To some, superhero films are the equivalent of fracking. But they offer audiences transcendence, mystery, a moral compass, and even the hope of salvation.
Articles on Theology
Displaying 41 - 56 of 56 articles
Divine inspiration was at the centre of music for thousands of years – until post-war conservatoires got other ideas.
Religions tend to portray God as deeply concerned with humans, yet we seem hugely unimportant in the vast scheme of things.
Many think that violence is central to religion, but some scholars argue it’s meaningless to single out religion rather than socio-economic factors when assessing violent acts.
Historical accounts of Martin Luther skew or ignore debates about religion and make him hardly recognizable as a pastor and preacher. But his theology changed Europe.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu is first and foremost, a spiritual leader, a man of deep prayer. This motivated his participation in supporting South Africa’s liberation struggle.
Universities are so busy trying to make ends meet that there’s no time to listen to their communities’ stories. It’s crucial to develop safe spaces where tough conversations can happen.
Islam, like Christianity, has a capacity for violence and a capacity for peace, and neither is in essence peaceful or violent.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the spiritual and political head of IS, is a clever theologian and Qur’anic artisan. We would do well to better our own interfaith theological understanding.
We need to move beyond assumptions that religion is simply about dogmatism, and should continue teaching religion within a secular educational structure.
One of the oldest assumptions about organising comes directly from the angels. In the 5th century, the mysterious theologian Pseudo-Dionysius wrote the definitive book on angelic hierarchies, Ecclesiastical…
Pope Francis’ discussion of the devil (or Satan) has been greeted with surprise by many. Why would a “progressive” Pope speak about an “old-school”, passé topic like the devil? Has not the Catholic Church…
There was no concept of biological species before the late 17th century in natural history. So why did we get a concept of species in the first place? What is “species” needed for? The answer is that the…
Despite the views of some church leaders - such as George Pell - who deny global warming, most Christians understand the need to care for the natural world and have embraced the scientific consensus on…
A recent post by The Conversation columnist Rob Brooks, Analytic thinking erodes religious belief, is just another in a long line of articles, books and opinion pieces seeking to perpetuate the myth that…
It’s a debate we have every year. A school changes the words of a Christmas carol, or a council puts up a banner saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”, sparking debate on all sides. Are…
Top contributors
-
Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, The University of Queensland
-
Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Theology and Philosophy, Australian Catholic University
-
Professor of Organisation Studies, University of Bristol
-
Associate Professor of Philosophy, author of The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad (2020), Durham University
-
Doctoral Student in Religious Studies, McMaster University
-
Honorary Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Sciences, The University of Melbourne
-
Docent in New Testament, Lund University
-
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Lincoln Theological Institute, University of Manchester
-
Emeritus Faculty, Australian National University
-
Emeritus Professor of Christian Studies, University of Cape Town
-
Professor of History, Missouri University of Science and Technology
-
Research Fellow, Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University
-
Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University
-
Emeritus Professor, Adelaide University
-
Professor of Social Sciences, Edge Hill University