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Metanexus: Views 2001.12.31 3504 words If one probes deeper than a mere description of God and the world, one thenencounters problems concerning how God and the world interact, if indeedthey do. Although this kind of analysis calls for metaphysics, yet asHuchingson points out, old world views which, after all, die hard, impedeconstructing a vision of…
Metanexus: Views 2001.12.28 3771 words What is theology? And what does theology have to say to us? Is it truly thescience of God, in the way that physics might be considered the science ofmaterial objects and their interactions or biology viewed as the science ofthe lifeworld or of living objects? What, then, would be the…
Metanexus: Views 2001.12.27 2056 words Willem Drees asserts that religions emerged in confrontation with the powerof storms, of the sea and the mountains, thunder and lightning. Whenconfronted with unpredictable events we still use animistic language. Weeven do so in our dealings with technological products; the car ‘does notwant’ to start and the computer ‘does not…
Now, what is the purpose behind eugenics? It is the preserving and perpetuation of the status quo. That may seem somewhat counterintuitive since the purported goal of eugenics is a “perfection” of the human state. Yes, but whose human state? And whose perfection? Who benefits from the perfection of anybody’s human state? For eugenics means…
Introduction Let me start with a definition: Philanthropy is the joy of other-regarding service coupled with the moral alchemy of turning gold into something better. Contemplate these words from John D. Rockefeller, the product of small town upstate New York and of a first job as a fledgling merchant in Cleveland: “I believe the power…
What is the future of the future? Will it all end in fire or in ice? And what kinds of events will the penultimate reveal? Jill Neimark asks theoretical physicist Lee Smolin.
Bernard d’Abrera’s concise atlas of the world’s butterflies is a beautifully produced book with the most stunning photographs of butterflies that I’ve ever seen. Though not intended as a coffee-table book, it could eminently serve that purpose. D’Abrera himself is a world-renowned butterfly and moth expert at the BritishMuseum(Natural History) in London. Over the years…
Matter is the most striking feature of perceived reality. It is all around us and within us too. Bereft of it the world would be insubstantial nothingness: a metaphysical thought with no physical correspondence. We see things, touch things, taste things, hear and smell things: all these make up much of perceived reality. Matter requires…
Introductory Questions Why is it that we actually think that a change in technology has to reflect or create a corresponding change in human nature? It does not. When Martin Luther King, Jr., observed that we now had guided missiles and misguided men, he was commenting upon the novelty of the missiles, for we have…
Metanexus: Views 2001.12.18 2743 words According to the Dutch theologian Willem Drees, “A creation story begins with the beginning. But we do not know our realityas a film shown to us from the first scene onwards. Our situation resemblesthe predicament of archaeologists. We find traces and clues – and seek tounderstand the past. In that…