探花直播 of Cambridge - Faculty of Divinity

Changing month by the Moon

ps748 — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 17:12:34 +0000

How the Islamic calendar is linked to the lunar cycle

Katherine Parr did not persuade Henry VIII to found Trinity College Cambridge

ta385 — Tue, 17 May 2022 05:00:00 +0000

探花直播story that Trinity College Cambridge was only founded because Henry VIII鈥檚 last wife, Katherine Parr, pleaded with him to do so, has become part of the folklore of Cambridge 探花直播. It resurfaced again in Cambridge News this month, along with the claim that it was only the queen鈥檚 intervention that stopped Henry from closing down some or all of the Cambridge colleges.聽

But research by Richard Rex, Professor of Reformation History at Cambridge, now shows that this much loved and repeated tale is misleading. Rex鈥檚 study, published in 探花直播Journal of Ecclesiastical History, reveals that numerous powerful people at Court helped to defend the university from the potential threat posed by the king in his final few years, and that Henry had already decided to establish Trinity before the university lobbied Katherine Parr.

探花直播university鈥檚 fears centred on the Chantries Act of 1545, which empowered the king to take over, at will, any of the 鈥榗olleges, free chapels, chantries, hospitals鈥� or other religious foundations with which his kingdom abounded. In principle this power could certainly have swept up the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge to swell the royal coffers.

But as Professor Rex explains: 鈥淲hile the Chantries Act did indeed give Henry the power to suppress any college or church foundation he chose, it鈥檚 clear that the university鈥檚 friends at Court did all they could, from the start, to ensure that this new power would not be used against Cambridge or Oxford.鈥澛�

鈥淓ven before the universities knew what was going on, they were given different treatment from the rest of England and Wales as the new law was put into effect.鈥澛�

Cambridge did write to Katherine Parr, among others, to lobby against the potential threat to their interests. But her reply only confirms what other sources studied by Rex also make clear: that Henry had already taken the decision to found Christ Church in Oxford and Trinity in Cambridge.聽

Parr鈥檚 letter, dated 26 February 1546 and preserved in Corpus Christi College鈥檚 library in Cambridge, assures the university that the king:聽
鈥榖eing such a patron to good learning doth tender [i.e. favour] you so much that he will rather advance learning and erect new occasion thereof than to confound those your ancient and godly institutions鈥�.

Even though the processes for establishing the twin foundations were delayed so that the colleges only came into being a month or two before Henry鈥檚 death at the end of January 1547, key parts of the plan were already in place as early as summer 1545.聽

Rex said: 鈥淜atherine Parr was undoubtedly a patron of learning and in particular of the 鈥榥ew learning鈥� of the Protestant Reformation. But the idea that she had a crucial role in the foundation of Trinity is romantic fiction with only the slenderest basis in the historical record.鈥�

Rex鈥檚 study undermines other long-held assumptions based on chronological errors, including that Cambridge鈥檚 lobbying secured the favourable appointment of university insiders Matthew Parker, John Redman and William May as commissioners to survey its Colleges for the king.聽

In fact, their appointment preceded any known Cambridge lobbying by about a month and, Rex argues, this came about thanks to 鈥榯he unsolicited intervention of the university鈥檚 friends at court鈥�. Rex found supporting evidence for this among Matthew Parker鈥檚 papers in Corpus Christi鈥檚 library, which still bears Parker鈥檚 name because he left the College his magnificent private collection of books and manuscripts.

Rex, himself a student at Trinity in the 1980s, made these discoveries while working with Colin Armstrong (another Trinity alum) on a chapter for a forthcoming book about the college鈥檚 history.

探花直播popular narrative which emphasises Parr鈥檚 influence and that of Cambridge lobbyists originated in a book published in 1884 by J.B. Mullinger entitled 探花直播探花直播 of Cambridge from the royal injunctions of 1545 to the accession of Charles the First. Mullinger was a historian and librarian at St John's College Cambridge. But Rex concludes that he both misread and misdated the patchy original sources which describe these events.

He said: 鈥淲hen I started this work, I simply wanted to nail down the traditional story by checking the sources and footnotes. It had been retold so often by so many good historians that I had no reason to doubt it was true. But I found that the whole thing was a mess, the chronology didn鈥檛 make any sense. So I set about trying to put the record straight.鈥�

鈥� 探花直播fact that Cambridge and Oxford were, from the start, set apart from the rest of the country in the implementation of the Chantries Act is just one among several indications that Henry VIII already had something special in mind for them.聽

鈥淗enry鈥檚 plan to establish lasting memorials to himself in both universities had probably been in his mind since mid-1545 at the latest. 探花直播鈥楥ambridge version鈥� of events appears to have been an academic flight of fancy. Our lobbying efforts weren鈥檛 quite as influential as we once liked to imagine.鈥澛�

鈥淪trangely, a fashion has grown up of attributing too much of what Henry VIII did to the influence of those closest to him 鈥� Wolsey, Cromwell, Anne Boleyn, or Katherine Parr. Like anyone, Henry was liable to be influenced by those around him. But the big decisions 鈥� and the founding of Christ Church and Trinity were big decisions 鈥� were his.鈥�

Reference
R Rex, 鈥� 探花直播探花直播 of Cambridge and the Chantries Act of 1545鈥�, 探花直播Journal of Ecclesiastical History (2022); doi.org/10.1017/S0022046921001494

King Henry VIII had already made up his mind to聽found Trinity College Cambridge and Christ Church Oxford before Cambridge lobbied his queen, a re-examination of 16th-century sources suggests. Professor Richard Rex's study undermines a popular 'Cambridge version' of events, sheds new light on聽the Chantries Act聽and聽emphasises the king's ability to take big decisions.

Henry鈥檚 plan to establish lasting memorials to himself in both universities had probably been in his mind since mid-1545 at the latest

Richard Rex

探花直播Master and Fellows, Trinity College Cambridge

Henry VIII statue on the Great Gate of Trinity College Cambridge

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.聽 All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Fighting for the rights of football fans

zs332 — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 12:16:53 +0000

How a Cambridge researcher fought for the rights of football fans and won.

Cambridge launches new Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 15:11:51 +0000

探花直播Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe will bring together an international team of scientists and philosophers, led by 2019 Nobel Laureate Professor Didier Queloz.

Thanks to simultaneous revolutions in exoplanet discoveries, prebiotic chemistry and solar system exploration, scientists can now investigate whether the Earth and the processes that made life possible are unique in the Universe.

探花直播探花直播 has recently launched the Initiative for Planetary Science and Life in the Universe (IPLU) to enable cross-disciplinary research on planetology and life in the Universe.

Building on IPLU鈥檚 activities, the new Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe will support fundamental cross-disciplinary research over the next 10 years to tackle one of the great interdisciplinary challenges of our time: to understand how life emerged on Earth, whether the Universe is full of life, and ask what the nature of life is.

探花直播Centre will include researchers from Cambridge鈥檚 Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Earth Sciences, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Institute of Astronomy, Department of Zoology, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Faculty of Divinity, and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.

鈥� 探花直播Centre will act as a catalyst for the development of our vision to understanding life in the Universe through a long-term research programme that will be the driving force for international coordination of research and education,鈥� said Queloz, Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Cavendish Laboratory and Director of the Centre.

Research within the Centre will focus on four themes: identifying the chemical pathways to the origins of life; characterising the environments on Earth and other planets that could act as the cradle of prebiotic chemistry and life; discovering and characterising habitable exoplanets and signatures of geological and biological evolution; and refining our understanding of life through philosophical and mathematical concepts.

探花直播Centre will collaborate with researchers at the 探花直播 of Colorado Boulder (USA), 探花直播 College London, ETH Zurich (Switzerland), Harvard 探花直播 (USA) and the Centre of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey (USA).

鈥淯nderstanding the reactions that predisposed the first cells to form on Earth is the greatest unsolved mystery in science,鈥� said programme collaborator Matthew Powner from 探花直播 College London. 鈥淐ritical challenges of increasing complexity must be addressed in this field, but these challenges represent one of the most exciting frontiers in science.鈥�

Carol Cleland, Director of the Center for the Study of Origins and Professor of Philosophy at the 探花直播 of Colorado Boulder, also collaborator on the programme said: 鈥� 探花直播new Centre is unique in the breadth of its interdisciplinarity, bringing together scientists and philosophers to address central questions about the nature and extent of life in the universe.

鈥淐haracteristics that scientists currently take as fundamental to life reflect our experience with a single example of life, familiar Earth life. These characteristics may represent little more than chemical and physical contingencies unique to the conditions under which life arose on Earth. If this is the case, our concepts for theorising about life will be misleading. Philosophers of science are especially well trained to help scientists 'think outside the box' by identifying and exploring the conceptual foundations of contemporary scientific theorising about life with an emphasis on developing strategies for searching for truly novel forms of life on other worlds.鈥�

Didier Queloz is a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.聽

With a 拢10 million grant awarded by the Leverhulme Trust, the 探花直播 of Cambridge is to establish a new research centre dedicated to exploring the nature and extent of life in the Universe.

探花直播Centre will act as a catalyst for the development of our vision to understanding life in the Universe through a long-term research programme that will be the driving force for international coordination of research and education

Didier Queloz

ESO/M Kornmesser

Artists鈥檚 impression of the rocky super-Earth HD 85512 b

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Mind Over Chatter: What would a more just future look like?

ns480 — Thu, 27 May 2021 12:57:12 +0000

Season 2, episode 4

Our society is more unequal than ever, as the top 1% control over 44% of the world鈥檚 wealth while 689 million people are living on less than $1.90 per day, according to the World Bank.聽

In this episode of Mind Over Chatter, we asked our guests what the future of fairness, justice, and equality should look like, and how their research can help to bring about a fairer society.聽

We cover topics ranging from distributive justice, the virtues and vices of empathy, and the role AI will play in shaping equality in the years to come.聽

Subscribe to Mind Over Chatter

聽

Dr Alexa Hagerty, whose research looks at the global societal impacts of emerging technologies and Dr Natalie Jones, who focuses on global injustice and the rights of (indigenous) peoples, shared how injustice can be thought of as an existential risk to humanity.聽

Anthropologist, Professor Esra Ozyurek, who seeks to understand the tension between politics and religion in Turkey and in Europe, introduced us to the importance of understanding that different people have different needs, making equality insufficient to bring about justice.聽

Key points

[02.07]- what do we mean by fair when it comes to societies?

[06:45]- the difference between fairness, justice, and equality

13:13]- cognitive empathy and emotional empathy distinction

[13:50]- Time for recap 1: summary so far

聽

[20:21]- how to link global injustice and different voices to existential risk

[20:44]- participatory futures intro

[21:21]-global justice causing existential risk

聽

Mind Over Chatter: 探花直播Cambridge 探花直播 Podcast

Scriptures rarely a significant motivating factor behind violence, say researchers

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 15:06:14 +0000

When acts of violence are reported in London, New York, or the Middle East, people often wonder what role religion might have played. Especially if Muslims are involved, there can also be a tendency to point fingers at the Qur鈥檃n. These knee-jerk reactions are not very helpful, the authors of Scripture and Violence suggest, and can lead to increased polarization in society, as well as unwarranted animosity against Muslims and people of other faiths.

Bringing together scholars from the 探花直播 of Cambridge and other institutions around the world, the contributors to Scripture and Violence set out to clarify the relationship between violent-sounding passages from the Bible and the Qur鈥檃n and the actions of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the real world. They concluded that there is much less cause for alarm than many people think.

Contrary to popular belief, scriptures are rarely a significant motivating factor when acts of violence occur, the researchers found. One researcher interviewed potential and actual ISIS recruits, and discovered that the Qur鈥檃n had not played a significant role in motivating them to join. A desire to be involved in 鈥渂ad-ass-do-goodery鈥� was much more influential.

Another researcher analysed Muslim debates about suicide attacks, and found that while some Islamic scholars had cited verses from the Qur鈥檃n to argue that suicide attacks are permissible in certain limited contexts, other Islamic scholars had used the Qur鈥檃n to argue that Muslims are prohibited from carrying out such attacks at all. These scholars all treated the Qur鈥檃n as sacred, but they disagreed about what actions were permissible. Political arguments were also much more prominent in the debates than discussion of the Qur鈥檃n, which played only a marginal role.

探花直播authors of Scripture and Violence also argue that there is no need to be afraid of scary-looking scriptural passages.

鈥淪ome people think that the best strategy for preventing violence is to pretend certain scriptural passages don鈥檛 exist,鈥� explains co-editor and New Testament scholar Julia Snyder. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 counterproductive. Instead, find out how people within these religious traditions actually understand these scriptures.

鈥淲hen the Qur鈥檃n or the Bible talks about violence, religious people most often understand that as linked to specific historical contexts. Or they say that very specific conditions would have to be met for violent action to be taken. They don鈥檛 think these passages call for violence now 鈥� even people who view their scriptures as the Word of God.鈥�

Clearing up misunderstandings about these issues will help overcome existing divisions within society, the researchers hope, and enable people of all faiths and none to focus on tackling urgent economic and social issues together.

鈥淎s lockdowns end and societies open up again, and as we seek to rebuild our communities together, it鈥檚 important not to let unwarranted anxiety about people of other backgrounds or religious faiths get in the way,鈥� emphasizes co-editor Daniel H. Weiss from Cambridge鈥檚 Faculty of Divinity. 鈥淭his is a great time to let go of polarizing and inaccurate ideas about how religion and scripture actually work. In fact, within these religious traditions, active grappling with tough passages can generate creative new solutions for dealing with present-day concerns.鈥�

According to the researchers, addressing fears about scripture and violence can enable people to recognize other prominent aspects of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian scriptures 鈥� such as concern for the underprivileged and an emphasis on justice 鈥� and use scripture to reflect and debate together about what a good society would look like.聽

Scripture and Violence is available from 1 September 2020. Published by Routledge, the book includes contributions from international experts on Jewish, Christian, and Muslim texts and traditions, who discuss key issues in interpretation of the Bible and the Qur鈥檃n, and highlight the diverse ways in which Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities understand scriptural texts. A variety of contexts are visited, from British India to Nazi Germany, from the Jerusalem Pride Parade to American evangelicals and the US military, and from CNN to European university classrooms.聽

Many people misunderstand the relationship between religion, scripture and violence, a new book argues. Some people worry that scriptures such as the Qur鈥檃n and the Bible fan the flames of violence in the world today, while others insist that they are inherently peaceful. According to an international team of researchers, the reality may be more complicated than either set of people think.

Some people think that the best strategy for preventing violence is to pretend certain scriptural passages don鈥檛 exist. But that鈥檚 counterproductive. Instead, find out how people within these religious traditions actually understand these scriptures

Julia Snyder

slagheap

World Trade Centre 9/11

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Bridging the divide: philosophy meets science

sjr81 — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 15:03:08 +0000

探花直播Templeton World Charity Foundation Project, spearheaded by Professor聽Sarah Coakley, the Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, saw three postdoctoral researchers placed into science labs around the 探花直播 with the aim of addressing the ever-widening gap between those working in the fields of science and those working in fields of philosophy and theology.

For three years, Daniel De Haan, Natalja Deng and Peter Woodford worked side-by-side with colleagues from the Department of Experimental Psychology, the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) and the Department of Zoology respectively 鈥� taking part in cutting-edge research, and being mentored by world-leading thinkers in their subject fields.

It is hoped that the huge success of this project 鈥� which saw unusually deep philosophical engagement with working scientists 鈥� will be a catalyst for similar experiments both in Cambridge and beyond.

Professor Coakley said: 鈥淭op level, path-breaking science can often go on in universities without any connections to the history and philosophy of science which is coming at the same material from a different direction. 探花直播philosophical questions are enormously pressing so we were delighted that some truly leading scientists at Cambridge were open to the possibility of having our three young researchers embedded with them.鈥�

Dr Peter Woodford, who worked both in Cambridge鈥檚 Zoology labs and in the field in Africa to look at cooperation among meerkats, what makes them behaves the way they do, and how we as humans understand the value of selflessness, altruism and the care of others.

He said: 鈥淚t was obviously a unique experience for any philosopher to have, seeing what animals are doing in their natural environment and asking why animals do what they do 鈥� that鈥檚 a central question of philosophy as well as science. 探花直播value of pursuing these big questions is to understand what we believe and why we believe it in a better way.鈥�

Dr Natalja Deng, who worked on the cosmology strand of the project, alongside colleagues in DAMPT, said: 鈥淲hat does it mean to ask if God exists? And what does it mean to say that the universe had a beginning? If you ask yourself questions like this, you are doing philosophy.

鈥淚n order to do that, you need to talk to both theologians and physicists. They may not be used to talking to one another, but that鈥檚 all the more reason to bring them together in conversation. We were an experiment for this.鈥�

Dr De Haan looked at the connections between cognitive neuroscience, psychology and philosophy for his strand of the project. As with his other Templeton colleagues, Daniel received formal training in his chosen subject areas to ensure they were up to date with the latest research and scientific developments in that particular field.

He said: 鈥淚t was enormously helpful to spend time seeing what the day-to-day routines are, working in a lab and attending lectures. 探花直播people in my lab were open to the idea of having someone around from a different background and a different perspective.

鈥淎cademics in the humanities as well as the sciences are beginning to appreciate some of the difficulties arising from the extreme degrees of specialisation 鈥� where we are losing the ability to talk to each other.鈥�

Added Coakley: 鈥淚鈥檓 more happy than I could have hoped. This was a unique experiment in how to create a new generation of scholars to learn this agility early in their careers and we have shown that if it鈥檚 possible in one of the top universities in the world for scientific and mathematical endeavour, it should be possible in other places, too.鈥�

A unique three-year project to bridge the divide between science and philosophy 鈥� which embedded early-career philosophers into some of Cambridge鈥檚 ground-breaking scientific research clusters 鈥� is the subject of a new film released today.

Academics in the humanities as well as the sciences are beginning to appreciate some of the difficulties arising from the extreme degrees of specialisation 鈥� where we are losing the ability to talk to each other.

Daniel De Haan

Bridging the divide: Philosophy meets science

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探花直播Longing of Belonging: African photography on show at MAA

sjr81 — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 10:53:05 +0000

Kholwa: 探花直播Longing of Belonging showcases the work of South African photographer Sabelo Mlangeni who dreamt up the exhibition during conversations with Joel Cabrita, a researcher from Cambridge鈥檚 Faculty of Divinity, who is researching the history of Zionism in South Africa. 鈥楰holwa鈥� means 鈥榖elief鈥� in isiZulu, one of the most widely spoken languages in South Africa.

Approximately 30 per cent of all South Africans are members of a Zionist church. Zionism (unrelated to Jewish Zionism) is the country鈥檚 largest popular religious movement but began life as a 20th century Protestant faith healing movement, originating in the small town of Zion (pop. 24,000), Illinois, in the largely white Midwest of the USA.

Cabrita鈥檚 work charts the dramatic shift and 20th century expansion of Christianity and seeks to explain how Zionism travelled across the Atlantic Ocean and became one of the most important influences in black communities more than 8,000 miles away. With approximately 15 million members, it is the largest Christian group in the region.

Mlangeni is a member of the Zionist church and his grounding in the religion can be traced in the intimate and person portraits of church members going on display in Cambridge. He and Cabrita are interested in examining what is at stake when a photographer turns his camera on a religious community they are part of.

Mlangeni said: 鈥� 探花直播biggest question for me is being part of the community, part of the church. How can I point out other people as being 鈥榓makholwa鈥� (鈥榯he believers鈥�) when that is what I myself am? This is a body of work that doesn鈥檛鈥榣ook鈥� at the Zionist church. It is very important for me to emphasise this, I am not interested in exotifying the church.

聽

鈥淚 want to look at people gathering beyond church, and the strong spiritual relationships, which also include me. A long time before even studying photography, I made a lot of work about the church and church members. So my camera was in the church for a long time, church people knew me with a camera. When I look at this work, what鈥檚 important is the sense of intimacy between me and the church.鈥� 聽

鈥淔or me the most important part of meeting with Joel Cabrita is that it brought something new to me, an understanding of where the Zionists came from, what their beginnings were, where the church was really born [in the USA].鈥�

Some of Mlangeni鈥檚 images portray the umlindelo amakholwa (the night vigil of believers). This all-night service forms the cornerstone of Zionist worship across South Africa.

探花直播service consists of long nights of the entire community gathered in longing expectation for the spirit to descend, whether ancestral spirits or the Christian God. Song, prayer, sermons and dance see the believers through the night. Umlindelo amakholwa is the occasion when bonds of solidarity and community are cemented between those who spend the night in expectant waiting. As dawn breaks, the believers make their way home, while some head to a full day of work.聽

鈥淶ionism was founded in the in the American Midwest in the 1890s and spread to South Africa in 1904 via missionaries and the circulation of faith-healing literature,鈥� said Cabrita. 鈥淔rom the small town of Wakkerstroom, near the village of Driefontein where Sabelo grew up, Zionism spread across the region with migrant labourers returning from Johannesburg鈥檚 gold mines. Today, Zionism has adapted to African understandings of the world, with few traces of its North American roots. Southern African Zionists remain committed to the power of prayer to heal bodily illness as their American forebears.鈥�

Working mainly in black and white, Mlangeni鈥檚 photographs focus on capturing the intimate, everyday moments of communities in contemporary South Africa. His work includes 鈥楤ig City鈥� (2002 to 2015) which focuses on Johannesburg鈥檚 history, and 鈥楥ountry Girls鈥� (shot between 2003 and 2009), which focuses on gay communities in rural South Africa, especially in the area of Driefontein, his own village in the province of Mpumalanga.

As a childhood friend of many of his subjects, Mlangeni has been able to create photographs from a perspective of unique understanding and membership of the community he is portraying. Throughout his work, Mlangeni avoids 鈥榦thering鈥� or 鈥榚xoticising鈥� his subjects, and instead attempts to show the multi-faceted, intimate reality of daily life of these individuals. While many of them face discrimination due to their sexual identities, or are living in precarious socio-economic situations, Mlangeni鈥檚 work does not cast his subjects 聽as 鈥榲ictims鈥� but rather portrays their resilience, joyfulness and dignity as ordinary people.

鈥淗is photography continually erases and removes the boundaries between observer and subject,鈥� added Cabrita. 鈥淢langeni is portraying his own belief as much as he is exploring the spiritual commitments of his photographic subjects.

鈥淭hey chart his own journey towards belong, and longing for belonging within the Zionist community, a journey that has been mediated through a photographer鈥檚 lens. While some photographs reveal open, friendly gazes, others confront us with turned backs, inscrutable silhouettes and hidden figures buried deep in pictures, hinting at anonymity, inaccessibility and profound longing.鈥�

Kholwa: 探花直播Longing of Belonging 鈥� which runs from June 13-September 10 鈥� is free to the public. Visit www.maa.cam.ac.uk for further details and opening times.

A photography exhibition capturing the black South African Zionist community 鈥� the most popular religious denomination in the country 鈥� opens at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) today.

What鈥檚 important is the sense of intimacy between me and the church.

Sabelo Mlangeni

One of Sabelo Mlangeni's images going on display at MAA from today

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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