The Second Coming Files: A 2000-Year Inquiry | Part I: The fossilisation of the great Christian hope

Any religion’s popularity depends on the rewards it promises. While people are interested in the immediate benefits of this life, they are mostly interested in the future, the hope their religion brings, and how solid it is.

Are we wired for altruism?

She donated a kidney to a stranger without expecting anything in return. This is the story of a graphic artist whose sole motivation was altruism. Such cases have led researchers to question whether altruism might be an inherent trait in the human brain.

The outside world and the bubbles in our heads

Plato may have been one of the first to think this way, but in modern sociology it was Walter Lippmann who made history with the idea that people do not have access to reality in all its complexity, but operate on images of that reality that they construct for themselves.

The road forwards that actually goes backwards

I am visiting two sick people who share the same terminal illness. Their suffering is increased by the fact that they are brothers and that a mother’s broken heart lies at the core of it all. One of them is a businessman. The other, a servant of the altar. Their mother’s greatest frustration is that her wish to take some of the suffering...

To raise an Amish child

I’m a walking contradiction when it comes to technology. I spend far too much time on the internet—some productive, such as paying bills, researching for my work and reading the news, but mostly wasted time on one-too-many funny cat videos—but I’m still using a Nokia E71 mobile phone bought in 2009. (Don’t laugh! It did win Mobile Choice’s phone of the year in...
alcohol

How risk-free is alcohol tasting as a child?

To offer one’s child a sip of alcohol during mealtime or for other special occasions is not as rare as one might like to believe. Even if parents believe that a controlled start to alcohol consumption is protection from bingeing later on, the reality is that alcohol tasting in childhood generates major risks for the child’s development.

The dream that came true underwater

Our dreams must be stronger than the unfortunate circumstances in which we find ourselves.

Silence after the storm: Friendship, between quarrels and forgiveness

Eskimos don't have the word "quarrel" in their vocabulary. They live in a particularly harsh climate, so no one wants to risk getting pneumonia (or dying) just to prove that they are right.

How to manage a toxic relationship | Friendship and boundaries

Walking with a friend in darkness is better than walking alone in the light, writes Hellen Keller. But what if darkness permeates the entire relationship?

The first line of defence: Proven efficacy of wearing a mask in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection

How important is wearing a mask for preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection? We must say, at the outset, that wearing a mask remains important in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection, especially because the "delta plus" variant has a high potential for contagion.

The Great Reset: realities, utopia, conspiracy

The phrase "the Great Reset" generated over eight million interactions on Facebook and tweets about it were shared almost two million times on Twitter, since the launch of the initiative.

Understanding the basics of nutrition

The importance of proper nutrition is often underestimated. The nutrients in food provide energy, contribute to tissue growth and repair, and regulate physiological processes. Nutritional needs vary depending on age and physical condition.

From hostages to fear tamers

“Am I still human if I’m afraid?” The question asked by a well-known fictional character can be the starting point for reflecting on how we learn to live with our fears.

How to revive a dying church

Trying to describe a dying church like the one he was called to serve, Pastor Chris Lewis uses the image of a car "turned over, in a ditch, covered by weeds and beer cans, with a rusted out engine, and a couple of bodies in the trunk."

The Second Coming Files: A 2000-Year Inquiry | Part V: Nineteenth-Century Millenarianism in the British Isles

After covering the historical evolution of the Christian teaching about the return of Jesus Christ in the first three articles, in the fourth article, which precedes the one that you’re reading now, I made a minimal review of some philosophical, political, religious, and esoteric currents that are important to understand the world in which the millenarian revivals of the 19th century emerged.