The Agencies of God's Word and Spirit

"Modern Science as a "Sacred Reminder

Bibliographic Data

ID4313496
AuthorsChristopher Barina Kaiser (Historical and Systematic Theology, Western Theological Seminary, Holland, MI 49423, USA)
Year2024
Volume15
Issue3
Pages367
Publication date2024-03-19
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel15030367
OpenAlexW4393004112
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited16

In this essay, I argue that modern science can function as a source of "sacred reminders" for aspects of Christian theology, like the doctrine of the Trinity, that are not normally engaged with in the empirical world. This approach is an alternative to the usual ways of relating scientific and theological endeavors in terms of conflict, separation, or consonance. I demonstrate this by beginning with the thoughts of two representative physicists (John Archibald Wheeler and Steven Hawking), particularly focusing on a fundamental distinction they make about the underlying ideal of the physical sciences. Noting a striking similarity of this distinction with some of the biblical imagery of God's Word and Spirit, I review biblical texts along these lines to show partial continuity with the groundbreaking ideas of our physicists, and to show how they can be generalized to include (a) levels of organization beyond those of physics; (b) intensive, localized agencies of Word and Spirit as well as the more extensive agencies suggested their ideas; and (c) the commissioning agency of God the Father. A review of the theology of Irenaeus shows that these distinctions in biblical imagery were developed in the early Church and played an important role in early Trinitarian theology

Art · Art history · Linguistics · Theology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Philosophy · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics · Religious studies · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices

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