The turn of the year was a bit of a rough ride. My grandmother died, my last living grandparent, and although I did not have a deep personal relation with her, it felt as if a phase in my life had ended. Unexpectedly, her death has led me into one of the most profound crises of faith […]
Tag: faith
Religions on the Rise?
A recent contribution to the ESSSAT discussion forum on Linkedin offers some interesting numbers on religion. Brian Grim, author of The Price of Freedom Denied (amongst other publications), posted a link to his summary of the Yearbook of International Religious Demography. To offer just one figure out of his list: Religionists account for 88.4% of the world’s population in 2013, up […]
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 […]
Science and Religion: Has the Conflict Model Won the Popularity Vote?
– Tom Uytterhoeven – This morning my wife posted a picture on my Facebook wall. It shows two Post It notes on a wall in a community center in a Belgian town. The center had organized a cultural activity for kids: they were invited to write down who their hero was. So one kid posted: […]
Heresy in a Theological Debate
– Tom Uytterhoeven – Yesterday, May 22th, I presented a paper “Towards a Theology of Toolmaking”, on a conference on Nature, Technology and Religion, in which I use Philip Hefner’s concept of ‘Created Co-Creator’ as a starting point for further reflections on technology. It went alright, considering I only slept for 3-4 hours the night […]
Resurrection: the Rebellion of Religion
We're about to celebrate Easter again. Besides airing the Passion of the Christ on tv, or hiding chocolate eggs in the garden, this feast has remained untouched by the massive commercialisation that suffocates Christmas (though I like unwrapping gifts as much as the next kid). It's a celebration with a very strange and precious message: […]
The Art in Nature – or: Thinking About My Research
Land art is a fascinating form of art, blurring the lines between the artificial and the natural. You could say land art gives us insight in the way culture works: integrating humanity in the natural world, while at the same time changing that world – making it hard to say whether the artist discovered or […]
Regaining Sanity for the Earth
– Tom Uytterhoeven – I’ve been reading Klaus Nürnberger‘s book “Regaining Sanity for the Earth” to write a review for the ESSSAT Newsletter. The book has some interesting proposals about the relation between science and religion. Science and religion need each other to pursue their ends: religion needs science to be relevant, science needs religion […]
Weekly Gardening 