Love is God?

Last updated on: May 16, 2013 at 11:49 pm By Matthew Tan

Campion College yesterday hosted its monthly Campion Cafe Conversations, which asked the question “Is Romantic Love the New Religion?” The conversation featured Christopher Hartney from the Department of Studies in Religion in the University of Sydney, and the Divine Wedgie’s blogger at large, Matthew Tan. Hartney spoke of an insidious cult of the romantic, which was driving romantic love itself into greater degrees of blandness. Meanwhile, Tan cautioned the audience against being too hasty with awarding romantic love with the... Read more

Body and Will in Postmodernity

Last updated on: May 9, 2013 at 11:41 pm By Matthew Tan

In medieval philosophy, “realism” is the idea that external realities defy the manipulations of our mind. In light of this limit, the will of the individual is often enjoined to harmonise itself with these external realities. The body is one such reality whose limits ought to be respected by the will, even if at the same time there was an unavoidably social dimension to that body that gave it a profound symbolic meaning. Something changed in the postmodern period, however,... Read more

A Digital Body of Christ?

Last updated on: May 3, 2013 at 5:02 am By Matthew Tan

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Communications Office this week published its contribution to mark the 47th World Day of Communications, an ebook entitled Word Made Flesh and “Shared” Among Us. The volume consists of 30 short essays by a number of practitioners within the Catholic Church, including bishops, journalists, academics, campus ministers, radio station managers and health workers. The common tie between these contributors is their immersion as part of their work in the world of New Media, whether it... Read more

Upcoming Event: Religious Vilification & Augustine’s Politics of Psalmody (29th May)

Last updated on: April 26, 2013 at 1:22 am By Matthew Tan

Campion College‘s political theology project, the Seminars in Political and Religious Life series, resume with its first semester installment for 2013. This first seminar for the year will be held at Campion College on 29th May at 5pm. It will feature Dr. Benjamin Myers of the United Theological College (readers might be familiar with his Faith & Theology blog) and Dr. Steve Chavura, who has lectured in sociology and political philosophy in universities across Sydney. Chavura will speak on how... Read more

Christianity, Eastertide and Liminality

Last updated on: October 5, 2017 at 6:52 am By Matthew Tan

The word “liminal” comes from the Latin word for “threshold”. Liminality denotes a time of seeming ambiguity during a period of transition from one situation to another. The word has gained a degree of importance in a number of disciplines. In anthropology, for instance, the French folklorist Arnold van Gennep used the term to speak of a time slice during particular cultural rituals when one’s identity, communal belonging or direction and purpose in life become somewhat suspended, even though the... Read more

Book Launch: On the Purpose of a University Education

Last updated on: April 12, 2013 at 8:18 am By Matthew Tan

Yesterday in Sydney, the Australian author, journalist and Member of Parliament Peter Coleman launched Campion College’s first major publishing effort (jointly with Australian Scholarly Publishing), On the Purpose of a University Education. The book comprises essays from a symposium held at Campion College, and include the contributions of Stephen McInerney, Constant Mews, Greg Melleuish, Arran Gare, Geoff Sherington and Hannah Forsyth, and is edited by Luciano Boschiero. The synopsis of the book reads: Amid unprecedented growth, casualised lecturers, and... Read more

“God of War”, the Democratisation of Rage & the Power of Easter

Last updated on: April 4, 2013 at 11:23 pm By Matthew Tan

The gaming world recently welcomed the latest instalment of the God of War franchise with Ascension on Playstation 3, which functions as a prequel to the popular game series. The franchise has received criticism on a number of fronts. Apart from critiques of its repetitive gameplay and gratuitous violence, the game has also been slammed for the seeming one-dimensionality of the protagonist, Kratos. Such criticisms say that Kratos is portrayed simultaneously as an angry god with a complex and tragic... Read more

Good Friday & the Prevailing Order (Repost)

Last updated on: March 28, 2013 at 5:40 am By Matthew Tan

A line in the Evening Liturgy of the Hours for Tuesday of Holy Week reminds us of an often overlooked aspect of the effect of what is taking place on Good Friday: He has chosen things low and contemptible, mere nothings, to overthrow the existing order (1 Cor 1:28) Much has been said of the redemption of Christ from sin as if the order that was overthrown was only confined to some bodiless, spiritual realm. But if God really became... Read more

Christianity & Paradox

Last updated on: March 21, 2013 at 10:10 pm By Matthew Tan

Christians can be understandably enthusiastic about providing an apologetic for their faith when either questions are asked or challenges are posed to its central tenets. Sometimes, the same apologetic impulse could drive theological discussions within the Church. In either case, however, what is becoming increasingly apparent in the drive to protect the truths of Christianity is to equate truth with internal consistency. Assure internal logical consistency, many think, and one assures truth as well. What many may miss, however, is... Read more

Francis…What’s to a Name?

Last updated on: March 14, 2013 at 11:56 pm By Matthew Tan

The Roman Catholic Church has elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires to be its 266th Vicar of Christ. At the announcement of his election, social networking sites around the world flared to life. There are expressions of immense joy that the Church has elected for the first time in centuries a Pope from the Global South. At the same time however, others have expressed blinding-hot rage that this particular citizen of the Global South is one that will not... Read more