I presented my paper on Schillebeeckx and the perspectives he offers on the relation between evolutionary accounts of religion and theology. The audience was rather small in numbers, but I received some excellent questions and feedback. This is the presentation I used to present the paper (link) Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires […]
Category: adventures in research
Philip Hefner on Experience
This blogpost offers a summary and review of “Theology and Science: Engaging the Richness of Experience“. Philip Hefner argues that the significance of the relation between science and theology is to be found in the meaning that emerges from this relation. This meaning is both expressed and recreated through language. Hefner sees theology’s role as interpretative. […]
John F. Haught on a Metaphysics of the Future
John Haught’s delightful book “God after Darwin: A Theology of Evolution” offers many ideas. Although I do not fully agree with all of them – I am a bit reluctant about the Whiteheadian threads in some of Haught’s proposals – I think Haught does a tremendous job in showing how theology could be in consonance with […]
Short quote: Barbour on religious pluralism
If we accept a genuine religious pluralism, we can respect the distinctive character of the historic traditions and learn from one another as well as from nature. Ian G. Barbour, Religion and Science. Historical and Contemporary Issues. A Revised and Expanded Edition of Religion in an Age of Science, Londen, SCM Press Ltd, 1998, p […]
Six Books That Shaped My Research
Tom Uytterhoeven One of the benefits of working at my faculty is that my office is located in – yes, as in physically part of – one of the largest theological libraries in the world. Reading has become a true adventure, leading to ever more new findings (sometimes it is not so much the […]
Copy-Pasted in God’s Image? Theology and Extra-Terrestrial Life.
Someone tweeted this cartoon on evolution last night: Some might find it to be a bit rude, others (like me, sorry mum!) might think it’s funny. What it makes fun of, is the hypothesis that life on Earth has an alien or extra-terrestrial origin, a proposal that is often attributed to Fred Hoyle. Of course, […]
Can “Spirit” Be a Verb?
Originally posted on liftthescreen:
Can “Spirit” be a Verb? I want to float an idea—the idea of “spirit.” The English word “spirit” is not very versatile. It’s almost exclusively used as a noun, most often referring to a supernatural power or presence, although we often speak as well of the human spirit. Once in…
Why I Use Evernote – or: Why I Started to Enjoy Writing
– Tom Uytterhoeven – One of the topics that can start a vivid discussion between PhD-students, regardless their actual research topic, is the latest productivity app (another is where the best pizza is served). So I spent a lot of evenings testing out apps like: Omnifocus – good, but expensive if you want it on all your […]
The Church of the Jedi
See on Scoop.it – Cultural evolution In the years after the first Star Wars trilogy, a group of dedicated followers built their own religion: Jediism. Tom Uytterhoeven‘s insight: You can be dismissive about this, calling it a joke that went out of hand. But I see the dynamics of culture at work, going from old […]
The Mood of Secular Existence
– Tom Uytterhoeven – I just started reading Jerome A. Stone’s “The Minimalist Vision of Transcendence“, and he immediately raised a question I cannot answer myself. Stone describes the secular life, on p. 3: Given that the meaning of secularity is the loss of a transcendent source of meaning, secular existence will either find a […]
Weekly Gardening 