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The erosion of metaphysics that began in Modernity has led to the discredit of the whole project of natural theology as a means to reach God, establish the classical divine attributes, and account for divine action. After the deconstruction of classical metaphysics propelled by thinkers associated with the Protestant tradition and by philosophers affiliated with the Nietzschean critique, it may appear that only an apophatic approach to God would then be possible. However, the attempt to establish a consensual foundation for the theological discourse has not lost its relevance. In this sense, the attempts to revitalize natural theology are most welcome. It would be naive, however, to think that approaches to natural theology based on classical metaphysics will easily gather consensus. This will not happen. The departing point for a renewed and credible approach to natural theology cannot be the theoretical universal reason associated with Modernity, which is no longer acknowledged as a common ground. As such, a viable approach to natural theology has to find a new consensual starting point. The goal of this article is to argue that the emergence of a new ecological urgency and sensibility, which nowadays gather a high degree of consensus, offers an opportunity for the renewal of natural theology. It is our aim: (i) to show the extent to which God grounds the intrinsic value of nature, which, as such, deserves respect, and (ii) to suggest that the reverence for nature may naturally lead contemporary human beings to God.

Global environmental change is a serious threat to our existence and requires immediate actions from every dimension of our efforts. The cultural pathway has much potential to address environmental problems because it is expected to promote environment-friendly behavior in people. However, its implementation on the ground requires a wise coordination of the cultural and scientific ways of thinking. Hinduism has great potential to embrace environment-friendly behavior due to its receptivity to change and tendency of adopting and theologizing new developments. However, due to the presence of a wide gap between theoretical philosophy and actual practices, the potential of environmental sensibility, inherent in Hindu spirituality, could not be harnessed. Here, I reinterpret the key concepts of Hinduism in the light of modern scientific wisdom for their synchronization with current challenges. I identify some solutions for promoting environment-friendly practices in Hinduism through the coordination of science and culture.

The basis of Martin Luther&rsquo, s decision to marry Katharina von Bora on 13 June 1525, stemmed from his public, theological position that unless one were a particular exception, all men and women should marry. However, Luther&rsquo, s decision to marry when he did was controversial because the Peasants&rsquo, Revolt raged, and it was surprising because up until November of 1524 Luther had stated that he was in his mind averse to marriage (for himself). Yet in May of 1525 Luther stated that he intended to take &ldquo, his Katie&rdquo, to wife, and in June, he did so. Why did Luther change his mind, and marry precisely when he did? I argue that the timing of his decision was influenced by Luther&rsquo, s apocalyptic sensibility that he was living in the last days, the immediate political context of the Peasants&rsquo, Revolt, and the death of Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony, Luther&rsquo, s patron and protector. The reason for his choice of Katharina von Bora as his wife included the need to secure for her financial support, but no less, her exercise of her own agency in choosing him as a husband. Can we say that Luther also personally warmed to the idea of marriage, drawn to the companionship of bed and table that it provided? There is certainly support for answering &ldquo, yes.&rdquo, Luther&rsquo, s decision to marry was a theological, confessional, and political act, and yet these do not preclude the very human, personal, and relational factors in his decision.

The following essay is presented as part of a long-term project concerned with the theory and practice of modern Jewish thinkers as interpreters of the Bible. The recent Bible commentaries of Eliezer Schweid, who is one of the foremost Jewish scholars and theologians active in Israel today, are analyzed in comparison with parallel interpretations of Martin Buber, with special reference to the first chapters of Genesis. Their respective analyses of Biblical narrative reveal notable similarities in their treatment of the literary &ldquo, body&rdquo, of the text as the key to its theological significance. Nonetheless, Buber articulates religious experience largely &ldquo, from the human side,&rdquo, striving to mediate Biblical consciousness to the contemporary humanistic mindset, while Schweid positions himself more as the clarion of the &ldquo, prophetic writers&rdquo, for whom the fear of God, no less than the love of God, must inform an authentic religious sensibility. Schweid&rsquo, s more theocentric perspective has great import for contemporary issues such as the universal covetousness engendered by the violation of our ecological covenant with the Earth.

In Hong Kong, the efficacy of ritualized protest has become an issue of hot debate in recent years. Whereas ritualized protest is a long-term political practice in the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement that has considerable influence, skepticism about it has grown remarkably within the radical faction of the movement. Against this background, this paper aims to offer a theoretical reflection on the role of ritualized protest in the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement. It will take an auto-ethnographic approach to reflect on the material culture of Hong Kong public protests and engage in the recent controversy over ritualized protest. This study shows that although ritualized protest can hardly achieve actual political changes in the short run, ritual sensibility is essential to the promulgation and the passing-on of social and political values. This applies not only to ritualized protests that are largely peaceful, rational, and non-violent but also to militant protests that are open to the use of violence. This emphasis on the underlying importance of ritual sensibility invites both the liberal democratic and the radical factions to introspect whether their own political praxes have portents of formalization and ossification.

This article examines the relationship between the practice and theory of medicine and Buddhism in premodern Tibet. It considers a polemical text composed by the 16th&ndash, 17th-century Tibetan physician and tantric Buddhist expert Sokdokpa Lodr&ouml, Gyeltsen, intending to prove the Buddhist canonical status of the Four Medical Tantras, the foundational text of the Tibetan medical tradition. While presenting and analyzing Sokdokpa&rsquo, s polemical writing in the context of the broader debate over the Buddhist pedigree of the Four Tantras that took place during his time, this discussion situates Sokdokpa&rsquo, s reflections on the topic in terms of his broader career as both a practicing physician and a tantric Buddhist ritual and contemplative specialist. It suggests that by virtue of Sokdokpa&rsquo, s tightly interwoven activities in the spheres of medicine and Buddhism, his contribution to this debate gives voice to a sensibility in which empiricist, historicist, and Buddhist ritual and contemplative inflections intermingle in ways that resist easy disentanglement and classification. In this it argues that Sokdokpa&rsquo, s reflections form an important counterpoint to the perspectives considered thus far in the scholarly study of this debate. It also questions if Sokdokpa&rsquo, s style of argumentation might call for a recalibration of how scholars currently construe the roles of tantric Buddhist practice in the appeal by premodern Tibetan physicians to critical and probative criteria.

Although Peter Lake and Debora Shuger have argued that Measure for Measure is hostile to Calvinist theology, I argue that the play&rsquo, s world presents a Reformed theo-political sensibility, not in order to criticize Calvinism, but to reveal limitations in dominant political theories. Reformed theology informs the world of the play, especially with regards to the corruption of the human will through original sin. Politically, the sinfulness of the human will raises concerns about governments&mdash, despite Biblical commands to obey leaders, how can they be trusted if subject to the same corruption of will as citizens? Close analysis of key passages reveals that while individual characters in Measure suggest solutions that account in part for the corruption of the will, none of their political theories manage to contain the radical effects of sin in Angelo&rsquo, s will. Despite this failure, restorative justice occurs in Act 5, indicating forces outside of human authority and will account for the comedic ending. This gestures towards the dependence of governments in a post-Reformation world on providential protection and reveals why the Reformed belief in the limitations of the human will point towards the collapse of the theory of the King&rsquo, s two bodies.