In 1995, after completing my PhD on magic and the Reformation in England, I found myself being interviewed on talkback radio about witchcraft. It was a rather uneven interview: the interviewer was far more interested in one of the callers, a self-confessed witch, than she was in my academic research.

Most of the book is a collection of source material about witchcraft, including folklore, theology and legal writings; the best collection I have come

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Is genetic intervention likely to change our concepts of human nature? Professor of Anatomy, D. Gareth Jones explores the hype and the hope behind new forms of therapy, and ponders a Christian approach based on humility before the Creator.

Genetics and humility—a contradiction in terms? The world of genetics can be intensely misleading, since it lends itself to oversimplification. Images of ‘designer babies’, the rampant cloning of famous and

Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code, has fired the imaginations of readers around the world. Its gripping story of murder, religious intrigue and ancient history has left many people reconsidering their own spiritual commitments.

In this hour-long presentation, Greg Clarke explores how the novel has tapped into common feelings about the Church and traditional religion. He also examines the novel’s various claims:

• Is there any evidence that Jesus

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Historian Paul Barnett explores the evidence for the existence of Jesus compared with other famous figures of the ancient world.

(See the PDF for complete article.)

Files: Mystery of origins

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Two papers from the 2004 CASE Federal Election Forum are reproduced (in expanded form) here, to stimulate discussion among Christians and to give others some insight into the ways Christian people approach politics (188k PDF).

Elections: why bother? (Andrew Cameron)
There are several reasons why a Christian might feel that elections are not worth bothering with.

• We sometimes feel cynicism about human shortcomings, in comparison to God’s government

A review of Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain by Antonio Damasio

Antonio Damasio’s book on the neurobiology of feelings and the pursuit of happiness is a little out of my area. I can’t comment on the discussion about the brain-stem switch, or the emotional impact of Parkinson’s Disease. I look forward to comments from qualified Christina neuroscientists. But I found these discussions fascinating, even to the lay reader, and on

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A review article of the Dan Brown novel on the alleged conflict between science and religion.

The idea of the conflict between science and religion is pervasive in our society, particularly in popular literature. This article examines the mythical origins of the conflict metaphor and its employment by the airport novelist of the moment, Dan Brown.

Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons is a page-turner mystery novel, and has proved a very successful one at

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What impact is American foreign policy having on worldwide views of Christianity. A bishop to the defence forces explores the mingling of theology and foreign affairs.

Drawing on three recent books about America’s place in the world, Tom Frame considers the complex entanglement of American culture, Christian mission and imperialism.

(See PDF for complete article.)

Files: frame-american-foreign-policy.pdf

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CASE faculty member, Dr Megan Best, delivered the 2004 Smith Lecture on Friday 17 Sept at the Australian Stock Exchange on the topic Designer Humans—is any room left for God?

We live in a technological age, and that is a good thing. We have all enjoyed the fruits of technology, from PowerPoint slide shows to fully automatic washing machines. Thanks to technology, our world has changed enormously in the last 100 years. Consider this quote from the

Do religious perspectives have any place within the activities of the secular university today? Trevor Cairney and Greg Clarke suggest they do, and that a genuine intellectual pluralism would welcome them.

Specific Worldviews in Tertiary Education: a way forward

Pluralism and specific religious belief (Greg Clarke)

In a recent article in The Australian newspaper’s Higher Education supplement, Professor Elspeth Probyn of the Department of Gender

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