Reizende problemen in de wetenschap: orthodox christendom in de trein der traagheid?

This article (“Traveling Problems in Science: Is Orthodox Christianity Lagging Behind?”) examines the eventual reception of scientific advances by even the most orthodox Christian groups, after more liberal Christians have accommodated to such advances at earlier stages. That is, do orthodox Christians lag behind in their scientific understanding? Focusing on the late reception of heliocentrism, atomism and evolutionary theory among orthodox Christian groups, this article describes a typical pattern of gradual acceptance. In view of historic Christianity’s cutting-edge culture shaping power, this article suggests how Christians might address scientific advances as they develop rather than following them from a distance.

Kristendom & sex - Den sexfjendtlige kristendom

For centuries Christianity has emerged as the most sex adverse religion on earth. However, it was not Jesus who made the world chaste. Indeed it was the world that made Jesus chaste. When reading the Bible it is obvious that the scriptures are anything but hostile towards sex. Eroticism is one of God’s great gifts to humankind. There is a connection between spirituality and sexuality. Both are part of a force that allows man to reach out – to reach beyond himself to make connections to and with others. Today sexuality is accepted as being created by God and Christianity is no longer hostile towards sexuality. Nonetheless, conservative Christians still lock up sexuality within the boundaries of lifelong heterosexual marriage, and liberal Christians do not discuss sexuality very often.

Liberal Religion, Artistic Autonomy, and the Culture of Secular Choral Societies

U.S. choral societies typically formalize themselves as secular organizations analogous to symphony orchestras and opera companies. Yet choral societies differ from symphonic or operatic organizations because almost all choruses depend on volunteer singers. Part of what attracts singers into choruses is a sometimes unacknowledged affinity between the religious traditions of liberal Christians and Jews and the culture of choral singing as practiced in formally secular choral societies. The liberal tradition in religion encourages a habitus toward music that might be called a “sense of liturgy”: The interpretation of musical works historically and collectively, rather than as didactic works addressed to an individual. Although many canonical choral works are Christian in content, liberal religion encourages distancing mechanisms that allow people from other faith traditions, or none at all, to engage with these works. In short, the posture of artistic autonomy often found within formally secular choral societies, in which there is no overt religious test for membership, owes part of its genesis to the religious habits of liberal Christians and Jews. The present article explores this affinity by drawing on ethnomusicological fieldwork among choral singers in New England, as well as published accounts of a 1996 controversy over the performance of religious music by a public school choir in Utah.