The Divine Universe

Almost the earliest indicators of the presence of Homo sapiens are religious artefacts; cave paintings, clay or stone images, standing stones or burial sites. What makes us human, even more certainly than toolmaking, is a sense of the numinous, a sense that has impelled us to objectify and represent the invisible entities or energies that [...]

You may not believe in fairies, but you may be interested to know that angels are an important element in Christian tradition. They are also part of our day-to-day speech. The most famous of all the angels is probably Gabriel, the angel of the Christmas story, or rather the prologue to it. Set in the [...]

It is time to explain the title of this collection of articles. Why do I, a Christian, think of the universe as divine? Isn’t that pantheism? Christianity is not alone in believing that matter has a spiritual origin. The Jews believe it has its origin in God (Eloim). Many ancient traditions of indigenous peoples have [...]

The Jewish patriarch, Jacob, had a dream in which he saw a ladder from earth to heaven. Jesus enigmatically identified the ladder as “the son of man”. Those are strange stories, but they seem to be related to what follows. I don’t think of heaven as up there, nor do I see it as a [...]

People have been making images of God ever since mystics in prehistoric times took clay or rocks in their hands or used sticks and their fingers to paint on the walls of caves. Gods are associated with power and control so, a few thousand years ago, when people had formed communities and nations with kings [...]

Saint Francis is one of the most popular saints in the Western world, and possibly one of the least understood. In Australia, he comes second only to Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas). But popular devotion is shallow. Francis’ unofficial adoption as the patron saint of the domestic pet industry and birdbath manufacturers gives only a faint [...]