Bulletin > Volume 29 Science, Kokoro, and Religion: Thoughts on a New Project

Swanson, Paul L.

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This essay introduces the Institute’s involvement in a new project to promote the science-and-religion dialogue and attempts to flesh out the potential of this dialogue in Japan. It discusses terminological problems with concepts such as “religion” and “spirituality,” and plays with the Japanese idea of kokoro (translated here as “spirit”), and the Japanese penchant for focusing on conventional realities, as ways to link common aspects of science and religion. These ideas are also presented as a theoretical basis for the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture’s proposal to promote a healthy and positive science-and-religion dialogue in Japan through a project supported by the Global Perspectives on Science and Spirituality (GPSS) program.