David Hart surveys Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian approaches to death and dying, asks for a non-realist response, and advertises a Winchester conference on dying well.
David Hart reviews Geoff Heath’s Believing in Nothing and Something, in which a former Methodist minister accepts a purposeless universe and builds a humanist outlook on values such as forgiveness and trust.
David Hart reflects on the forced withdrawal of gay bishop-designate Jeffrey John, recalling Oxford theology in the 1970s and arguing that the Church of England’s liberals must now reconsider their position.
David Hart argues that the orthodoxy and heresy concept depends on religious realism and should be rejected by Sea of Faith, using Servetus, Macquarrie and the cases of Network members charged with heresy.
David Hart reviews Gillian Evans’s A Brief History of Heresy, which traces recurring doctrinal choices and the machinery of condemnation from Constantinople to the Index, and argues modern tolerance makes heresy bans untenable.
David Hart reviews Martin Forward’s Inter-Religious Dialogue: A Short Introduction, which surveys interfaith dialogue, leans towards a non-realist outlook, and raises awkward questions on women and sexuality across religions.
David Hart reports on the Derby day conference assessing Don Cupitt’s theology, where Karen Armstrong, Brian Hebblethwaite, Daphne Hampson and Dan Cohn-Sherbok responded to his non-realism as supporters and critics.
Outline of the Theology strand for the 1995 Conference, which will explore the ground between non-realism and critical realism and ask whether doctrines such as redemption and resurrection can be remoulded.
