Notre Dame Des Victoires

Premier Christian Radio in the UK just sponsored a survey that investigated how the COVID crisis has affected religious beliefs and attitudes. There were three major findings—namely, that 67% of those who characterize themselves as “religious” found their belief in God challenged, that almost a quarter of all those questioned said that the pandemic made them more fearful of death, and that around a third of those surveyed said that their prayer life had been affected by the crisis. Justin Brierley, who hosts the popular program Unbelievable?, commented that he was especially impressed by the substantial number of those who, due to COVID, have experienced difficulty believing in a loving God. I should like to focus on this finding as well. Of course, in one sense, I understand the problem. An altogether standard objection to belief in God is human suffering, especially when it is visited upon the innocent. The…

La Radio Cristiana Premier del Reino Unido acaba de patrocinar una encuesta en la que se investiga cómo ha afectado la crisis del COVID a las creencias y actitudes religiosas. Hubo tres hallazgos principales: que el 67% de los que se caracterizan como “religiosos” vieron cuestionada su fe en Dios, que casi una cuarta parte de todos los encuestados dijeron que la pandemia les hizo temer más a la muerte, y que alrededor de un tercio de los encuestados dijeron que su vida de oración se había visto afectada por la crisis. Justin Brierley, presentador del popular programa ¿Increíble? comentó que estaba especialmente impresionado por el importante número de personas que, debido a la COVID, han tenido dificultades para creer en un Dios de amor. Me gustaría centrarme también en este hallazgo. Por supuesto, en cierto sentido, entiendo el problema. Una objeción totalmente habitual a la creencia en Dios es…

One of the most fundamental divides in the history of philosophy is that between a more Platonic approach and a more Aristotelian approach. Plato, of course, saw the universal or formal level of being as more real, more noble, whereas Aristotle, while acknowledging the existence and importance of the abstract, favored the concrete and particular. This differentiation was famously illustrated by Raphael in his masterpiece The School of Athens, the central figures of which are Plato, his finger pointing upward to the realm of the forms, and Aristotle, stretching his palm downward to the particular things of the earth. This archetypal demarcation had (and has) implications for how we think about religion, science, society, ethics, and politics. Just as most Beatles fans separate themselves rather naturally into Lennon or McCartney camps, so most philosophers can be, at least broadly speaking, characterized as either more Platonic or more Aristotelian in orientation.