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“The Groaning of Creation” – Preface – Chapter 1-1.5
We will begin a new semester this year as we focus on topics in theology and science. This time, we will cover Christopher Southgate’s The Groaning of Creation: God, Evolution, and the Problem of Evil.
Masterclass in Neurotheology
NEUROTHEOLOGY Masterclass
hosted by the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (www.thecir.info)
Sept. 10 – Dec. 10, 2016
This advanced interdisciplinary course meets for eight 3-hour Saturday morning sessions over a 3-month period.
No background in theology or science is required, but a commitment to reading the notes, which are drawn from Ron Choong’s PhD dissertation, is expected.
This inaugural CIR Master-Class will feature Ron Choong’s doctoral work submitted as an interdisciplinary PhD dissertation in 2009 to Princeton Seminary.
UPDATE: “Confessions”: Book VII – Chapters 11 – 21
This past week we concluded Book VII of “Confessions” by covering chapters 11 – 21.
We had good conversations about human reason and the (Neoplatonic) discipline of focusing on spiritual things to draw closer to God; is Jesus the only way? and religious pluralism; the nature of Jesus; the nature of evil; the distinction between Creator and creation; the influence of Platonic thought on Christian education throughout the centuries and its problems.
We also had a stimulating discussion centering around the questions, “Who is Jesus?” One can easily spurt out, “Oh, he’s my Lord and Savior.” But if you trip away the “churchy” language everyone uses and really, really ask yourself who he is to you and what he really means to you (if anything), it might be harder than you think it is. One reason I believe that it is so hard is because that question is also a very personal question as well.
You can read our essays here.
UPDATE: “Confessions” – Book VII: Chatpers 1 -10
St. Augustine Sacrificing to a Manichean Idol, 15th century, unknown Flemish master
Here are our submissions from last week on Confessions: Book VII – Chapters 1 – 10. We wrote on the topics of the philosophy and theology of evil, God’s relation to his creation, questions on whether or not God still speaks to us today, an overview of Manichean theology and how its views are still present in some way in today’s church.
Here is a late submission from the last book by Doris that you will find at the very end of the page.
We will finish up Book VII next week.
Do Plants Have Souls?
Plant neurobiology is a fascinating area of research in science that is going on today that explores how plants behave, learn, communicate, and respond with each other and their environment.
Here are some of my thoughts on this and how this research might relate with theology.
How God Acts – Non-interventionist Divine Action
“The Ancient of Days”, William Blake, 1794
Throughout my life I’ve experienced a wide range of beliefs: from Evangelical to agnostic, then to atheist, then a period of dabbling in Eastern religions, to Pentecostal, then to Presbyterian/Calvinist, and now, well, to where I am today let’s just say.
Once you think you have grasped a firm understanding of God, you come across something that catches you off-guard and makes you re-evaluate everything you’ve believed in. As St. Augustine once said, “God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand. If you understand, you have failed.“
Over the recent years, as I have delved a bit more into the scientific underpinnings of God and theology, as well as my ruminations of the Bible, I’ve adopted more of a “non-interventionist” viewpoint of God.
Do Animals Believe in God? Animal Spirituality
The Entry of the Animals into Noah’s Ark (1613) Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625)
“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.”
– Job 12: 7 – 10
Came across a brief yet interesting article about the possibility of animals having a religion or a sense of God or the divine.
Although this might be highly speculative, I do not find it would be surprising at all if some animals had some rudimentary form of religion. Also, I have no problems at all with God communicating with animals in ways that only they can understand but we cannot. Just as animals cannot understand our ways of spirituality, it might just well be the case that we cannot understand their specific ways of worshiping God.
If it is proven that animals have a true sense of the divine (a sensus divinitatis), what would that mean for human spirituality and religion?
How would our ideas and theologies about God, creation, and our (human beings’) place in the universe change in light of this? How would we treat animals – particularly those that we eat as food – in light of this? Would it make a difference? How would it impact the theories of how religion came about in mankind or in general?
I haven’t seen much writing or studies on animal spirituality or religiosity, but I’m intrigued to find out more about it.
Abstract on “Do Animals Have Religion? Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Religion and Embodiment”.
Update: Chapter 16 – Perspectives of the True Church: Part II (1492 – 1517) – The Expulsion of the Jews in Spain, the Spanish Inquisition, and Erasmus
Here are our responses from last night as we finished up Chapter 16.
We focused on the Spanish Inquisition and the legacy that Erasmus left in influencing the Protestant Reformation.
We had a lively discussion last night, mainly spurned on by Erasmus’ preference of Origen’s theology over and against Augustine. We discussed the nature of original sin, and I was surprised to find out that basically half the group still held on to (or were at least somewhat reluctant about abandoning) the doctrine of original sin. Though we all agreed with the basic understanding of human evolution, most of the group still believed that God somehow interfered in the process and specially endowed human beings with the capacity to know and understand God. (I personally am in the very small minority of believers who believe that was not the case – in terms of divine interference in human evolution – but I’ll leave that for a future post perhaps.)
Hello and Welcome to Project Augustine.
Welcome!
We hope you enjoy and learn from our new site where we discuss topics pertaining to the Christian faith including theology, christology (the nature of Christ), soteriology (salvation), church history, philosophy, biblical studies, science, and other fields.
Project Augustine 