new church life: jan uary/february 2016
himself objected to that term (which was occasionally used even during his
lifetime), saying that the religion of the New Church is Christianity, purified,
clarified and renewed by the Lord by means of the new revelation Swedenborg
was called upon to publish – which was the product of the Author’s wisdom,
not that of the publisher.
(WEO)
humanism
“Humanism” (as that word is generally used) is another example of a oneword oxymoron. It exalts human goodness while at the same time denying its
Divinely Human source. It exalts human reason while at the same time denying
the Divine Wisdom that makes human rea son possible. Human rationality
emerges at the nexus of spiritual and natural knowledge, and consists in
relating those two levels of reality (computing their “ratio”). To ignore or deny
the spiritual half of the equation derails the train of reason before it ever leaves
the station.
(WEO)
from here to eternity
The books of Bill Bryson – such as A Walk in the Woods, One Summer, Notes
from a Small Island, The Lost Continent and A Short History of Nearly Everything
– have been delighting readers for years. He mixes keen observations with
endearing wit, and educates along the way with relevant bits of biology, history,
philosophy and science.
In his charming paean to Australia – In a Sunburned Country – he offers a
wonderful perspective on creation and eternity.
On the western edge of Australia – in Shark Bay, some 800 miles north
of Perth – he went in search of stromatolites, hardly a must-see in tourist
brochures. Indeed, stromatolites have been found in only three places on earth
and were not even discovered in this treasure of the dawn of creation until
1954.
“Nowhere in any direction,” he writes, “was there a sign of human intrusion
except directly ahead where a nifty wooden walkway zigzagged for 150 feet or
so out into the bay over some low, dark, primeval-looking masses that didn’t
quite break the water’s calm surface. I had found my living stromatolites.”
He describes stromatolites as “primitive, slightly undulant platforms –
rather like very old, poorly laid asphalt.” So what’s the attraction?
Well, it seems they release tiny bubbles of oxygen through primitive
algae-like microorganisms called cyanobacteria, which live on the surface of
rocks – about 3 billion of them per square yard. They take in bits of carbon
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