Returning the timeless to science?

The relevance of religious symbolism to the social sciences – and to everyday life in a "postmodern" world – is a focus for debate at the latest meeting of the Centre for Social Policy, which takes place at Dartington Hall, today and tomorrow.

Canon Melvyn Matthews, Chancellor Emeritus of Wells Cathedral, will argue that human beings live symbolically by innate impulse. "It's not that we need symbols but that we live by symbols in any case. We never do without them even when we think, as modern rational creatures, that we can. "Considering in particular the value to Christian society of the Cross and the figure of Mary, he will say: "their presence has enabled us to live with suffering in a constructive manner. They have allowed us to see the importance of self giving in  community life, and allowed us to affirm the feminine and give value to desire. "In theological terms we have been able to see that suffering and the feminine are sacramental of the divine"

Other perspectives on the importance of symbols and structures in relation to family law and justice, social welfare and mental health are being presented by Fellows Mervyn Murch, Bill Jordan and Douglas Hooper.