Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

The Prospect Of Human Spiritual Unity Through The Cosmic Story, Philip Novak

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme have noted that, “we seem to be moving beyond any religious expression so far known to the human into a meta-religious age that seems to be a new comprehensive context for all religions.” That “new comprehensive context” is of course now known as Big History -- a.k.a. the Evolutionary Epic, Universe Story, or New Cosmic Story—the astonishing contemporary synthesis of modern sciences that tells a coherent story of the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago to the present.

Yet with the notable exception of the writings of Berry and …

Universal Theology And The Idea Of Cosmic Order, Philip Novak

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

"The most urgent task of theology today, some noted thinkers argue ,¹ is to construct a universal theology of religion. '[S]uch a theology' writes A K Min, 'seeks to translate the central insights of one's own faith and those of others into an 'ecumenical Esperanto,'i.e., universally intelligible concepts... images and symbols based on common human experience... (the latter being) not only the source of universal theology but also its critical norm.'² It is in light of this task that the following reflection on the notion of cosmic order is undertaken." ~ from the article

From The Religions Of Man To The World's Religions: A Conversation With Huston Smith, Philip Novak, Bridgett Novak

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

"Huston Smith's The Religions of Man has for a generation introduced more people to the world's spiritual heritage than any other work. Over one and a half million copies have been printed since 1958. The author of many other articles and books (Forgotten Truth, Beyond the Postmodern Mind) and an advocate of the Perennial Philosophy, Professor Smith has helped to shape the spiritual currents of our times. We interviewed him shortly after he had completed the first revised edition of The Religions of Man, due out in September from HarperCollins under the new title, The World's …

Attention, Philip Novak

Faculty Authored Books and Book Contributions

"The subject of attention has until recently been largely confined to the domain of experimental psychology. Researchers have sought to measure and explain such things as the selective capacity of attention, its range and span, the number of objects that it can appreciate simultaneously, and the muscle contractions associated with attentional efforts. Such work has been carried on amid considerable disagreement over basic definitions of the phenomenon of attention itself." ~ from the article