February, 2010 "Faith As the Pursuit of Truth"
"The beginning of the twenty-first century is a watershed in modern science, a time that will forever change our understanding of the universe. Something is happening which is far more than the discovery of new facts or new equations. This is one of those rare moments when our entire outlook, our framework for thinking, and the whole epistemology of physics and cosmology are suddenly undergoing real upheaval." (Leonard Susskind from Stanford University.)
The same point could be made about the state of theology today. We live in a time of "real upheaval" in science and in theology. Our foundational assumptions about reality, about life, about God are undergoing seismic shifts. The evidence is all about. There are challenges to our political, economic, social, religious, and scientific views of the world. I submit that the conflict in our world today reflects the desperate attempt of fundamentalism of all stripes to cling to models that no longer truly reflect reality - models of economics, models of nationhood, models of religion, models of our universe, models of the human person.
In the scientific world over the past century there have been revolutionary changes in how we understand our universe.
George Musser says,
"Consider how far our understanding of physics and astrophysics has come within the lifetime of the oldest people today. At the start of the twentieth century, no one knew molecules or atoms existed, let alone subatomic particles. Most of the electromagnetic spectrum, ranging from radio waves to x-rays, was a laboratory curiosity. The planets of our solar system were tiny discs of light; no one had ever seen images from the surface of another world. Not one had even seen our planet as a planet: a blue marble on black velvet, coated with a fragile veneer of water and air." (String Theory by George Musser)
Today, we enjoy devices and gadgets that were unthinkable a century ago. These gadgets are fruits of new paradigms of knowledge. By opening ourselves to exploration and discovery, the human family has benefited greatly. It is a most exciting time in which to live.
Modern physics is wrestling to resolve a dilemma. Which is correct -- Einstein's theory of relativity or quantum theory? The former explains the vastness of the universe, and the latter explains the subatomic world. Both coexist beside one another. Each explains its phenomenon well, but they are incompatible. They both cannot be correct. So physicists ponder how to reconcile them. What is needed is a new paradigm which transcends both, integrating each.
I believe that theology faces a similar task. Presently, there are competing theological models. Each works as it explains some phenomenon. Yet we need a paradigm which integrates the religious reality of life more comprehensively, more completely. Like physics, we are stuck with models that work to explain some things, but not all things.
We are living in a time of significant and major change. We are like those who were pre-Industrial Revolution. Something was about to take place that would have enormous consequence, yet they could not see what those consequence were until they arrived. They had to wait until the Industrial Revolution unfolded.
So it is in our own time. Something is happening all around us, and we cannot yet make out what awaits us. Although we may not know the specifics, we can know something is unfolding. We know that our posture calls us to bold adventure, probing curiosity, and eager openness to new possibilities. Dogmatic determinism is the arch enemy of our times.
If physicists were to cling to "positions" and were unwilling to imagine anew, science would bog down. So too it is in theology. Faith is the steadfast pursuit of the truth. Faith is the willingness to reframe our story as new data presents. The truth "sets us free" -- free to discover humbly that the mystery of life includes us all. Until the oneness of the human family is affirmed and embraced, our theological work is unfinished. I wonder how the new paradigm will look. What awaits us?
