Martin Spence argues that Renaissance humanism meant scholarship and translation, not atheism, and was practised within faith; humanists shaped the Reformation, historical thinking and the modern humanities.
Martin Spence reports on a Salford conference on Bonhoeffer’s question ‘Who is Christ for us today?’, and argues that his ‘religionless Christianity’ offers a this-worldly transcendence rather than secularism.
Martin Spence reviews John Gray’s Seven Types of Atheism, agreeing with its attack on the new atheists but finding its broad definition of atheism and claim that secularism is disguised monotheism unhelpful.
Martin Spence explains how he separated humanism from atheism, rejecting naturalism and rediscovering Christianity’s human-and-divine Christ as a humanist vision, which is why he joined in the Lord’s Prayer.
Martin Spence argues that symbols predate language, that language is intrinsically uncertain and requires interpretation, and that language is therefore the precondition for meaning and for faith.
Review of Ken Loach’s film I, Daniel Blake, praised for showing the human cost of austerity and the benefits system through small acts of care and solidarity.
Review of Katherine Round’s documentary The Divide, inspired by The Spirit Level, which follows people in the UK and USA to show how inequality damages those at every level.
Martin Spence argues that reductionist atheism is the mirror image of fundamentalist theism, both rooted in realism, and urges a post-atheist humanism based on non-realism and the Renaissance humanist tradition.
