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Philosophy of religion

Essays and videos on philosophy, the history of ideas, ethics and life’s big questions

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Photo of three people in traditional robes, two holding wooden staffs, standing outside a wooden building in sunlight.

essayRituals and celebrations

A life in Zen

Growing up in countercultural California, ‘enlightenment’ had real glamour. But decades of practice have changed my mind

Anshi Zachary Smith

Painting of an angel in an orange glow flying with small birds across a night sky over a cityscape and bare trees.

essayHistory of science

Legacy of the angels

When medieval scholars sought to understand the nature of angels, they unwittingly laid the foundations of modern physics

Rebekah Wallace

Ancient stone statues depicting a standing and a reclining Buddha against a natural rock backdrop.

essayPhilosophy of religion

Compassionate time

On his final journey through Asia, Thomas Merton found some peace in the dialectic between refusing the world and loving it

Drew Calvert

Photo of colourful light reflections on a dark tiled floor, possibly from a stained glass window in a dimly lit interior space.

essayValues and beliefs

My leap across the chasm

After years of debate and contemplation, I’ve come to think a heretical form of Christianity might be true. Here’s why

Philip Goff

A sepia photo of a shirtless man, a woman, and a child sitting on a beach; the child and woman wear shell necklaces.

essayThinkers and theories

A man beyond categories

Paul Tillich was a religious socialist and a profoundly subtle theologian who placed doubt at the centre of his thought

Ted Farris

Close-up of a man with a long beard and shoulder-length hair, smiling slightly with a contemplative expression, black and white photograph.

essayThinkers and theories

On knowing who he was

Alan Watts, for all his faults, was a wildly imaginative and provocative thinker who reimagined religion in a secular age

Christopher Harding

Ancient adobe village atop a hill at dusk, overlooking vast plains with a few people walking and animals grazing in the foreground.

essayMetaphysics

Purposeful universe

Neither atheism nor theism adequately explains reality. That is why we must consider the middle ground between the two

Philip Goff

A black and white photo showing a group of men in traditional Middle Eastern attire, with two men seated in the foreground and several standing behind.

essayReligion

Praying in shoes

The Sunni movement of Salafism was born at the beginning of the 20th century, with the goal of modelling life on the 7th

Aaron Rock-Singer

Medieval manuscript illustration of a man gesturing towards two red and black snakes, with Greek text above and below the images, on a faded parchment background.

essayStories and literature

Vergil’s secret message

Long derided as mere coincidences, acrostics in ancient poetry are finally being taken seriously – with astonishing results

Julia Hejduk

Black-and-white image of a person in a hooded cloak with a serious expression, set against the backdrop of an old building with a domed structure.

essayPhilosophy of religion

Who was Duns Scotus?

His name is now the byword for a fool, yet his proof for the existence of God was the most rigorous of the medieval period

Thomas M Ward

Elderly woman with short hair, wearing a black jacket and white shirt, speaking inside a room with large windows and blurred background.

videoPhilosophy of religion

How a devout Catholic philosopher approaches the problem of evil

8 minutes

A Buddha statue sitting on rocks with a burnt-out car and leafless trees in the background, indicating a scene of destruction.

essayPhilosophy of religion

Reckoning with compassion

After an abuse scandal destroyed my Buddhist community, I had to reconsider what it means to live an ethically attuned life

Jessica Locke

Abstract painting with an eye, trees, a bird, arches, and a small house in a colourful, dream-like landscape.

essayPhilosophy of religion

A new paganism

Now is the time to revitalise our relationship with nature and immerse ourselves in the little wonders of the universe

Ed Simon

Birds flying above a rocky, mist-covered mountain slope with scattered leafless trees.

essayPhilosophy of religion

A God beyond logic

The history of natural theology shows that Intelligent Design and New Atheism both got it wrong, in strangely similar ways

Adam R Shapiro

Cartoon illustration of two smiling monks in orange robes praying on a hilltop with mountains and clouds in the background.

videoPhilosophy of religion

What Zen Buddhist riddles reveal about knowledge and the unknowable

5 minutes

Black-and white photo of a monk passing a ruined building cradling a large book, with mountains in the background under a clear sky.

essayPhilosophy of religion

How to pray to a dead God

The modern world is disenchanted. God remains dead. But our need for transcendence lives on. How should we fulfil it?

Ed Simon

Monochrome sketch of adults and children huddled together, some with hands covering faces. Rough pencil strokes, paper background.

essayThinkers and theories

A just and loving gaze

Simone Weil: mystic, philosopher, activist. Her ethics demand that we look beyond the personal and find the universal

Deborah Casewell

Black-and-white photo of an elderly monk with a pigeon on his head and a young monk holding a book and smiling at him.

essayPhilosophy of religion

Reincarnation now

Modern mindfulness strips Buddhism of its spiritual core. We need an ethics of reincarnation for an interconnected world

Avram Alpert

X-ray photo of a humanoid figure with various mechanical components integrated into the head and upper body, on a black background.

essayComputing and artificial intelligence

Machine in the ghost

Can a robot pray? Does an AI have a soul? Advances in automata raise theological debates that will shape the secular world

Ed Simon

Medieval painting of a woman in white by a bed with a sleeping man, surrounded by women in colourful dresses.

essayThinkers and theories

Why read Boethius today?

Written while awaiting execution, the Consolation of Philosophy poses questions about human reason that remain urgent today

John Marenbon

Black and white photo of an elderly man in a shirt and tie, gesturing with both hands, sitting against a dark background.

essayPhilosophy of religion

Perennial philosophy

Aldous Huxley argued that all religions in the world were underpinned by universal beliefs and experiences. Was he right?

Jules Evans

Water droplets on a shiny surface with blurred background and bokeh lights, creating an abstract and atmospheric effect.

videoPhilosophy of religion

If you think that modern cosmology leaves no room for ‘god’, start using your imagination

27 minutes

Medieval painting of seven scholars studying the sky with astronomical instruments surrounded by trees and decorative floral borders.

essayReligion

Science + religion

The science-versus-religion opposition is a barrier to thought. Each one is a gift, rather than a threat, to the other

Tom McLeish

Two hands holding two leather-bound books titled ‘The Koran’, Volumes I and II, with the translator named Sale on the spine.

ideaThinkers and theories

Muhammad: an anticlerical hero of the European Enlightenment

John Tolan