Buddhist organization.

When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the ragstoriches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina’s journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of largescale movements in religion and pop culture.

Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina’s Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in ’60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers’ disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina’s personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams as enlightening as the iconic singer herself.

TO PURCHASE A COPY OF THE BOOK “Dancing In My Dreams” by Ralph Craig III: https://www.amazon.com/DancingDreams...


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© LUCAS ALEXANDER SHOW 2024