Deep history, or the evolutionary history of the human species, is an interesting context for theology. Recent research offers insight in the way early humans (50 000 – 30 000 years ago) created a symbolic world in the region north of Australia. Two things strike me as important: It’s just a side note in the […]
Category: Read on the Net
Evolutionary Parables: Can Deep History Be An Open Story?
Looking for some more resources on ‘deep history‘ and ‘big history‘, two notions which I think are important in the interaction between theology and evolutionary studies of religion, I stumbled upon a curious website. At “Great Story parables” you can find dramatic scripts and stories for fun, poignant, and virtues-rich ways of teaching the science-based Epic of Evolution (Big History) Apparently, […]
Calling Charlie – A Case of HADD With Theological Implications
Sometimes I live in an ivory tower. That’s why I completely missed the social media-hype around #charliecharliechallenge Tweets. Apparently it’s a new kind of game, resembling our old-fashioned Ouija board, played with pencils and papers. There are some interesting aspects about this. First of all, all those kids running away or screaming out their lungs […]
Ken Ham Cherry Picking Scripture
When I first read Ken Ham’s take on the Nepal earthquake, I decided to ignore it. I thought nobody would take him serious anyway, at least not in my little, Dutch-speaking part of the world. But then some approving comments on Ham appeared on social media. That made me reconsider my initial choice. The reason is simple. […]
McGrath Inaugural Lecture Andreas Idreos Professorship of Science and Religion: A Song or a Symphony?
Alister McGrath has delivered his inaugural lecture as Andreas Idreos Professorship of Science and Religion at Oxford University. The full transcript of the lecture is available online. Some highlights: Mc Grath sees science and religion as two distinct outcomes of one basic attitude: awe. Personally, McGrath felt a lack in science: it didn’t offer meaning Science gave […]
Ratzinger Again . . . “The Creation of the Human Being”
Originally posted on Human Action and God:
Ratzinger on the humble truth of the creation of man from dust: We are told that God formed the man of dust from the ground. There is here something at once humbling and consoling. Something humbling because we are told: You are not God, you did not make yourself, you…
The Evolution of the Alphabet
A beautiful overview of the alphabet, classic example of cultural evolution. Found on Imgur, where reddit is indicated as original source. However, I think the original is this academic site, where each step is shown separately. Even more examples of human writing can be found here. You might have noticed the little buzz on social […]
lifecourse of a paper
Originally posted on scatterplot:
Working on a paper and proposal that both involved life-course explanations of social phenomena, I realized that my papers have a life-course of their own. I thought I would share: Birth. This is the first glimmer of a new idea. Unfortunately, nature is cruel and mortality at this stage is very…
The Evolution of Humans in a Few Seconds
A short overview of evolution. Two things make this worth viewing: (a) the attempt to give a non-linear view of evolution, showing different branches (within the limits of the format), (b) the non-patriarchal view, representing the human species not by the old caveman symbol 😉 Source: Imgur
“What Is Man That You Are Mindful of Him?” by Jacob Thielman
Originally posted on EerdWord:
Jacob Thielman Jacob Thielman is Internet marketing assistant at Eerdmans. * * * I want to share a book with you — a beautiful, devastating book that you might not notice otherwise: Receiving the Gift of Friendship: Profound Disability, Theological Anthropology, and Ethics by Hans Reinders. “Profound disability” is a term…
Weekly Gardening 