And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? (St. Luke viii. 9) The New Testament is full of examples of parables; there are actually thirty in total. We encountered one of them last week in the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. A parable is an external and visible story or illustration that carries the mind into an interior and invisible truth. Archbishop Trench tells us that a parable always involves the story of human beings; never places their moral education … [Read more...]
Just what is science, after all?
"All human beings by nature desire to know." Thus goes the opening line of Aristotle's "Metaphysics" (4th century BC), the book so named because it came after the book on physics in his collected writings (meta being a Greek preposition that has "after" among its several meanings). We immediately see three obvious yet remarkable things implicit in this quite simple statement. First, "human beings" are said to be a class about which the term "all" can be predicated, implying a common nature … [Read more...]
The Recovery of Wonder
"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed." Albert Einstein wrote the above in a 1931 essay entitled "The world as I see it." Einstein went on to characterize the experience of mystery as "a knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the … [Read more...]
What the world is
Science tells us that our world is a cosmos, that is, it is a whole which we have found to be remarkably ordered according to mathematical principles that are intelligible to our human minds. This order extends from the inconceivably minute domain of elementary particles through the information-rich phenomena of life to the inconceivably vast domain of clusters of galaxies. Science has helped us see how it all is interconnected in deep ways. Many, if not most, scientists will … [Read more...]
The Feynman Challenge
Richard Feynman (1918-1988) was one of the most highly regarded physicists of the 20th Century. He had an uncanny knack for getting to the heart of a problem with simple language and insights. His work had impact not only in fundamental physics but also in offering challenges to explore new areas such as nanotechnology or quantum computing. Feynman explored the relation between science and religion in a public lecture given in 1963 at the University of Washington in Seattle. The lecture … [Read more...]
A Word to the Wise
In my work as a physicist I know the necessity of being sound in the basics. We speak of fundamental physics, fundamental particles, fundamental symmetries and so forth. If you get it wrong at the beginning, at the most fundamental level, that spells trouble ahead for greater progress. So let's cut to the chase to seek what is most basic. That is essential if we are to be fruitful in exploring the quite different domains of science and faith. The power of words I have always been … [Read more...]
Science as Liturgy
Recently I gave a talk at our daughter’s church that explored the relation between science and faith centered on the idea of “liturgy.” This familiar “religious-sounding” word comes from Greek leitourgía, having the sense of “the work of the people” or “what the people do.” In its broadest sense then, “liturgy” speaks of a set of disciplined practices and habits that define a community, a way of being. The author James K. A. Smith has written eloquently of the “liturgy of the mall” or “the … [Read more...]
Cooking with Cranmer: From the Feast of Mary Magdalene to Proust’s favorite cake, Are Madeleines A Feminist Issue?
Cooking with Cranmer… Looking at the rising status of The Feast of Mary Magdalene And that unique “plaisir délicieux” of Madeleine cakes by Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff (For two version of the classic recipe and the full text see the link below) From Magdalene to Madeleines Some of the most famous words in the vast oeuvre of Marcel Proust relate to the awakening that overcame him upon the smallest taste of a single tiny cake one afternoon when taking tea: ….je … [Read more...]
The Logic of the Lord’s Supper in Cranmer’s Common Prayer
The Spiritual Architecture of the Church's Worship: The Logic of the Lord's Supper in Cranmer's Common Prayer A Paper by the Revd Fr Gavin Dunbar President of the Prayer Book Society In this paper (attached) Fr. Dunbar addresses the "order of the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion" as it is found chiefly in the Prayer Books of 1552, 1559, and 1662, and specially its logic or rationale. He notes that among modern liturgists this logic has been found deficient but argues … [Read more...]
Science and the Prayer Book: More than Meets the Eye.
Introducing this part of the Website and our distinguished author, Dr Paul Julienne, who will be heading this section We live and work in a contemporary world that is dramatically changed from the world of our ancestors—just think of communications, transportation, and medical care. The natural sciences and the technology that flows from them provide powerful streams that shape our changing world. Religion also has been and continues to be a significant force that shapes life … [Read more...]