智慧人生篇章 第1期:想象与表象(1)
Last week, I was in Bruges. We were standing in front of yet another unbelievably stunning painting by the Flemish artist Hans Memling, in a 12th century hospital built specifically for the poor, when my daughter said: Oh no. Another picture of Jesus
智慧人生篇章 第2期:想象与表象(2)
So, as we continued walking through the city, I played a game, trying to separate what I thought was inspired by a true faith in God, and what was not. It quickly became difficult: for every almshouse there was a wealthy patron who'd paid for it; the
智慧人生篇章 第3期:求同存异
There is a kind of tribalism in us all which can make us feel uneasy, even threatened at times by difference. But our prejudices often tell us more about ourselves than we would like to admit. When the Quran says we have made you into nations and tri
智慧人生篇章 第4期:尊重
William Shakespeare wrote of the seven ages of man, starting with the puking infant and the whining school boy, through the lover, the soldier, the authority of the middle aged justice, then the slippered pantaloon, ending with the dependency of old
智慧人生篇章 第5期:隐私权与信息透明
The argument on how to get the balance right between the right to privacy in private life and the importance of having a free press working in the public interest to expose truth is still continuing. When I look for guidance in the New Testament, I c
智慧人生篇章 第6期:公共场合下的宗教习惯
Though it may be a small incident, it does raise the issue of personal responsibility and respect towards others, what should and shouldn't be said in public. But it seems to me that it is also another example of religious sentiment being singled out
智慧人生篇章 第7期:同情心
To be compassionate is, if we take the word to bits, to suffer with another, to feel their suffering almost as if it is our own. So someone can work hard to relieve suffering, and be highly skilled in doing so, without thereby exhibiting compassion -
智慧人生篇章 第8期:春回大地
In the front gardens, even in the rain, I notice the first signs of spring and the greyness of winter giving way to small yellow white and purple flowers. Spring is rising in all the animals which include us humans. So we smile good mornings to our n
智慧人生篇章 第9期:奴隶制的逆袭
Monsters, unfortunately, sometimes refuse to stay dead. Diseases once eradicated can creep back and strike at the most vulnerable in countries least equipped to deal with them. And slavery itself blights many lives today. It's prohibited, of course,
智慧人生篇章 第10期:社保困局
But social security carries a risk: the risk that some will abuse the system, taking without giving. It's a risk we seem increasingly unwilling to accept. Attitudes are changing. Yet coming down hard on the unemployed also carries a risk. The risk th
智慧人生篇章 第11期:同性恋婚姻之争(1)
The debate on gay marriage is making me uncomfortable. Columnists tell me breezily that I should welcome it because of equality. Catholic and Anglican Bishops say I should shun it because it undermines one of the fundamental building blocks of societ
智慧人生篇章 第12期:同性恋婚姻之争(2)
And of course that's just where the problems lie. Though people on both sides appeal to what is natural, nature unhelpfully supports both sides liking both consistency and variety in gender and sexuality. So most people are male or female, but there
智慧人生篇章 第13期:施受之间
Few of us want to appear dependent: witness the rugged determination of many older people to resist support to which they're entitled; and the intense frustration of some who've spent a lifetime caring for others who now find it painfully difficult t
智慧人生篇章 第14期:财富公平
I'm hesitant here to quote anyone from the Bible because recently when I mentioned a saying of Jesus someone objected that he had never run anything in his life. The same's true of St Paul. But writing to the well-off in the city of Corinth about hel
智慧人生篇章 第15期:教会对时代变化的制肘
As things are, I see two dangers and they are linked. The first is that if the Church is quick to assert and slow to listen, it can give the impression to its own members that moral insight is never to be had outside Christianity and that can be hear
