Saints as Divine Evidence
Robert MacSwain’s new volume, *Saints as Divine Evidence*, bridges religious epistemology and comparative hagiography to argue that holy lives function as evidence for God. The first part surveys analytic and pragmatist debates, highlighting Austin Farrer's claim that saints serve as proof. Subsequent sections map saint definitions across six disciplines and develop three distinct hagiological arguments—propositional, perceptual, and performative. The conclusion treats saints as natural signs pointing toward divine reality, urging scholars to assess each argument on its own evidential merits.
Beyond Tools and Bones: Why Archaeology Needs a Paradigm Shift to Understand Our Ancestors
The new edited volume *Traces of the Distant Human Past* argues that archaeology’s rapid technological gains have outstripped its ability to interpret early human behavior. While LiDAR, radiocarbon dating, and ancient DNA provide unprecedented data, the authors contend that theoretical...
Treading Gingerly
Alice Wickenden’s essay examines Thomas Johnson’s 1636 ginger woodcuts—one true, one feigned—to illustrate how seventeenth‑century knowledge was deliberately produced through contradiction. She links this paradox to Hans Sloane’s massive library‑museum collection, showing that the fluid mixing of books, specimens, and...