THE ROAD IS MADE BY WALKING: AN INTRODUCTION

We are living in a time of unprecedented challenges: human activity is now the primary driver shaping the planet and we are perilously close to breaching a variety of critical planetary boundaries—a prelude to the possible extinction of our species. How should we be thinking and acting—as persons, communities, institutions and societies—so as to best understand and respond to these challenges? What contribution can the field of science and religion make to develop the knowledge needed to negotiate the civilizational transition we face? Such questions were addressed through a series of dialogues at the 62nd annual conference of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science in June of 2016—“How Can We Know? Co‐Creating Knowledge in Perilous Times.” This essay sets the background to these challenges and introduces the set of articles in this themed section.     

Beyond the Biblical Impasse: Homosexuality Through the Lens of Theological Anthropology

Abstract: What does the Bible say about homosexuality? The argument developed in this article demonstrates that the five biblical texts often cited as “proof” that the Bible condemns homosexuality reflect a theological anthropology that is challenged within Scripture itself and that has been determined by the church to be contextual rather than binding in relation to other debated issues. By bringing the theological anthropology reflected in the five texts into conversation with contrasting biblical anthropologies, it becomes possible to re‐frame the contemporary conversation on homosexuality in terms of discerning which biblical theological anthropology will be considered authoritative for the church in the 21^st century.     

The English public space: developing spirituality in English Muslim schools

Developing a language and a context for a spirituality that can speak to children and young people in a post‐modern, secular English society is a challenge for anyone, parent or teacher, who wishes to raise the vision beyond the purely material and the everyday. The challenge is both epistemological and pedagogical. How young people see, know and describe the world in which they find themselves is central to any school curriculum. For English Muslim schools the epistemological and pedagogical interfaces with the cultural and theological in a search for a language and spirituality that is a reflection of a contemporary English Islam.     

汉易卦气学的理论原理

汉易卦气学中阴阳二气消长运行的原理保留了先秦《易传》和《礼记.月令》中尊重自然规律的思想,同时也发展了《月令》中的阴阳灾异思想;天人感应的原理是源自《洪范》“五事”“五征”思想,而于战国后期以来被加以充分发挥并在技术上加以细化的天人感应论;五行生克原理是用来说明造成某种灾异的具体原因的,对卦气占筮体系的建立有重要作用;由五行生克理论派生的五行运数理论,主要被用于讲王朝兴衰更替问题,阴阳二气消长运行的理论对于气论哲学的发展还是有积极影响的。天人感应理论有为人道正义寻求支撑的意义,但卦气学繁复的技术细节冲淡了这种意义,而用五行运数理论解释世运兴衰朝代更替,在本质上与天人感应学说是有矛盾的。     

What is to be done in the history of philosophy

Because the History of Philosophy is a branch of both History and Philosophy, it faces tasks which are Historical, tasks which are Philosophical, and tasks which overlap both. As Philosophy typically flourishes by incorporating and assimilating ideas and bodies of text which have either not previously been part of its stock in trade or have been forgotten, the main task facing the History of Philosophy today is that of developing serious scholarship in areas that have been largely neglected, such as Philosophy in Arabic and Persian as well as in Sanskrit and Chinese.     

毛泽东对中国德治传统的继承与超越

道德与政治的结合是中国传统政治文化的一大特色,以至于中国传统的政治被称之为德化政治或伦理政治。主张从孔夫子到孙中山都应给予历史总结的毛泽东,在道德与政治关系的问题上,同样遵循了这样一种历史主义的原则:他在继承中国德治传统的同时,又在探索着对这一传统的超越,在中国政治文化从传统向现代转换的过程中,毛泽东的新德治思想独具特色。     

TOTEMISM,METAPHOR AND TRADITION: INCORPORATING CULTURAL TRADITIONS INTO EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY EXPLANATIONS OF RELIGION

Totemism, a topic that fascinated and then was summarily dismissed by anthropologists, has been resurrected by evolutionary psychologists’ recent attempts to explain religion. New approaches to religion are all based on the assumption that religious behavior is the result of evolved psychological mechanisms. We focus on two aspects of Totemism that may present challenges to this view. First, if religious behavior is simply the result of evolved psychological mechanisms, would it not spring forth anew each generation from an individual's psychological mechanisms? Yet, Australian Totemism, like other forms of Totemism, is profoundly traditional, copied by one generation from the prior ones for hundreds of generations. Regardless of personal inclinations, individuals are obligated to participate. Second, it is problematic to assume that all practitioners of Totemism actually believe their religious claims. We propose an alternative explanation that accounts for the persistence of Totemism and that does not rely on an assumption that its practitioners are preliterate or naive because they have strange beliefs. We focus on Totemism as a cultural mechanism aimed at building and sustaining social relationships among close and distant kinsmen.     

Tradition and originality in the transference: a Coleridgean commentary

Abstract :  Some of S.T. Coleridge's observations about ' the mind's self-experience of itself ' and the nature of faith and trust are discussed in relation to the implicit tensions between 'tradition' (formal structure, received wisdom) and 'originality' (creativity, individuation), especially in the transference. The existential doubts of some analysands may undermine their confidence that their integrity will be fostered by the analytic relationship: so instead the trappings of 'tradition' (e.g. in the case of a trainee the assumption of a professionally endorsed status) may be appropriated as a spurious substitute for 'originality'.
It is argued that an anticipatory 'faith', albeit initially rather cerebral, may be necessary to sustain the analytic endeavour until a more intimate, heartfelt 'trust' can release the potential for individuation. Further consideration is given to the 'analytic attitude' that might best facilitate this process, and to how sensitivity to these dynamics may inform one's reading of the transference.     

TYPES OF PRAYER,HEART RATE VARIABILITY,AND INNATE HEALING

Spiritual practices such as prayer have been shown to improve health and quality of life for those facing chronic or terminal illness. The early Christian healing tradition distinguished between types of prayer and their role in healing, placing great emphasis on the healing power of more integrated relational forms of prayer such as prayers of gratitude and contemplative prayer. Because autonomic tone is impaired in most disease states, autonomic homeostasis may provide insight into the healing effects of prayer. I report on observations in five volunteers engaging in five types of prayer. Using heart rate variability as a measure of autonomic tone and adaptability, I review the potential correlation of type of prayer with autonomic rebalance as measured specifically by psychophysiological coherence ratios. The five types—supplication, devotion, intercession, gratefulness, and contemplative prayer—elicited varying degrees of improvements in heart rate variability and corresponding psychophysiological coherence. These observations suggest a correlation of innate healing to prayer type that is consistent with teachings from the Christian healing tradition and with modern research. Further research is warranted to verify these hypotheses.     

Should We Be Trying So Hard to Be Postmodern? A Response to Drees,Haught, and Yeager

This paper explores the thesis that both modernism and postmodernism, as contemporary cultural phenomena, have been unable to come to terms with the issue of human rationality in any positive way. As a result of this, nearly all of the stereotyped ways of relating theology and science through models of conflict, independence, consonance, harmony, integration, or dialogue are likely to be revealed as too simplistic generalizations about the relationship between these two dominant forces in our culture. What is proposed is a postfoundationalist model where theology and science can rediscover the resources of rationality shared by these two reasoning strategies. Postfoundationalism in theology and science wants to point creatively beyond the confines of the local community, group, or culture toward a plausible form of interdisciplinary conversation. In taking seriously the role of local context and interpreted experience, postfoundationalism in theology and science should enable us to reach beyond the walls of our own communities in cross-contextual, cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary conversation.