David Bentley Hart - Wikipedia

David Bentley Hart - Wikipedia

David Bentley Hart

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For the religious historian specializing in Presbyterianism, see D. G. Hart.

David Bentley Hart
Born	1965 (age 55–56)
Nationality	American
Scholarly background
Alma mater	University of Maryland University of Cambridge University of Virginia
Thesis	Beauty, Violence, and Infinity[1] (1997)
Influences	Jesus,Plato, St. Paul, Origen, Plotinus, Cappadocian Fathers (esp. Gregory of Nyssa), Augustine, Proclus, Pseudo-Dionysius, Maximus the Confessor, Isaac of Nineveh, Shankara, Eriugena, Symeon the New Theologian, Ramanuja, Ibn Arabi, Thomas Aquinas, Rumi, Nicholas of Cusa, George MacDonald, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Sergei Bulgakov, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Karl Barth, Henri de Lubac, Robert Jenson, Rowan Williams, John Milbank, Advaita Vedanta Hinduism, Vishishtadvaita Hinduism, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Neoplatonism, Perennialism,greek Eastern Orthodox theology
Scholarly work
Discipline	Theology
Sub-discipline	Patristics philosophical theology theological aesthetics
School or tradition	Eastern Orthodoxy
Notable works	Atheist Delusions (2009) The Experience of God (2013) That All Shall Be Saved (2019)

David Bentley Hart (born 1965) is an American philosopher and Eastern Orthodox theologian whose work encompasses a wide range of subjects and genres. A prolific essayist, he has written on topics as diverse as art, literature, religion, philosophy, film, baseball, and politics. He is also an author of fiction. As a religious scholar, his work engages heavily with classical, medieval and continental European philosophy, philosophical and systematic theology, patristic texts, and South and East Asian culture, religion, literature, philosophy and metaphysics. His translation of the New Testament was published in 2017.^[2]

Contents

• 1Life and career
  • 1.1Academic career
  • 1.2Personal life
• 2Literary writing
• 3Awards and reception
• 4Selected bibliography
  • 4.1Books
  • 4.2Translations
  • 4.3Articles
  • 4.4Book reviews
• 5See also
• 6References
• 7External links

Life and career[edit source]

Academic career[edit source]

Hart earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland, his Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Cambridge, and his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the University of Virginia.^[3] He has taught at the University of Virginia, the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), Duke Divinity School, and Loyola College in Maryland. He served as visiting professor at Providence College, where he also previously held the Robert J. Randall Chair in Christian Culture. During the 2014–2015 academic year, Hart was Danforth Chair at Saint Louis University in the Department of Theological Studies. In 2015, he was appointed as Templeton Fellow at the University of Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study.^[4]

Personal life[edit source]

Hart is a convert from high-church Anglicanism to Eastern Orthodoxy. Politically, he identifies as a Christian socialist^[5] as well as a democratic socialist^[6][7] and is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.^[8]

Literary writing[edit source]

Noted for his distinctive, humorous, pyrotechnic and often combative prose style,^[9][10][11] Hart has been described by the conservative writer Matthew Walther as "our greatest living essayist".^[12] He has written essays on subjects as varied as Don Juan, Vladimir Nabokov, Charles Baudelaire, Victor Segalen, Leon Bloy, William Empson, David Jones, and baseball.^[13] Two of his books, A Splendid Wickedness and The Dream-Child's Progress, are collections devoted to non-theological essays. They also include several short stories.

In 2012, The Devil and Pierre Gernet, a collection of his fiction, was released by Eerdmans.^[14] His short stories have been described as "Borgesian"^[15] and are elaborate metaphysical fables, full of wordplay, allusion, and structural puzzles.

Awards and reception[edit source]

Hart's first major work, The Beauty of the Infinite, an adaptation of his doctoral thesis, received acclaim from the theologians John Milbank, Janet Soskice, and Reinhard Hütter. William Placher said of the book, "I can think of no more brilliant work by an American theologian in the past ten years."^[16] Geoffrey Wainwright said, "This magnificent and demanding volume should establish David Bentley Hart, around the world no less than in North America, as one of his generation's leading theologians."^[17]

On 27 May 2011, Hart's book Atheist Delusions was awarded the Michael Ramsey Prize in Theology,^[18] and was praised by the agnostic philosopher Anthony Kenny: “Hart has the gifts of a good advocate. He writes with clarity and force, and he drives his points home again and again. He exposes his opponents’ errors of fact or logic with ruthless precision.”^[19]

Oliver Burkeman, writing in The Guardian, praised Hart's book The Experience of God as "the one theology book all atheists really should read".^[20]

Selected bibliography[edit source]

Books[edit source]

• Roland In Moonlight. Brooklyn, NY: Angelico Press. 2021.
• Theological Territories: A David Bentley Hart Digest. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. 2020.
• The Mystery of Castle MacGorilla. With Patrick Robert Hart. New York: Angelico Press. 2019.
• That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press: 2019.
• The New Testament: A Translation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press: 2017.
• The Hidden and the Manifest: Essays in Theology and Metaphysics. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 2017.
• The Dream-Child's Progress and Other Essays. New York: Angelico Press. 2017.
• A Splendid Wickedness and Other Essays. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans: 2016.
• The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press: 2013.
• The Devil and Pierre Gernet: Stories. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans: 2012.
• Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.
• In the Aftermath: Provocations and Laments. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans: 2008.
• The Story of Christianity: An Illustrated History of 2000 Years of the Christian Faith. London: Quercus: 2007.
• The Doors of the Sea. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans: 2005.
• The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans: 2003.

Translations[edit source]

• The New Testament: A Translation. Yale University Press: 2017.
• Erich Przywara, Analogia Entis: Metaphysics: Original Structure and Universal Rhythm. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans: 2014. In collaboration with John R. Betz.

Articles[edit source]

• "Three Cheers for Socialism: Christian Love & Political Practice", Commonweal (February 2020).
• "Divorce, Annulment, & Communion", Commonweal (August 2019).
• "What Lies Beyond Capitalism? A Christian Exploration", Plough Quarterly 21 (Summer 2019).
• "Quentin Tarantino's Cosmic Justice", The New York Times (August 6, 2019).
• "Can We Please Relax About 'Socialism'?", The New York Times (April 27, 2019).
• "The New York Yankees Are a Moral Abomination", The New York Times (July 14, 2018).
• "Everything you know about the Gospel of Paul is likely wrong", Aeon (January 8, 2018.)
• "Christians and the Death Penalty", Commonweal (November 2017).
• "Are Christians Supposed to be Communists?", The New York Times (November 4, 2017).
• "From a Vanished Library", First Things (April 2017).
• 'We need to talk about God', Church Times (an independent Church of England newspaper), February 2016.
• "Christ's Rabble", Commonweal (September 2016).
• "Habetis Papam", First Things (December 2015).
• "The Myth of Schism", Clarion Journal (June 2014).
• "Therapeutic Superstition", First Things (November 2012).
• Response to critiques of The Beauty of the Infinite by Francesca Murphy and John A. McGuckin, Scottish Journal of Theology 60 (February 2007): 95-101.
• "Daniel Dennett Hunts the Snark", First Things 169 (January 2007).
• Contribution to Theology as Knowledge: A Symposium, First Things 163 (May 2006): 21–27.
• "The Lively God of Robert Jenson", First Things 156 (October 2005): 28–34.
• "The Anti-Theology of the Body", The New Atlantis 9 (Summer 2005): 65–73.
• "The Soul of a Controversy", The Wall Street Journal (April 1, 2005).
• "Tsunami and Theodicy", First Things 151 (March 2005): 6–9.
• "The Laughter of the Philosophers", First Things 149 (January 2005): 31–38. A review loosely structured around The Humor of Kierkegaard by Thomas C. Oden, containing a long excursus on Johann Georg Hamann.
• "God or Nothingness" in I Am the Lord Your God: Christian Reflections on the Ten Commandments Carl E. Braaten and Christopher Seitz, eds. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005: 55–76.
• "The Offering of Names: Metaphysics, Nihilism, and Analogy" in Reason and the Reasons of Faith. Reinhard Hütter and Paul J. Griffiths, eds. London: T. & T. Clark, 2005: 55–76.
• "Tremors of Doubt", The Wall Street Journal (December 31, 2004). This article was the seed for the book The Doors of the Sea.
• "Ecumenical Councils of War", Touchstone (November 2004).
• "The Pornography Culture", The New Atlantis 6 (Summer 2004): 82–89.
• "Freedom and Decency", First Things 144 (June/July 2004): 35–41.
• "An Orthodox Easter", The Wall Street Journal (April 9, 2004) (in "Houses of Worship").
• "Religion in America: Ancient & Modern", The New Criterion (March 2004).
• "A Most Partial Historian", First Things 138 (December 2003): 34–41. A review of Religion and Public Doctrine in Modern England Volume III: Accommodations by Maurice Cowling.
• "Christ and Nothing", First Things 136 (October 2003): 47–57.
• "The Bright Morning of the Soul: John of the Cross on Theosis", Pro Ecclesia (Summer 2003): 324–45.
• "Thine Own of Thine Own: the Orthodox Understanding of Eucharistic Sacrifice" in Rediscovering the Eucharist: Ecumenical Considerations Roch A. Kereszty, ed. (Paulist Press, 2003): 142–169.
• "A Gift Exceeding Every Debt: An Eastern Orthodox Appreciation of Anselm's Cur Deus Homo", Pro Ecclesia 7.3: 333–348.
• "The Mirror of the Infinite: Gregory of Nyssa on the Vestigia Trinitatis", Modern Theology 18.4 (October 2002): 542–56.
• "No Shadow of Turning: On Divine Impassibility", Pro Ecclesia (Spring 2002): 184–206.
• Contribution to The Future of the Papacy: A Symposium, First Things 111 (March 2001): 28–36.
• "The 'Whole Humanity': Gregory of Nyssa's Critique of Slavery in Light of His Eschatology", Scottish Journal of Theology 54.1 (2001): 51–69.
• "Analogy" in Elsevier Concise Encyclopaedia of Religion and Language (Elsevier Press, 2001).
• "The Writing of the Kingdom: Thirty-Seven Aphorisms towards an Eschatology of the Text", Modern Theology (Spring 2000): 181–202.
• "Matter, Monism, and Narrative: An Essay on the Metaphysics of Paradise Lost" Milton Quarterly (Winter 1996): 16–27.

Book reviews[edit source]

• "Mind Over Matter", Commonweal (January 2019). A review of Lloyd P. Gerson's translation of The Enneads by Plotinus.
• "Shock of the Real", First Things (November 2017). A long essay-review of Natasha Lehrer's translation of "Équipée" by Victor Segalen.
• "Empson in the East", First Things (May 2017). A review of "The Face of the Buddha" by William Empson.
• "Our Atheism is Different", Commonweal (June 2016). A review of Battling the Gods by Tim Whitmarsh.
• "Dante Decluttered: A review of The Divine Comedy", First Things (November 2013). A review of Clive James' translation of "The Divine Comedy".
• "Inside the mind of the Archbishop of Canterbury", The Times Literary Supplement (March 2008). A review of Rowan Williams's "Wrestling with Angels," edited by Mike Higton.
• "Con Man", The New Criterion (September 2006): 124. A review of "The Theocons: Secular America under Siege" by Damon Linker.
• "Beyond Disbelief", The New Criterion (June 2005): 78–81. A review of "The Twilight of Atheism" by Alister McGrath.
• "Roland Redivivus", First Things 150 (February 2005): 44–48. A review of Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo, translated by Charles Stanley Ross.
• "The Laughter of the Philosophers", First Things 149 (January 2005): 31–38. A review loosely structured around The Humor of Kierkegaard by Thomas C. Oden, containing a long excursus on Johann Georg Hamann.
• "When the Going was Bad", First Things 143 (May 2004): 50–53. A review of Waugh Abroad: Collected Travel Writing by Evelyn Waugh.
• "Sheer Extravagant Violence", First Things 139 (January 2004): 64–69. A review of Taras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol, translated by Peter Constantine.
• "A Most Partial Historian", First Things 138 (December 2003): 34–41. A review of Religion and Public Doctrine in Modern England Volume III: Accommodations by Maurice Cowling.
• Review of Gianni Vattimo's Belief, The Journal of Religion 82.1 (Jan. 2002): 132–133.
• "Israel and the Nations", First Things 105 (August/September 2000): 51–54. A review of Church and Israel After Christendom: The Politics of Election by Scott Bader–Saye.
• "Review Essay: On Catherine Pickstock's After Writing", Pro Ecclesia (Summer 2000): 367–372.
• "Beyond Reductionism", First Things 87 (November 1998): 55–57. A review of Religious Mystery and Rational Reflection by Louis Dupre.

See also[edit source]

• Biography portal
• Christianity portal

• Christian philosophy
• Criticism of atheism
• Eastern Orthodox Christian theology
• Philosophy of religion
• Universal reconciliation

References[edit source]

1. ^ Hart, David Bentley (1997). Beauty, Violence, and Infinity: A Question Concerning Christian Rhetoric (PhD thesis). Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia. OCLC 68963111.
2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-05-30. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
3. ^ What disciplines are Dr. Hart's degrees in? "David Bentley Hart". The Berkley Center - Georgetown University. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 4 November2013.
4. ^ "David Bentley Hart". Notre Dame - Institute for Advanced Study. Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
5. ^ https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/three-cheers-socialism
6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-09-02. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
7. ^ https://www.facebook.com/dbhartwriter/posts/1094016380751517
8. ^ https://www.facebook.com/720442008108958/posts/a-brief-political-confessionforgive-me-for-stepping-out-from-behind-the-curtain-/1094016380751517/
9. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-07-29. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
10. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-07-29. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
11. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-07-29. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
12. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-07-29. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
13. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-07-29. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
14. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-07-30. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
15. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-07-29. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
16. ^ Placher, William C. (6 September 2004). "God's Beauty". The Christian Century. Archived from the original on 12 November 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
17. ^ "Archived copy". www.eerdmans.com. Eerdmans. Archived from the original on 2018-02-01. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
18. ^ "Winner of £10,000 Theology Prize Announced". The Archbishop of Canterbury. May 2011. Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
19. ^ "The Experience of God". www.amazon.com. The Times Literary Supplement.
20. ^ Burkeman, Oliver. "The one theology book all atheists really should read". www.theguardian.com. The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 January 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2015.

External links[edit source]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: David Bentley Hart

• Hart's Substack Newsletter
• The David Bentley Hart Appreciation Blog
• David Bentley Hart, Featured Author at First Things

The Experience of God Sep 24, 2013
by David Bentley Hart
( 225 )
AUD 16.66

Despite the recent ferocious public debate about belief, the concept most central to the discussion—God—frequently remains vaguely and obscurely described. Are those engaged in these arguments even talking about the same thing? In a wide-ranging response to this confusion, esteemed scholar David Bentley Hart pursues a clarification of how the word “God” functions in the world’s great theistic faiths.

Ranging broadly across Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Vedantic and Bhaktic Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism, Hart explores how these great intellectual traditions treat humanity’s knowledge of the divine mysteries. Constructing his argument around three principal metaphysical “moments”—being, consciousness, and bliss—the author demonstrates an essential continuity between our fundamental experience of reality and the ultimate reality to which that experience inevitably points.

Thoroughly dismissing such blatant misconceptions as the deists' concept of God, as well as the fundamentalist view of the Bible as an objective historical record, Hart provides a welcome antidote to simplistic manifestoes. In doing so, he plumbs the depths of humanity’s experience of the world as powerful evidence for the reality of God and captures the beauty and poetry of traditional reflection upon the divine.
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You Are Gods: On Nature and Supernature Apr 1, 2022
by David Bentley Hart
AUD 20.83



David Bentley Hart offers an intense and thorough reflection upon the issue of the supernatural in Christian theology and doctrine.

In recent years, the theological—and, more specifically, Roman Catholic—question of the supernatural has made an astonishing return from seeming oblivion. David Bentley Hart’s You Are Gods presents a series of meditations on the vexed theological question of the relation of nature and supernature. In its merely controversial aspect, the book is intended most directly as a rejection of a certain Thomistic construal of that relation, as well as an argument in favor of a model of nature and supernature at once more Eastern and patristic, and also more in keeping with the healthier currents of mediaeval and modern Catholic thought. In its more constructive and confessedly radical aspects, the book makes a vigorous case for the all-but-complete eradication of every qualitative, ontological, or logical distinction between the natural and the supernatural in the life of spiritual creatures. It advances a radically monistic vision of Christian metaphysics but does so wholly on the basis of credal orthodoxy.

Hart, one of the most widely read theologians in America today, presents a bold gesture of resistance to the recent revival of what used to be called “two-tier Thomism,” especially in the Anglophone theological world. In this astute exercise in classical Christian orthodoxy, Hart takes the metaphysics of participation, high Trinitarianism, Christology, and the soteriological language of theosis to their inevitable logical conclusions. You Are Gods will provoke many readers interested in theological metaphysics. The book also offers a vision of Christian thought that draws on traditions (such as Vedanta) from which Christian philosophers and theologians, biblical scholars, and religious studies scholars still have a great deal to learn.
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Other Formats: Hardcover

Breaking Open: Finding a Way Through Spiritual Emergency by Jules Evans

Breaking Open: Finding a Way Through Spiritual Emergency by Jules Evans


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Breaking Open: Finding a Way Through Spiritual Emergency

Editor : Jules Evans, Editor : Tim Read

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Publisher : Aeon Books
Published : April 2020
Cover : Paperback
Pages : 232

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The first book in which people discuss their own spiritual emergencies and share what helped them through. Our authors are the experts of their own experience, and they share their wild journeys with courage, insight and poetry. There are fascinating parallels in their experiences, suggesting minds in extremis go to similar places. These are beautiful postcards from the edge of human consciousness, testaments to the soul’s natural resilience. Our authors have returned from their descent with valuable insights for our culture, as we go through a collective spiritual emergency, with old myths and structures breaking down, and new possibilities breaking open. What is there beyond our present egocentric model of reality? What tools can help us navigate the emergence?



"This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the connection between spiritual awakening and what we normally term 'mental illness.' It is full of inspirational and moving stories that show that psychological disturbances often lead to significant personal growth, if supported properly. As a culture, we urgently need a new paradigm of mental illness and treatment, and this and this book makes an important contribution to that shift.'



Steve Taylor PhD, author of The Leap and Spiritual Science

About the Editor(s)
Reviews & Endorsements

About the Editor(s)

Jules Evans is an author, broadcaster and academic philosopher. He is a research fellow at the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London, where he researches the history and philosophy of flourishing. He was a BBC New Generation Thinker and a Times book of the year author. He is the author of 'Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations' (2012) and 'The Art of Losing Control' (2017). He blogs at www.philosophyforlife.org

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Tim Read is a medical doctor, psychiatrist and psychotherapist based in London. He was Consultant Psychiatrist at the Royal London Hospital for 20 years leading the Emergency Liaison service and the Crisis Intervention Service. He has trained in psychoanalytic therapy (IGA) and in transpersonal therapy (GTT). He is a certified facilitator of Holotropic Breathwork and has a special interest in working with expanded states of consciousness. His book 'Walking Shadows: Archetype and Psyche in Crisis and Growth' was published in 2015.

View author's website

More titles by Tim Read

===

Spiritual emergencies are moments of messy awakening, crises of ego dissolution and rebirth that are often misunderstood and unskillfully managed by materialist psychiatry. As more Westerners meditate and are drawn to psychedelics to foster their psycho-spiritual growth, mystical experiences are becoming more common--yet some of them will be disturbing and difficult. There is an urgent need for our culture to upgrade its understanding of what these experiences are like and what helps people through the turbulence. Breaking Open is the first book in which people discuss their own spiritual emergencies and share what helped them through. The contributors are the experts of their own experience, and they share their wild journeys with courage, insight, and poetry. There are fascinating parallels in their experiences, suggesting minds in extremis go to similar places. These are beautiful postcards from the edge of human consciousness, testaments to the soul's natural resilience. These people have returned from their descent with valuable insights for our culture, as we go through a collective spiritual emergency, with old myths and structures breaking down, and new possibilities breaking open. What is there beyond our present egocentric model of reality? What tools can help us navigate the emergence?

===

Top reviews from other countries

Topher

3.0 out of 5 stars could be called how the other half suffer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 February 2021

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An interesting book about how very well resourced people manage suffering - let me tell you its nothing like the shocking, pathalogising, dangerous nonsense encapsulated in the medical model that most have little choice in let alone any informed consent.

In fact these well resourced people are able to float above the ordinary barbarism of modern services and consider themselves to be having a 'spiritual emergency' none of your pseudo medical sounding 'disorders' or 'treatment' for 'symptoms' here.

Here people have resources of relative wealth, good relationships, travel, meaning, purpose, an ability to explore an expansive melting pot of possible solutions - not the five minutes with the stressed out GP labelled depressed and handed a prescription for the brain damaging but highly profitable drugs marketed as 'anti depressants' or being referred to IAPT - a relative production line of nonsense where 'recovery' means how you score on a tick box questionnaire. And god forbid you ever end up in secondary care - there the medical model is completely out of control.

Taken together our mental health systems for 'normal' people are casing more harm to both the people they are tasked to work with and to the people that work within them - with massive and relentless stress - such a happy state of affairs but great for maintaining power and internalising suffering - nothing to see in the culture - move along now - no cultural disorders here its all about you and your dysfunctional thoughts, behaviours, beliefs and attitudes - just keep taking the drugs and make sure you do your homework.

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4 people found this helpful

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Alastair McIntosh

5.0 out of 5 stars Such an important topic, such well written first-person experience chapters

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 September 2020

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So far I've read 3 of the contributors' chapters and the editors' material. This covers such an important topic, building on the Stanislav & Christina Groff "Spiritual Emergency" classic. What this adds, is case studies written up by folks who have been through spiritual emergencies, with harrowing honesty about the often psychotic stages these took them through. It is common to find short accounts of such experience in anthologies, or accounts written up third party. What this book adds is it gives percipients the space to expand and reflect on their experiences at their own pace and in their own words.

Whether you consider that spiritual experience constitutes evidence for the spiritual or not - (or whether you believe material experience constitutes evidence for the material or not) - this book is an important and original contribution to the contemporary literature on transpersonal psychology and applied religious studies.

4 people found this helpful

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Catherine I

5.0 out of 5 stars Brave and rich in anecdote.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 March 2021

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"Breaking Open" is a collection of the accounts of fourteen individuals' Spiritual Emergencies. It is topped and tailed by a sensitive and intelligent commentary by editors the philosopher Jules Evans and psychiatrist Tim Read. Despite describing their own sample pool as being restricted by their white, middle-class and culturally-literate backgrounds there is a tremendous amount of variety in the subjects' experiences. This is not an especially privileged grouping and to dismiss it is as such is a knee-jerk criticism [Disclaimer - I do not personally know any of them.]

Just as it would be meeting a crowd of new people, there are some characters who are more appealing to one than others. I particularly liked the accounts of nightclub-visionary Deborah Martin and the mysterious Rob Charles who movingly describes a childhood locked in fears over how he smelt. It is brave of Jules Evans to add his own account to the fray; he strikes just the right chord of solidarity. Evans' description of the aftermath of an Ayahuasca trip is mercifully less disturbed than others (which can be hair-raising) but contributes to the impression that, despite what the cheerleaders would have us believe, psychedelics fracture the ego in ways which are broadly unhelpful.

However, rather than individual accounts it is the general impression of the collective voice which matters. The phenomenon of the nervous breakdown inflected by spiritual overtones, or conversely the religious experience with a traumatic dimension, is glimpsed as though from many perspectives ranged around a craggy peak. The book is an extremely useful contribution to the steadily-swelling intellectual literature (as opposed to that which sets off on a superstitious footing) which examines this fascinating topic. It is a topic which demands our urgent attention.

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2 people found this helpful

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Elise Wardle MA, Jungian Psychotherapist

5.0 out of 5 stars Losing mind, finding soul

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 May 2021

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My sincere thanks to Tim Read and Jules Evans together with those who shared their most powerful transformative experiences through the journey of awakening. This book is much needed at a time when millions are personally and collectively experiencing spiritual crisis in a variety of different forms. For those who need to know they are not alone, not becoming insane but travelling a journey into losing their 'mind' and finding their soul, it offers guidance and resources whereby we may continue our journeys towards wholeness with insight, the right support and understanding from others who have been where we are, 'worn the t-shirt' and have 'come out the other end'!

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GLC

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 June 2020

Verified Purchase

This book is life affirming and even life changing, especially to the reader who has been through a spiritual emergency themselves. Jules himself has a poetic yet warm and open style, and I am now addicted to his weekly newsletters (which you can sign up for on his website). But each of the stories has a resonance that transcends normal literature on this topic and opens your mind to the great vastness of consciousness in all its various manifestations. I would recommend this book to anyone, even if new to the topic. I believe you will come away enlightened and also moved by what you read.

2 people found this helpful

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====

scientific spirituality, science & spirituality

Helminiak, D. A. (1996). 

A scientific spirituality: The interface of psychology and theology. 

International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 6(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327582ijpr0601_1

Abstract

Applying B. J. Lonergan's (1957, 1972) analysis of human consciousness or spirit, this article presents an interlocking set of distinctions that specifies spirituality as a normative or prescriptive discipline on the boundary between theology and psychology and different from psychology of religion as generally conceived. Central to the argument is an array of analytic viewpoints, within which the human can be studied, and a tripartite model of the human that represents spirit, and so spirituality, as inherent to humanity as such. It is argued that the study of spirituality so conceived meets demanding criteria that qualify it as science, a specialization within psychology.

 (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

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Embracing spirituality with a scientific mind

Satish Kumar | 20th November 2018

https://theecologist.org/2018/nov/20/embracing-spirituality-scientific-mind

Science and spirituality are mutually illuminating, and mutually dependent.

We are on a journey: a journey from separation to relationship and from dualism to unity.

One of the domin­ant dualisms of our time has been the idea of disconnection between science and spirituality. Since the age of pure reason, our educational system has been working hard to establish the conviction that science has to be free of spirituality, and that spirituality should have nothing to do with science.

The latest edition of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine is out now!

For the past hundred years, graduates in their millions have been coming out of universities brainwashed with the belief that either spirituality is a matter of personal and private life, or it is pure ‘mumbo jumbo’. This mainstream view has ignored the scientists of the past and the present who see no dichotomy between science and spirituality.

Holistic science

The outstanding German poet and scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe worked with a profound scientific spirit. In his books The Metamorphosis of Plants and Theory of Colours, he challenged the narrow and linear view of science.

With his phenomenological understanding of Nature, he expounded a more interrelated, cyclical and holistic science. But Goethe’s ideal­istic and spiritual science was neglected by students of science in most universities. He was appreciated as a great poet, but not as a scientist!

The same is true of Leonardo da Vinci. Everyone thinks of him as a great artist, but hardly anyone recognises him as a scientist.

However, our contemporary science of complexity and systems thinking finds its roots in the work of Leonardo because he was concerned with living forms and therefore embraced the science of quality as well as quantity. The moment we think of a science of quality, the word ‘spirituality’ comes to mind.

Albert Einstein was also a spiritual scientist. He said: “Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe […] one in the face of which we, humans, with our modest powers must feel humble.”

Unmanifest intuition

Einstein respected the religious dimension of human experience. He said: “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Einstein was not talking about institutionalised and organised religious establishments - he was talking about religious experience, which is beyond measurement.

Bringing spirituality and science together will help to bring meaning and measurement together. These two should not be fragmented or separated.

A sense of unmanifested wonder and curiosity, and a sense of intuition and inspiration exist before there is empir­ical knowledge through experiments, evidence and proof to create a scientific hypothesis and a theory.

Dismissing that unmanifest intuition or inspiration, as some materialist scientists do, is a grave folly.

The word ‘spirit’ simply means ‘breath’ or ‘wind’. We cannot see the wind, we cannot touch it, or measure it, but we can feel it. As trees are moved by wind, humans are moved by spirit. Breath or wind is the invisible and subtle force that makes life possible. The visible is sustained by the invisible.

Spiritual guidance

The outer and material reality is held together through the power of the inner and spiritual reality. Acknowledging one and denying the other is like wanting a bird to fly with only one wing.

The reality of wholeness is composed of two interrelated aspects. The Chinese called it the harmony of yin and yang. The Indians called it the balance of Shiva and Shakti: positive and negative, dark and light, silence and speech, emptiness and fullness, spirit and matter, unmanifest and manifest are part of one single whole.

Uniting science and spirituality has a very practical purpose. Science without spirituality can easily lose the ethical, moral and values-based perspective.

Scientists without the guidance of spirituality can engage in the invention of nuclear bombs and other weapons of war, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, factory farming where animals are reared in cruel conditions, and technologies that create waste, pollution and the destruction of Nature.

Science without the guidance of spiritual values has created many of the problems the world faces today. Science by itself is not benign, value-free or neutral. Therefore, science needs the helping hand of spiritual wisdom in order to maintain its integrity and modify its power. Without spiritual wisdom, science can be dangerous. Spirituality gives meaning, value and purpose to science.

Religious exclusivity

As science needs spirituality, spirituality needs science. Without science, spirituality can easily and quickly turn into blind faith, dogmatism, sectarianism, and fundamentalism.

Unscientifically minded people may claim: “My god is the only true god and I have the truth. Everybody must be converted to my truth.”

Such narrow religious exclusivity has led to wars, conflicts, terrorism and divisions. Science helps to keep our minds open so we can seek truth and act for the benefit of the whole of humanity and for the good of all living beings, human, and other-than-human.

Do we want to live in a fragmented way, either as materialists discarding the subjective dimension of spiritual wisdom or as spiritual seekers denigrating the objective world of scientific discovery?

The choice is ours. I choose to embrace spirituality with a scientific mind. For me, science and spirituality are complementary parts of the whole.


This Author

Satish Kumar is editor emeritus of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine. He was interviewed by Richard Dawkins on the subject of science and spirituality. The interview is available to watch here. The latest edition of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine is out now!

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Science & Spirituality

Meenakshi

MAR 30, 2020

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/eyescream/science-spirituality-11274/

The road to science& spirituality are opposite, but we should trend both.

India launched its most awaited scheduled of Chandrayaan 2, not that long ago.The chairman of ISRO K.Sivan was at Tirupati Temple to offer puja for the success of the moon mission. It apparently leads us to question ;

Why a super efficient scientist organisation , renowned and globally appreciated needs blessings from God , for its success?

Isn’t it very contrasting, and isn’t the continuousendeavour and pursuit to scientific knowledge enough?, Why does support of something to back science required? specifically, which science deniesof in particular?

In this essay we’ll analyse, what science and spirituality stand for ?? Despite being opposite, why is it necessary to keep a balance of both ?? Their differences and similarities will be decoded and also, what humanity needs to choose in present scenario ?

Most of us tend to confuse spirituality with religion, Religion is based on scriptures certain teachings, has limits, has rules and laws prescribed.

It guides us to the way of life and their is a boundary, a course of rigidity which a religion provides

Whereas, spirituality is an experience. Like Swami Vivekananda said “ you have to grow from inside out, None can teach you, make you spiritual, there are no teachers but your own soul “

Adhyatm consists of two words ‘Adhi’ and ‘Atman’ which simply means pertaining to soul. Spirituality deals with the nature of soul and information related to the soul. A soul that is absolute and the ultimate truth. It is a process of leading the total energy in the body to the soul.

spirituality is about integrity. It helps us to find meaning in life, provides a foundation of our values to guide us in the way we behave with self, others and the world around us. Spirituality is the science of human growth for self transformation & also for world transformation through Peace & Purity. Albert Einstein said once: “No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the world a new “

• Spirituality is an attitude that is positive and looking at the best in everyone and everything

• Spirituality is an inner journey to discover inner peace & is all about expanding our capability to live love and learn.

• Spirituality is the process of balance between Dharma & Karma.

• Spirituality is the “process of Self-Transformation from impure consciousness to pure consciousness to achieve inner peace, happiness & prosperity.

Therefore, spirituality is pious, it provides stabilityto oneself, and keep us moving in positive direction, being our own teacher and guide in the process of life.

Whereas, when we talk about science, it not only brings true knowledge, factual knowledge with logic and evidences. In pursuit of rational knowledge people started questioning religious beliefs. More the scientific discoveries, more the question on belief system. Science has a more rational approach it is a work of logic and proofs.

From the cosmos to the shape of the Earth , time , light , sound, as well as life . Which once was believed to exist because of various superstitions, and religious centuries back, All this is more of a scientific discovery with proven facts.

The shift from religion to science, the Industrial revolution, millennial lifestyle, rise of individual living, aloofness , emotionally weak . Mentally unhealthy.

So, people sought refuge to spirituality for solace .

No matter what amount of scientific knowledge we may possess, it’ll be very little compared to the vast mysteries of the world , and this void will be filled by spirituality. Which has been unanswered by science time and again . Spirituality fills those gaps and curiosity positively.

Spirituality itself is extremely scientific because it wants to examine the world and its nature, just like the scientist. t wants to look at the world; it wants to observe the world and see –

· What the world really is?
· Where does it come from?
· What happens to it?
· How does one perceive it?
· How does it change?
· How does it end?

It observes all its processes, its dissolution, its making, everything.

Spirituality is very scientific. And then spirituality goes beyond science.

How?

Science stops at the world.

Spirituality looks at the world, then looks at the self, then sees the direct relation between the world and the self and hence, sees the two as one.

So, there are the two aspects of spirituality.

1. The first is a very-very scientific observation of the world.

If the mind is not scientific enough, it cannot be spiritual. If the mind does not know the world, it cannot move to something beyond the world. Knowing the world, its movements, its games, its suffering and its cunningness is very important. The spiritual mind must deeply understand the world. That is one aspect of Spirituality.

2. The second aspect is Faith.

I understand the world. I see that I am made of worldly influences but I also have faith that there has to be something beyond these influences; influences which give me nothing but suffering.

This is Spirituality; attention and faith.

And both are just helping you to go towards something that is of the beyond; something that is not merely a mental apparition.

Social Context

Science will help the industries in growing of wealth , which might lead to in equality but spirituality promotes brotherhood, social cohesion and equality.

In contrast, science encourages people to think rationally devoid of superstitions.

Hence, conditions of two will definitely enhance the standards of living& well-being.

Environment

Coordination of science & principle holds importance . Science and technology facilitating, mining, felling of trees etc.

But remember, Chipko movement, or Appiko movement, which were geared by the spirituality that saved the trees.

In contrast, blind faith spirituality comes in the way of growth & Development in modern world.

Technology

Science led to evolution of artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning.

Becoming nuclear power countries, creating differences among other states. Being war ready . In contrast, spiritual diplomacy needs to be promoted, technology with science plus spirituality.

For e.g. : India’s “ no first use “ policy for nuclear weapons for the prosperity of humanity as a whole. This is because India’s nuclear policy is not to harm others but for the purpose of self defence from thehostile neighbour’s.

For science that which cannot be detected, does not exist. If something can just not be detected, absolutely undetectable it is, then science will say, “It does not exist”.

Spirituality says, “My instruments for detection are very limited. I detect using my senses and my intellect which are quite limited. Something that cannot be thus detected may also exist; in fact it may be more real than what the senses announce as real.” Spirituality thus lacks the arrogance of science.

Science says if my eyes can see, look at it, only then it exist.

Spirituality says but first of all am I sure that my eyes are an instrument capable enough to tell me the truth?

Spirituality is an honest, brutally honest search for the truth.

Spirituality is deeply scientific and so very scientific that it transcends science.

Science without spirituality is not only incomplete but also vulnerable.

Such science is more likely to be misused and exploited by vested interest.

It works for only those who can pay for it. It aims to satisfy one’s greed rather than need.

In a nutshell, to meet the crisis of humanity, the coordination of science and spirituality is inevitable.

M.K Gandhi said “ that if both science and spirituality go hand in hand then one can create heaven on the holy earth “

Sustainable development is the need of the hour and this is possible only with the coordination of science and spirituality.

Let’s believe in building a better tomorrow and take steps towards it .

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#spirituality #science #consciousness
Scientific Spirituality - Donald Hoffman
19,081 viewsPremiered Apr 22, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUv333Decms

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The Science of Spirituality: Integrating Science, Psychology, Philosophy, Spirituality & Religion Paperback – August 1, 2007

by Lee Bladon (Author)

4.2 out of 5 stars 42 ratings

https://www.amazon.com/Science-Spirituality-Integrating-Psychology-Philosophy/dp/1847998933

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Making connections between science and spirituality

A workshop followed by a public conversation helped scientists find new ways to talk about their scientific research to audiences they do not often communicate with. Religion and spirituality can be agents for scientific learning.

BY DANIELLE TORRENT TUCKER

February 01, 2019

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How do you communicate science to people who hold different worldviews? While there is no single answer, one crucial element can make the difference between hearing and listening: connection.

Most Americans are supportive of science and also identify as religious or spiritual, but scientists can be uncertain about how to foster dialogue with people who hold worldviews different than their own. At two events hosted by Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth) and the Office of Science Outreach on Jan. 25, participants gained insight into how to make scientific connections in new ways.

The events – a workshop for Stanford researchers followed by a public discussion – were sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society with a mission of advancing science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people.

“We want to encourage more scientists to reach beyond their normal audiences,” said Stanford Earth’s Director of Outreach Education Jennifer Saltzman, who helped bring the AAAS events to Stanford. “Whatever your belief systems, I want everyone to have the opportunity to learn – I don’t want it to be a border.”

The two events were part of the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER), which facilitates communication between scientific and religious communities. The morning workshop, which was open to students, faculty and postdoctoral researchers at Stanford, included discussions and tools for having inclusive dialogues. About 30 participants heard lectures from DoSER facilitators, workshopped their science talks with their peers, and discussed how to approach challenging questions, such as “What if climate change is part of God’s plan?”

“It just hit me what a rarified atmosphere we live in as scientists,” shared one workshop participant. “It’s just not the world around us.”

Alexandra Bausch, a postdoctoral researcher in Earth system science with professor Anne Dekas, echoed the importance of stepping outside academia. As her next step following the workshop, she committed to updating her blog about finding beauty in everyday science.

We scientists feel so sure of ourselves because we have data to back it up…it’s very hard for us to listen.

Workshop facilitator Rob O’Malley, a DoSER senior program associate and primate behavioral ecologist, noted the importance of speaking with empathy, respect, cultural awareness and humility. He encouraged participants to find common ground and reminded them that debates don’t often change minds.

Attendees at the evening public lecture in Encina Hall heard ideas about how religion and spirituality can be agents for scientific learning. Nalini Nadkarni, a professor of biology at the University of Utah, and Willis Jenkins, a professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia, discussed their outreach in a conversation moderated by Stephan Graham, the Chester Naramore Dean of Stanford Earth and a professor of geological sciences.

Willis Jenkins

“Place science within the context of what might be considered holy or important to religious communities,” advised Nadkarni, referencing how different religions celebrate trees and other aspects of the natural world through rituals.

Jenkins discussed how creative experiences with science – such as meditating on nature sounds and creating music based on natural phenomena – can foster connection on a deep level.

“Integrating this spiritual openness is not rivalrous to scientific endeavor – in fact, it might even add to it,” he said.


Nadlini Nadkarni

Through illustrative stories about their work in academia and with local communities, they opened an honest exchange of ideas.

“We scientists feel so sure of ourselves because we have data to back it up…it’s very hard for us to listen,” Nadkarni said.

She emphasized the importance of engaging in conversations whenever possible, such as asking if the person next to you on a flight wants to hear about your research. It’s important to approach the topics with which people are already engaged, she said. For example, what kind of wood is used in baseball bats – and are those species endangered?

“The critical issues that we’re facing today require every tool,” Nadkarni said. “I’m willing to keep my palms open.”

Danielle T. Tucker
SCHOOL OF EARTH, ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
dttucker@stanford.edu, 650-497-9541
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Science and Spirituality: two sides of a coin

Physical and spiritual scientists both aim to find the hidden laws of nature and use their discoveries to better the lives of others

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Published: 09th February 2020 

Hidden within human beings is a desire to prove the existence of a force that brought us into creation.Hidden within human beings is a desire to prove the existence of a force that brought us into creation.

By Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj

Most people think that science and spirituality are totally opposite fields of studies, but I can speak from my experience in both areas that they are two sides of the same coin. To me, the aim of science is to uncover the deepest spiritual truths, and the aim of spirituality is the search for the cause behind scientific fact. Physical scientists who have chosen science as their field are not much different from spiritual scientists who spend time engaged in the spiritual search.

They are both seeking the answers to the same question, but in different ways. They are both here to find the hidden laws of nature, the higher power that created everything, and use their discoveries to better the lives of others.

The physical scientists are trying to prove God to themselves through the outer eyes and ears, while the spiritual scientists are trying to prove God to themselves through their inner eyes and ears. While physical scientists gaze at the stars through powerful telescopes and listen to radio waves from distant stars through instrumentation, spiritual scientists gaze at the inner stars and listen to the inner music of the spheres through meditation. They both sit in silence, watching and waiting.

The Search for Answers

If we look at science today, we find that one of the goals scientists have is to discover how creation came into being, and how human beings came into being. By picking up signals from light-years away, we can get a glimpse of activity from the distant past whose light is only just reaching us now, billions of years later. Scientists are vying to see who can be the first to discover what happened at the moment of creation.

Why?

Hidden within human beings is a desire to prove the existence of a force that brought us into creation. Few are satisfied with the theory that creation was a mere accident, combustion of cosmic dust. Secretly, in every heart lies the desire to have proof that there is God and we are soul, a part of God.

Science exists to uncover these deepest spiritual truths. On the other hand, those engaged in spirituality are trying to find the hidden cause behind what is scientific fact. They are interested in the scientific laws of nature, but wish to go behind the laws to find the divine law that brought everything into being. While scientists search through outer instrumentation, spiritual scientists search through the technique of meditation, using the instrumentation of their attention.

The Scientific Method to Find God

In the scientific method, we test a hypothesis and carefully make observations. This scientific approach can help prove the validity of spiritual experiences. Meditation helps us come in touch with a level of intuition and revelation that gives us the inspiration to uncover scientific truths. As most scientists report, their discoveries came as inspiration. What is inspiration but tapping into the spiritual laws? Some of the greatest scientists, when questioned about their discoveries, point to spiritual inspiration or a divine power as the force behind their findings. Albert Einstein, who revealed the theory of relativity and made this nuclear age possible, once said, “I assert that the cosmic religious experience is the strongest and the noblest driving force behind scientific research.”

How Science and Spirituality Work Together

Science and spirituality make a great partnership. If those engaged in science spend some time in the silence of their own selves, inspiration will come and lead them to the answers for which they seek. Similarly, if those interested in spirituality apply the scientific law of testing hypotheses in the laboratory of their own body and soul, they will find the results.

Meditation to Reduce Stress

If we look at modern medicine, we find a whole new approach to healing. In the past we thought healing occurred by the administration of certain drugs. Those in a new field of medicine talk about the mind-body connection. They speak of healing the body by healing the mind and using the power of the soul. In some of the greatest medical institutions in the world, doctors are advocating meditation as a way to reduce stress and eliminate stress-related illnesses. Studies reveal that people who spend time in meditation recover sooner from surgery than those who do not. We are living in a wondrous age in which the lines between science and spirituality are being blurred.

Testing the Power of Meditation

As scientists, we can test the power of meditation for ourselves and see where it leads us. To meditate we only need to sit in silence. We can sit in any pose most convenient, close our eyes, and look into the middle of darkness lying in front of us. We need to still our mind from thoughts that can distract us and take our attention away from the inner gaze.

Just as we stay focused in looking through a microscope or telescope, we need to stay focused in looking into a still point lying in front of us. Just as scientists see outer stars, we may be able to catch glimpses of inner lights of any colour, inner stars, moons, and suns.

Scientific pursuits can lead both to the discovery of ways to help make the world a better place as well as to the answers to the questions burning within us to uncover the greatest truths of all time—God, our soul, and the purpose of our life here on earth. The writer is a spiritual leader with a scientific approach to spirituality

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