"What does the expression 'life of the mind' mean? Is this referring to the entirety of physical existence, or is this perhaps contrasted with the 'heart' or the 'flesh'?"
Not at all. I took him to be referring to intellectual and, in particular, scientific pursuits. He is saying that there is no contradiction between (good) religion and (good) science. To give one of a zillion examples, some in the Judeo/Christian/Muslim tradition (yes, I know you hate that phrase) have alleged that research into evolution is impossible to a person of faith because it involves doubting the opening chapters of Genesis; however, Jesuits like Pierre Teilhard de Chardin have been at the forefront of that research.
"Regarding human culture/society being good, how does this work?"
"G-d saw everything that G-d had made, and indeed, it was very good." Seems pretty straightforward. I don't think Father Maher is denying the existence of evil or injustice here, and I think he made that explicit in other parts of his talk.
"There is still quite a lot to be done before you'll see Jews in Education City."
Hey, I've already seen a Jew in Education City -- Rabbi Michael Melchior, a member of the Knesset. (Transcript of the event here -- it's a pdf.)
"The two Chief Rabbis of Israel were invited to the recent convention of world religious leaders in the Gulf (I can't recall which country it was in)."
Yeah, that was here in Qatar. I think they may have been able to give an address, but not to sit on the panels -- something like that. The invitation was not pro forma; there had been several previous Christian-Muslim dialogues, and at the last one the emir issued a directive to start inviting Jewish representatives. Given then number of Muslim scholars who backed out as a result, I think the invitation, such as it was, was the greatest endeavour feasible.
"That's strange what the Koran says regarding the 'children of G-d'. First of all, there is no known source that refers specifically to Ezra in this way."
I found that odd, too. Muslims speculate that some of the Jewish Arabs in the Hijaz or possibly Yemen may have held this clearly non-mainstream belief.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Interesting
Date: 2005-09-25 03:52 pm (UTC)Not at all. I took him to be referring to intellectual and, in particular, scientific pursuits. He is saying that there is no contradiction between (good) religion and (good) science. To give one of a zillion examples, some in the Judeo/Christian/Muslim tradition (yes, I know you hate that phrase) have alleged that research into evolution is impossible to a person of faith because it involves doubting the opening chapters of Genesis; however, Jesuits like Pierre Teilhard de Chardin have been at the forefront of that research.
"Regarding human culture/society being good, how does this work?"
"G-d saw everything that G-d had made, and indeed, it was very good." Seems pretty straightforward. I don't think Father Maher is denying the existence of evil or injustice here, and I think he made that explicit in other parts of his talk.
"There is still quite a lot to be done before you'll see Jews in Education City."
Hey, I've already seen a Jew in Education City -- Rabbi Michael Melchior, a member of the Knesset. (Transcript of the event here -- it's a pdf.)
"The two Chief Rabbis of Israel were invited to the recent convention of world religious leaders in the Gulf (I can't recall which country it was in)."
Yeah, that was here in Qatar. I think they may have been able to give an address, but not to sit on the panels -- something like that. The invitation was not pro forma; there had been several previous Christian-Muslim dialogues, and at the last one the emir issued a directive to start inviting Jewish representatives. Given then number of Muslim scholars who backed out as a result, I think the invitation, such as it was, was the greatest endeavour feasible.
"That's strange what the Koran says regarding the 'children of G-d'. First of all, there is no known source that refers specifically to Ezra in this way."
I found that odd, too. Muslims speculate that some of the Jewish Arabs in the Hijaz or possibly Yemen may have held this clearly non-mainstream belief.