Languages of science and faith

I am not a physicist. I did not feel drawn to the study of science in college. I have, however, been fortunate to have had many friends over the years whose lives have been dedicated to the study of science, and I have acquired a bit of a layperson’s understanding of physics. Because so much of physics has to do with new discovery and shifting interpretations of the nature of the universe, it seems to be a dynamic and exciting study. For the first 45 years of my life, up until 1998, scientists didn’t know that dark energy existed. They did not study or search for it because it had not even been theorized. Now, scientists see dark energy as the dominant form of energy of our universe. Physics, like theology, is not a field of study that leads to absolute answers. The possibility of something new being discovered that alters the entire framework of interpretation is always just around the corner.

The language of physics is mathematics. And my scientist friends use distinctly religious language when talking about mathematics. Some of my friends seem to take the view that mathematics is a purely human invention. It is a framework of thought invented by humans to explain the relationships that they have observed in the universe. It is not so much that the universe is inherently mathematical, but rather that humans seeking to understand the universe have adopted the language of mathematics to describe what they are seeing. Others will quote the 20th century physicist James Jeans who used the phrase “God is a mathematician,” to express their belief that the universe is inherently mathematical. Math, for them, is a universal language that has been discovered along with other observations of the universe. For them there can be no other way to describe the realities of this world than the use of mathematics.

I have been thinking of that question posed by Mario Livio, who has written several popular science books, among them one titled, “Is God a Mathematician?” On Sunday we began a conversation that I believe will continue for their lifetimes with members of the class preparing for the rite of confirmation in our church. The way we posed the question to the confirmation class was, “What is the nature of God?” Of course a single confirmation class is far too short a period of time for a conversation about that topic, unless you view it, as I do, as part of a longer conversation that began thousands of years ago and will continue long after our time on this earth has passed. Theology, like physics, is fascinated by big questions and wrestles with problems too large for any individual to solve. Our confirmands will, between now and the first of June, come up with statements of faith - sets of words to express their beliefs. Those statements of faith will be influenced by expressions of faith that have been a part of the church for generations. They will be influenced by the truths that the students have learned in school and in life. They will be unique, standing not as claims to universal truth, but rather as expressions of faith in a particular moment of life. If we have been successful in our confirmation preparation classes, they will mark the beginning of conversations and thought processes that will continue for the entire lives of the students. It is our hope and prayer that they will share those conversations with others and the great conversations about the nature of God will continue into future generations.

The conversations we have and the languages we choose to have those conversations are part of the human quest for truth. We are constantly involved in reaching for something beyond ourselves. I’ll reach into the history and philosophy of science for an example: Sir Isaac Newton formulated several important mathematical principles. In his time, there were astronomical observations that were done by Johannes Kepler and others. Contemporary scientists, with access to more powerful telescopes and more accurate systems of measurement, have been able to demonstrate that those observations by Kepler and others were not accurate. Somehow, however, Newton managed to produce a mathematical law that describes gravity, a law that has been demonstrated to be accurate to better than one part in a million. The theory posed by Newton turned out to be far more accurate than the observations upon which it was based. Scientists point to this principle when arguing that there is something universal about mathematics - that the language is inherent in the universe. Mathematics has a reality that is greater than - beyond - human perception and description.

In one of the most treasured stories of our religious tradition, Moses is called by God to go to Pharaoh to plead for the freedom of the children of Israel. Moses, dubious of his ability to accomplish the task, argues that God might do well to choose someone else. As part of his argument, he asks God to tell him God’s name. “When I go to the people of Israel and tell them that the God of their forebears has sent me, what name shall I give them?” he asks. God’s answer is direct and simple. “I am,” God asserts. “Tell them that I am has sent you.” The word for “I am” is three simple letters in Biblical Hebrew, which does not employ vowels. Those three consonants are the same ones used in the four-letter word that is often used as God’s name in the Hebrew Scriptures. Those letters, transliterated YHWH in English, are the same letters as the verb “to be” with one letter, H, repeated. In the verb the letters are in a different order, but there is a direct connection between the verb of existence and the name of God in Hebrew. It raises the question about the languages we use. Are languages, such as Hebrew and Greek and Latin and English purely human inventions, or are they expressions of something that is inherent in the universe?

Those deep connections in the way we talk about the nature of the universe between the studies of science and theology illustrate the tragedy of some religious people who have pitted science vs religion as if they were mutually exclusive languages. My hope for the students in our confirmation class is that they can see beyond that false dichotomy to a life that embraces both the study of science and the language of religion. If we succeed in enabling them to see the value in both ways of thinking, we will have connected them with the great conversations of humanity - the ones that once begun continue forever.

May they continue their contemplations for all of their lives and discover language to share those thoughts with others.

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