Comments on: My Response: A Fine Tuned Universe? Scot McKnight – Jesus Creed http://www.danwilt.com/my-response-a-fine-tuned-universe-scot-mcknight-jesus-creed/ spiritual storytelling, keeping faith Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:27:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Dan Wilt http://www.danwilt.com/my-response-a-fine-tuned-universe-scot-mcknight-jesus-creed/#comment-851031 Dan Wilt Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:35:57 +0000 http://www.danwilt.com/?p=1692#comment-851031 Indeed. Again, it's about the Subject of the sentence, vs. the Object. If Nature is the Subject, then a worldview unfolds that delivers to us a truncated vision of possibility - a closed circuit of events, impulses and universes. To our human minds, this is quite impressive though - there remains a vast field of discovery before us, and being baffled by Nature's mystery feels as expansive a cosmos as we could ever hope to find. And yet, if God is indeed the Subject, and we (and then nature beyond this) are extensions of this Imagination, then the Mystery behind mysteries bids us look not beyond the joy of discovery, but into the joy of the pursuit of understanding. Why? In discovering the small, we find the Mystery. In discovering the large, we find the Mystery. The whale - the Mystery. The black hole - the Mystery. For the one who silences this higher Subject, Nature becomes the Mystery rather than a mystery to be rollicked in for the sheer joy of discovery (and perpetuation of the species in some cases). When my children were small, their world was as big as the eyes into which they were looking. As they grew, the world took on the substance of friends, family and other children. The world can only grow so large for us. Those who linger in the vast fields of discovery know and sense the same vastness the writer does who turns a majestic phrase. Both the poem is beautiful, and the math equation is beautiful. It points beyond itself, to some whisper behind it. Planet Earth, indeed, is a favorite in our Masters program. Natural Theology demands a hearing in the well-thinking Church of the 21st century. Could we become a people who, unlike many of our sadder moments throughout church history, see discovery and innovation as a necessary approach to the world rather than one that is suspect? We've done it before, and another cycle of civilization demands that we do it once again. Indeed. Again, it’s about the Subject of the sentence, vs. the Object. If Nature is the Subject, then a worldview unfolds that delivers to us a truncated vision of possibility – a closed circuit of events, impulses and universes.

To our human minds, this is quite impressive though – there remains a vast field of discovery before us, and being baffled by Nature’s mystery feels as expansive a cosmos as we could ever hope to find.

And yet, if God is indeed the Subject, and we (and then nature beyond this) are extensions of this Imagination, then the Mystery behind mysteries bids us look not beyond the joy of discovery, but into the joy of the pursuit of understanding.

Why? In discovering the small, we find the Mystery. In discovering the large, we find the Mystery. The whale – the Mystery. The black hole – the Mystery. For the one who silences this higher Subject, Nature becomes the Mystery rather than a mystery to be rollicked in for the sheer joy of discovery (and perpetuation of the species in some cases).

When my children were small, their world was as big as the eyes into which they were looking. As they grew, the world took on the substance of friends, family and other children.

The world can only grow so large for us. Those who linger in the vast fields of discovery know and sense the same vastness the writer does who turns a majestic phrase. Both the poem is beautiful, and the math equation is beautiful. It points beyond itself, to some whisper behind it.

Planet Earth, indeed, is a favorite in our Masters program. Natural Theology demands a hearing in the well-thinking Church of the 21st century.

Could we become a people who, unlike many of our sadder moments throughout church history, see discovery and innovation as a necessary approach to the world rather than one that is suspect?

We’ve done it before, and another cycle of civilization demands that we do it once again.

]]> By: Kris MacQueen http://www.danwilt.com/my-response-a-fine-tuned-universe-scot-mcknight-jesus-creed/#comment-850785 Kris MacQueen Mon, 22 Jun 2009 01:32:22 +0000 http://www.danwilt.com/?p=1692#comment-850785 Amen! I was having a conversation with a good friend the other day (not so much a believer) about this very thing. Apologetics have taken centre stage in the faith/science dialogue for so long. There is so much more... SO MUCH MORE to this discussion than, "Look at the evidence, there is a God" / "Look at the evidence, there is not". Beauty, majesty and the God-box destroying observations of the natural world are a gift to us. At least, they've been a great gift to me. The most spiritually enriching books I've read in the last year: Fabric of the Cosmos A Short HIstory of Nearly Everything Language of God Best movie of the year: Planet Earth Highly recommended, all. Amen!

I was having a conversation with a good friend the other day (not so much a believer) about this very thing. Apologetics have taken centre stage in the faith/science dialogue for so long. There is so much more… SO MUCH MORE to this discussion than, “Look at the evidence, there is a God” / “Look at the evidence, there is not”. Beauty, majesty and the God-box destroying observations of the natural world are a gift to us. At least, they’ve been a great gift to me.

The most spiritually enriching books I’ve read in the last year:

Fabric of the Cosmos
A Short HIstory of Nearly Everything
Language of God

Best movie of the year:

Planet Earth

Highly recommended, all.

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