essay
Thinkers and theories
A man beyond categories
Paul Tillich was a religious socialist and a profoundly subtle theologian who placed doubt at the centre of his thought
Ted Farris
essay
Thinkers and theories
On knowing who he was
Alan Watts, for all his faults, was a wildly imaginative and provocative thinker who reimagined religion in a secular age
Christopher Harding
essay
Metaphysics
Purposeful universe
Neither atheism nor theism adequately explains reality. That is why we must consider the middle ground between the two
Philip Goff
essay
Religion
Praying in shoes
The Sunni movement of Salafism was born at the beginning of the 20th century, with the goal of modelling life on the 7th
Aaron Rock-Singer
essay
Stories and literature
Vergil’s secret message
Long derided as mere coincidences, acrostics in ancient poetry are finally being taken seriously – with astonishing results
Julia Hejduk
essay
Philosophy of religion
Who was Duns Scotus?
His name is now the byword for a fool, yet his proof for the existence of God was the most rigorous of the medieval period
Thomas M Ward
video
Philosophy of religion
How a devout Catholic philosopher approaches the problem of evil
8 minutes
essay
Philosophy of religion
Reckoning with compassion
After an abuse scandal destroyed my Buddhist community, I had to reconsider what it means to live an ethically attuned life
Jessica Locke
essay
Philosophy of religion
A new paganism
Now is the time to revitalise our relationship with nature and immerse ourselves in the little wonders of the universe
Ed Simon
essay
Philosophy of religion
A God beyond logic
The history of natural theology shows that Intelligent Design and New Atheism both got it wrong, in strangely similar ways
Adam R Shapiro
video
Philosophy of religion
What Zen Buddhist riddles reveal about knowledge and the unknowable
5 minutes
essay
Philosophy of religion
How to pray to a dead God
The modern world is disenchanted. God remains dead. But our need for transcendence lives on. How should we fulfil it?
Ed Simon
essay
Thinkers and theories
A just and loving gaze
Simone Weil: mystic, philosopher, activist. Her ethics demand that we look beyond the personal and find the universal
Deborah Casewell
essay
Philosophy of religion
Reincarnation now
Modern mindfulness strips Buddhism of its spiritual core. We need an ethics of reincarnation for an interconnected world
Avram Alpert
essay
Computing and artificial intelligence
Machine in the ghost
Can a robot pray? Does an AI have a soul? Advances in automata raise theological debates that will shape the secular world
Ed Simon
essay
Thinkers and theories
Why read Boethius today?
Written while awaiting execution, the Consolation of Philosophy poses questions about human reason that remain urgent today
John Marenbon
essay
Philosophy of religion
Perennial philosophy
Aldous Huxley argued that all religions in the world were underpinned by universal beliefs and experiences. Was he right?
Jules Evans
video
Philosophy of religion
If you think that modern cosmology leaves no room for ‘god’, start using your imagination
27 minutes
essay
Religion
Science + religion
The science-versus-religion opposition is a barrier to thought. Each one is a gift, rather than a threat, to the other
Tom McLeish
idea
Thinkers and theories
Muhammad: an anticlerical hero of the European Enlightenment
John Tolan
idea
Philosophy of religion
Why the demoniac stayed in his comfortable corner of hell
John Kaag
essay
Philosophy of mind
Buddhism and self-deception
How can I logically manage to deceive myself? Buddhist thought offers a way out of the philosophical paradox
Katie Javanaud
essay
History of ideas
Wittgenstein and religion
In the case atheists vs religious belief, Ludwig Wittgenstein is called to the stand. Whose side does his testimony serve?
Stephen Law
idea
Thinkers and theories
How Al-Farabi drew on Plato to argue for censorship in Islam
Rashmee Roshan Lall