essay
Thinkers and theories
A philosophy of secrets
Jacques Derrida was fascinated by the figure of the Marrano Jew, whose identity could barely be told even to themselves
Peter Salmon
essay
Consciousness and altered states
Stuck with the soul
The idea of the soul is obviously a nonsense, yet its immaterial mysterious nature has deep hooks in the human psyche
David P Barash
essay
Religion
At the Kremlin in 1943
Stalin presented Orthodox leaders with a proposal: the Soviet state that had destroyed their Church would bring it back
Kathryn David
essay
History of science
Where God dwelt
For hundreds of years, Christians knew exactly where heaven was: above us and above the stars. Then came the new cosmologists
Stephen Case
essay
Ethics
The lethal act
The Buddha taught not to kill, yet his followers have at times disobeyed him. Can murderers still be Buddhists?
Martin Kovan
essay
Religion
The imperative betrayal
The mystery of why Judas forsook Jesus goes to the heart of Christianity. A newly translated gospel offers a new view
David Brakke
essay
Politics and government
An unholy alliance
Authoritarian leaders who play the religious card are not mere hypocrites. There’s something far more troubling going on
Suzanne Schneider
essay
Religion
Blue-eyed Buddhist
The story of a working-class radical from Ireland who became a celebrated monk and challenged the British Empire in Asia
Laurence Cox
essay
Religion
Sisters in dharma
In Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation, Parwati Soepangat pioneered a Buddhist feminist theology with deep roots
Jack Meng-Tat Chia
essay
Religion
The Calvinist conquest
In the 17th century, Dutch proselytisers set out for Asia, Africa and the Americas. The legacy of their travels endures
Charles H Parker
essay
Religion
Buddhist missionaries
Buddhist monks have mostly escaped the label of proselytisers, but they’ll still spread the word to those who seek them out
Brooke Schedneck
essay
Religion
The meaning of Purgatory
Think less of a holding pen for Heaven and more as a flow of love from the living, and the weirdness starts making sense
Magnus Course
video
Art
Grotesque imagery meets religious conservatism in Hieronymus Bosch’s art
51 minutes
video
Values and beliefs
How a God-fearing Jewish woman found atheism – and bacon – in her later years
9 minutes
video
Animals and humans
What the ancient city of Kars looks like from the perspective of its stray dogs
9 minutes
essay
Nations and empires
East of Zionism
In 1900 my grandfather’s generation imagined a modernising Arab world, multireligious and progressive. What happened?
Ussama Makdisi
video
Religion
How the Hindu myth of Annapurna, goddess of food, connects sustenance with spirituality
5 minutes
video
History of ideas
The devils you know – how Satan became a versatile stand-in for all manner of evil
5 minutes
video
Rituals and celebrations
Dissolve into the immersive, entrancing rhythms of a Sufi chant
17 minutes
essay
Computing 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
video
Values and beliefs
‘I’m just measuring myself with myself’ – ping pong as a route to Sufi spiritual practice
11 minutes
essay
The ancient world
Fiddling while Rome converts
A generation of pagan bureaucrats amassed wealth and status while Roman emperors Christianised the world around them
Edward Watts
video
Architecture
Surreal, audacious, unfinished – the Sagrada Família remains a divine work in progress
6 minutes
video
Human rights and justice
Lockdown is a way of life for the US asylum-seekers living in churches
15 minutes