Christopher Harding
Lecturer in Asian history, University of Edinburgh
Christopher Harding is a lecturer in Asian history at the University of Edinburgh, specialising in modern Indian and Japanese history. He was one of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Thinkers, 2013-14.
Written by Christopher Harding
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Philosophy of religion
Into nothingness
In the 1940s, Japan’s search for a national philosophy became a battle for existence. Did Zen ideas create the kamikaze?
Christopher Harding
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Psychiatry and psychotherapy
Couched in kindness
Jakucho Setouchi is a revered nun and famous novelist, yet few know how psychoanalysis shaped her spiritual life
Christopher Harding
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Philosophy of religion
Silent communion
Christian meditation may sound like an uneasy hybrid, but that awkwardness is hiding something important
Christopher Harding
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Death
The be all and end all
Being with someone in death entails more than just physical wellbeing. Can end-of-life care make space for spirituality?
Christopher Harding
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Stories and literature
Ghosts on the shore
In Japan, ghost stories are not to be scoffed at, but provide deep insights into the fuzzy boundary between life and death
Christopher Harding
The be all and end all
Christopher HardingLots of thoughts going on, reading these conversations about my piece here. Let me share two of them for now:
DS, I like this talk of (a better/re- defined) ‘humanity’ perhaps doing the work that we have been asking ‘spirituality’ to do. I wonder whether concepts like ‘spirituality’ have the effect of pulling away and claiming for themselves some of the important territory of close-by words like ‘humanity’…
ZDJ, my impression is that the Scottish ideal (with the latest policy) is to bring forward conversations about death, thereby (as it were) lengthening the ‘anticipatory grief’ period that you mention. That sounds so important, to me, but I wonder whether/how they can achi...