Was not space itself somehow divine, possessing as it did the attributes of eternity and infinity? Was it a second divine entity, which had existed beside God from before the beginning of time? Newton...
This continues to be the case: the religion of compassion is followed only by a minority; most religious people are content with decorous worship in synagogue, church, temple and mosque.
There is always a moment in warfare when the horrifying reality breaks through the glamour.
The Crusades were disgraceful but formative events in Western history; they were devastating for the Muslims of the Near East, but for the vast majority of Muslims in Iraq, Iran, Central Asia, Malaya,...
One of the most characteristic new developments since the 1970s has been the rise of a type of religiosity that we usually call fundamentalism in most of the major world religions, including the three...
Oedipus had to abandon his certainty, his clarity, and supposed insight in order to become aware of the dark ambiguity of the human condition.
Mecca became a station for these northbound caravans. It was conveniently located in the center of the Hijaz, and even though it was built on solid rock, which made agriculture impossible there, settl...
Jezus van Nazaret, een Galilese genezer en duivelbezweerder die de ophanden zijnde komst van het koninkrijk vna God verkondigde. Anti-Romeinse gevoelens kwamen vooral op bij grote nationale feesten, e...
Het hoofdthema [van het verhaal van Kaïn En Abel] is het gevecht tussen eigenliefde en de liefde voor God. 'Kaïn' betekende 'bezit'. Kaïn wilde alles voor zichzelf houden en streefde enkel zijn eigenb...
Every year in ancient Israel the high priest brought two goats into the Jerusalem temple on the Day of Atonement. He sacrificed one to expiate the sins of the community and then laid his hands on the...
By using feminist arguments, for which most had little or no sympathy, as part of their propaganda, the colonialists tainted the cause of feminism in the Muslim world, and helped to distort the faith...
But the state had no jurisdiction over the conscience of the individual and no right, therefore, to fight heresy or lead a holy war. While it could have nothing to do with the spiritual realm, the sta...
But Christina never forgot that when I was a child, I needed only one person to understand my suffering and pain.… One is very important.5
As an inspiration for terrorism, however, nationalism has been far more productive than religion. Terrorism experts agree that the denial of a people’s right to national self-determination and the occ...
And how could I hope to sense God’s presence when I continually broke the silence, frequently had uncharitable thoughts, and above all, constantly yearned for human affection and wept when reprimanded...
Am I my brother’s guardian? Cain asked after he had killed his brother, Abel. We are now living in such an interconnected world that we are all implicated in one another’s history and one another’s tr...
Again, what works well in the spiritual domain can become destructive and even immoral if interpreted literally and practically in the mundane world. It
A person who is impartial, fair, calm, gentle, serene, accepting, and openhearted is indeed a refuge.
A myth, therefore, is true because it is effective, not because it gives us factual information. If, however, it does not give us new insight into the deeper meaning of life, it has failed. If it work...
A myth could not tell a hunter how to kill his prey or how to organise an expedition efficiently, but it helped him to deal with his complicated emotions about the killing of animals. Logos was effici...