Dr Mandy Robbins is Senior Research Fellow within the Religions and Education Research Unit, University of Warwick and a Honorary Research Fellow at the St Mary's Centre. Mandy gained her first degree at the University of Wales, Lampeter in 1992 in Theology and Archaeology, her MPhil in Theology at Trinity College, Carmarthen in 1996, and her PhD in Theology at the University of Wales, Bangor i...

Sacred groves are one of the most valuable, but primitive practices of nature conservation. These are the relict climax communities preserved by the local people for certain beliefs. Such forests are rich in biological diversity and harbor many endangered plant species including rare herbs and medicinal plants. Case studies on sacred groves show that these small forest patches play an important...

Following the Second Vatican Council, the predominant trend in Catholic moral theology has been decidedly antagonistic toward the tradition that dominated moral theology before the Council, namely the use and formulation of ecclesiastically-approved “manuals” or “handbooks” of moral theology, the contents of which chiefly involved general precepts of morally good and bad behavior as well as the...

The article examines the role of monasticism in modern world according to teachings Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew І. Particular attention is paid current social problems today, their relationship with monastic tradition. states that mission becomes not only spiritual, but also social, moral and ecological. Some aspects Orthodox Church's doctrine concerning gender issues possibilities female ...

Especially among the Abrahamic religions, quite regularly spirituality implies a relationship with God or else some other supposed “sacred” entities forces. This starting point precludes fully psychological explanation of since appeal to exceeds methodology social human sciences: Psychology is not theology. In contrast, traditional Christian axion holds that "grace builds on nature." Accordingl...

Among the most important Jewish encounters with other cultures and civilizations, the encounter with Islamic culture was, in our view, the most important. This encounter was in some aspects like their encounter with the ancient civilization, but the impacts were more valuable and constructive. Under Islamic rule, the Jews not only had a sense of security but also enjoyed a relatively satisfacto...

I NVITED TO REFLECT ON THE RELATIONSHIP between theology and ecology, and to explore why that relationship might seem to have 'lost its appeal', I decided to look at the Christian theological tradition and the demands that a fruitful and appropriate relationship with ecology might make on it. Do theology's anthropological postulates encourage the kind of theological freedom needed to respond to...

both positive and negative; in the medieval world, however, it held a precise meaning, often also referred to as “contemplation” or “the contemplative life.” The mysticism of this period had some merits, but also some serious flaws in both theology and practice. In many respects, the mysticism of the medieval world derived from early Latin mysticism, which in turn evolved from an amalgamation o...

this paper has three parts. in the first part, we bring to the fore an ancient vedic concept of mesocosm and discuss its religious and cosmic significance within indian religion. this part also brings an initial approach towards philosophy of spirituality by focusing on the role of breath within the very concept of mesocosm. in the second part, based on our preliminary analysis, we present an o...

Cows are still considered holy to the people of the Hindu faith across the Indian subcontinent. In this paper, the authors discuss details of the religious, historical, economic, cultural and sociological significance of the sacred cow in Hinduism. The authors also suggest options to use the sacred cow for the enhancement of eco-friendly living in India in the near future.