- The totalitarianism of Science and Technology
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The spiritual innovations of science and technology
- consilience
- process
- kenosis
- How might these and other notions challenge our interpretation of the Bible?
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Stewardship [Genesis 1; Gen. 1:28]
- The creation is good.
- God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." ... God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. [Gen. 1:28-31]
- In context of God's compassion and concern, read "subdue" and "have dominion" as stewardship.
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from our scientific exploration, we have learned
- the interconnection of all of creation: evolution, ecology, process
- humans are part of the creation -- not separate from it
- if we abuse creation, it will rebel!
- The creation is for our responsible and faithful use.
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Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who though he was in the form of God/
did not regard equality with God/
as something to be exploited,/
but emptied himself,/
taking the form of a slave/
being born in human likeness./
And being found in human form,/
he humbled himself/
and became obedient to the point of death/
even on a cross./
Therefore God also highly exalted him/
and gave him the name/
that is above every name,/
so that at the name of Jesus/
every knee should bend,/
in heaven and on earth and under the earth/
and every tongue should confess/
that Jesus Christ is Lord/
to the glory of God the Father.
[Phillippians 2:5-11]
- Recall the moral nature of the universe.
- The kenosis of God is imbued in the creation
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Similarly, we are called to kenotic living:
- Care of the creation
- Just distribution of resources
- Responsible development
- ...
- Then the exploration and study of creation is an act of celebration and praise at the wondrous gift God has given us.
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Knowledge [Genesis 3:1-5]
- And the Lord God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the gardern; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." [Genesis 2:16-17]
- [The serpent] said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be open, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." [Gen. 3:1-5]
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Is God telling us not to seek knowledge by having denied the fruit of the tree of knowledge?
- "Good and evil" is a bipolar expression of totality intended to encompass the unlimited knowledge of divinity.
- God's prohibition is not intended to forbid us from knowing
- it is intended that we not supercede God by knowing everything
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We have once again eaten of the Tree of Knowledge:
- we strive for all-knowledge: one more front in our Rebellion against God
- we try to re-create the Universe in our image and even, believe we are God
- science is very efficacious and through it, we believe we do not need to depend on God
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God's restriction on the Tree of Knowledge is embedded in the Cosmos:
- uncertainty
- incompleteness
- chance
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Why does
God not want us to know everything?
- God is jealous: but this flies in the face of the logic of love
- Rather,
- We are co-creators with God
- If we knew everything, then creation is complete
- So if we were seduced into thinking we knew everything, we would stop co-creating ...
- ... and God wants us to co-create
- So God has less "forbidden" us to eat of the Tree, as to ontologically construct the Universe so we and the Divine can NOT be omniscient.
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Consilience tells us that all knowledge is interconnected
- starting anywhere and following the connections can lead us everywhere
- but the journey is endless
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Technological Imperative [Genesis 11:1-9]
- And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. [Genesis 11:1-9]
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The traditional exegesis is that this is an etiological story of how diverse languages came about.
- After the Flood [Genesis 6-9]
- Humans decide to be the greatest
- God sees that being one with one language, they have the power to overthrow the Divine power.
- So God scatters them and divides their language
- This story serves as a means to explain, why after the flood, their was such a diversity of people and language.
- It expresses the power of language gives for understanding and cooperation.
- But does God not want us to understand and cooperate?
- The "Babelites" used their power of understanding and cooperation to challenge God and failed.
- Pragmatically, did they fall into dispute and civil war?
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Acts 2, the story of Pentecost, is the traditional corrective:
... And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability [Acts 2:2-4]
... Amazed and astonished, they [the devout Jews] asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ... in our own language we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." [Acts 7-11] - The corrective is that the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and the people heard about God
- Language was no longer to be used to overthrow God, but to cooperate with God.
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The story is also of urban technology and the dissolution of faith in the face of the power of that technology.
- The people use their ability to build (technology) to rise to the level of God
- Technology gives enormous power and ability
- We risk idolatry.
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We fall into the fallacy that technology can save us.
- The babelites had done this
- tower would give them a name
- the city would save them from further wandering.
- This salvic belief underlies the Technological Imperative.
- The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint. The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. [Isaiah 44:12-17]
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Post-classical, post-modern science and our social experience corrects this too
- Technology has a dark side!
- Science ontologically contains the contradictions of its own idolatry:
- We can never know everything as we have seen
- Mathematics is ontologically incomplete
- These leads us the mystery of the Utterly Other, the One True God.
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The Mystery of God:
- God is ineffable and unknowable; but ...
- We are NOT to not try to know God
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We are to recognize that the knowing is never finished.
Úgoliel goliel saith the Eldar: Unknowing knowing Knowing mystery is knowing there's more to know is wisdom.
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Faith and Science [Matthew 14:22-34]
- And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. [Matthew 14:22-34]
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This is a passage of faith in Jesus.
- Against reason, Peter is to trust Jesus and "walk on water"
- Faith let's you do the impossible.
- But if you cannot, Jesus will pull you out of the water!
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But would not modern folks, say "how did Jesus walk on water?"
- "Scientific" people would say, we don't need faith
- There has to be a reasonable explanation of how Jesus walked on water
- Water tension? Water skiis?
- ... and with science we can do the impossible!
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Is the "scientific" mind set so wrong or faithless?
- That the scientific method will work is alone is a faith statement!
- It is faith that God has made an orderily, trustworthy creation, which we contend the Divine has done so
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Yet to place sole faith in the Creation's mechanisms leads to idolatry --
- of creation
- of knowledge
- of ourselves
- This passage alerts us to be open to the limited domain of science
- That Kairos time is superrational and express reality too!