Karen Armstrong, "Does God Have a Future?" and:
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Armstrong and Krakauer: Spirituality in the 21st Century
At one point in Into the Wild, Krakauer describes McCandless as
a "pilgrim," and elsewhere as somone who "possessed grand--some
would say grandiose--spiritual ambitions." With Karen Armstrong in
mind, would you argue that McCandless is evidence that God has a future
in the 21st century? Or is McCandless proof that the mysticism Armstrong
admires is ultimately destructive? Is anything to be gained by following
the path that McCandless went down?
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Nussbaum and Armstrong: Religion and the Central Human Functional Capabilities
In "Women and Cultural Universals," Nussbaum claims that "a
life that lacks any one" of the ten attributes that she has labled
"Central Human Functional Capabilities," "no matter what
else it has, will fall short of being a good human life." Does Nussbaum's
argument require that one create the kind of relationship to a personal
God that Armstrong describes? Is it necessary or merely optional that
one have a relationship with God or some other spiritual being to live
what Nussbaum calls "the good life"? Does God have a future
in the world that Nussbaum is arguing for?
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Armstrong and Wilmut: Cloning and the Future of God
In her book chapter "Does God Have a Future," Karen Armstrong traces
recent changes in our society's thinking about God. How are these changes
likely to affect our responses to the issue of human cloning? Will the
disappearance of a personal God lead to a diminished respect for human
life, or might it have the opposite effect?
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