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Goethe and the search for the spirit of science | Mark Vernon
Perhaps the time is coming for thinkers to be braver, to push for a truer contemplation of nature that knows its alivenessIs it just me or has the dialogue between science and religion become a bit...
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Lovers come and go. Friends remain for ever. That's the myth, anyway | Mark...
Nietzsche's notion of a 'star friendship' is a useful way of thinking about the end of a relationship with someone who isn't a partnerWe expect marriages to get rocky and families to provoke pain. But...
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Norway is above Anders Behring Breivik's sacrificial logic | Mark Vernon
The idea of Breivik being given 'friends' has outraged many, but his crime needs to be viewed from a place beyond good and evilOf the many grim details emerging from the trial of Anders Behring...
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'Silence is a lovely idea' – so why have churches become so noisy?| Mark Vernon
Quakers aside, it seems the church has shouted down its early traditions of silence and quiet meditationSilence is like forgiveness. Many would say it's a lovely idea, until they have to do it (to...
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Evil is not about what killers like Kiaran Stapleton have, but what they lack...
If evil is the absence of good – a dark gap in one's heart, then it perfectly describes these brutal killers who show no empathyUnlike so-called "crimes of passion", senseless and brutal murders are...
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Richard Dawkins: an end to mythmaking? | Mark Vernon
So Paxman can dub myths 'hogwash', but not religion. Surely all myths do a similar job – it's just scientific ones don't last as longRichard Dawkins is a master mythmaker. His best fiction is that of...
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Rowan Williams and Francis Spufford on being a Christian | Mark Vernon
The archbishop and the historian have the elusory character of Christianity on their minds in their new booksWhat is it like to be a Christian? Not what do Christians believe or how many superstitions...
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Rowan Williams, we'll miss you | Mark Vernon
Whatever his supposed shortcomings in an impossible job, the outgoing archbishop of Canterbury practises what he preachesWe will miss Rowan Williams when he is gone. Not because public life will be the...
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Spirituality is not just another health tonic | Mark Vernon
The effect of religious practices on our wellbeing is of growing interest. But in looking at the links, we must not confuse the twoSpirituality has always been associated with the quest for health....
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Are we living in a new axial age? | Mark Vernon
The first axial age marked a discovery of transcendence. A new book proposes this energy is being retapped in the fringes todayAre centuries of technological innovation remoulding us culturally so that...
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A reminder that stoicism can be divine | Mark Vernon
Stoics argued that logos, or flow, was crucial to the good life, but this spiritual element has not been mentioned in Stoic WeekThe earliest extended stoic text to survive the passage of time is a hymn...
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The Most Despised Science Book of 2012 is … worth reading | Mark Vernon
Philosophers that break scientistic taboos, such as Thomas Nagel with Mind and Cosmos, risk much, but we need themEvery year, I give an award to the Most Despised Science Book of the Year. The 2010...
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Spiritual, but not religious? A dangerous mix | Mark Vernon
The prevalence of mental disorders among those who 'do God' alone is an indictment of churches' failure to meet their needsPeople who are "spiritual but not religious" are more likely to suffer poor...
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Is love more real when grounded in faith? | Mark Vernon
God may be love to spiritual souls, but scientific theories of the most powerful human sentiment also show it makes life richerReligious and spiritual sorts tend to bang on about love. God is love,...
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Abdel Hakim Belhaj, Auntie Maude and the art of saying sorry | Mark Vernon
An apology that is transformative and healing is a rare thing – whether about torture in Libya or spilling juice on a tableclothThe story about the Libyan politician who is asking for £3 and an...
View ArticleLove in the shadow of Eros's deepest longings | Mark Vernon
On Valentine's Day, what can religious imagery such as Indian ragamala tell us about affairs of the human heart?There is a long tradition in Indian religion that links human and divine love. Kama, as...
View ArticleRoger Scruton and the kindly atheists | Mark Vernon
Scruton's reflections on what it is to be human shed light on the reluctance of some atheists to reject religion's poetryIn recent weeks, atheists and agnostics who are friendly towards religion have...
View Article100 years old and making a comeback – Freud’s theories of the unconscious |...
After a century of being derided, Freud’s ideas are quite rightly being re-evaluated – as they could shed light on some of medicine’s great unknownsThe unconscious has had a bumpy ride since Sigmund...
View ArticleDealing with death can lead to conflict – as Singapore’s first family shows |...
It’s no wonder that Lee Kuan Yew’s children are rowing about how to mark their father’s anniversary. Mourning takes time – and practiceOne of the things that’s become clear about grieving, since...
View ArticlePity poor Prince George – discouraged from having a best friend at school |...
As Aristotle noted, close, deep friendship is one of the pinnacles of human experience. What a shame that Thomas’s Battersea frowns upon such bondsIt worried me that Prince George’s new school...
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