I recently started to learn John 1 by heart and there are good reasons to commend the practice of memorising scripture. But there is also an interesting cultural dimension: "When movable type started to bring relatively cheap books to people, there were those who lamented the death of learning and scholarship which hitherto had relied heavily on the memorisation of key texts. I think that perhaps those laments came out of a sense of the deeper understanding that could be gained from memorisation and so printing was seen as the harbinger of a dumbing down process in education. Cost is not an inconsiderable aspect of this; we are used to having a Bible that is whole and complete and cheap enough to have as a kind of reference book and that is because it is relatively cheap. Before Caxton, books were very expensive as a result of the labour intensive means of production. This means that for most people, to have scriptures was to commit individual books to memory when you had access to a book and to listen in such a way as to recall later [the disciplines of learning by heart can change the way we attend to things; the patterns we notice and so on]. This meant a closer and deeper acquaintance with particular books and passages involving pattern recognition and associations with personal life events in ways that do not generally happen now."
In fact we tend to relate to scripture differently as a result, I suspect. It is more external to us; less intimately known. In a sense perhaps less 'living'. It surely must increase the likelihood of the Bible being regarded as a kind of text book.
Now, I'm not actually commiting myself to say that one way is better than the other. They each have pros and cons. However we should be aware of the different mentalities that are produced.
There are liturgical implications, for example, too. When the community's biggest expense is a book, it is natural that it would be carried in with reverence -doubly so as it contains the word of God- and ceremony made of preparing to read it. However much of that ceremony becomes quaint and with a different emotional meaning when we all have Bibles to hand. The act of preaching is also diffferent; a preacher used to memorisation is more likely to pick up the patterns and meanings that go with memorisation while the post-print preacher is likely to be more textual and rely on the ability to cross reference. I note, in this context, that the eschatology that relies most heavily on the ability to cross reference by eye [post-millenialist dispensationalism] becomes a contender precisely in the period of history when the reference bible becomes a viable mass artefact.
Memorisation takes time while reference much less so. Memorisation forces attentiveness and several ways of recollection to be used so a more multi-layered approach using more mental styles and 'modules' is called for. When scriptures are available at the click of a search button are they more likely to be approached as factoids than words which we take to heart? As citations in an argument than a life-challenging companion? In short, as something we manipulate rather than a source of transformative power?
anamchairde: By heart; the deeper way of knowing:
31 August 2005
By heart; the deeper way of knowing
Just recently, I have started to memorise chapter one of John's gospel, perhaps I might go further. Now why should I do this? Well there are a number of reasons, and as I was thinking about that question, having just gone over what I have committed to memory so far while walking back from Durham this morning, it seemed to me that it might be helpful to write down my reflections on the exercise and perhaps encourage others to give it a go too.
One of the biggest reasons for doing it comes out of the experience of acting. The last few times I have been involved in learning lines, I have been more aware of some of the dynamics of the experience of learning words by heart. One of the things that happens is that I employ several strategies to help me to learn. Apart from association [ie repetition which associates words and phrases together so that they become a string with one word in context cuing the next] remembrance is aided by noticing patterns of words, phrases or meanings [or combinations of these], by gaining and having a clear idea of the overall meaning and direction of the narrative or argument and noting how the passage fits into that.
And that brings me to the big reason why I reckon it is worth doing: those things that I have noted aid recollection are also about gaining a better sense of what a passage means and so the act of memorisation is simultaneously a deeper entry into understanding and is a kind of contemplative act or meditation which helps a fuller appropriation of the message.
As I reflect on that insight, I can't help but put it together with the culture and technology of reading and print. When movable type started to bring relatively cheap books to people, there were those who lamented the death of learning and scholarship which hitherto had relied heavily on the memorisation of key texts. I think that perhaps those laments came out of a sense of the deeper understanding that could be gained from memorisation and so printing was seen as the harbinger of a dumbing down process in education. Cost is not an inconsiderable aspect of this; we are used to having a Bible that is whole and complete and cheap enough to have as a kind of reference book and that is because it is relatively cheap. Before Caxton, books were very expensive as a result of the labour intensive means of production. This means that for most people, to have scriptures was to commit individual books to memory when you had access to a book and to listen in such a way as to recall later [the disciplines of learning by heart can change the way we attend to things; the patterns we notice and so on]. This meant a closer and deeper acquaintance with particular books and passages involving pattern recognition and associations with personal life events in ways that do not generally happen now. Certainly I have noted all sorts of things about the first few verses of the Gospel of John that simply did not really strike me until I started to learn it by heart. Perhaps I might share some of them on this blog ....
Crosswalk.com - John 1
One of the biggest reasons for doing it comes out of the experience of acting. The last few times I have been involved in learning lines, I have been more aware of some of the dynamics of the experience of learning words by heart. One of the things that happens is that I employ several strategies to help me to learn. Apart from association [ie repetition which associates words and phrases together so that they become a string with one word in context cuing the next] remembrance is aided by noticing patterns of words, phrases or meanings [or combinations of these], by gaining and having a clear idea of the overall meaning and direction of the narrative or argument and noting how the passage fits into that.
And that brings me to the big reason why I reckon it is worth doing: those things that I have noted aid recollection are also about gaining a better sense of what a passage means and so the act of memorisation is simultaneously a deeper entry into understanding and is a kind of contemplative act or meditation which helps a fuller appropriation of the message.
As I reflect on that insight, I can't help but put it together with the culture and technology of reading and print. When movable type started to bring relatively cheap books to people, there were those who lamented the death of learning and scholarship which hitherto had relied heavily on the memorisation of key texts. I think that perhaps those laments came out of a sense of the deeper understanding that could be gained from memorisation and so printing was seen as the harbinger of a dumbing down process in education. Cost is not an inconsiderable aspect of this; we are used to having a Bible that is whole and complete and cheap enough to have as a kind of reference book and that is because it is relatively cheap. Before Caxton, books were very expensive as a result of the labour intensive means of production. This means that for most people, to have scriptures was to commit individual books to memory when you had access to a book and to listen in such a way as to recall later [the disciplines of learning by heart can change the way we attend to things; the patterns we notice and so on]. This meant a closer and deeper acquaintance with particular books and passages involving pattern recognition and associations with personal life events in ways that do not generally happen now. Certainly I have noted all sorts of things about the first few verses of the Gospel of John that simply did not really strike me until I started to learn it by heart. Perhaps I might share some of them on this blog ....
Crosswalk.com - John 1
Coffee may be good for you!
As a regular drinker of the deep-brown brew and having a more than passing interest in healthy living, I was used to thinking of coffee [fairly traded, naturally] as an indulgence that was not so good for me, but it appears that it may confer a few benefits; [from a USA study] "the average adult consumes 1,299 milligrams of antioxidants daily from coffee. The closest competitor was tea at 294 milligrams. Rounding out the top five sources were bananas, 76 milligrams; dry beans, 72 milligrams; and corn, 48 milligrams."
Antioxidents seem to help protect against cancer. However I need to take note that caffeine in too-large doses can help raise cholesterol.
However there is further good news for coffee drinkers; "Last year, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that drinking coffee cut the risk of developing the most common form of diabetes."
What must also be said though, is "That does not mean coffee is a substitute for fruit and vegetables." And "consumers are still not eating enough fruits and vegetables, which are better for you from an overall nutritional point of view due to their higher content of vitamins, minerals and fiber"
Wired News: Java Joy in Coffee Study:
Antioxidents seem to help protect against cancer. However I need to take note that caffeine in too-large doses can help raise cholesterol.
However there is further good news for coffee drinkers; "Last year, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that drinking coffee cut the risk of developing the most common form of diabetes."
What must also be said though, is "That does not mean coffee is a substitute for fruit and vegetables." And "consumers are still not eating enough fruits and vegetables, which are better for you from an overall nutritional point of view due to their higher content of vitamins, minerals and fiber"
Wired News: Java Joy in Coffee Study:
24 August 2005
In Search of the Spiritual
An interesting article on USAmerican spirituality today and we are not just talking Christian here.
In Search of the Spiritual - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com
In Search of the Spiritual - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com
ON KAIROS MOMENTS, ALTERNATIVE SPIRITUALITIES, AND PHENOMENOLOGY: A RESPONSE TO JOHN DRANE CHRISTOPHER PARTRIDGE
The resronse to John Drane, again posted for ease of reference.
In his response, Partridge sympathises with Drane’s concerns regarding a confrontational mindset, but places the responsibility for this squarely within the Christian camp itself. He sees this issue and other difficulties that Christians have regarding alternative spirituality as needing to be addressed in order for “occulture” to be properly valued and respected.
The differing approaches from both Partridge and Drane are insightful and very helpful in aiding understanding of the current spiritual climate. LS
I am indebted to John Drane for taking the time to comment on my article. I agree with much of his argument and, in the area about which I think his missiological and revivalist optimism is overly sanguine, I want to agree with him and hope he is correct. Unfortunately, the evidence suggests otherwise.
I begin by commenting on issues concerning terminology. First, John Drane draws attention to “misleading terminology”, mentioning “alternative spirituality” in particular. “Alternative to what?” he asks. He then claims that Christians will too easily conclude that New Spirituality must be “alternative to the gospel”. However, in an area in which terminology is notoriously problematic and thus often needs some qualification, I think the term “alternative spirituality” is largely accurate.
The term “spirituality” refers to beliefs and practices that insiders prefer not to describe as “religious”. The sacred persists in the West, but increasingly it does so in non-traditional forms, which are increasingly defined as “spiritual” rather than “religious”. The point is, much of the emergent spirituality in the West is self-consciously located outside, an alternative to, the traditions of the major world religions.1
Christians who assume that this form of spirituality is alternative to “the gospel” are, for the most part, correct. I suspect that John Drane will agree that there is a move away from a “religion” that focuses on God, the Bible, the Church, and on that which is considered to be external to the self, and towards “spirituality”, towards that which is personal and interior, i.e. a focus on “the self”, on “nature”, or simply on “life”.
I have found that many of those practising a form of alternative spirituality in the West are, to some extent (often a great extent), mistrustful of traditional, institutional Christianity. They may even have considered themselves “Christian” at some point in their lives and now explicitly practise an alternative to the faith they have left. That is not to say that they are necessarily openly hostile to Christianity (though some are), but only that they believe some alternative form of spirituality is required, one which can usefully be distinguished from what would normally be regarded as Christian spirituality.
Also with regard to terminology, John Drane accuses my term “occulture” of encouraging a “confontational mindset”. I have some sympathy with his concerns. I am aware that the term “occulture” could be problematic, but, from an academic (rather than a missiological) perspective, think that it accurately reflects what I am describing.2 As I hoped I had indicated, I am expanding the narrow, technical definition of the term “occult”, to refer to an expansive, continually replenished reservoir of ideas which feed new spiritual springs and worldviews,3 rather than the demonic, which is the often reflected misrepresentation of “the occult” in popular culture. If Christians are to engage in meaningful dialogue with spiritual seekers, they need to understand terminology that is widely used in the alternative spiritual milieu. Failure to grasp this leads to misunderstanding and offence will ensue, as is often the case. This suggests that education in the area is required.
As to the opportunities afforded to Christianity by the new spiritual milieu, I broadly agree with John Drane. I certainly do not seek to contradict his insistence that mission starts with God or that there are many new Christian initiatives encouraging dialogue with alternative spiritualities and seeking to provide Christian alternatives for spiritual seekers. I am aware of some of those he mentions. However, exciting though these initiatives may be, they are tiny when set against the figures of religious decline and the growth in occultural re-enchantment. Optimism is important, but talk of “kairos moments” is, to say the least, premature.
Finally, in response to the accusation that my work is “purely phenomenological”, if John Drane means that I seek to be objective and judgement-free, and aim (as far as is possible) to bracket my own beliefs, then he is correct.4 There is nothing wrong with theologians seeking to understand the world in terms of a divine plan and seeking to articulate their particular historical moment in terms of a kairos moment, but such interpretations must not be allowed to skew objective analysis and the misapprehension of the beliefs and practices of others. That said, I realise that there is a tension here. I am simply seeking to encourage theologians and missiologists to get as close to the facts as they are able, in order to provide as profitable an analysis as possible.5 Phenomenology is a good way – not the only way – of doing this.
NOTES
1. Whilst there are “spiritualities” within the world religions, particularly “mystical” movements which focus on the individual’s inner experience of the divine, “alternative spiritualities” are not necessarily directly allied to any one particular religious tradition.
2. The term “New Age” is now passé and other terms such as the holistic milieu are a little too limiting. Terms such as “new spirituality” and “alternative spirituality” focus more on the spiritual, rather than on the plethora of ideas – spiritual, fictional, mythical, and paranormal – that inform such spiritualities.
3. For more on this, see C Partridge, The Re-Enchantment of the West (2 vols.; London: T&T Clark, 2004–2005). See especially, Vol. 1, Part 2.
4. For an explanation of phenomenology, see C Partridge, “Phenomenology and the Study of Religion”, in C Partridge (ed.), The New Lion Handbook: The World’s Religions (Oxford: Lion, 2005), pp. 14–18.
5. John Drane himself was one of the first theologians to engage in such thoughtful analysis, followed by helpful reflection from a Christian perspective. See J Drane, What is the New Age Saying to the Church? (London: Marshall Pickering, 1991).
THE BIBLE IN TRANSMISSION
In his response, Partridge sympathises with Drane’s concerns regarding a confrontational mindset, but places the responsibility for this squarely within the Christian camp itself. He sees this issue and other difficulties that Christians have regarding alternative spirituality as needing to be addressed in order for “occulture” to be properly valued and respected.
The differing approaches from both Partridge and Drane are insightful and very helpful in aiding understanding of the current spiritual climate. LS
I am indebted to John Drane for taking the time to comment on my article. I agree with much of his argument and, in the area about which I think his missiological and revivalist optimism is overly sanguine, I want to agree with him and hope he is correct. Unfortunately, the evidence suggests otherwise.
I begin by commenting on issues concerning terminology. First, John Drane draws attention to “misleading terminology”, mentioning “alternative spirituality” in particular. “Alternative to what?” he asks. He then claims that Christians will too easily conclude that New Spirituality must be “alternative to the gospel”. However, in an area in which terminology is notoriously problematic and thus often needs some qualification, I think the term “alternative spirituality” is largely accurate.
The term “spirituality” refers to beliefs and practices that insiders prefer not to describe as “religious”. The sacred persists in the West, but increasingly it does so in non-traditional forms, which are increasingly defined as “spiritual” rather than “religious”. The point is, much of the emergent spirituality in the West is self-consciously located outside, an alternative to, the traditions of the major world religions.1
Christians who assume that this form of spirituality is alternative to “the gospel” are, for the most part, correct. I suspect that John Drane will agree that there is a move away from a “religion” that focuses on God, the Bible, the Church, and on that which is considered to be external to the self, and towards “spirituality”, towards that which is personal and interior, i.e. a focus on “the self”, on “nature”, or simply on “life”.
I have found that many of those practising a form of alternative spirituality in the West are, to some extent (often a great extent), mistrustful of traditional, institutional Christianity. They may even have considered themselves “Christian” at some point in their lives and now explicitly practise an alternative to the faith they have left. That is not to say that they are necessarily openly hostile to Christianity (though some are), but only that they believe some alternative form of spirituality is required, one which can usefully be distinguished from what would normally be regarded as Christian spirituality.
Also with regard to terminology, John Drane accuses my term “occulture” of encouraging a “confontational mindset”. I have some sympathy with his concerns. I am aware that the term “occulture” could be problematic, but, from an academic (rather than a missiological) perspective, think that it accurately reflects what I am describing.2 As I hoped I had indicated, I am expanding the narrow, technical definition of the term “occult”, to refer to an expansive, continually replenished reservoir of ideas which feed new spiritual springs and worldviews,3 rather than the demonic, which is the often reflected misrepresentation of “the occult” in popular culture. If Christians are to engage in meaningful dialogue with spiritual seekers, they need to understand terminology that is widely used in the alternative spiritual milieu. Failure to grasp this leads to misunderstanding and offence will ensue, as is often the case. This suggests that education in the area is required.
As to the opportunities afforded to Christianity by the new spiritual milieu, I broadly agree with John Drane. I certainly do not seek to contradict his insistence that mission starts with God or that there are many new Christian initiatives encouraging dialogue with alternative spiritualities and seeking to provide Christian alternatives for spiritual seekers. I am aware of some of those he mentions. However, exciting though these initiatives may be, they are tiny when set against the figures of religious decline and the growth in occultural re-enchantment. Optimism is important, but talk of “kairos moments” is, to say the least, premature.
Finally, in response to the accusation that my work is “purely phenomenological”, if John Drane means that I seek to be objective and judgement-free, and aim (as far as is possible) to bracket my own beliefs, then he is correct.4 There is nothing wrong with theologians seeking to understand the world in terms of a divine plan and seeking to articulate their particular historical moment in terms of a kairos moment, but such interpretations must not be allowed to skew objective analysis and the misapprehension of the beliefs and practices of others. That said, I realise that there is a tension here. I am simply seeking to encourage theologians and missiologists to get as close to the facts as they are able, in order to provide as profitable an analysis as possible.5 Phenomenology is a good way – not the only way – of doing this.
NOTES
1. Whilst there are “spiritualities” within the world religions, particularly “mystical” movements which focus on the individual’s inner experience of the divine, “alternative spiritualities” are not necessarily directly allied to any one particular religious tradition.
2. The term “New Age” is now passé and other terms such as the holistic milieu are a little too limiting. Terms such as “new spirituality” and “alternative spirituality” focus more on the spiritual, rather than on the plethora of ideas – spiritual, fictional, mythical, and paranormal – that inform such spiritualities.
3. For more on this, see C Partridge, The Re-Enchantment of the West (2 vols.; London: T&T Clark, 2004–2005). See especially, Vol. 1, Part 2.
4. For an explanation of phenomenology, see C Partridge, “Phenomenology and the Study of Religion”, in C Partridge (ed.), The New Lion Handbook: The World’s Religions (Oxford: Lion, 2005), pp. 14–18.
5. John Drane himself was one of the first theologians to engage in such thoughtful analysis, followed by helpful reflection from a Christian perspective. See J Drane, What is the New Age Saying to the Church? (London: Marshall Pickering, 1991).
THE BIBLE IN TRANSMISSION
The mind and the out-of-body
Wow, this could be hugely important in the potential impact on new [and old] spiritualities and on Christian apologetic responses to them. For example, the claim that the nature of OBEs demonstrates the post-mortem existence of a 'soul' or somesuch is problematised. I don't have a problem with that as a Christian believer in resurrection but I know that there are some whose eggs are in that basket [like the Easter ref?]. So watch that space. And if you've had an Out of Body Experience add it to the research at the site given in the article. Here's the research background in summary.
"David Wilde, the researcher running the project, said: 'There are several theories as to why people have OBEs. A common link between them is the idea that in certain circumstances the brain somehow loses touch with sensory information coming in from the body. This triggers a series of psychological mechanisms, which can lead to someone having an OBE. In this study we aim to take the theory a stage further, by looking at the way people see and experience their bodies, and how - through perfectly ordinary psychological processes - these images and experiences may create the impression of seeing their bodies from the outside.'"
Of course there may still be the matter of NDEs showing up info that should not have been knowable by the experiencer ... but who knows what may transpire, we should be wary of a 'soul of the gaps' approach.
EducationGuardian.co.uk | Research | The mind and the out-of-body:[:OBEs:]
"David Wilde, the researcher running the project, said: 'There are several theories as to why people have OBEs. A common link between them is the idea that in certain circumstances the brain somehow loses touch with sensory information coming in from the body. This triggers a series of psychological mechanisms, which can lead to someone having an OBE. In this study we aim to take the theory a stage further, by looking at the way people see and experience their bodies, and how - through perfectly ordinary psychological processes - these images and experiences may create the impression of seeing their bodies from the outside.'"
Of course there may still be the matter of NDEs showing up info that should not have been knowable by the experiencer ... but who knows what may transpire, we should be wary of a 'soul of the gaps' approach.
EducationGuardian.co.uk | Research | The mind and the out-of-body:[:OBEs:]
NEW SPIRITUALITY AND CHRISTIAN MISSION -JOHN DRANE
The next in the debate, also for reference.
John Drane adds a missiological perspective to the debate. Although he agrees with Partridge regarding the challenges that the new spirituality presents to the Church, he sees the term “occulture” as evidence of a mistaken assessment of the issues relevant to the missio Dei, and thus a more optimistic picture emerges. Far from the current spiritual climate providing infertile ground for Christian growth, as Partridge suggests, Drane recognises that mission begins with God and therefore we should be collaborating with the new expressions of spirituality to discern where God has already begun his work. However, the term “occulture” might evoke images of the demonic and introduce a confrontational element profoundly unhelpful to the task. LS
In 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche declared that “God is dead”, and for much of the twentieth century it looked as if he could be right. The secularisation hypothesis reigned supreme, and there seemed to be a social equivalence between the decline of religious institutions and the expansion of scientific and technological insights, with regular Church involvement in the UK down to less than 10 per cent of the population (a decline that continues). Yet today a majority would agree with Harvey Cox, that the secularisation thesis is “entirely implausible”.1 For even in European cultures that have rejected their traditional religious beliefs, there has been a remarkable resurgence of interest in matters spiritual. Putting the word “spirituality” into a web search engine produces more than 15 million results, and as Chris Partridge has demonstrated, there has been an exponential growth in “spiritual” goods and services on offer, even in the smallest communities. A recent study of the spiritual life of Kendal revealed that while the churches there had declined by 20 per cent in the course of the 1990s, over the same period other forms of spiritual expression had increased by 300 per cent.2
It is more than 1,500 years since St Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless till they rest in you”, but the axiom still holds good. Despite all of the achievements of Western civilisation, there seems to be a deep-seated dissatisfaction with the sort of world that purely rational values have created, and an intuitive conviction that “there has to be more to life than this”. Cutting-edge medical researchers are agreeing with Augustine, not only demonstrating that a spiritual life is a happy life, but suggesting – especially in neuroscience, and the discipline now known as neurotheology – that to be fully human also involves having a spiritual connection.3
DEFINING “SPIRITUALITY”
But why “spirituality”? The major attraction of the word “spirituality” lies in the fact that it is not “religion”. People increasingly regard “religion” as a bad thing, whereas “spirituality” embraces the sense of transcendence that religion at its best might imply, while avoiding the negativities that have historically tended to characterise it. “Religion” is viewed as some externally imposed worldview and set of practices, requiring conformity on the part of those who buy into it, backed-up by narrow-minded attitudes based on dogmatic understandings of the meaning of everything – and all enforced by hierarchical structures that are riddled with hypocrisy and self-serving in a way that exploits others and prevents them reaching their full potential as human beings (which is all an intentional part of the package because, if we were to be fully empowered, we would in turn challenge the hierarchies who run religions). It is concerned with books and buildings, institutional structures, and an over-emphasis on rationality that saps people’s inner strength, and is ultimately destructive. Bono, the lead singer of U2, has eloquently expressed it: “religion is what is left when the Spirit has left the building”.
“Spirituality”, on the other hand, is perceived as the opposite of these things. It is life-giving and empowering, the agent through which we might reach our full potential as human beings, living at peace with each other and with the cosmos. To be considered “spiritual” an idea or attitude needs to promote wholeness and healing – of ourselves, of society, and, ultimately, of all that is. As Rodney Clapp puts it, spirituality is “a word we turn to in preference to certain other, less appealing alternatives”, and which “permits us to name [our aspirations for meaning, purpose and identity in life] while not implying that we are prudish or conformist or pretentious or naïve”.4
It is not difficult to understand the reasons for this. Millions of people who know nothing of the militaristic excesses of Christendom associate “religion” with the events of 11 September 2001 (in this case, a certain form of Islam), while the subsequent military adventures led by the USA and its allies continue to be openly defended by reference to the beliefs of fundamentalist Christians. In addition, though, Christianity has been such an integral part of Western culture for the last thousand years and more that the average person finds it all but impossible to disentangle Christian beliefs and values from the inherited principles of the wider culture. The idea that religion is a bad thing is therefore part of the widespread questioning of the inherited rational and materialist worldview of Western culture, in which organised religion (the Church) was a dominant force. The promise of a better world for everyone has simply not come to pass. Not only has the human predicament not improved, but as the twentieth century progressed things actually got worse, and the trend continues into the twenty-first. Needless to say, there is a major challenge for Christians in all of this. We seem to have allowed the Church to be depicted as a sad and lifeless institution, with no interest in spiritual matters. Moreover, there is some evidence suggesting that the Church’s justifiable concern with political and economic affairs has contributed to this understanding.5
The sense of disillusionment with Western culture and its institutions is a major driving force behind today’s popular spiritual search. I have been working with the exponents of New Spirituality for more than 15 years now, and most of those I meet are motivated by a conviction that the inherited wisdom of the past has not worked, and by a parallel sense of their own personal need for a connection with something beyond themselves that will endow life with the sort of meaning they crave. In addition, there is often a strong feeling that in the past the guardians of wisdom (religious leaders and politicians) have turned out to be either corrupt or unreliable, and the way forward will therefore be to trust one’s own judgment rather than buying into yet more ready-made packages that might turn out to be as damaging as those of the past. In the search for meaning, such people will explore whatever spiritual pathways are available to them in the wider culture, adopting or discarding things on a purely pragmatic basis of whether or not they work. They are like those searchers whom Paul met in Athens (Acts 17.16–34), looking in the supermarket of faiths for something that will help them towards wholeness as human – and spiritual – beings, and prepared to try anything once. The Christian message is often ignored today because the church projects itself as an institution that is bothered only about matters that to other people seem like trivialities. But the gospel also goes unexamined by default, simply because it is not available in ways that are accessible in the marketplace where spiritual goods are offered.
CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITY
The rise of New Spirituality is undoubtedly a challenge to the churches. But it is also offering a fresh opportunity for effective Christian engagement with the culture. In the past, apologetics has been about persuading those who did not believe in anything transcendent that such a thing was worth considering. Today’s spiritual searchers already accept that, and for that reason alone they should be among the easiest people for the Church to connect with. All my experience suggests that they are – yet many Christians view them as “the enemy”, to be reviled, condemned, opposed and demonised at every possible opportunity.
Misleading terminology is partly to blame for this. Words like “alternative spirituality” imply “alternative to what?” and Christians easily conclude that New Spirituality must be “alternative to the gospel” in much the same way as Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons represent a perverted form of the Christian message. In the past, every deviant Western worldview was indeed a variation on mainstream Christianity, and the Church developed ways of dealing with those who were heretics, involving confrontation, denunciation, damnation – and sometimes death. But when Christians regard New Spirituality as if it was a heresy they are missing the point, for it is in no sense a deviant form of Christian belief. It is more like the equivalent of a different world faith, though its emphasis is more personal than dogmatic and its core values are not rooted in ideas or beliefs, but in people.
In missiological terms, today’s spiritual searchers are a distinct “people group”: they represent a different culture, with its own language, conventions, expectations and forms of life. New Spirituality should not be seen as a battlefield, but a mission field. Though there may be something to be said for it as a phenomenological description, Chris Partridge’s designation of New Spirituality as “occulture” is unhelpful in relation to mission, because it evokes images of the demonic that can only encourage the sort of confrontational mindset that prevents effective Christian engagement with spiritual searchers. What is required is not a Christendom model of confrontational denunciation, but a biblical model of cross-cultural mission which values people as individuals made in God’s image (Gen 1.26–27) and which calls us to listen and learn before we speak, so that the message of the gospel is heard in ways that are truly incarnational in this culture. My use of the word “incarnational” is not coincidental. I do not believe that our aim should be to make Christian faith “relevant” to the culture, still less that we should be doing things merely because they are “trendy” or because somebody has packaged them for sale as a mission programme. Being incarnational in mission emphasises the importance of recognising that mission begins with God, the missio Dei, and our calling is to discern where God is already at work and then to collaborate intentionally with God’s activity in a divine-human partnership.
Though the confrontational approach has been dominant in the past, there are many exciting signs that things are changing, from all around the world, and from Christians of different theological persuasions, which should encourage us to take seriously the fact that God is at work in today’s spiritual search, and to position ourselves in the same spaces. It has eventually dawned on us that belief in the missio Dei implies that there cannot be no-go areas for God. For years, Christians have protested outside psychic fairs and the like, believing that God was excluded from such places. Now they are finding their way inside to bear witness to the healing power of the gospel – and are discovering that God was already there. Jeff Fountain is European director of Youth With A Mission, and in his book Living as People of Hope he tells how his view of mission was radically transformed by a meeting with a neo-pagan witch in Budapest airport.6 The outcome is a major conference scheduled for Halloween 2005 in Switzerland, exploring how the gospel might be shared in psychic fairs and similar places throughout the continent. In the Autumn of 2004, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation hosted a major consultation in Thailand, and one of the official reports is on “Religious and non-religious spirituality in the Western world”.7 Not only does it encourage Christians to become involved in this ministry, but provides extensive theological justification for it – and in the process, commends some of the most adventurous methodologies, including work done by myself and others in using the tarot for evangelism, inspired by St Paul’s approach to the “unknown god” of Athens.8 Then there is a major study from the USA with a similar message: Encountering New Religious Movements: A Holistic Evangelical Approach.9 Closer to home, the Group for Evangelisation of Churches Together in England, has just published three significant books encouraging creative mission thinking: Beyond the Fringe, Evangelism in a Spiritual Age, and Equipping your Church in a Spiritual Age.10 Three years ago, I spoke about this sort of ministry at the annual conference of Activate, an ecumenical group committed to reaching women with the gospel. A woman in her seventies went off and booked a stand at a local psychic fair, where she offered to pray with people – and her stall was swamped with individuals desperate to hear more about the love of Jesus. Other groups have had similar experiences. In 2000, I helped Churches Together in Colchester to orchestrate a stand at a local psychic fair, and now five years later they have in turn enabled several other groups in southern and eastern England to become involved in such ministries. In Manchester, Sanctus1 (part of the Church of England) has engaged in ministry at the annual Mind, Body, Spirit Festival. And there are others.
Talk of kairos moments for the gospel can be overdone, and can also be unhelpful when it reflects an attitude of triumphalism. But with all these current initiatives converging, it is hard to think that this is not one of those moments when God is doing something new. This is mission as out-reach (going onto other people’s territory) rather than in-drag (getting people into places where we feel comfortable), which makes it authentically biblical. And because it starts not with ourselves but with God, I have a good deal more confidence in the outcome than Chris Partridge allows himself on the basis of a purely phenomenological analysis of the spiritual search of our generation.
JOHN DRANE is author of the best-selling book The McDonaldization of the Church and has extensive experience in cross-cultural mission, with a particular emphasis on new forms of spirituality. After resigning from teaching practical theology at Aberdeen University, he is taking time out to write more books, but will be looking for a new full-time ministry at the end of 2005. This article is based on his 2004 London Lectures, which will be published later this year by Darton Longman and Todd, as Do Christians know how to be Spiritual? The rise of New Spirituality and the Mission of the Church.
NOTES
1. Harvey Cox, “The Myth of the Twentieth Century: The rise and fall of ‘secularization’”, in Gregory Baum (ed.), The Twentieth Century: A Theological Overview (Maryknoll: Orbis 1999), p. 136.
2. Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead, The Spiritual Revolution (London: Routledge 2005), p. 45.
3. Cf. Andrew Newberg and Eugene D’Aquili, Why God Won’t Go Away (2nd edn.; New York: Ballantine 2002, ).; Dean Hamer, The God Gene: How Faith is Hardwired Into Our Genes (New York: Doubleday 2004); Rick Strassman, DMT: The Spirit Molecule (Rochester VT: Park Street Press 2001); Joel Green (ed.), What about the Soul? Neuroscience and Christian Anthropology (Nashville: Abingdon Press 2004); John Bowker, The Sacred Neuron (London: I.B. Tauris 2005);
4. Rodney Clapp, Tortured Wonders: Christian Spirituality for People, Not Aangels (Grand Rapids: Brazos 2004), pp. 11, 12.
5. Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead, The Spiritual Revolution (London: Routledge 2005), pp. 63–66.
6. Jeff Fountain, Living as People of Hope: Faith, Hope & Vision for 21st Century Europe (Rotterdam: Initialmedia 2004).
7. Lausanne Occasional Paper No 45. Online at http://community.gospelcom.net/lcwe/assets/LOP45_IG16.pdf
8. John Drane, Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson, Beyond Prediction: The Tarot and Your Spirituality (Oxford: Lion 2001); Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson, Jesus and the Gods of the New Age (Oxford: Lion 2001).
9. Irving Hexham, Stephen Rost and John W Morehead, Encountering New Religious Movements: A Holistic Evangelical Approach (Grand Rapids: Kregel 2004).
10. Published, respectively, by Cliff College, Church House Press and CTBI (all 2005).
THE BIBLE IN TRANSMISSION
John Drane adds a missiological perspective to the debate. Although he agrees with Partridge regarding the challenges that the new spirituality presents to the Church, he sees the term “occulture” as evidence of a mistaken assessment of the issues relevant to the missio Dei, and thus a more optimistic picture emerges. Far from the current spiritual climate providing infertile ground for Christian growth, as Partridge suggests, Drane recognises that mission begins with God and therefore we should be collaborating with the new expressions of spirituality to discern where God has already begun his work. However, the term “occulture” might evoke images of the demonic and introduce a confrontational element profoundly unhelpful to the task. LS
In 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche declared that “God is dead”, and for much of the twentieth century it looked as if he could be right. The secularisation hypothesis reigned supreme, and there seemed to be a social equivalence between the decline of religious institutions and the expansion of scientific and technological insights, with regular Church involvement in the UK down to less than 10 per cent of the population (a decline that continues). Yet today a majority would agree with Harvey Cox, that the secularisation thesis is “entirely implausible”.1 For even in European cultures that have rejected their traditional religious beliefs, there has been a remarkable resurgence of interest in matters spiritual. Putting the word “spirituality” into a web search engine produces more than 15 million results, and as Chris Partridge has demonstrated, there has been an exponential growth in “spiritual” goods and services on offer, even in the smallest communities. A recent study of the spiritual life of Kendal revealed that while the churches there had declined by 20 per cent in the course of the 1990s, over the same period other forms of spiritual expression had increased by 300 per cent.2
It is more than 1,500 years since St Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless till they rest in you”, but the axiom still holds good. Despite all of the achievements of Western civilisation, there seems to be a deep-seated dissatisfaction with the sort of world that purely rational values have created, and an intuitive conviction that “there has to be more to life than this”. Cutting-edge medical researchers are agreeing with Augustine, not only demonstrating that a spiritual life is a happy life, but suggesting – especially in neuroscience, and the discipline now known as neurotheology – that to be fully human also involves having a spiritual connection.3
DEFINING “SPIRITUALITY”
But why “spirituality”? The major attraction of the word “spirituality” lies in the fact that it is not “religion”. People increasingly regard “religion” as a bad thing, whereas “spirituality” embraces the sense of transcendence that religion at its best might imply, while avoiding the negativities that have historically tended to characterise it. “Religion” is viewed as some externally imposed worldview and set of practices, requiring conformity on the part of those who buy into it, backed-up by narrow-minded attitudes based on dogmatic understandings of the meaning of everything – and all enforced by hierarchical structures that are riddled with hypocrisy and self-serving in a way that exploits others and prevents them reaching their full potential as human beings (which is all an intentional part of the package because, if we were to be fully empowered, we would in turn challenge the hierarchies who run religions). It is concerned with books and buildings, institutional structures, and an over-emphasis on rationality that saps people’s inner strength, and is ultimately destructive. Bono, the lead singer of U2, has eloquently expressed it: “religion is what is left when the Spirit has left the building”.
“Spirituality”, on the other hand, is perceived as the opposite of these things. It is life-giving and empowering, the agent through which we might reach our full potential as human beings, living at peace with each other and with the cosmos. To be considered “spiritual” an idea or attitude needs to promote wholeness and healing – of ourselves, of society, and, ultimately, of all that is. As Rodney Clapp puts it, spirituality is “a word we turn to in preference to certain other, less appealing alternatives”, and which “permits us to name [our aspirations for meaning, purpose and identity in life] while not implying that we are prudish or conformist or pretentious or naïve”.4
It is not difficult to understand the reasons for this. Millions of people who know nothing of the militaristic excesses of Christendom associate “religion” with the events of 11 September 2001 (in this case, a certain form of Islam), while the subsequent military adventures led by the USA and its allies continue to be openly defended by reference to the beliefs of fundamentalist Christians. In addition, though, Christianity has been such an integral part of Western culture for the last thousand years and more that the average person finds it all but impossible to disentangle Christian beliefs and values from the inherited principles of the wider culture. The idea that religion is a bad thing is therefore part of the widespread questioning of the inherited rational and materialist worldview of Western culture, in which organised religion (the Church) was a dominant force. The promise of a better world for everyone has simply not come to pass. Not only has the human predicament not improved, but as the twentieth century progressed things actually got worse, and the trend continues into the twenty-first. Needless to say, there is a major challenge for Christians in all of this. We seem to have allowed the Church to be depicted as a sad and lifeless institution, with no interest in spiritual matters. Moreover, there is some evidence suggesting that the Church’s justifiable concern with political and economic affairs has contributed to this understanding.5
The sense of disillusionment with Western culture and its institutions is a major driving force behind today’s popular spiritual search. I have been working with the exponents of New Spirituality for more than 15 years now, and most of those I meet are motivated by a conviction that the inherited wisdom of the past has not worked, and by a parallel sense of their own personal need for a connection with something beyond themselves that will endow life with the sort of meaning they crave. In addition, there is often a strong feeling that in the past the guardians of wisdom (religious leaders and politicians) have turned out to be either corrupt or unreliable, and the way forward will therefore be to trust one’s own judgment rather than buying into yet more ready-made packages that might turn out to be as damaging as those of the past. In the search for meaning, such people will explore whatever spiritual pathways are available to them in the wider culture, adopting or discarding things on a purely pragmatic basis of whether or not they work. They are like those searchers whom Paul met in Athens (Acts 17.16–34), looking in the supermarket of faiths for something that will help them towards wholeness as human – and spiritual – beings, and prepared to try anything once. The Christian message is often ignored today because the church projects itself as an institution that is bothered only about matters that to other people seem like trivialities. But the gospel also goes unexamined by default, simply because it is not available in ways that are accessible in the marketplace where spiritual goods are offered.
CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITY
The rise of New Spirituality is undoubtedly a challenge to the churches. But it is also offering a fresh opportunity for effective Christian engagement with the culture. In the past, apologetics has been about persuading those who did not believe in anything transcendent that such a thing was worth considering. Today’s spiritual searchers already accept that, and for that reason alone they should be among the easiest people for the Church to connect with. All my experience suggests that they are – yet many Christians view them as “the enemy”, to be reviled, condemned, opposed and demonised at every possible opportunity.
Misleading terminology is partly to blame for this. Words like “alternative spirituality” imply “alternative to what?” and Christians easily conclude that New Spirituality must be “alternative to the gospel” in much the same way as Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons represent a perverted form of the Christian message. In the past, every deviant Western worldview was indeed a variation on mainstream Christianity, and the Church developed ways of dealing with those who were heretics, involving confrontation, denunciation, damnation – and sometimes death. But when Christians regard New Spirituality as if it was a heresy they are missing the point, for it is in no sense a deviant form of Christian belief. It is more like the equivalent of a different world faith, though its emphasis is more personal than dogmatic and its core values are not rooted in ideas or beliefs, but in people.
In missiological terms, today’s spiritual searchers are a distinct “people group”: they represent a different culture, with its own language, conventions, expectations and forms of life. New Spirituality should not be seen as a battlefield, but a mission field. Though there may be something to be said for it as a phenomenological description, Chris Partridge’s designation of New Spirituality as “occulture” is unhelpful in relation to mission, because it evokes images of the demonic that can only encourage the sort of confrontational mindset that prevents effective Christian engagement with spiritual searchers. What is required is not a Christendom model of confrontational denunciation, but a biblical model of cross-cultural mission which values people as individuals made in God’s image (Gen 1.26–27) and which calls us to listen and learn before we speak, so that the message of the gospel is heard in ways that are truly incarnational in this culture. My use of the word “incarnational” is not coincidental. I do not believe that our aim should be to make Christian faith “relevant” to the culture, still less that we should be doing things merely because they are “trendy” or because somebody has packaged them for sale as a mission programme. Being incarnational in mission emphasises the importance of recognising that mission begins with God, the missio Dei, and our calling is to discern where God is already at work and then to collaborate intentionally with God’s activity in a divine-human partnership.
Though the confrontational approach has been dominant in the past, there are many exciting signs that things are changing, from all around the world, and from Christians of different theological persuasions, which should encourage us to take seriously the fact that God is at work in today’s spiritual search, and to position ourselves in the same spaces. It has eventually dawned on us that belief in the missio Dei implies that there cannot be no-go areas for God. For years, Christians have protested outside psychic fairs and the like, believing that God was excluded from such places. Now they are finding their way inside to bear witness to the healing power of the gospel – and are discovering that God was already there. Jeff Fountain is European director of Youth With A Mission, and in his book Living as People of Hope he tells how his view of mission was radically transformed by a meeting with a neo-pagan witch in Budapest airport.6 The outcome is a major conference scheduled for Halloween 2005 in Switzerland, exploring how the gospel might be shared in psychic fairs and similar places throughout the continent. In the Autumn of 2004, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation hosted a major consultation in Thailand, and one of the official reports is on “Religious and non-religious spirituality in the Western world”.7 Not only does it encourage Christians to become involved in this ministry, but provides extensive theological justification for it – and in the process, commends some of the most adventurous methodologies, including work done by myself and others in using the tarot for evangelism, inspired by St Paul’s approach to the “unknown god” of Athens.8 Then there is a major study from the USA with a similar message: Encountering New Religious Movements: A Holistic Evangelical Approach.9 Closer to home, the Group for Evangelisation of Churches Together in England, has just published three significant books encouraging creative mission thinking: Beyond the Fringe, Evangelism in a Spiritual Age, and Equipping your Church in a Spiritual Age.10 Three years ago, I spoke about this sort of ministry at the annual conference of Activate, an ecumenical group committed to reaching women with the gospel. A woman in her seventies went off and booked a stand at a local psychic fair, where she offered to pray with people – and her stall was swamped with individuals desperate to hear more about the love of Jesus. Other groups have had similar experiences. In 2000, I helped Churches Together in Colchester to orchestrate a stand at a local psychic fair, and now five years later they have in turn enabled several other groups in southern and eastern England to become involved in such ministries. In Manchester, Sanctus1 (part of the Church of England) has engaged in ministry at the annual Mind, Body, Spirit Festival. And there are others.
Talk of kairos moments for the gospel can be overdone, and can also be unhelpful when it reflects an attitude of triumphalism. But with all these current initiatives converging, it is hard to think that this is not one of those moments when God is doing something new. This is mission as out-reach (going onto other people’s territory) rather than in-drag (getting people into places where we feel comfortable), which makes it authentically biblical. And because it starts not with ourselves but with God, I have a good deal more confidence in the outcome than Chris Partridge allows himself on the basis of a purely phenomenological analysis of the spiritual search of our generation.
JOHN DRANE is author of the best-selling book The McDonaldization of the Church and has extensive experience in cross-cultural mission, with a particular emphasis on new forms of spirituality. After resigning from teaching practical theology at Aberdeen University, he is taking time out to write more books, but will be looking for a new full-time ministry at the end of 2005. This article is based on his 2004 London Lectures, which will be published later this year by Darton Longman and Todd, as Do Christians know how to be Spiritual? The rise of New Spirituality and the Mission of the Church.
NOTES
1. Harvey Cox, “The Myth of the Twentieth Century: The rise and fall of ‘secularization’”, in Gregory Baum (ed.), The Twentieth Century: A Theological Overview (Maryknoll: Orbis 1999), p. 136.
2. Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead, The Spiritual Revolution (London: Routledge 2005), p. 45.
3. Cf. Andrew Newberg and Eugene D’Aquili, Why God Won’t Go Away (2nd edn.; New York: Ballantine 2002, ).; Dean Hamer, The God Gene: How Faith is Hardwired Into Our Genes (New York: Doubleday 2004); Rick Strassman, DMT: The Spirit Molecule (Rochester VT: Park Street Press 2001); Joel Green (ed.), What about the Soul? Neuroscience and Christian Anthropology (Nashville: Abingdon Press 2004); John Bowker, The Sacred Neuron (London: I.B. Tauris 2005);
4. Rodney Clapp, Tortured Wonders: Christian Spirituality for People, Not Aangels (Grand Rapids: Brazos 2004), pp. 11, 12.
5. Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead, The Spiritual Revolution (London: Routledge 2005), pp. 63–66.
6. Jeff Fountain, Living as People of Hope: Faith, Hope & Vision for 21st Century Europe (Rotterdam: Initialmedia 2004).
7. Lausanne Occasional Paper No 45. Online at http://community.gospelcom.net/lcwe/assets/LOP45_IG16.pdf
8. John Drane, Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson, Beyond Prediction: The Tarot and Your Spirituality (Oxford: Lion 2001); Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson, Jesus and the Gods of the New Age (Oxford: Lion 2001).
9. Irving Hexham, Stephen Rost and John W Morehead, Encountering New Religious Movements: A Holistic Evangelical Approach (Grand Rapids: Kregel 2004).
10. Published, respectively, by Cliff College, Church House Press and CTBI (all 2005).
THE BIBLE IN TRANSMISSION
ALTERNATIVE SPIRITUALITIES, OCCULTURE AND THE RE-ENCHANTMENT OF THE WEST CHRISTOPHER PARTRIDGE
Repro'd frem Bible in Transmission for easy reference.
We are particularly grateful to Professor Christopher Partridge and Professor John Drane for engaging in a lively and stimulating debate regarding the escalating interest in spirituality and its effect upon Western culture and the Church.
In this first article Christopher Partridge draws our attention to the re-enchantment of the popular culture with “alternative” spiritualities and, interestingly, argues that this is spawned by an occluded spirituality within the culture itself, despite its secular nature. This rising spirituality, which Partridge terms “occulture” is informed by a wide range of ideas, practices and methodologies that traditionally have not resided within mainstream religions. The Church, therefore, does not have reason to be optimistic by this development if it is seeking a revival of a conventional Christian spirituality in this new religio-cultural milieu. LS
“The disenchantment of the world” (Max Weber) is the result of a network of social and intellectual forces. More specifically, it is arguable that the emergence of rationality and individualism have led, on the one hand, to the erosion of religion as a communal phenomenon and, on the other hand, to the implausibility of many of its beliefs. Whilst this secularising process is deceptively complex, the essential idea is simple: modernisation leads to religious decline, both in society and in the human mind. In other words, not only do people stop attending places of worship and organising society according to broadly religious convictions, but they no longer think from a religious perspective anymore. It is not so much that religion is explicitly rejected, but more the case that it just is not thought about. For Weber, disenchantment is the process whereby magic and spiritual mystery is driven from the world, nature is managed rather than enchanted, the spiritual loses social significance, and institutions and laws do not depend on religion for their legitimation.
Whilst not denying some aspects of Western secularisation, I want to question whether it is the whole story. Is the West witnessing a thoroughgoing erosion of belief in the supernatural? Are magic and spiritual mystery being driven from the world? Is the loss of faith in otherworldly forces a one-way, inevitable decline, or are there reasons to believe in the re-emergence of “spirituality” in the West?
Whilst the current state of religion in the West is complicated and difficult to accurately map, and while simplistic analyses should be avoided, as I have argued at length elsewhere,1 overall I am persuaded that whilst disenchantment is ubiquitously apparent, the forces of secularisation have never quite been able to stifle the shoots of spirituality. Although institutional Christianity has been seriously damaged and does not seem to be able to arrest the process of erosion, new and very different forms of significant spiritual life are emerging on the Western landscape. As with all life, new conditions require adaptation. Religion in the thin atmosphere of the modern West will necessarily evolve away from what we have become used to calling “religion” into, it would seem, the personally tailored forms of “self-religion” that are now being referred to as “spirituality”. Moreover, as future generations of alternative spiritualities become established, rooted and increasingly mainstream, they may prove to be more hardy and resistant to the disenchanting forces their antecedents were ill-equipped to deal with.
In a recent revision of his influential secularisation thesis, Peter Berger, after predicting that the world of the twenty-first century will be no less religious than it is today, asserts that “the religious impulse, the quest for meaning that transcends the restricted space of empirical existence in this world, has been a perennial feature of humanity … It would require something close to a mutation of the species to extinguish this impulse for good.”2 Hence, it is reasonable to conclude that if mainstream religion loses authority, new forms of religion will evolve to compensate. Indeed, I would argue that any apparent disappearance of spirituality is illusory. Secularisation is only a stage in a larger process, a stage which is accompanied by the increasing significance and mainstreaming of new forms of religiosity. While it may look as though the West is experiencing creeping secularisation because the most conspicuous streams of traditional spirituality, which have dominated the religious landscape for centuries, are drying up, this, in fact, is not the whole story.
Spiritualities are emerging that are not only quite different from the dying forms of religion, but are often defined over against them, and are articulated in ways that do not carry the baggage of traditional religion. Unlike those forms of religion that are in serious decline, the new spiritual awakening utilises thought forms, ideas and practices which are not at all alien to the majority of Westerners. They emerge from an essentially non-Christian religio-cultural milieu that both resources and is resourced by popular culture, and is a constantly replenished reservoir of ideas, practices and methodologies. I have termed this milieu “occulture”. Expanding the narrow, technical definition of the term “occult” to include a vast spectrum of beliefs and practices sourced by Eastern spirituality, Paganism, Spiritualism, Theosophy, alternative science and medicine, popular psychology and a range of beliefs emanating out of a general interest in the paranormal, occulture is the new spiritual atmosphere in the West; a large pool of ideas and theories feeding new spiritual springs; the environment within which new methodologies and worldviews are passed on to an occulturally curious generation. Moreover, it is worth briefly drawing attention to the fact that popular culture is central to the efficacy of occulture, in that it feeds ideas into the occultural reservoir and also develops, mixes and disseminates those ideas. Put starkly, popular occulture is sacralising the Western mind.
Evidence that the resurgence of religion in the West is taking a new trajectory is not difficult to find. For example, a recent sympathetically written article on Wicca in America makes the following interesting, if a little exaggerated, points: “Witchcraft, or Wicca, is the fastest growing ‘religion’ in the USA today. It is estimated that around a million-and-a-half teenage Americans, often as young as thirteen, are practicing Wiccans. Television programmes such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch and films like The Craft have sparked continent-wide interest in witchcraft and awarded it the official Hollywood stamp of ‘cool’.”3 This interest is, of course, not a new phenomenon. Non-traditional re-enchantment has been a long time coming. In particular, over the past 40 years or so there has been a sharp rise in, not merely those tolerant of, but those taking a keen interest in new forms of spirituality. For example, the fact that the percentage of “occult” books published since 1930 has more than doubled,4 and, according to a recent report in The Economist, “sales of books about yoga and reiki … have exploded in the past 18 months”,5 is indicative of the steady increase of popular interest in alternative religiosity. Similarly, Paul Heelas points out that, not only have, for example, “New Age holidays … expanded rapidly during the last ten or so years”, but “there is no reason to suppose that … spiritual economics will not continue to prosper. Since the 1960s, we have witnessed a clear pattern of growth.”6 Hence, Heelas rightly notes that whilst “it would be misleading in the extreme to conclude that everything going on beyond the frame of institutionalised worship is of great ‘religious’ (or spiritual, paranormal, etc.) significance … many more people are (somehow) ‘religious’ without going to Church on anything approaching a regular basis than are attendees.”7
Bearing the above in mind, it is no surprise to discover that, according to recent polls, whilst the numbers of people claiming belief in God or in heaven and hell
are decreasing, once questions are asked about non- Judaeo-Christian beliefs, or are framed in a non-Judaeo-Christian way, a different picture emerges, one which shows that growing numbers of people are becoming interested in “spirituality”. Indeed, it is clear that whilst some people would not regard themselves as being “religious” (almost certainly because of the baggage that term carries), they do understand themselves to be “spiritual”. Hence, whilst the numbers believing in “God as personal” are falling, those believing in “God as spirit”, “universal spirit” or “life force” are rising. Again, the relative popularity of the non-Judeo-Christian belief in reincarnation is interesting. Since the proportion of Hindus, Sikhs or Buddhists in the West is relatively low (around 2 per cent in Britain), it is significant, as Tony Walter points out, that surveys consistently discover that “around 20 per cent of the population of Western countries answer ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Do you believe in reincarnation?’ ”8 Indeed, some surveys indicate that a quarter of Europeans and North Americans do believe in reincarnation. Quite simply, there has been a substantial increase “since the middle of the twentieth century when British surveys found figures of 4 per cent and 5 per cent”.9
Taking this line of thought a little further, an example of what I would understand to be “re-enchantment” (i.e. alternative forms of spirituality which evolve, cease to remain purely private concerns and start to “re-enchant” the wider culture) is the way a typically modern, science-based profession such as medicine is now witnessing a rise of interest in what used to be called “New Age healing”.10 Manuals such as the Nurse’s Handbook of Alternative and Complimentary Therapies11 (produced by medical professionals) are being published and alternative medicine, holistic approaches to illness and “the spiritual” are increasingly being explored and utilised. This is not surprising bearing in mind the general public’s rising levels interest. For example, in his now famous study, David Eisenberg of the Harvard Medical School found that ordinary Americans were annually spending more that $13 billion on alternative therapies and that “an estimated one in three persons in the U.S. adult population used unconventional therapy in 1990”.12 As the Nurse’s Handbook notes, “Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra have become household names, and their books espousing the benefits of natural and Ayurvedic remedies sell by the millions.”13 Whilst it would obviously be misleading to claim that all such consumers hold alternative spiritual worldviews, it is significant that, even in the areas of medicine and health, there seems to be a trend away from trusting only the conventional to experimentation with or trust in therapies and medicines which are not only unconventional, but are often supported by spiritual terminology and non-rational explanations. Many of the therapies, for example, have their roots in Eastern religious systems. As the Nurse’s Handbook points out, in a way that suggests some verification of their value, which is in itself significant, “Many alternative therapies practiced today have been used since ancient times and come from the traditional healing practices of many cultures, primarily those of China and India … The Indian principles of Ayurvedic medicine stem from the Vedas, the essential religious texts of Hinduism”.14 As one might expect in such a book, there are references, not simply to exercises and herbal remedies, but also to spiritual concepts and belief systems such as qi (or chi), qigong, prana, meridians, chakras, shamanism, prayer, healing touch, and yin and yang.
The point of the above is simply that, previously unusual spiritual beliefs and practices are being appreciated by and gradually absorbed into mainstream Western society. As Walter states regarding the belief in reincarnation, it is “not an exotic, fringe belief, but an idea that is being explored by a significant minority of otherwise conventional people”.15 This mainstreaming of previously obscure and exotic beliefs is fundamental to and symptomatic of the process of re-enchantment. Whilst many of the particular new religions and alternative spiritualities may still be considered fringe concerns, increasingly their ideas and beliefs are becoming accepted as normal and incorporated into Western plausibility structures.
To conclude, it would seem that, while it cannot be denied that secularisation/disenchantment has reshaped Western societies, it is myopic not to recognise the significance of the gradual and uneven emergence of personally and socially consequential alternative spiritualities. It seems clear that spirituality is able to sustain itself outside traditional institutions and indeed to thrive within a late-modern, Western consumer climate. Even though “religion” is reshaped and relocated (and, consequently, needs to be redefined), and just because many of its ideas are passed on through “popular occulture”, it is not thereby trivialised. I meet many such people for whom their “spirituality” is a deeply meaningful and satisfying part of their life.
Finally, the model of re-enchantment I am suggesting is, needless to say, not one of Christian revivalist optimism. Although, for good sociological and psychological reasons, certain streams of experience-based, charismatic Christianity (and, possibly, some streams of “liberal” Christianity) may continue to hold their own (in, I suspect, transformed ways), we will not see the large-scale revivals that were witnessed, for example, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Hence, although one might want to qualify some aspects of secularisation theory, its fundamental thesis concerning the decline of institutional Christianity, certainly in Europe, cannot seriously be questioned. There is simply not the required sociological, psychological and spiritual soil needed for such Christian seeds to take root. Whereas pre-industrial Europe was fundamentally religious, and principally Christian, this is not the case today. That it now flourishes in, for example, Latin America and Africa is testimony to the very different histories and the distinctive social and cultural conditions of those areas of the world. Although, of course, there may be sporadic eruptions, such as the Toronto Blessing, which began at the Airport Vineyard Church in Canada in the early 1990s and petered out by the end of the decade, and although there are undoubtedly many who, as Grace Davie argues, believe without belonging to a church,16 any large-scale, socially significant “awakenings” are very unlikely in the foreseeable future of the contemporary West. Traditional Christianity is too marginal in the lives of most Westerners, particularly in Europe, and its thought forms and ideas too alien to those of the majority of the population. The popular Christian milieu, which was so important for the Christian revivals of the past, has collapsed. However, that it has collapsed does not mean that the West has become fundamentally secular. Another religio-cultural milieu has taken its place. Christians need to understand these shifts if they are to make their faith relevant to twenty-first century Westerners.
CHRISTOPHER PARTRIDGE is Professor of Contemporary Religion in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at University College, Chester. In recent years his research has been in the areas of religious studies and the sociology of religion, focusing on new religions, alternative spiritualities and Western culture.
NOTES
1. C Partridge, The Re-Enchantment of the West, Vol 1 (2 vols.; London: T&T Clark, 2004).
2. P Berger, “The Desecularization of the World: A Global Overview”, in P Berger (ed.), The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), p. 3.
3. Jane Brum, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, Marie-Claire (November, 2000), p. 146.
4. In 1930 occult books constituted 7 per cent of religious books published. This gradually rose to 17 per cent in 1990, dipped to 11 per cent in 1995 and arose again to 15 per cent in 2000. See P Brierley, “Religion”, in AH Halsey and J Webb (eds.), Twentieth-century British Social Trends (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000), pp. 666–67.
5. “The Road Well Trodden: How to Succeed in Publishing”, The Economist (19 May 2001), p. 35.
6. P Heelas, “Prosperity and the New Age Movement: The Efficacy of Spiritual Economics”, in B Wilson and J Cresswell (eds.), New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response (London: Routledge, 1999), p. 71.
7. P Heelas, “Expressive Spirituality and Humanistic Expressivism”, in S Sutcliffe and M Bowman (eds), Beyond New Age (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000), p. 240. See also the revealing study of religion in the Lakeland town of Kendal, P Heelas and L Woodhead, The Spiritual Revolution: Why Religion is Giving Way to Spirituality (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005).
8. T Walter, “Reincarnation, Modernity and Identity”, Sociology 35 (2001), p. 21.
9. Ibid.
10. This is discussed in detail in C Partridge, The Re-Enchantment of the West, Vol 2 (2 vols.; London: T&T Clark, 2005), ch. 1.
11. Nurse’s Handbook of Alternative and Complimentary Therapies (Springhouse: Springhouse Corporation, 1999).
12. D Eisenberg et al., “Unconventional Medicine in the United States: Prevalence, Costs, and Patterns of Use”, New England Journal of Medicine 328 (1993), p. 251.
13. Nurse’s Handbook, p. ix.
14. Nurse’s Handbook, 3.
15. Walter, “Reincarnation”, p. 22.
16. G Davie, “Believing Without Belonging: Is This the Future of Religion in Britain?” Social Compass 37 (1990), pp. 455–69.
THE BIBLE IN TRANSMISSION
We are particularly grateful to Professor Christopher Partridge and Professor John Drane for engaging in a lively and stimulating debate regarding the escalating interest in spirituality and its effect upon Western culture and the Church.
In this first article Christopher Partridge draws our attention to the re-enchantment of the popular culture with “alternative” spiritualities and, interestingly, argues that this is spawned by an occluded spirituality within the culture itself, despite its secular nature. This rising spirituality, which Partridge terms “occulture” is informed by a wide range of ideas, practices and methodologies that traditionally have not resided within mainstream religions. The Church, therefore, does not have reason to be optimistic by this development if it is seeking a revival of a conventional Christian spirituality in this new religio-cultural milieu. LS
“The disenchantment of the world” (Max Weber) is the result of a network of social and intellectual forces. More specifically, it is arguable that the emergence of rationality and individualism have led, on the one hand, to the erosion of religion as a communal phenomenon and, on the other hand, to the implausibility of many of its beliefs. Whilst this secularising process is deceptively complex, the essential idea is simple: modernisation leads to religious decline, both in society and in the human mind. In other words, not only do people stop attending places of worship and organising society according to broadly religious convictions, but they no longer think from a religious perspective anymore. It is not so much that religion is explicitly rejected, but more the case that it just is not thought about. For Weber, disenchantment is the process whereby magic and spiritual mystery is driven from the world, nature is managed rather than enchanted, the spiritual loses social significance, and institutions and laws do not depend on religion for their legitimation.
Whilst not denying some aspects of Western secularisation, I want to question whether it is the whole story. Is the West witnessing a thoroughgoing erosion of belief in the supernatural? Are magic and spiritual mystery being driven from the world? Is the loss of faith in otherworldly forces a one-way, inevitable decline, or are there reasons to believe in the re-emergence of “spirituality” in the West?
Whilst the current state of religion in the West is complicated and difficult to accurately map, and while simplistic analyses should be avoided, as I have argued at length elsewhere,1 overall I am persuaded that whilst disenchantment is ubiquitously apparent, the forces of secularisation have never quite been able to stifle the shoots of spirituality. Although institutional Christianity has been seriously damaged and does not seem to be able to arrest the process of erosion, new and very different forms of significant spiritual life are emerging on the Western landscape. As with all life, new conditions require adaptation. Religion in the thin atmosphere of the modern West will necessarily evolve away from what we have become used to calling “religion” into, it would seem, the personally tailored forms of “self-religion” that are now being referred to as “spirituality”. Moreover, as future generations of alternative spiritualities become established, rooted and increasingly mainstream, they may prove to be more hardy and resistant to the disenchanting forces their antecedents were ill-equipped to deal with.
In a recent revision of his influential secularisation thesis, Peter Berger, after predicting that the world of the twenty-first century will be no less religious than it is today, asserts that “the religious impulse, the quest for meaning that transcends the restricted space of empirical existence in this world, has been a perennial feature of humanity … It would require something close to a mutation of the species to extinguish this impulse for good.”2 Hence, it is reasonable to conclude that if mainstream religion loses authority, new forms of religion will evolve to compensate. Indeed, I would argue that any apparent disappearance of spirituality is illusory. Secularisation is only a stage in a larger process, a stage which is accompanied by the increasing significance and mainstreaming of new forms of religiosity. While it may look as though the West is experiencing creeping secularisation because the most conspicuous streams of traditional spirituality, which have dominated the religious landscape for centuries, are drying up, this, in fact, is not the whole story.
Spiritualities are emerging that are not only quite different from the dying forms of religion, but are often defined over against them, and are articulated in ways that do not carry the baggage of traditional religion. Unlike those forms of religion that are in serious decline, the new spiritual awakening utilises thought forms, ideas and practices which are not at all alien to the majority of Westerners. They emerge from an essentially non-Christian religio-cultural milieu that both resources and is resourced by popular culture, and is a constantly replenished reservoir of ideas, practices and methodologies. I have termed this milieu “occulture”. Expanding the narrow, technical definition of the term “occult” to include a vast spectrum of beliefs and practices sourced by Eastern spirituality, Paganism, Spiritualism, Theosophy, alternative science and medicine, popular psychology and a range of beliefs emanating out of a general interest in the paranormal, occulture is the new spiritual atmosphere in the West; a large pool of ideas and theories feeding new spiritual springs; the environment within which new methodologies and worldviews are passed on to an occulturally curious generation. Moreover, it is worth briefly drawing attention to the fact that popular culture is central to the efficacy of occulture, in that it feeds ideas into the occultural reservoir and also develops, mixes and disseminates those ideas. Put starkly, popular occulture is sacralising the Western mind.
Evidence that the resurgence of religion in the West is taking a new trajectory is not difficult to find. For example, a recent sympathetically written article on Wicca in America makes the following interesting, if a little exaggerated, points: “Witchcraft, or Wicca, is the fastest growing ‘religion’ in the USA today. It is estimated that around a million-and-a-half teenage Americans, often as young as thirteen, are practicing Wiccans. Television programmes such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch and films like The Craft have sparked continent-wide interest in witchcraft and awarded it the official Hollywood stamp of ‘cool’.”3 This interest is, of course, not a new phenomenon. Non-traditional re-enchantment has been a long time coming. In particular, over the past 40 years or so there has been a sharp rise in, not merely those tolerant of, but those taking a keen interest in new forms of spirituality. For example, the fact that the percentage of “occult” books published since 1930 has more than doubled,4 and, according to a recent report in The Economist, “sales of books about yoga and reiki … have exploded in the past 18 months”,5 is indicative of the steady increase of popular interest in alternative religiosity. Similarly, Paul Heelas points out that, not only have, for example, “New Age holidays … expanded rapidly during the last ten or so years”, but “there is no reason to suppose that … spiritual economics will not continue to prosper. Since the 1960s, we have witnessed a clear pattern of growth.”6 Hence, Heelas rightly notes that whilst “it would be misleading in the extreme to conclude that everything going on beyond the frame of institutionalised worship is of great ‘religious’ (or spiritual, paranormal, etc.) significance … many more people are (somehow) ‘religious’ without going to Church on anything approaching a regular basis than are attendees.”7
Bearing the above in mind, it is no surprise to discover that, according to recent polls, whilst the numbers of people claiming belief in God or in heaven and hell
are decreasing, once questions are asked about non- Judaeo-Christian beliefs, or are framed in a non-Judaeo-Christian way, a different picture emerges, one which shows that growing numbers of people are becoming interested in “spirituality”. Indeed, it is clear that whilst some people would not regard themselves as being “religious” (almost certainly because of the baggage that term carries), they do understand themselves to be “spiritual”. Hence, whilst the numbers believing in “God as personal” are falling, those believing in “God as spirit”, “universal spirit” or “life force” are rising. Again, the relative popularity of the non-Judeo-Christian belief in reincarnation is interesting. Since the proportion of Hindus, Sikhs or Buddhists in the West is relatively low (around 2 per cent in Britain), it is significant, as Tony Walter points out, that surveys consistently discover that “around 20 per cent of the population of Western countries answer ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Do you believe in reincarnation?’ ”8 Indeed, some surveys indicate that a quarter of Europeans and North Americans do believe in reincarnation. Quite simply, there has been a substantial increase “since the middle of the twentieth century when British surveys found figures of 4 per cent and 5 per cent”.9
Taking this line of thought a little further, an example of what I would understand to be “re-enchantment” (i.e. alternative forms of spirituality which evolve, cease to remain purely private concerns and start to “re-enchant” the wider culture) is the way a typically modern, science-based profession such as medicine is now witnessing a rise of interest in what used to be called “New Age healing”.10 Manuals such as the Nurse’s Handbook of Alternative and Complimentary Therapies11 (produced by medical professionals) are being published and alternative medicine, holistic approaches to illness and “the spiritual” are increasingly being explored and utilised. This is not surprising bearing in mind the general public’s rising levels interest. For example, in his now famous study, David Eisenberg of the Harvard Medical School found that ordinary Americans were annually spending more that $13 billion on alternative therapies and that “an estimated one in three persons in the U.S. adult population used unconventional therapy in 1990”.12 As the Nurse’s Handbook notes, “Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra have become household names, and their books espousing the benefits of natural and Ayurvedic remedies sell by the millions.”13 Whilst it would obviously be misleading to claim that all such consumers hold alternative spiritual worldviews, it is significant that, even in the areas of medicine and health, there seems to be a trend away from trusting only the conventional to experimentation with or trust in therapies and medicines which are not only unconventional, but are often supported by spiritual terminology and non-rational explanations. Many of the therapies, for example, have their roots in Eastern religious systems. As the Nurse’s Handbook points out, in a way that suggests some verification of their value, which is in itself significant, “Many alternative therapies practiced today have been used since ancient times and come from the traditional healing practices of many cultures, primarily those of China and India … The Indian principles of Ayurvedic medicine stem from the Vedas, the essential religious texts of Hinduism”.14 As one might expect in such a book, there are references, not simply to exercises and herbal remedies, but also to spiritual concepts and belief systems such as qi (or chi), qigong, prana, meridians, chakras, shamanism, prayer, healing touch, and yin and yang.
The point of the above is simply that, previously unusual spiritual beliefs and practices are being appreciated by and gradually absorbed into mainstream Western society. As Walter states regarding the belief in reincarnation, it is “not an exotic, fringe belief, but an idea that is being explored by a significant minority of otherwise conventional people”.15 This mainstreaming of previously obscure and exotic beliefs is fundamental to and symptomatic of the process of re-enchantment. Whilst many of the particular new religions and alternative spiritualities may still be considered fringe concerns, increasingly their ideas and beliefs are becoming accepted as normal and incorporated into Western plausibility structures.
To conclude, it would seem that, while it cannot be denied that secularisation/disenchantment has reshaped Western societies, it is myopic not to recognise the significance of the gradual and uneven emergence of personally and socially consequential alternative spiritualities. It seems clear that spirituality is able to sustain itself outside traditional institutions and indeed to thrive within a late-modern, Western consumer climate. Even though “religion” is reshaped and relocated (and, consequently, needs to be redefined), and just because many of its ideas are passed on through “popular occulture”, it is not thereby trivialised. I meet many such people for whom their “spirituality” is a deeply meaningful and satisfying part of their life.
Finally, the model of re-enchantment I am suggesting is, needless to say, not one of Christian revivalist optimism. Although, for good sociological and psychological reasons, certain streams of experience-based, charismatic Christianity (and, possibly, some streams of “liberal” Christianity) may continue to hold their own (in, I suspect, transformed ways), we will not see the large-scale revivals that were witnessed, for example, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Hence, although one might want to qualify some aspects of secularisation theory, its fundamental thesis concerning the decline of institutional Christianity, certainly in Europe, cannot seriously be questioned. There is simply not the required sociological, psychological and spiritual soil needed for such Christian seeds to take root. Whereas pre-industrial Europe was fundamentally religious, and principally Christian, this is not the case today. That it now flourishes in, for example, Latin America and Africa is testimony to the very different histories and the distinctive social and cultural conditions of those areas of the world. Although, of course, there may be sporadic eruptions, such as the Toronto Blessing, which began at the Airport Vineyard Church in Canada in the early 1990s and petered out by the end of the decade, and although there are undoubtedly many who, as Grace Davie argues, believe without belonging to a church,16 any large-scale, socially significant “awakenings” are very unlikely in the foreseeable future of the contemporary West. Traditional Christianity is too marginal in the lives of most Westerners, particularly in Europe, and its thought forms and ideas too alien to those of the majority of the population. The popular Christian milieu, which was so important for the Christian revivals of the past, has collapsed. However, that it has collapsed does not mean that the West has become fundamentally secular. Another religio-cultural milieu has taken its place. Christians need to understand these shifts if they are to make their faith relevant to twenty-first century Westerners.
CHRISTOPHER PARTRIDGE is Professor of Contemporary Religion in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at University College, Chester. In recent years his research has been in the areas of religious studies and the sociology of religion, focusing on new religions, alternative spiritualities and Western culture.
NOTES
1. C Partridge, The Re-Enchantment of the West, Vol 1 (2 vols.; London: T&T Clark, 2004).
2. P Berger, “The Desecularization of the World: A Global Overview”, in P Berger (ed.), The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), p. 3.
3. Jane Brum, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, Marie-Claire (November, 2000), p. 146.
4. In 1930 occult books constituted 7 per cent of religious books published. This gradually rose to 17 per cent in 1990, dipped to 11 per cent in 1995 and arose again to 15 per cent in 2000. See P Brierley, “Religion”, in AH Halsey and J Webb (eds.), Twentieth-century British Social Trends (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000), pp. 666–67.
5. “The Road Well Trodden: How to Succeed in Publishing”, The Economist (19 May 2001), p. 35.
6. P Heelas, “Prosperity and the New Age Movement: The Efficacy of Spiritual Economics”, in B Wilson and J Cresswell (eds.), New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response (London: Routledge, 1999), p. 71.
7. P Heelas, “Expressive Spirituality and Humanistic Expressivism”, in S Sutcliffe and M Bowman (eds), Beyond New Age (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000), p. 240. See also the revealing study of religion in the Lakeland town of Kendal, P Heelas and L Woodhead, The Spiritual Revolution: Why Religion is Giving Way to Spirituality (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005).
8. T Walter, “Reincarnation, Modernity and Identity”, Sociology 35 (2001), p. 21.
9. Ibid.
10. This is discussed in detail in C Partridge, The Re-Enchantment of the West, Vol 2 (2 vols.; London: T&T Clark, 2005), ch. 1.
11. Nurse’s Handbook of Alternative and Complimentary Therapies (Springhouse: Springhouse Corporation, 1999).
12. D Eisenberg et al., “Unconventional Medicine in the United States: Prevalence, Costs, and Patterns of Use”, New England Journal of Medicine 328 (1993), p. 251.
13. Nurse’s Handbook, p. ix.
14. Nurse’s Handbook, 3.
15. Walter, “Reincarnation”, p. 22.
16. G Davie, “Believing Without Belonging: Is This the Future of Religion in Britain?” Social Compass 37 (1990), pp. 455–69.
THE BIBLE IN TRANSMISSION
An Eco Mobile Home
This looks like someting to watch out for as we consider eco-housing.
Treehugger: MiniHouse: An Eco Mobile Home[:housing:]
Treehugger: MiniHouse: An Eco Mobile Home[:housing:]
heart-lifting
Sometimes there are scenes that make me feel glad to be there, often as I'm walking into Durham I see this.
Burnt Out
An article worth refering back to if Kenneth Clark ends up leading the Conservatives ...
George Monbiot � Burnt Out
George Monbiot � Burnt Out
Study links student debt to tax evasion
"'When graduates did not feel that they had received quality training for their investment, this discontent was expressed through shamelessness about not paying Hecs and willingness to evade tax,'"
I recall reading a story of a Chinese student who paid his fees at the end of a course, saying that 'a teacher has not taught if a student hasn't learnt'. That's an educational principle we may have to take increasingly seriously methinks, looking at this article. Certainly would shake up what I've seen of ministerial education...
EducationGuardian.co.uk | Students | Study links student debt to tax evasion:
I recall reading a story of a Chinese student who paid his fees at the end of a course, saying that 'a teacher has not taught if a student hasn't learnt'. That's an educational principle we may have to take increasingly seriously methinks, looking at this article. Certainly would shake up what I've seen of ministerial education...
EducationGuardian.co.uk | Students | Study links student debt to tax evasion:
Year Of Living Generously is going public...
YoLG is about a community of people making a serious effort in the course of a year to make regular lifestyle changes in a generous direction. From blood donation to eco-stuff. The website has been upgraded in the light of the pilot project over the last year so that it can act as an encouragement and check-up "to find out how the rest of us are doing - what works, what doesn't - and find ourselves inspired and challenged to tilt the rudder on our lives a little more in the coming year."
Maybe something to consider?
Year Of Living Generously
Maybe something to consider?
Year Of Living Generously
Church agencies to join major climate change coalition
Christian Aid, TEAR Fund and CAFOD are all joining The Climate Movement along with Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Network for Social Change, Oxfam, People and Planet, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Women’s Institute and the World Wildlife Fund. I'm pleased that this will help to link in the Christian public's mind the evironment and issues of development and poverty, at least I hope it will.
"The Stop Climate Chaos initiative, as it will be known publicly, is due to be launched “in spectacular fashion” at 09:00 on the 1 September at Jubilee Gardens, near the famous London Eye, say organisers."
Church agencies to join major climate change coalition - news from ekklesia:
"
"The Stop Climate Chaos initiative, as it will be known publicly, is due to be launched “in spectacular fashion” at 09:00 on the 1 September at Jubilee Gardens, near the famous London Eye, say organisers."
Church agencies to join major climate change coalition - news from ekklesia:
"
23 August 2005
Wading in for charity
I expect that now this has been done we'll see others having a go too; it's just the kind of thing that seems to attract people looking for a challenge and a focus for training regimes and charity events.
22 August 2005
Art and spirituality
Adbusters asked its readers"Is spirituality central to a responsible and relevant social role for art?
And the answer...
"YES: 61% - NO: 39%"
And I think that as Christians in mission we would do well to engage with one of the comments quoted;
"Art needs to connect with people to be effective. This connection ideally occurs on all levels of human existence. It is hard to believe that something with aesthetic merit alone will fill any role involving social change. It must capture the thoughts of the receiver, engage their brain, make them think. It must engage the senses of the receiver, be seen, heard, touched if possible, make them experience. It must also move the spirit of the receiver, create and re-forge symbolic and cultural pathways. It must make them feel."
Adbusters : The Art Fart Survey:
And the answer...
"YES: 61% - NO: 39%"
And I think that as Christians in mission we would do well to engage with one of the comments quoted;
"Art needs to connect with people to be effective. This connection ideally occurs on all levels of human existence. It is hard to believe that something with aesthetic merit alone will fill any role involving social change. It must capture the thoughts of the receiver, engage their brain, make them think. It must engage the senses of the receiver, be seen, heard, touched if possible, make them experience. It must also move the spirit of the receiver, create and re-forge symbolic and cultural pathways. It must make them feel."
Adbusters : The Art Fart Survey:
Greenbelt - Talk
I've just had word of whom I should be escorting at Greenbelt:
Richard Rohr: 6pm Fri, 5pm Sat, and 9-12 Mon
James Jones: 12 Sat, 3pm Sat
Richard Giles: 8pm Sat and 7.30pm Sun
So those might be good times to catch me if you'd also like to meet one of those people! But be aware; I may have to move them to another venue quickly.
My duties seem to leave me free most of Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, Sonday afternoon and Monday afternoon, so do get in touch if you'll be there and fancy a cuppa. I'll give you my mobile number if you email me for it! I'm a gmailer and pre-at as "andiibowsher".
Greenbelt - Talks Section
Richard Rohr: 6pm Fri, 5pm Sat, and 9-12 Mon
James Jones: 12 Sat, 3pm Sat
Richard Giles: 8pm Sat and 7.30pm Sun
So those might be good times to catch me if you'd also like to meet one of those people! But be aware; I may have to move them to another venue quickly.
My duties seem to leave me free most of Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, Sonday afternoon and Monday afternoon, so do get in touch if you'll be there and fancy a cuppa. I'll give you my mobile number if you email me for it! I'm a gmailer and pre-at as "andiibowsher".
Greenbelt - Talks Section
Alaska may mobilise America?
"Besides retreating glaciers, insect infestations and more intense forest fires, Alaska is experiencing melting permafrost, flooded villages, warming oceans, coastal erosion, shifts in bird and wildlife populations, and shorter seasons for ice roads. And there is more to come, as Alaska is heating up at twice the rate of the rest of the world."
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Visitors rush to glimpse vanishing glaciers:
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Visitors rush to glimpse vanishing glaciers:
Geothermal at Buck House
It seems that despite having money to burn, our royals are nevertheless doing the right thing by the environment and are likely to be saving big bucks as a result. "...installing a geothermal system in Buckingham Palace. One source said: 'Now the Queen will no longer have to go around switching off the radiators.' She is also making Balmoral Castle self-sufficient by installing a private hydroelectric plant. "
Perhaps their example may help the cause? I do hope so.
Treehugger: Her Majesty goes Geothermal at Buck House:
Perhaps their example may help the cause? I do hope so.
Treehugger: Her Majesty goes Geothermal at Buck House:
Reaping what we sow
Here's the testiimony of someone who identies themself as a pagan who has Christian background. "I could feel the subtle energies that flow through all things. When I was still very young I called it a manifestation of Jesus, but the church would have nothing of that. I didn't know what I did wrong but I was considered crazy. My parents thought it was 'just a phase' and 'it would pass.'"
Isn't that frustrating? I suspect that it is not an isolated kind of incident either. Would we really want to write off that kind of spiritual sensibility as wrong? I know that my theology has room for that child's perspective...
Oh and here's the sharp aftertaste,
"One of the nicest things I found in Paganism (and couldn't find in Christianity) is acceptance. Amongst Pagans I am not crazy or mad, nor blasphemous for thinking an ordinary mortal could wield the same powers as God's only son (which I never claimed...oh well…)."
I'm also vexed about what the church has done to the spiritual search of this lad who has now embraced a magickal path. and says; "certain aspects of Christianity just weren’t making sense to me, so I thought it was just me. I thought I wasn’t doing the right thing or that I was just a horrible person. Over the next year I realized that this doubt in “God” wasn’t my fault and that it was an instinctive call sounding off inside my inner being. A call for nothing more than the truth. The Bible left me with more questions than answers so it was up to me to try and find out the truth for myself. I could not conceive the concept of “blind faith” anymore than one can conceive the idea of “almost pregnant.” It made no sense to me. I felt so lost." He is -if the writing is anything to go by- quite an insightful and spiritually sensitive guy. My question is how to church in a way that connects with these people?
Witchvox Article:
Isn't that frustrating? I suspect that it is not an isolated kind of incident either. Would we really want to write off that kind of spiritual sensibility as wrong? I know that my theology has room for that child's perspective...
Oh and here's the sharp aftertaste,
"One of the nicest things I found in Paganism (and couldn't find in Christianity) is acceptance. Amongst Pagans I am not crazy or mad, nor blasphemous for thinking an ordinary mortal could wield the same powers as God's only son (which I never claimed...oh well…)."
I'm also vexed about what the church has done to the spiritual search of this lad who has now embraced a magickal path. and says; "certain aspects of Christianity just weren’t making sense to me, so I thought it was just me. I thought I wasn’t doing the right thing or that I was just a horrible person. Over the next year I realized that this doubt in “God” wasn’t my fault and that it was an instinctive call sounding off inside my inner being. A call for nothing more than the truth. The Bible left me with more questions than answers so it was up to me to try and find out the truth for myself. I could not conceive the concept of “blind faith” anymore than one can conceive the idea of “almost pregnant.” It made no sense to me. I felt so lost." He is -if the writing is anything to go by- quite an insightful and spiritually sensitive guy. My question is how to church in a way that connects with these people?
Witchvox Article:
BBC "Superstar VJS" - Clips
Fab resource for those looking for video clips for non-commercial usage [like worship] ... "thank you BBC, your blend of .... has saved my life." (In joke for BBC viewers.)
BBC - Radio 1 Superstar VJS - Clips index
BBC - Radio 1 Superstar VJS - Clips index
long-hours culture is killing us
"Ronald Reagan was wrong, it seems, when he said: 'Hard work never killed anyone.' Death from overwork is not a new phenomenon in Britain but it is largely unremarked upon."
There are a few snippets in this worth drawing attention to:
"overtime and extended work schedules are associated with an increased risk of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, fatigue, stress, depression, musculoskeletal disorders, chronic infections, diabetes and other general health complaints. In Japan, most karoshi victims succumb to brain aneurisms, strokes and heart attack."
'Karoshi' is the Japanese term for working yourself to death.
And we are not just talking mega-hours here:
"the risk is not just confined to those who work more than 60 hours but hits those that put in more than 45."
And the health of our businesses is affected too:
" our long-hours culture is also bad for business because lower working hours relate directly to higher productivity. It is no coincidence that the UK has the least-regulated economy in Europe and is the least productive in the industrialised world." I wonder how long before that gets into actuarial accounts and starts to affect insurance? The Japanese experience is sobering:
"In 1987, the Japanese ministry of labour acknowledged that it had a problem with death from overwork and began to publish statistics on karoshi. In 2001, the numbers reached a record level with 143 workers dying. Now, death-by-overwork lawsuits are common, with the victims' families demanding compensation payments. In 2002-03, 160 out of 819 claimants received compensation."
All this is explored in "Willing Slaves: How the Overwork Culture is Ruling Our Lives" by Madeleine Bunting.
Guardian Unlimited Money | Work | Work until you drop: how the long-hours culture is killing us:
There are a few snippets in this worth drawing attention to:
"overtime and extended work schedules are associated with an increased risk of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, fatigue, stress, depression, musculoskeletal disorders, chronic infections, diabetes and other general health complaints. In Japan, most karoshi victims succumb to brain aneurisms, strokes and heart attack."
'Karoshi' is the Japanese term for working yourself to death.
And we are not just talking mega-hours here:
"the risk is not just confined to those who work more than 60 hours but hits those that put in more than 45."
And the health of our businesses is affected too:
" our long-hours culture is also bad for business because lower working hours relate directly to higher productivity. It is no coincidence that the UK has the least-regulated economy in Europe and is the least productive in the industrialised world." I wonder how long before that gets into actuarial accounts and starts to affect insurance? The Japanese experience is sobering:
"In 1987, the Japanese ministry of labour acknowledged that it had a problem with death from overwork and began to publish statistics on karoshi. In 2001, the numbers reached a record level with 143 workers dying. Now, death-by-overwork lawsuits are common, with the victims' families demanding compensation payments. In 2002-03, 160 out of 819 claimants received compensation."
All this is explored in "Willing Slaves: How the Overwork Culture is Ruling Our Lives" by Madeleine Bunting.
Guardian Unlimited Money | Work | Work until you drop: how the long-hours culture is killing us:
Study refutes faith in silent majority
It looks like the too blase interpretation of the 2001 census that many of my clergy colleagues are prone too, is taking a battering. A new study shows that social forces are eroding active church-relating faith. "Many people start or stop regular church attendance. Although absolute numbers are roughly balanced, the risk of churchgoers stopping is much greater than the possibility of non-worshippers joining the Sunday congregation." I suspect that there have been times in the past when the pressure was in the other direction. If secularisation means something, then on the basis of these figures (which seem to cohere with my intuitions), it is that it is easier not to identify with a religious institution than to do so.
I think that this is pretty helpful too;
"The study found that older people described themselves as religious, though not necessarily orthodox. The middle-aged saw themselves as spiritual rather than religious. Younger people most often held beliefs as part of a view of life that they did not recognise as spiritual." That's a really interesting missionary challenge. I would like to see a bit more on that last bit about younger people, it seems to indicate that whole-life stuff is important, and integralism has a solid foothold.
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Study refutes faith in silent majority:
I think that this is pretty helpful too;
"The study found that older people described themselves as religious, though not necessarily orthodox. The middle-aged saw themselves as spiritual rather than religious. Younger people most often held beliefs as part of a view of life that they did not recognise as spiritual." That's a really interesting missionary challenge. I would like to see a bit more on that last bit about younger people, it seems to indicate that whole-life stuff is important, and integralism has a solid foothold.
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Study refutes faith in silent majority:
Britain's organic food scam exposed
Oh dear; "'The term organic is clearly being abused, by both producers and sellers. Not many local authorities have the resources to test the integrity of organic food,' said Dr Yunes Teinaz, principal environmental health officer at Hackney Borough Council." well, as you look at the facts perhaps it's not surprising, buying local and trusted sources may be the only recourse; the premium that "organic" attracts is bound to attract the interest of the unscrupulous, the question is, how to police it?
The Observer | UK News | Britain's organic food scam exposed:
The Observer | UK News | Britain's organic food scam exposed:
21 August 2005
Nanofuture of solar cells?
This could be a hugely significant breakthrough: "a way to make strong, stable macroscale sheets and ribbons of multiwall nanotubes at a rate of seven meters per minute. These ribbons and sheets, moreover, already display -- without optimization of the process -- important electronic and physical properties, making them suitable for use in an enormous variety of settings, including artificial muscles, transparent antennas, video displays and solar cells "
The properties are wondrous; "nanotube sheets combine high transparency with high electronic conductivity, are highly flexible and provide giant gravimetric surface areas, which has enabled the team to demonstrate their use as electrodes for bright organic light emitting diodes for displays and as solar cells for light harvesting."
However there are potential issues and we've heard the siren call of the wonder materials before so let's be only cautiously excited: "how stable are the materials over the long-haul? What would cause them to break down? And when they do degrade, how small are the resulting particles? Although solid research into the risks of nanotubes remains to be done, early signs are that some configurations, under some conditions, could be hazardous."
WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: Ribbons, Sheets and the Nanofuture:
The properties are wondrous; "nanotube sheets combine high transparency with high electronic conductivity, are highly flexible and provide giant gravimetric surface areas, which has enabled the team to demonstrate their use as electrodes for bright organic light emitting diodes for displays and as solar cells for light harvesting."
However there are potential issues and we've heard the siren call of the wonder materials before so let's be only cautiously excited: "how stable are the materials over the long-haul? What would cause them to break down? And when they do degrade, how small are the resulting particles? Although solid research into the risks of nanotubes remains to be done, early signs are that some configurations, under some conditions, could be hazardous."
WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: Ribbons, Sheets and the Nanofuture:
Celebrate David vs Coke giant
All too often we seem to be aware of how TNC's trample on the rights of the poor and have government in their pockets or over a barrel. Well, here's a nice change. "Coca-Cola has been ordered to close one of its largest bottling plants in India for breaching environmental regulations."
BBC NEWS | Business | Coke told to close Indian plant:
BBC NEWS | Business | Coke told to close Indian plant:
20 August 2005
Treehugger: Fuel Cell Car Kit
This is the kind of thing that would have been most welcome as a birthday present when I was a kid, come to think of it ...
17 August 2005
what terrorism is/not
"A truth ''that has been largely forgotten in the post-9/11 frenzy is that terrorism is a technique, not an ideology or a country. It is a technique that any group can pick up and use, without distinction of ideology, creed, or cause, and the people wielding it could as easily be fanatical anti-government Americans, Troskyists Germans, (or) Islamist Arabs.''"
-Gwynne Dyer ''Future: Tense, The Coming World Order,''
AlterNet: Local Fighters Usually Win:
-Gwynne Dyer ''Future: Tense, The Coming World Order,''
AlterNet: Local Fighters Usually Win:
Christian leader stabbed to death
Not much more detail yet of why the woman stabbed Frere Roger but tributes, blog-comment style, at the bottom of this BBC article.
BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Christian leader stabbed to death
Taize’s founder stabbed to death during service
I can hardly believe it: "Brother Roger, one of the 20th century’s leading ecumenical figures, was stabbed to death by a woman during a service on Tuesday at the Taize community he founded in eastern France"
May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
I can't begin to imagine why somene would do this to such a saintly man.
Taize’s founder stabbed to death during service - Europe - MSNBC.com:
May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
I can't begin to imagine why somene would do this to such a saintly man.
Taize’s founder stabbed to death during service - Europe - MSNBC.com:
spiked-liberties
Following my experience of seeing the outline of what some religious groups in Britain would like to do with laws attempting to oulaw religious hatred (ie use them as ways to stifle criticism and debate they don't like), I was interested to see this article by an Ozzie muslim who has chaged his mind in the light of experience of such laws, about the advisability of having them. "when religious communities sue their critics, preferring the force of the law over the force of argument, it bolsters the view that the criticisms were valid. The only way to deal with extremism is to confront and expose the ideas that underpin it. This can only be achieved if those ideas can be expressed, and then exposed, in the public domain."
It is pretty much articulating my fear about the way that the British equivalent being debated might work in practice. As Mr Butler says in his article;
"Two years later, it's a strange kind of tolerance when Muslims are suing Christians, witches are suing the Salvation Army, acolytes of Aleister Crowley are suing child psychologists, and faith communities are playing an obscene game of 'gotcha'."
And he notes, "While the UK considers the passage of such laws, Australian states cannot drop the issue fast enough." And quotes favourably an Ozzie politician's comment, "[These] laws can undermine the very freedom they seek to protect - freedom of thought, conscience and belief.".
And I think that there is enough truth in the following statement to caule serious concern since the UK proposed legislation actually includes philosophies of life as protected alongside more conventional religions.
"it is not inconceivable that, with a few constitutional adjustments, even the British National Party in the UK might morph into a 'religion' of sorts, thereby entitled to protection under the religious hatred law."
spiked-liberties | Article |:
It is pretty much articulating my fear about the way that the British equivalent being debated might work in practice. As Mr Butler says in his article;
"Two years later, it's a strange kind of tolerance when Muslims are suing Christians, witches are suing the Salvation Army, acolytes of Aleister Crowley are suing child psychologists, and faith communities are playing an obscene game of 'gotcha'."
And he notes, "While the UK considers the passage of such laws, Australian states cannot drop the issue fast enough." And quotes favourably an Ozzie politician's comment, "[These] laws can undermine the very freedom they seek to protect - freedom of thought, conscience and belief.".
And I think that there is enough truth in the following statement to caule serious concern since the UK proposed legislation actually includes philosophies of life as protected alongside more conventional religions.
"it is not inconceivable that, with a few constitutional adjustments, even the British National Party in the UK might morph into a 'religion' of sorts, thereby entitled to protection under the religious hatred law."
spiked-liberties | Article |:
Power Supply Is Down in the Dumps
Looks like an early win-win for carbon credits, in Bangladesh.
" ... take over operations of the vast Matuail dump site, installing a complex system that will capture methane before it is released into the atmosphere. The gas would be diverted to generators, and the resulting electricity would be sold to Dhaka's utility provider.
Once running at capacity, the system is expected to produce 3 to 4 megawatts of power -- enough for about 3,000 U.S. households, or about 50,000 of their Bangladeshi counterparts.
Meanwhile, Enayetullah and Sinha hope to scale up the composting program to meet the total demand for organic fertilizer of the country's farmers."Wired News: Power Supply Is Down in the Dumps:
" ... take over operations of the vast Matuail dump site, installing a complex system that will capture methane before it is released into the atmosphere. The gas would be diverted to generators, and the resulting electricity would be sold to Dhaka's utility provider.
Once running at capacity, the system is expected to produce 3 to 4 megawatts of power -- enough for about 3,000 U.S. households, or about 50,000 of their Bangladeshi counterparts.
Meanwhile, Enayetullah and Sinha hope to scale up the composting program to meet the total demand for organic fertilizer of the country's farmers."Wired News: Power Supply Is Down in the Dumps:
A God Without Wrath...?
Chris at Paradoxology raises the question of how we are to understand the wrath of God. I wrote: "Part of the problem of wrath is that we most immediately associate it with unfair and disproportionate anger as we have all to often experienced it. We are also very often aware of the terrible damage anger can do and we are hardwired to avoid it, therefore to associate it with God is a prima facie conceptual no-no. What we need to do, I think, is to find ways of talking about things that contextualises 'wrath' as the response of love to whatever damages or harms the beloved; our culture is saturated with stories of anger flowing from love; a mother's love for her child causes her to lash out at an abuser -no-one chastises her anger, in fact the commments would be made if she was not angry; it would be asked whether she really cared for her child. There may be issues with how she might express the anger but not the anger itself. God's 'problem' is that he passionately loves the victim and the perpetrator, and passionately hates the things that both of them do that harm others and themselves...."
Paradoxology: A God Without Wrath...:
Paradoxology: A God Without Wrath...:
What is Evil? Fantasy explores...
This sounds interesting and I've added the books to my 'waiting to buy?' list. The last comment in the quote is definitely worth pondering. "The Sundering series, on the other hand, is a kind of retelling of The Lord of the Rings from the perspective of Sauron. There are many key differences between the stories that make Godslayer's dark lord Satoris more sympathetic than Sauron ... Satoris has done nothing more terrible than building a city where he gives shelter to social outcasts, trolls, and the insane. Sure, he's depressed and prefers to live in the dark, but does that mean Satoris should be killed? And what's so great about the Shapers, anyway, since they were the ones who originally sundered the world and left to live on an island far from human shores? Why should mortals fight the Shapers' battles for them? It's fascinating to watch a fantasy novel grapple with these kinds of questions, since the genre is rather notorious for making evil so obvious that our heroes never have to question their motivations."
Banewreaker by Jacqueline Carey
The problem with making evil too obvious is that it ill-equips us to deal imaginitively with the real moral dilemmas when evil is not epically obvious but is embedded into ordinary life so as to be almost invisible; like the 'just doing my job' aspects of form-filling, track maintenance, etc that enabled the holocaust. Like, -dare we admit it?- the everyday decisions not to buy fairly traded goods, or to take unnecessary car journeys, or to accede in measures supposed to 'fight terrorism' but mostly preserve a world order for the already privileged? And of course because these things are so embedded in the way things are, it is hard to take them seriously enough to raise the moral energy to change our ways and it is hard to avoid them completely without alienating others and ceasing to function among our peers. So we are pitched into taking action to remedy somewhat things for which we are not fully or even mostly responsible individually and which can only exist as a function of collective actions and decisions and yet we prop up by our consent to continue to feed the system. And worse still, the withdrawal of our consent will prabably, on its own, not stop the continuance of the evils.
There's a good theological meditation on this in Alistair McFadyen's Bound to Sin. And I hope myself to do a bit of work on this linking it with 'Principalities and Powers'.
What to do? I think that we need to cultivate the wisdom of identifying the key things that we each need to begin with and embed those into our living and then take further stock at the same time we need to be cultivating the humility to see that we still are compromised even if working on it, so that we continue to relate to others in a compassionate and encouraging way without implitly [at best] or explitly making them out to be in league with the devil. It is a process and the only real sin is to refuse to enter the process of change and to judge others for doing it differently.
It would be great to see more fantasy that ditched the myth of redemptive violence, which relies on the idea that we can easily identify those who are totally evil and that by 'erasing' them we make the world a better place and peace and harmony will rise from the corpses of the evil slain.
AlterNet: What is Evil?:
Banewreaker by Jacqueline Carey
The problem with making evil too obvious is that it ill-equips us to deal imaginitively with the real moral dilemmas when evil is not epically obvious but is embedded into ordinary life so as to be almost invisible; like the 'just doing my job' aspects of form-filling, track maintenance, etc that enabled the holocaust. Like, -dare we admit it?- the everyday decisions not to buy fairly traded goods, or to take unnecessary car journeys, or to accede in measures supposed to 'fight terrorism' but mostly preserve a world order for the already privileged? And of course because these things are so embedded in the way things are, it is hard to take them seriously enough to raise the moral energy to change our ways and it is hard to avoid them completely without alienating others and ceasing to function among our peers. So we are pitched into taking action to remedy somewhat things for which we are not fully or even mostly responsible individually and which can only exist as a function of collective actions and decisions and yet we prop up by our consent to continue to feed the system. And worse still, the withdrawal of our consent will prabably, on its own, not stop the continuance of the evils.
There's a good theological meditation on this in Alistair McFadyen's Bound to Sin. And I hope myself to do a bit of work on this linking it with 'Principalities and Powers'.
What to do? I think that we need to cultivate the wisdom of identifying the key things that we each need to begin with and embed those into our living and then take further stock at the same time we need to be cultivating the humility to see that we still are compromised even if working on it, so that we continue to relate to others in a compassionate and encouraging way without implitly [at best] or explitly making them out to be in league with the devil. It is a process and the only real sin is to refuse to enter the process of change and to judge others for doing it differently.
It would be great to see more fantasy that ditched the myth of redemptive violence, which relies on the idea that we can easily identify those who are totally evil and that by 'erasing' them we make the world a better place and peace and harmony will rise from the corpses of the evil slain.
AlterNet: What is Evil?:
16 August 2005
DNA Isn't Your Destiny
"The epigenome can change according to an individual's environment, and is passed from generation to generation. It's part of the reason why 'identical' twins can be so different, and it's also why not only the children but the grandchildren of women who suffered malnutrition during pregnancy are likely to weigh less at birth."
Wired News: Whew! Your DNA Isn't Your Destiny:
Wired News: Whew! Your DNA Isn't Your Destiny:
Men are now 'unemployable sperm donors'
It may be controversial, it is probably controvertable, but I think that we ignore it at our social peril; the man is articulating something that I suspect a lot of men will find resonant for them. "'Life is now being lived according to women's rules', he told the Radio Times. 'The traits that have traditionally been associated with men - reticence, stoicism, single-mindedness - have been marginalised.
'The result is that men are becoming more like women. Look at the men who are being held up as sporting icons - David Beckham and, God forbid, Tim Henman.'
The former Nine O'Clock News presenter, who now reads the news on BBC World, said some changes have been for the good, but asked: 'What are the men left with?'"
For me it is less of an issue personally; I have been in a 'job' where 'feminine' traits have been cultivated and I have been brought up in such a way that I don't necessarily value some of the 'masculine' traits. But, like the issue of the feminisation of the workplace, we should take note of the male distress signals and think long and hard how not to alienate further the arguably more aggressive pole of humanity still further; better yet how to develop a masculine spirituality that is not oppositional to the 'feminine' but able to celebrate the distinctives that men have to offer while channeling energies into constructive outlets for the common good.
That said, I'm not convinced that men can't do the traditionally 'feminine' things that are being alluded to here; it just needs framing in ways that can help men move culturally from one place to another.
MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | Men are now 'unemployable sperm donors', says Buerk:
'The result is that men are becoming more like women. Look at the men who are being held up as sporting icons - David Beckham and, God forbid, Tim Henman.'
The former Nine O'Clock News presenter, who now reads the news on BBC World, said some changes have been for the good, but asked: 'What are the men left with?'"
For me it is less of an issue personally; I have been in a 'job' where 'feminine' traits have been cultivated and I have been brought up in such a way that I don't necessarily value some of the 'masculine' traits. But, like the issue of the feminisation of the workplace, we should take note of the male distress signals and think long and hard how not to alienate further the arguably more aggressive pole of humanity still further; better yet how to develop a masculine spirituality that is not oppositional to the 'feminine' but able to celebrate the distinctives that men have to offer while channeling energies into constructive outlets for the common good.
That said, I'm not convinced that men can't do the traditionally 'feminine' things that are being alluded to here; it just needs framing in ways that can help men move culturally from one place to another.
MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | Men are now 'unemployable sperm donors', says Buerk:
Axons pictured
"A group of pyramidal cell axons as they simultaneously convey a burst of spikes from one cortical layer to another. The bits of 'fire' depicted on the axons represent 'spikes' of electrical activity that travel down the axon and carry information within the brain."
Thinking of using it on this sight as the ident image ...
Metanexus Institute:
Yes and Amen: Newness and Creativity
Thanks to Kester for articulating briefly what me an my wife seem to be discussing a lot lately. "When we are being truly creative (and an interesting discussion might be to ask exactly what that is - artists, is all output creative? Or only when you are in touch with your muse?) we are actually making something that did not exist before, and thus actually changing the fabric of the universe for ever, for eternity. "
I would add that I link this up with the image from the end of Revelation where the wealth of the nations is brought into the New Jerusalem; I have taken that to include the creativity of the world since that is the real source of wealth.
Furthermore, if creativity is part of our calling as God-imagers (and it is hard not to see it that way), then it seems to me that 'heaven'/the new Creation must be a spacetime of continuing creativity and 'wealth' ... not at all the static harp-twanging waiting room of pop fiction and jokes.
The Complex Christ: Thoughts on Newness and Creativity:
I would add that I link this up with the image from the end of Revelation where the wealth of the nations is brought into the New Jerusalem; I have taken that to include the creativity of the world since that is the real source of wealth.
Furthermore, if creativity is part of our calling as God-imagers (and it is hard not to see it that way), then it seems to me that 'heaven'/the new Creation must be a spacetime of continuing creativity and 'wealth' ... not at all the static harp-twanging waiting room of pop fiction and jokes.
The Complex Christ: Thoughts on Newness and Creativity:
prayer and divination
I just think it's really interesting that serious Wiccans seem to have the same basic problem as serious Christians when it comes to guidance and prayer/spellwork.
"'You’re a Witch? Could you tell my future?' the stranger asks breathlessly.
It doesn’t work like that, I try to explain. "
This indicates another area for mutual dialogue and understanding which I always think is good for the gospel in the longer term and wider picture.
Witchvox Article:
"'You’re a Witch? Could you tell my future?' the stranger asks breathlessly.
It doesn’t work like that, I try to explain. "
This indicates another area for mutual dialogue and understanding which I always think is good for the gospel in the longer term and wider picture.
Witchvox Article:
Writing prayers helps trauma survivors
“... even among those who are not highly religious, expressing one’s feelings and thoughts to God via prayer can be therapeutic. This is a nice extension of [Pennebaker’s] existing work on emotionally expressive writing into the spiritual arena,”
Science & Theology News - Writing religiously may help trauma survivors:
Science & Theology News - Writing religiously may help trauma survivors:
church ministry and coaching
Just recently I wrote an article which I hope will be published in Anvil next year. It was on what life coaching might add to ministry. And now I come across a quote from Rowan Williams which, in effect, endorses what I'm proposing. "The Church isn't here, I think, to solve problems, to wave wands. What we can do is, I think, always to say to people, there are choices you can make which can be transforming and, even if they don't change everything, they will change something. Now the really exciting, really challenging thing is finding what the choices are you can make that will make that kind of difference. You're constrained, you're hemmed in, you're sat on, but you're not trapped. Whatever happens to you, your value is in somebody else's hands, God's hands. Not your achievement, not other people's approval, but something utterly, utterly non-negotiable."
It also helps frame the coaching task within a theological approach.
hopeful amphibian: who we are:
It also helps frame the coaching task within a theological approach.
hopeful amphibian: who we are:
only out of the corner of your eye
"There are faint stars in the night sky that you can see but only if you look to the side of where they shine. They burn too weakly or are too far to be seen directly, even if you stare. But you can see them out of the corner of your eye because the cells on the periphery of your retina are more sensitive to light. Maybe truth is just like that. You can see it, but only out of the corner of your eye."
Edge 165:
Edge 165:
15 August 2005
Lifeprayer
Just published: this article on 'lifeprayer', that is praying with our lifestyle. The main focus is on how rules for life can help us to live our prayer and pray our life. The other pole of prayer is 'full attention' or 'focused' prayer.
abbeynous.schtuff.com - Lifestyle Prayer: "Prayer is for life, not just for meetings"
abbeynous.schtuff.com - Lifestyle Prayer: "Prayer is for life, not just for meetings"
Prayer is for life, not just for meetings
Just published this article on 'lifeprayer', that is praying with our lifestyle. The main focus is on how rules for life can help us to live our prayer and pray our life. The other pole of prayer is 'full attention' or 'focused' prayer.
abbeynous.schtuff.com - Lifestyle Prayer: "Prayer is for life, not just for meetings"
abbeynous.schtuff.com - Lifestyle Prayer: "Prayer is for life, not just for meetings"
congratulations ahead of results...
Before we get all the hand-wringing allegations of falling standards on Thursday, I would like to go on record as endorsing this: "We should celebrate the fact that many of our bright young people have got brilliant qualifications and will go on. It's a great success. You would expect higher standards - AS-levels means that you will add another filtering system, allowing people to try a subject for a year and then drop it. 'You've also got the background of teaching getting better. Inefficient small six forms have gone and now we've got cracking sixth-form colleges. I would expect a rising level of achievement, he added."
EducationGuardian.co.uk | Schools special reports | Let battle commence:
EducationGuardian.co.uk | Schools special reports | Let battle commence:
Call and celebration of the decision to be baptized
Yesterday we went to the Eucharist at Durham Cathedral. During it there was an interesting liturgy with the name of the title of this entry. I have to confess that while I liked what they seemed to be trying to do, I really wondered about the theological justification.Let me show you a few chunks of the liturgy and tell you why I'm concerned about them.
"Today it is our joy and privilege to welcome N, a disciple with us on the way of Christ. He is among us as a sign of the journey to which we are all called."
Later the candidate is asked;
"What is it you seek?" and the reply is;
"To follow the way of Christ."
I should affirm the idea that there is a process in coming to faith and that it may be appropriate to liturgise it in some cases. To do so may help to support someone as they explore the way of Christ to decide whether they want to make it their own. I can also think of situations when it might be very inappropriate and so would not wish to make it normative.
That said, I have particular concerns that show up in the above excerpts. First off, the candidate is designated as a disciple. This is then reinforced by the phrase that the candidate is expected to make their own "To follow the way of Christ". My basic objection is that this undercuts baptism. If we take Matthew 28.16-20 as in some way foundational, then there is a very clear linkage between being a disciple and being baptised; indeed, to be a disciple is to have been baptised. And though Paul does not use the language of discipleship (just as the gospels do not talk of Christians), he clearly does not envisage such a being as an unbaptised Christian, that is to say, an unbaptised disciple.The pattern of the book of Acts is that as soon as a person wants to follow the way of Christ (and remember that Christians are first designated 'followers of the way') they are baptised, or as soon as can be. So my problem with the rite as it stands is that it is either misappropriating baptismal language for a 'seeker/browser'rite, or the person concerned really ought to be baptised.
If there is to be a rite to celebrate the decision to be baptized it should be baptism, otherwise we should be holding a rite to bless someone in their seeking to count the cost or to evaluate their response to Christ's call. But if a person wants to follow that way then it should be baptism that they enter into. None of this third century [?] mystery cult stuff ...
I am doubly dischuffed that this kind of rite goes with an approach to the baptism of infants that is usually at variance with the way that adults are handled. I don't know what Durham cathedral's baptism policy is but I suspect that it may fit what I'm about to say and if it doesn't then there are churches where it would fit. There are churches using this staged initiation process that nevertheless -in the name of testifying to the grace of God- do not take similar pains over the baptism of infants, indeed baptise anything that is brought to them with a pulse that fits in a pram.
"Today it is our joy and privilege to welcome N, a disciple with us on the way of Christ. He is among us as a sign of the journey to which we are all called."
Later the candidate is asked;
"What is it you seek?" and the reply is;
"To follow the way of Christ."
I should affirm the idea that there is a process in coming to faith and that it may be appropriate to liturgise it in some cases. To do so may help to support someone as they explore the way of Christ to decide whether they want to make it their own. I can also think of situations when it might be very inappropriate and so would not wish to make it normative.
That said, I have particular concerns that show up in the above excerpts. First off, the candidate is designated as a disciple. This is then reinforced by the phrase that the candidate is expected to make their own "To follow the way of Christ". My basic objection is that this undercuts baptism. If we take Matthew 28.16-20 as in some way foundational, then there is a very clear linkage between being a disciple and being baptised; indeed, to be a disciple is to have been baptised. And though Paul does not use the language of discipleship (just as the gospels do not talk of Christians), he clearly does not envisage such a being as an unbaptised Christian, that is to say, an unbaptised disciple.The pattern of the book of Acts is that as soon as a person wants to follow the way of Christ (and remember that Christians are first designated 'followers of the way') they are baptised, or as soon as can be. So my problem with the rite as it stands is that it is either misappropriating baptismal language for a 'seeker/browser'rite, or the person concerned really ought to be baptised.
If there is to be a rite to celebrate the decision to be baptized it should be baptism, otherwise we should be holding a rite to bless someone in their seeking to count the cost or to evaluate their response to Christ's call. But if a person wants to follow that way then it should be baptism that they enter into. None of this third century [?] mystery cult stuff ...
I am doubly dischuffed that this kind of rite goes with an approach to the baptism of infants that is usually at variance with the way that adults are handled. I don't know what Durham cathedral's baptism policy is but I suspect that it may fit what I'm about to say and if it doesn't then there are churches where it would fit. There are churches using this staged initiation process that nevertheless -in the name of testifying to the grace of God- do not take similar pains over the baptism of infants, indeed baptise anything that is brought to them with a pulse that fits in a pram.
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
This could be a useful resource for multi-media liturgical developments: like Flickr only for video rather than still pix. Just looking at the sample page there is video of London after the bombing in July, skydiving, reverse video of rock piles being trashed .... It's all taggable, .AVI, .MOV, and .MPG file formats, artists retain copyright and it looks like there is a link with most contributions to contact the 'author' which presumably can be used to gain permissions to use materials and I'm assuming that if someone uploads here they are going to be happy for non-commercial re-use.
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
14 August 2005
open source adoption reasons
"DiBona pointed out that if Google used Windows, or any other non-open source software program, to make changes to that system he would be required to essentially ask permission from that vendor. 'Why should we hand over the control of our software support to another company?"
Unhappiness drives open source adoption - Computer Business Review:
Unhappiness drives open source adoption - Computer Business Review:
Praying the Pattern now on Amazon UK
My book has now chugged through the registration process for Amazon UK. I notice though that they add the extra charge for hard-to-find items which means that it is quicker and cheaper to go directly via the printers' unless you are ordering other books from Amazon aswell. I will keep my eyes open for the listing on A-.com. North American buyers will find that the printers operate in Canada so NAmerican supply is straightforward.
Also see the 'homepages' for the book with more info and extras.
Amazon.co.uk: Books: Praying the Pattern: The Lord's Prayer as Framework for Prayer and Life
Also see the 'homepages' for the book with more info and extras.
Amazon.co.uk: Books: Praying the Pattern: The Lord's Prayer as Framework for Prayer and Life
Open-source on patent offensive
There's an irony in here somewhere, but it does make the case for not allowing software patents.
"Microsoft would have been in a very different position if companies had begun seeking software patents earlier. 'What if Dan Bricklin had a patent on Viscalc, or Wordstar on PC word processors, or Harvard Graphics on presentation graphics? Where would (Microsoft) Word or Excel or PowerPoint be today? These patents would have only expired in the last five or six years,' Webbink said. 'For some of us, our word processors would still have been a pen or a pencil on a pad.'"
Open-source allies go on patent offensive - page 2 | CNET News.com: [:open-source:patents:]
"Microsoft would have been in a very different position if companies had begun seeking software patents earlier. 'What if Dan Bricklin had a patent on Viscalc, or Wordstar on PC word processors, or Harvard Graphics on presentation graphics? Where would (Microsoft) Word or Excel or PowerPoint be today? These patents would have only expired in the last five or six years,' Webbink said. 'For some of us, our word processors would still have been a pen or a pencil on a pad.'"
Open-source allies go on patent offensive - page 2 | CNET News.com: [:open-source:patents:]
Global Warming Critics Made Calculation Errors
GW denialists really on the back foot now but somehow I don't expect them to advertise it as loudly as they promoted the erroneous data.
"there were errors in the calculations of these global-warming skeptics. The third study shows that the corrected calculations give results that are consistent with what other scientists have been finding (the troposphere actually got warmer)."
Treehugger: Global Warming Critics Made Calculation Errors
"there were errors in the calculations of these global-warming skeptics. The third study shows that the corrected calculations give results that are consistent with what other scientists have been finding (the troposphere actually got warmer)."
Treehugger: Global Warming Critics Made Calculation Errors
16 lanes of wind energy
"With Ontario relying increasingly on imported electricity to meet peak demand, Centennial College is exploring sustainable electrical generation by erecting an anemometer to measure the viability of turbine generators tapping into the Highway 401 wind tunnel powered by 16 lanes of high-speed traffic."
Of course this is only in the feasability study phase, but with solar panels appearing by roadsides even in the cloudy north of England ...
Centennial College - In The News - Tapping into 16 lanes of wind energy:
Of course this is only in the feasability study phase, but with solar panels appearing by roadsides even in the cloudy north of England ...
Centennial College - In The News - Tapping into 16 lanes of wind energy:
How moderate is the MCB?
The one person I know who characterised Iqbal Sacranie as immoderate, I thought was being over the top, however that person may be about to be vindicated as we discover that the Muslim Council of Britain hides some fairly extreme affiliates under its shade. Perhaps that is not a fair thing to observe without context though: I suspect that the Evangelical Alliance might cover some fairly wild affilates too.
The Observer | UK News | Muslim leaders in feud with the BBC
The Observer | UK News | Muslim leaders in feud with the BBC
13 August 2005
Particpatory Culture not Knowledge Economy
I think that this guy is right.
"The growth and progress of society is so often described as a progression through stages such as:
Agricultural -> Industrial -> Information -> Knowledge.
....
I sense a more accurate & better picture of progress is as follows:
unorganized -> hierarchically organised -> emergently organized"
Check out the rest.
Its about Particpatory Culture! not the Knowledge Economy | Stratagility:
"The growth and progress of society is so often described as a progression through stages such as:
Agricultural -> Industrial -> Information -> Knowledge.
....
I sense a more accurate & better picture of progress is as follows:
unorganized -> hierarchically organised -> emergently organized"
Check out the rest.
Its about Particpatory Culture! not the Knowledge Economy | Stratagility:
Anti-terror function creep
This situation is exactly what I fear from ill-conceived and rushed legislation where the government merely makes assurances that it won't use powers in certain ways rather than making sure that there is legislative or constitutional protection.
Think 'religious hatred bill' and 'ID cards' in this connection.
Adbusters : Something Rotten in Denmark
Think 'religious hatred bill' and 'ID cards' in this connection.
Adbusters : Something Rotten in Denmark
The New Chauvinism
"As usual, we are being asked to do the job of the terrorists, by making this country ugly on their behalf."
As usual an excellent article by George Monbiot reflecting on patriotism in the wake of the London bombings. I found that this resonated well with me
"I don’t hate Britain, and I am not ashamed of my nationality, but I have no idea why I should love this country more than any other. There are some things I like about it and some things I don’t, and the same goes for everywhere else I’ve visited. To become a patriot is to lie to yourself, to tell yourself that whatever good you might perceive abroad, your own country is, on balance, better than the others."
I'll drink to that.
George Monbiot � The New Chauvinism:[:patriotism:terrorism:]
As usual an excellent article by George Monbiot reflecting on patriotism in the wake of the London bombings. I found that this resonated well with me
"I don’t hate Britain, and I am not ashamed of my nationality, but I have no idea why I should love this country more than any other. There are some things I like about it and some things I don’t, and the same goes for everywhere else I’ve visited. To become a patriot is to lie to yourself, to tell yourself that whatever good you might perceive abroad, your own country is, on balance, better than the others."
I'll drink to that.
George Monbiot � The New Chauvinism:[:patriotism:terrorism:]
Britain: expect heatwaves every other year
"'2003 was a foretaste. Heatwaves will become more intense and longer lasting. The 2003 summer could become the norm by the middle of the century.'"
This is regardless of climate change mitigation, I think. However, the way things are shaping up seems to indicate that the changes may not be uniform for Britain. "Scottish temperatures are not rising in the same way as those in the south. The difference in temperatures between north and south Britain is greater than forecast,". So planning to retire to the north of England seems like a good idea.
And there is sensible advice for lifestyle change.
"The simple way [to keep out of danger] is to install air conditioning, but this is expensive, uses a lot of energy and adds to global warming. It's quite possible to stay cool by modifying lifestyles."
He recommended people open windows in the morning and evening, draw curtains or shutters, drinking plenty of water and avoid physical exercise in hot weather. "At the first sign of a heatwave people should take cool baths or showers," he said. He also suggested Britons should start taking siestas in the heat of the afternoon. "It is a very civilised way of behaving in extreme heat. By modifying our lifestyles we can remain cool."
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Siestas forecast as UK heads for heatwaves: [:climate:]
This is regardless of climate change mitigation, I think. However, the way things are shaping up seems to indicate that the changes may not be uniform for Britain. "Scottish temperatures are not rising in the same way as those in the south. The difference in temperatures between north and south Britain is greater than forecast,". So planning to retire to the north of England seems like a good idea.
And there is sensible advice for lifestyle change.
"The simple way [to keep out of danger] is to install air conditioning, but this is expensive, uses a lot of energy and adds to global warming. It's quite possible to stay cool by modifying lifestyles."
He recommended people open windows in the morning and evening, draw curtains or shutters, drinking plenty of water and avoid physical exercise in hot weather. "At the first sign of a heatwave people should take cool baths or showers," he said. He also suggested Britons should start taking siestas in the heat of the afternoon. "It is a very civilised way of behaving in extreme heat. By modifying our lifestyles we can remain cool."
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Siestas forecast as UK heads for heatwaves: [:climate:]
When meat is not murder
"Researchers have published details in a biotechnology journal describing a new technique which they hailed as the answer to the world's food shortage. Lumps of meat would be cultured in laboratory vats rather than carved from livestock reared on a farm."
Which would certainly be okay by me, provided the footprint of -what should we call it?- cultured non-animal meat? was acceptable in global terms. Not all vegetarians would be happy.
"The Vegetarian Society is concerned that while this has the potential to decrease the number of meat-producing animals in factory farms, there are still a number of question marks regarding the origins of the cells and the method of harvesting.
It won't appeal to someone who gave up meat because they think it's morally wrong to eat flesh or someone who doesn't want to eat anything unnatural,"
And the killer comment?
"I suppose if they're going to make chicken nuggets with it, then it's probably not going to taste much different."
And it will be a more appetising prospect than the way the meat for those nuggety things is currently 'harvested'!
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | When meat is not murder: [:vegetarianism:]
Which would certainly be okay by me, provided the footprint of -what should we call it?- cultured non-animal meat? was acceptable in global terms. Not all vegetarians would be happy.
"The Vegetarian Society is concerned that while this has the potential to decrease the number of meat-producing animals in factory farms, there are still a number of question marks regarding the origins of the cells and the method of harvesting.
It won't appeal to someone who gave up meat because they think it's morally wrong to eat flesh or someone who doesn't want to eat anything unnatural,"
And the killer comment?
"I suppose if they're going to make chicken nuggets with it, then it's probably not going to taste much different."
And it will be a more appetising prospect than the way the meat for those nuggety things is currently 'harvested'!
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | When meat is not murder: [:vegetarianism:]
12 August 2005
GBP8bn added to nuclear shutdown bill
Gotta admit that this isn't making the case for nuke power any stronger.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | �8bn added to nuclear shutdown bill
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | �8bn added to nuclear shutdown bill
Mortgaged to the House of Saud
I have to confess that this kind of thing really puzzles me too; the rhetoric and the actions don't match.
"... president [Bush] loves to use the word 'evil' in his speeches, yet throughout his life he and his family have had deep personal, political and financial ties with a country that represents everything the American Revolution stood against: tyranny, religious intolerance, corrupt royalty and popular ignorance. This is a country where women aren't allowed to drive and those who show 'too much skin' can be beaten in the street by officially sanctioned mobs of fanatics."
The relationship with Saudi Arabia only really makes sense when oil is placed in the driving seat and once that is acknowledged, it is hard not to think that it is driving other areas of policy. This is the relationship that makes clear the realities.
AlterNet: Mortgaged to the House of Saud:
"... president [Bush] loves to use the word 'evil' in his speeches, yet throughout his life he and his family have had deep personal, political and financial ties with a country that represents everything the American Revolution stood against: tyranny, religious intolerance, corrupt royalty and popular ignorance. This is a country where women aren't allowed to drive and those who show 'too much skin' can be beaten in the street by officially sanctioned mobs of fanatics."
The relationship with Saudi Arabia only really makes sense when oil is placed in the driving seat and once that is acknowledged, it is hard not to think that it is driving other areas of policy. This is the relationship that makes clear the realities.
AlterNet: Mortgaged to the House of Saud:
11 August 2005
Two Minutes of Silence?
"Let's recognize we have a responsibility to treat the deaths of all people in the so-called War Against Terror with the same solemnity and grief we have afforded the 54 victims in London. Since the coalition invasion of Iraq, tens of thousands of innocent people have died as a direct result of the conflict. Are they not equally deserving of two minutes of our time?"
And the latest is that the reactions have been overwhelmingly positive and they are looking at 11/11 to do it...
Adbusters : Two Minutes of Silence:
And the latest is that the reactions have been overwhelmingly positive and they are looking at 11/11 to do it...
Adbusters : Two Minutes of Silence:
A Curry a day keeps the doctor away?
Actually no, because despite this assertion, "a growing body of worldwide evidence that turmeric, powder from a plant of the ginger family, can help stave off cancers such as leukaemia, prostate cancer, skin cancer and colon cancer."
We need to recall that curries are not just about turmeric, "You would not want to encourage people to eat a takeaway every day to get the curcumin because they may die of heart disease."
Indian food contained a lot of fat, he said. Developing supplements taken in tablet form or adding turmeric to less fatty foods would be better. "
And of course the usual disclaimers; mainly that the full and proper testing needs to be done, still.
SocietyGuardian.co.uk | Health | Curry spice may protect against cancer:
We need to recall that curries are not just about turmeric, "You would not want to encourage people to eat a takeaway every day to get the curcumin because they may die of heart disease."
Indian food contained a lot of fat, he said. Developing supplements taken in tablet form or adding turmeric to less fatty foods would be better. "
And of course the usual disclaimers; mainly that the full and proper testing needs to be done, still.
SocietyGuardian.co.uk | Health | Curry spice may protect against cancer:
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"Spend and tax" not "tax and spend"
I got a response from my MP which got me kind of mad. You'll see why as I reproduce it here. Apologies for the strange changes in types...
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I've been watching the TV series 'Foundation'. I read the books about 50 years ago (I know!) but scarcely now remember anything...
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from: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/online/2012/5/22/1337672561216/Annular-solar-eclipse--008.jpg -
"'Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell yo...