Tales from the Gap

2021 ◽  
pp. 94-134
Author(s):  
David Hutchings
Keyword(s):  
Western World ◽  
Creative Development ◽  
Scientific Thought ◽  
Dark Ages ◽  
Significant Figures ◽  
John William Draper ◽  
The Church

This chapter takes on the Dark Ages narrative—the prevalent idea that the Western world (at least) was plunged into a thousand years of intellectual sleep by the onset of Christianity. Examples of this storyline are taken from a variety of sources, including Petrarch, Edward Gibbon, Daniel Boorstin, and Carl Sagan. By examining the literature, the Dark Ages are shown not to be so dark after all: the years in between AD 500 and AD 1500 were full of inventive, rational, and scientific thought, much of it given its impetus and support by the Church. As the examples of such creative development mount up, the Dark Ages myth is put under increasing strain, until it buckles entirely. Once again, John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White turn out to have been very significant figures in keeping it going for as long as it has.

Myths, Myths, Everywhere

2021 ◽  
pp. 135-158
Author(s):  
David Hutchings
Keyword(s):  
Modern Science ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
The Other ◽  
Galileo Galilei ◽  
Giordano Bruno ◽  
John William Draper ◽  
The Church ◽  
True Science

This chapter debunks a series of myths about science and religion. These include the idea that Giordano Bruno and then Galileo Galilei were martyrs of modern science; that Copernicanism was unilaterally opposed by the Church; that Christianity sets faith against evidence; that reason has played no part in Christian thinking over its history; that true science is only ever cold, detached, and rational; that thinkers must pick a side in the war between “science” and “religion.” Modern examples of all of these myths are given, ranging from academic works to bestselling novels. Each is studied in turn, and then revealed to be false. As with the other chapters, John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White are shown to be largely responsible for popularizing them in the first place.

scholarly journals Rethinking the message of the church in the 21st century: An amalgamation between science and religion

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk G. Van der Merwe
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Western World ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
Theological Training

Throughout its history, Christianity has stood in a dichotomous relation to the various philosophical movements or eras (pre-modernism, modernism, postmodernism and post-postmodernism) that took on different faces throughout history. In each period, it was the sciences that influenced, to a great extent, the interpretation and understanding of the Bible. Christianity, however, was not immune to influences, specifically those of the Western world. This essay reflects briefly on this dichotomy and the influence of Bultmann’s demythologising of the kerygma during the 20th century. Also, the remythologising (Vanhoozer) of the church’s message as proposed for the 21st century no more satisfies the critical Christian thinkers. The relationship between science and religion is revisited, albeit from a different perspective as established over the past two decades as to how the sciences have been pointed out more and more to complement theology. This article endeavours to evoke the church to consider the fundamental contributions of the sciences and how it is going to incorporate the sciences into its theological training and message to the world.

scholarly journals What is a rite? Émile Durkheim, a hundred years later

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo D’Orsi ◽  
Fabio Dei
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Bond ◽  
Western World ◽  
Emile Durkheim ◽  
Scientific Thought ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Unitary Approach ◽  
Collective Representations

Abstract This paper is focused on the anthropological concept of ritual, starting from Emile Durkheim's approach in Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse (1912). We discuss three different aspects of the Durkheimian perspective on religion and rituals: a) the sacred/profane dichotomy; b) the concept of collective representations - which establishes a substantial continuity between religious and scientific thought; c) a ‟practical” and performative interpretation of rites as the basis of social bond. During the twentieth century, these aspects have influenced different and sometimes opposing theoretical approaches (including ‟symbolist” and ‟neo-intellectualist” theories and Victor Turner's ‟anthropology of experience”). We briefly review each of them, arguing for the importance of reconsidering them into a unitary perspective, centred on religious phenomena as basically moral experiences and as the language of social relations. In the conclusions, we will show how such unitary approach helps us understand the transformations as well as the continuities of rituality in the individualized and secularized societies of what we call nowadays the Western world.

After Forty Years: Notre Dame and The Review of Politics

1978 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 437-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Stritch
Keyword(s):  
Western World ◽  
Modern History ◽  
Catholic College ◽  
Founding Editor ◽  
Secular World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Religious Sect ◽  
The Church

The Review of Politics, which with this issue closes its fortieth year of publication, bears an interesting and faintly exotic relationship to the modern history of Notre Dame and of the Church. At first glance nothing could seem further from what many regarded as the somnolent provincialismof a Midwest Catholic college than the background and career of the founding editor of The Review, Waldemar Gurian. Had Notre Dame been the offspring of a small and youthful religious sect, there could have been no Gurian and no Review. What helped to make both possible was the universal Church, more especially the Church of the Western world. Many observers thought the universal Church itself steeped in somnolent, albeit worldwide provincialism. But the fact is that the Church was, in the 1930's, stirring with change, change which reflected and in turn influenced changes in the intellectual temper of the secular world.

scholarly journals Patrystyczna egzegeza alegoryczna - użycie czy nadużycie tekstu biblijnego?

Vox Patrum ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 49-64
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Bardski
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Cultural Environment ◽  
Creative Development ◽  
Critical Method ◽  
The Church

The interpretation of the Bibie throughout the centuries followed a twofoid way: it consisted either in the research of the literate meaning connected with the intention of the author and the historical-cultural environment of the text, either in the more-the-literal creative development of ideas associated with the literary motives of the text. The first kind of interpretation is considered fundamental for the biblical studies and makes use of the historical-critical method. The second one constitutes a very important stream in the tradition of the Church but has been scarcely analyzed from the point of view of the biblical studies.

scholarly journals Unga i karismatiska och evangelikala kyrkor resonerar om sin tro

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greger Andersson ◽  
Roland Spjuth ◽  
Fredrik Wenell
Keyword(s):  
Main Part ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Western World ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Evangelical Churches ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
The Church

The subject that is examined in this article is how young Christians in Swedish Charismatic and Evangelical churches talk about their faith. The study takes its point of departure in Charles Taylors suggestion that both believers and non-believers in the Western world live in a “secular age” and that this affects the conditions for religious beliefs. Taylors reasoning as well as some American and Swedish studies about young believers are presented in the first part of the article. The main part consist of a presentation of two focus group interviews with young adults. In a final section the interviews are discussed in relation to earlier research. The authors argue that the interviewees emphasize the personal and the authentic, and that it is vital to have “a relation with Jesus”. They refer to, and long for, charismatic experiences but are also searching for a mature faith and an acceptance of “ups and downs” in their spiritual life. Although they shy traditional expressions and admit that they find certain dogmas difficult to understand, their belief offers them a certain “wholeness” in life. They are unhappy about the stereotypes about Christians they encounter in society but want to share their beliefs through testimony and a loving life style. Ethics, in the form of love and tolerance rather than rules, is very important. However, this is a problem not least in relation to issues about homosexuality. Finally, the au- thors note, that the church, or groups within the church, are salient for these Christians.

scholarly journals Transformerende riglyne vir die kerk uit Lukas 14: Mense is belangriker as reels en grense

1997 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet Van Staden
Keyword(s):  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Personality Type ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
First Century ◽  
Western World ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Mediterranean Culture ◽  
The Future ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Church

Transformative guidelines for the church from Luke 14:People are more important than rules and boundaries. It has been shown by scholars that Mediterranean culture of the first century exhibits certain distinctive characteristics in personality type and in concomitant social behaviour. Generally speaking, Mediterranean people can be described as of the interdependent personality type as opposed to the independent type of the modem Western world. The New Testament as a collection of documents reflects the values that prevailed at the time of writing. More importantly, each of these documents reflects an interpretive evaluation of past events for contemporary society, and at the same time intrinsically contains a vision for the future. In this article I wish to explore the implications of the Gospel of Luke's transformational guidelines for the church leaders of his day. His vision for the future of the church, I believe, can be presented in the form of the conviction: People are more important than rules and boundaries.

The Catholic Church 101

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Western World ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Close your eyes and try to imagine a “typical” Catholic. If you’re like most people, you’ll probably picture a white priest or bishop, somewhere in the Western world—Rome, maybe. When Hollywood wants to depict the Church, that’s what the central casting office usually dials up....

Secularism, State Neutrality, and Islam

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah Saeed
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
The State ◽  
Western World ◽  
State Neutrality ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Basic Issue ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
The Church

This chapter explores how Muslims understand secularism and respond to the idea of separating religion from the state. For many Muslims, secularism has negative connotations, as they understand it to be against religion, equivalent to irreligion or antireligion. Due to these preconceptions, a Muslim who calls for secularism to be accepted may face significant resistance in many Muslim-majority countries. Various historical, social, and political reasons account for why much of the Western world has moved to separate religion or the church from the state, even while religion has remained, in several instances, an explicit part of the state. There is ample room in Islamic thought to explore the basic issue of state neutrality vis--vis religion, but the language of political discourse must shift toward more neutral terms. The term “state neutrality” is more acceptable. Muslims can come to accept state neutrality, despite their negative historical experiences associated with secularism.

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