Category: Blog

An audio version of the conversation is at my podcast, Inner Life, available via podcast feeds. Mysticism is a modern word, as Simon Critchley discusses in his tremendous new book, On Mysticism. And its novelty is not a happy intervention in the history of mystics and their significance, Fundamental aspects of the insights pursued by… Continue reading On Mysticism. Discussion with Simon Critchley on his new book

An audio version of this talk is at my podcast Talks and Thoughts available via podcast feeds. Nick Cave and Tom Holland discussed Christianity in an event organised by Unherd entitled In Search of Wild Gods on Thursday 9th January 2025. Chaired by Freddie Sayers, the conversation revolved around whether and why there is renewed… Continue reading In Search of Wild Gods. Reflections on Nick Cave and Tom Holland in conversation about Christianity

An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. Sermon One (in Walshe, Complete Mystical Works) has become known as capturing the essence of Meister Eckhart’s thought. “Here, in time, we are celebrating the eternal birth which God the Father bore and bears unceasingly in eternity, because… Continue reading Meister Eckhart’s Christmas Sermon One. Where is the Word born and how?

An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. Forms are all around us: clouds, flowers, creatures, even systems of thought and logical relations. And yet the nature of forms is rarely part of the modern scientific conversation. In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and… Continue reading Forms and the Reformation of Science. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake

An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. The text of the talk is below… The new issue of VALA, the magazine of the Blake Society, is all about God. I’ve an article in it on Blake’s mystical knowledge of God. You can download VALA here… Continue reading “Enemies of the Human Race.” William Blake on how to know God

An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. The resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury has highlighted the horrendous nature of abuse in the church and also the church’s difficulties in dealing with these individuals. But is focusing on individuals enough or trying to address these… Continue reading The gospel, sexual desire and the abuse scandals in the church. What has the erotic to do with God?

An audio version of this talk can be found at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available on podcast feeds. Martin Shaw and Mark Vernon return for a second conversation following Martin’s embrace of Orthodox Christianity. The first conversation, entitled The Mossy Face of Christ, can be found on my YouTube channel. They discuss what is… Continue reading The Turning of the Tide. Martin Shaw on discerning the new Christian moment

An audio version of this conversation is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. One of the premises of modern science is that nature is devoid of purposes. Instead, purposeless explanations for phenomena are sought. And the strategy has proved hugely productive. Except that allusions to purpose never quite fade from the… Continue reading Purposes in nature and minds. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake

An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. The 1500th anniversary of the death of Boethius more than likely falls in 2024. He asks a key question: how to find true, lasting, reliable happiness? His answer, The Consolation of Philosophy, was a mediaeval bestseller, massively influencial,… Continue reading Does the Consolation of Philosophy offered by Boethius, still work, 1500 years on?

An audio version of this talk is at my podcast Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. All Things Are Full Of Gods is David Bentley Hart’s philosophical case for an idealist and theist understanding of consciousness, understood as an intertwining of mind, language and life. As he puts it: “Mind and life, and language… Continue reading All Things Are Full Of Gods by David Bentley Hart. A summary and discussion