A New Renaissance diagnoses the urgent need for cultural change and renewal in today’s period of crisis in philosophy, science, and society – now even more pressing than when this volume was first published. Some six hundred years ago, the Florentine Renaissance took a huge leap forward into realism, rationality, and self-awareness. It was born from the waning authority of medieval institutions and beliefs.

Today, we stand at a similar junction in history. It appears to many that reductionist science and its materialistic values – a worldview that has driven modern culture for the past two centuries – is rapidly losing credibility. Its objectives of growth and acquisition and its guiding principles asserting that there is no intrinsic meaning to life or purpose in the cosmos are now widely seen as creating an unhappy and unsustainable world. The essays gathered here are a cultural response to the shortcomings of the prevailing materialistic worldview.

Contributors include: Ervin Laszlo, Richard Tarnas, HM King Charles III, Iain McGilchrist, Larry Dossey, Chris Clarke, Rupert Sheldrake, Anne Baring, Satish Kumar, Henryk Skolimowski, Guy Claxton, Peter Russell, Jean Hardy, David Peat, David Luke, Elisabet Sahtouris, with an Introduction by David Lorimer.

“It is a rare treat to find so much wisdom and thought-provoking substance in just one book. The reason for this is that it is the distillation of the world and cosmic views of many leading thinkers in science, medicine and philosophy.” ~ Michael Lingard.

David Lorimer, MA, PGCE, FRSA is a writer, lecturer, poet, editor and spiritual activist who is a Founder of Character Education Scotland, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and former President of Wrekin Trust and the Swedenborg Society. He has also been editor of Paradigm Explorer since 1986 and completed his 100th issue in 2019. He was the instigator of the Beyond the Brain conference series in 1995 and has co-ordinated the Mystics and Scientists conferences every year since the late 1980s.

Originally a merchant banker then a teacher of philosophy and modern languages at Winchester College, he is the author and editor of over a dozen books, including Survival? Death as Transition (1984, 2017) Resonant Mind (originally Whole in One) (1990/2017), The Spirit of Science (1998), Thinking Beyond the Brain (2001), The Protein Crunch (with Jason Drew) and A New Renaissance (edited with Oliver Robinson). He has edited three books about the Bulgarian sage Beinsa Douno (Peter Deunov): Prophet for our Times (1991, 2015), The Circle of Sacred Dance, and Gems of Love, which is a translation of his prayers and formulas into English. His book on the ideas and work of the Prince of Wales – Radical Prince (2003) - has been translated into Dutch, Spanish and French. His most recent books are his essays, A Quest for Wisdom and his collection of poetry, Better Light a Candle.

David is also Chair of the Galileo Commission which seeks the expand the evidence base of science of consciousness beyond a materialistic world view.

In 2020 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award as a Visionary Leader by the Visioneers International Network and the 2021 Aboca Human Ecology Prize. He is a Creative Member of the Club of Budapest. His website is www.davidlorimer.co.uk.

Dr Oliver Robinson is a psychologist and interdisciplinary thinker whose research and writings span lifespan development, personality, mental health, philosophy and spirituality. He is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Greenwich, and author of the books Development through Adulthood and Paths Between Head and Heart. His personal website is www.oliverrobinson.info. He is also co-organiser of the Beyond the Brain conference.