The year was 1987, and the big supernatural news was Shirley MacLaine's past lives. (Now it's Jesus' past wives ...) 

It was also a daring time to start a Bible-belt radio talk show on the paranormal. But that's what local media legend Teddy Bart did with "Beyond Reason", an interview show about reincarnation, near-death experiences and other mysteries of alternative spirituality.

"In 1987, it was considered weird," he says. "Now, it's mainstream. In that 19-year period, more people are looking for meaning outside the customary boundaries."

"Beyond Reason" aired 11 years, before Bart and business partner Karlen Evins reluctantly shelved it to devote time to their politically oriented Roundtable radio show.

Now "Beyond Reason" is back, 21st-century style. The 30-minute show can be heard as a Webcast and podcast (see beyondreason.com). A new interview is posted weekly. Since its January relaunch, the guest list has included Gnostic gospel specialist Marvin Meyer and author Neale Donald Walsch of the "Conversations with God"series.

Bart and Evins serve again as co-hosts, two Nashvillians irrepressibly interested in spiritual claims and contentions.

They're seekers with synergy: She was raised Church of Christ and Baptist in Lebanon, Tenn. He was raised Orthodox Jewish in Pennsylvania.

After enduring financial ups and downs with the Roundtable (it died in a budget crunch last year), the two decided to revive a show that converses with spiritually restless America.

"Maybe this was the universe slapping us in the face," Evins says. "A fraction of people are interested in politics, but every person I know wants to know where they go when they die."

Bart had been a TV anchor or radio host here since 1970, when he conceived "Beyond Reason" to satisfy a personal fascination with the interplay of early Christianity and Judaism.

"Beyond Reason" had been airing less than a week when entrepreneurial Evins heard the show in her car and got hooked. Within months she was producing the broadcast, then co-hosting.

She believes its current subject matter -- the "lost" gospels of Jesus, the healing power of prayer, intrigues of the Bell Witch -- chronicle the spiritual intensities of the dangerous new century.

"There's a spiritual flame getting brighter within us all," she says.

"I grew up in a faith that taught me how to pray, but not how to listen. ... But I don't think our God gets mad at us for asking questions."

The duo hope to bring "Beyond Reason" into radio syndication some day and generate spin-off projects (possibly seminars or tours to sacred places).

All these years later, a tag line still guides their public itch for spiritual inquiry: "You may not believe what you discover ... but then, you may discover what you believe."

Local columnist Ray Waddle can be reached at ray@raywaddle.com