The Global Spiral  is an e-publication of Metanexus Institute. Through articles, essays, book reviews, and news, the Global Spiral  explores humanity's most profound questions and challenges.
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 Volume 10

December 2009/January 2010 | November 2009 | October 2009 | September 2009 | July/August 2009 | June 2009 | May 2009 | April 2009
 
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December 2009/January 2010
Volume 10, Issue 8

Visual Explorations

“[W]hat knowledge contained in what books of science, culture, and civilization would you most want to pass on to the surviving humans...You get to choose one book...” more


“Insight and intuition abound in the realms of religion and the arts. They also abound in the twin realms of science and mathematics.” more


Toward a Post-Secular Europe?
by Emanuel L. Paparella

“What are the consequences of taking seriously the empirical sociological fact that for the great majority of the world’s populations in the 21st century, it is not only possible, but quite normal to be both modern and religious?” more


“However astonishing it may sound to skeptical ears, the fact is that the world religions remain the principal and primary sources from which the largest aggregates of humanity receive guidance and derive a sense of collective identity.” more



December 2009/January 2010 | Page 1 of 8 | November 2009

 Volume 9

March 2009 | February 2009 | December 2008/January 2009 | November 2008 | October 2008 | September 2008 | July/August 2008 | June 2008 | May 2008 | April 2008
 
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March 2009
Volume 9, Issue 10

Visual Explorations

“This exploration aims to resolve the fundamental split between two diametrically opposed worldviews in the present day:  the critical disjunction between the evolutionary story of the universe as described by modern science since the time of Darwin and the traditional Gospel story of God’s self-communication in Jesus Christ that informs the lives up to 2 billion Christians in the world today.” more


The Telos of Beauty
by Greg S. Cootsona

“[B]eauty is the grasp of rightness. It arises for both theologians and scientists through rightly perceiving and theorizing about their objects of study. It is thus a perception of truth...For theologians, it can be grasping God’s true nature, God’s creation, and our ethical life. For scientists, it is the rightly perceiving, and theorizing about, nature. When this perception is made, it is accompanied by a sense of completeness.” more


“When Nietzsche's madman proclaimed the death of God in 1887, he correctly identified the perpetrators: "We have killed him, you and I". However, an examination of the crime scene reveals that Nietzsche misidentified the victim...” more


The Death of Jewish Philosophy
by Norbert J. Samuelson

“[T]he now three-hundred year-old tradition of continental philosophy has dictated the agenda for the field of modern Jewish philosophy. However, I believe the field to be dead...dead because it has nothing to contribute to what is the primary task of all philosophy—the discovery of truth about everything.” more



March 2009 | Page 1 of 10 | February 2009

 Volume 8

March 2008 | February 2008 | January 2008 | December 2007 | November 2007 | October 2007 | September 2007 | August 2007 | July 2007 | June 2007 | May 2007 | April 2007
 
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March 2008
Volume 8, Issue 12

Education, by Louis Comfort Tiffany
Special Extended Issue on Science and Religion in Schools
Martin Rogers, Guest Editor
Science and Religion Across the World
Science and Religion in Schools in the UK

“[W]e need to transcend the heated and often undignified debates that polarise the possibilities for our youngsters when middle positions may embrace a greater wisdom. To include some history of science in a science syllabus might be one way forward. Properly taught it would show that science does not take place in a cultural vacuum.” more


“Many teachers are locked into specialist knowledge of one area and are woefully ignorant of other disciplines. Those who become teachers often perpetuate myths about subjects they do not understand well. Students are subject to the views of the loudest and most influential voices in their small worlds. These are not always the most nuanced ones.” more


“The UK education system in secondary schools is beginning a major change in the way it considers learning. There is a move away from subject focus onto a more cross-curricular and meta-cognitive approach to learning. The Science and Religion in Schools project is a wonderful model for this new approach to learning. We are at the beginning of an exciting time. ” more


“Good science is the precondition to any responsible religious interpretation of that science. The remarkable ignorance about science displayed by many otherwise intelligent and decent people is also disturbing. How do we address these problems...?” more


Bottom of the Class
by Michael Reiss

“Teenagers criticise school science in particular for not enabling genuine discussion and debate, for not tackling up-to-date issues, and for giving them little choice—for example, about what practical work to undertake. Though they generally think science is important, most feel that a career in it is not for them but for others who are cleverer than they are.”more


“The biggest issue facing most teachers is the lack of transferability of this knowledge in the eyes of the students themselves. The way something may be taught in one subject may be approached very differently in another and how much it is taught can vary as well.” more


A German and World Wide Perspective
by Astrid Dinter and Peter Schreiner

“From a perspective of religious education, it must be the goal to reach a complex understanding of creation, to help the individual subject develop the ability to handle complementary worldviews and to use a differentiated critical form of hermeneutics, especially when focusing on biblical texts.” more


“South Africa, because of its recent history, provides a unique opportunity to test the world-wide viability of such a project. This is because South Africa is a microcosm of the contemporary world, first world and third world, a scientific secular culture and a traditional religious one, in one society.” more


“The Science and Religion Debate, when taken into schools through the Science and Religion in Schools Project (SRSP), aims to shine light on ‘the bigger picture’ of our cultural heritages, and contributes to the holistic education of young people, creating opportunities for deep learning about the world around them, and understanding of how they may act positively within it.” more


“The aim is to get pupils at this age to wonder and be engaged in the world around them and to be able to use both the scientific and the religious language in their experience and understanding.” more


Read the Introduction and Overview of the Science and Religion in Schools Guidebooks.

Book Reviews

Thank God For Evolution!
by Michael Dowd
Review by William Grassie

“The book is a genre bender—mixing inspirational science writing, theological reflection, Biblical interpretation, and self-improvement manual into a sometimes distracting blend.” more


The God Delusion
by Richard Dawkins
Review by Mary Midgley

“It seems not to have struck Dawkins that academic science is only a small, specialised, dependent part of what anybody knows. Most of human knowledge is tacit knowledge” more


Science and Religion in Schools
Review by Knut-Willy Saether

“The aim of these two guides is clearly stated: ‘…to encourage the teaching in schools of issues concerning the debate between the claims of science and those of the major world religions.’” more


Science and Religion in Schools
Review by Michael Reiss

“There is no shortage of books on science and religion but, perhaps surprisingly, there is a paucity of materials that are of high quality and can be used in schools. Until the Science and Religion in Schools Project, that is.” more


March 2008 | Page 1 of 12 | February 2008

 Volume 7

March 2007 | February 2007 | January 2007
 
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March 2007
Volume 7, Issue 3

by Charles Taylor

"The divorce of natural science and religion has been damaging to both; but it is equally true that the culture of the humanities and social sciences has often been surprisingly blind and deaf to the spiritual, and that in my case, the attempt to break down these barriers is being recognized and honoured...The deafness of many philosophers, social scientists and historians to the spiritual dimension can be remarkable.  And this is the more damaging in that it affects the culture of the media and of educated public opinion in general." more


by Charles Taylor

"Hegel, Philosophical Papers, Sources of the Self, Ethics of Authenticity, Multiculturalism, Philosophical Arguments, A Catholic Modernity, Varieties of Religion Today, Modern Social Imaginaries, A Secular Age."  more


Named Member, Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton ... Sources of the Self ... The Ethics of Authenticity ... Honored as a Companion of the Order of Canada ... Delivers Gifford Lectures ... A Catholic Modernity? ... Made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec ... Modern Social Imaginaries ... Awarded 2007 Templeton Prize For Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities ... more



March 2007 | Page 1 of 3 | February 2007

 Volume 6

December 2006 | November 2006 | October 2006
 
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December 2006
Volume 6, Issue 13

Ilex Aquifolium by Niels Henrik Gregersen

Complexity is all around us. Complexity is in eco-systems. Where do they begin and where do they end, and what should count as the minimal unit of an ecosystem?. more


by Charles Dickens

The Spirit stood among the graves, and pointed down to One. He advanced towards it trembling. The Phantom was exactly as it had been, but he dreaded that he saw new meaning in its solemn shape... 'Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point,' said Scrooge, 'answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?  more


by Matthew Chandrankunnel

In Galileo we touch a genius - a man committed to science and a man who practiced his faith - but bridged the seemingly unfathomable schism between them. He is the martyr for human intuitiveness; a man fallen into the death trap of human connivance and viciousness and one’s own ill judgements and calculated risks....in a nutshell the tears and triumphs of Galileo Galilei will always inspire humanity."  more



December 2006 | Page 1 of 3 | November 2006

Politics by Other Means
Making Sense of Evolution