Theology from Creation to New Creation Overview Copyright

Theology from Creation to New Creation Overview Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 1

Key topics in theology • • • Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name Thy reign come Thy will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors Lead us not into temptation, Deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory Forever • Creation of heaven and earth • • • Eschatology: parousia Divine action Creation of heaven and earth • Moral evil • Eschatology: eternal life Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 2

Key topics in theology and the challenge of science • Creation of heaven and earth • Big Bang cosmology: • Divine action • Laws of nature / interventionist divine action • Moral evil • ‘Fall without the Fall’ and natural evil • Eschatology: second coming, resurrection and eternal life • Big Bang cosmology: – t=0 – ‘only earth’ – ‘freeze or fry’ Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 3

Meeting the challenge: Creative mutual interaction: 2005 Goshen Conference Lectures 1, 2, & 3 • Creation of heaven and earth: Lecture 1 --- Fri. night – Assumptions underlying science: Path 6 – t=0: Consonance, Path 1 Conflict, Path 7 • ‘Fall without the Fall’: Lecture 2: Sat morning – Natural and moral evil: Path 3 • Non-interventionist divine action – CTNS/Vatican Observatory series – Paths 3 and 4 • Eschatology: Lecture 3 NOW! – Revise eschatology: Paths 3, 4 – New research in science: Paths 6, 7, 8 Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 4

Methodology of Creative Mutual Interaction Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 5

Eschatology and Cosmology: Guidelines for their Interaction Lecture 3 Fifth Annual Goshen Conference on Science and Religion Robert John Russell The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, The Graduate Theological Union Berkeley, California March 20, 2005 Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 6

Resurrection: key points • The resurrection as transformation: – The resurrection of Jesus: neither resuscitation (e. g. , the daughter of Jairus – Mk 5: 22, Lazarus – Jn: 11: 1) nor spiritual escape but bodily transformation. – Transformation means there are elements of continuity (e. g. , it is Jesus, he can be touched, he can eat) as well as discontinuity (e. g. , the modes of the appearances, his ascension) between Jesus of Nazareth and the Risen Jesus. Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 7

Resurrection: key points • The relation between the resurrection of Christ and the general resurrection of the dead at the end of the age: the logic of Paul, 1 Cor. 15: 12 -20. – “Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up --- if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. ” Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 8

The challenges: cosmology eschatology cosmology l. The challenge from cosmology to eschatology: If the predictions of contemporary scientific cosmology come to pass there will never be a general resurrection. Therefore Christ has not been raised from the dead, and our hope is in vain (1 Cor. 15). l. The challenge from eschatology to cosmology: If it is true that Jesus rose bodily from the dead, then the general resurrection cannot be impossible. This must in turn mean that the future of the universe will not be what scientific cosmology predicts. Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 9

Guideline 1: Meeting the challenge: Reject our philosophical assumptions about science l. The challenge is not from science but from the philosophical assumptions we bring to science: Enlightenment / modernist assumptions nscientific predictions must come to pass n the dead stay dead nanalogy of history / analogy of nature n cf. Hume, Rudolf Bultmann, John Dominic Crosson n Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 10

Guideline 1: Meeting the challenge: Reject our philosophical assumptions about science l. Instead assume that scientific laws describe the regularities of nature. If these regularities are ultimately due to the regular and faithful action of God as ongoing Creator and if God chooses to act in a new way, then the future will not be what science predicts! l. Since God acted in a new way at Easter and promises to continue to do so, then: the ‘freeze’ or ‘fry’ predictions for the cosmological future do not hold. l“Resurrection is the first instance of a new law of the new creation” Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 11

Guideline 2: Eschatology should embrace methodological naturalism and thus physics, cosmology and biology regarding the past. n Any eschatology which we might construct must be ‘scientific’ in its description of the past history of the universe. It must be constrained by methodological naturalism in its description of the past and draw fully on physics, cosmology and evolutionary biology. n n n it should not claim that God should be part of the scientific explanation of the processes and properties of nature note: this guideline separates this proposal as sharply as possible from ‘intelligent design’. note: methodological naturalism does not carry entail metaphysical naturalism (i. e. , atheism). Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 12

Guideline 3: Metaphysical options are limited but not forced. n These options include physicalism (Nancey Murphy) emergent monism (Arthur Peacocke) dual-aspect monism (John Polkinghorne) ontological emergence (Robert Russell) panexperientialism (Whiteheadian metaphysics: Ian Barbour) others n They do not include metaphysical naturalism (atheism) n n n Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 13

Guideline 4: Eschatology in light of the ‘resurrection of the body. ’ ‘Transformability’ and the formal conditions for its possibility n Our starting point is based on the resurrection of Jesus: neither resuscitation nor spiritual escape but bodily transformation. n Transformation means there are elements of continuity as well as discontinuity between Jesus of Nazareth and the Risen Jesus. Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 14

Guideline 4: Eschatology in light of the ‘resurrection of the body. ’ ‘Transformability’ and the formal conditions for its possibility n The new creation is not totally discontinuous with the present creation --- a second ex nihilo. Nor does it evolve continuously out of the old with all the laws of nature intact. n Instead, God will transform the universe into the new creation ex vetere (Polkinghorne). n It follows that God must have created the universe such that it is transformable by God’s action into the new creation. This means that God must have created the universe with precisely those characteristics which it needs in order to be transformable by God. Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 15

Guideline 5: Eschatology in light of the ‘resurrection of the body. ’ The crucial role of science. n Science can be of immense help to theological task of understanding something about that transformation if we can find a way to identify these needed conditions, characteristics and preconditions for transformation, i. e. , these “elements of continuity”. n Science might also shed light on which conditions and characteristics of the present creation we do not expect to be continued into the new creation, i. e. , the “elements of discontinuity” between creation and new creation. Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 16

Guideline 6: Continuity within discontinuity: inverting the relationship. n So far in theology and science, discontinuity has played a secondary role within the underlying theme of continuity in nature as suggested by the term “emergence”. n Now I propose we ‘invert’ the relation: the elements of ‘continuity’ will be present, but within a more radical and underlying ‘discontinuity’ as is denoted by the transformation of the universe by a new act of God. Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 17

Guideline 6: Continuity within discontinuity: inverting the relationship. n Discontinuity as fundamental signals the break with naturalistic and reductionistic views such as “physical eschatology. ” n Continuity, even if secondary, eliminates a “twoworlds” eschatology. n Transformation eliminates ‘non-interventionist objective special divine action’ since this works with the present laws of nataure intact. Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 18

Summarizing so far… n An eschatology of new creation as the transformation of the old creation parts company with: n Intelligent Design n n Physical eschatology n n (which accepts reductionist metaphysical naturalism) Two worlds eschatology n n (which challenges methodological naturalism) (which overlooks the element of continuity in the Resurrection) Non-interventionist objective divine action n (presupposes the laws of nature as they are) Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 19

Guideline 7: Theological reconceptualization of nature in light of philosophical and scientific revisions. A richer theological conception of nature both as creation and as new creation might generate important revisions in the philosophy of nature that currently underlies the natural sciences. The doctrine of creation bequeathed to the West the assumption that the universe is contingent and rational, and this formed the foundation for the methodology of science --empiricism, methodological naturalism. Its additional assumptions that the universe is good, purposeful, and that it includes ‘heaven and earth, ’ were not taken up into scientific methodology. Perhaps they should be… Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 20

Guideline 8: Theology as suggesting criteria of theory choice between existing theories. The theological views of research scientists might play a role in selecting which theoretical programs to pursue among those already ‘on the table. ’ E. g. , the variety of approaches to quantum gravity and quantum cosmology. For example, Hawking rejected Penrose’s ‘quantum fluctuations’ model of the creation of the universe by explicit analogy with Augustine’s rejecting God creating in time. Hawking chose the ‘no boundary’ model of the creation of the universe in analogy with Augustine’s model of God creating time. Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 21

Guideline 9: Theology as suggesting new scientific research programs A revised eschatology might suggest new directions in the construction of scientific research programs whose motivation stems, at least in part, from theological interests. Frey Hoyle, as an outspoken atheist cosmologist, created the ‘steady state’ cosmology, in which the universe has no beginning in time, to challenge the reigning Big Bang cosmology with its “t=0” in part because of the support for God as the Creator drawn from “t=0” Many of the developments in the construction of quantum theory (1900 -1930) reflect the philosophical and theological presuppositions of their proponents, e. g. , Einstein, Bohr, Schroedinger, Planck, Heisenberg, etc. . Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 22

Theology and Science in Creative Mutual Interaction • A. SRP –> TRP: RECONSTRUCTING CHRISTIAN ESCHATOLOGY AS ‘TRANSFORMATION OF THE UNIVERSE’ • B. TRP SRP: POTENTIAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS IN SCIENCE IN LIGHT OF (RECONSTRUCTED) ESCHATOLOGY Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 23

SRP TRP: Insights from evolution regarding theodicy for eschatology From Augustine’s theodicy n n If in the new creation it will not be possible to sin In the new creation thermodynamic processes will not occur (in so far as they entail natural evil) Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 24

TRP SRP: Insights from eschatology for thermodynamics From Augustine’s theodicy n n Thermodynamics as a “universal contingent” is itself a contingent characteristic of creation (the universe) Research topic in physics: Is thermodynamics a fundamental theory like quantum mechanics? How are general relativity and thermodynamics related? Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 25

SRP TRP: Insights from evolution regarding theodicy for eschatology From the Schleiermacher/Hick theodicy n Pre-human life must not be a ‘means/end’ to humankind each creature / species has an eschatological future of its own Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 26

TRP SRP: Insights from eschatology for physics From the Schleiermacher/Hick theodicy n n Every moment of time is ‘connected’ to both its ordinary physical future moment and to its eschatological fulfillment Research topic in physics: Is time more complex (e. g. , multidimensional, topologically connected) than is normally assumed in physics and cosmology? Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 27

SRP TRP: Eschatology reformulated in light of time in physics • First, the ‘theological ‘consensus’: Eternity is a richer concept of temporality than timelessness or unending time. In essence, eternity is the source of time as we know it, and of time as we will know it in the new creation. Eternity is the fully temporal source and goal of time. • Karl Barth calls it ‘supratemporal. ’ • Jurgen Moltmann calls it ‘the future of the future. ’ • Ted Peters refers to the future as coming to us (adventus) and not merely that which tomorrow brings (futurum). • Wolfhart Pannenberg claims that God acts from eternity by reaching back into time to redeem the world, particularly in the Resurrection of Jesus (“prolepsis”). Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 28

SRP TRP: Eschatology reformulated in light of time in physics • From the ‘theological consensus’, five themes emerge: • ‘flowing time’ : each event has a “past/present/future structure” leading to an “inhomogeneous temporal ontology” • duration: each event has temporal thickness in nature as well as in experience; events are not point-like present moments lacking an intrinsic temporal structure • co-presence of all events: distinct events in time are nevertheless present to one another without destroying or subsuming their distinctiveness • global future: there is a single global future for all of creation so that all creatures can be in community. • prolepsis: the future is already present and active in the present while remaining future, as exemplified by God’s act in raising Jesus Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 29

SRP TRP: Eschatology reformulated in light of time in physics Next, reformulate each of these themes in light of the way physics interprets time. Areas in physics include: – – – special relativity general relativity quantum mechanics relativistic quantum mechanics quantum field theory thermodynamics Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 30

TRP SRP: SUGGESTIONS FOR RESEARCH PROGRAMS IN SCIENCE • 1) Which of these themes --- duration, flowing time, co-presence, prolepsis, global future --- are already present in creation and thus are elements of continuity in its transformation into the new creation? • 2) Which themes are not yet present in creation but instead represent elements of discontinuity, emerging only in the new creation? • 3) And regarding the latter, does the universe at present include the preconditions for the possibility of their coming to be in the new creation? Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 31

TRP SRP: Five potential SRPs drawn from themes of “flowing time” and “duration” • SRP 1: Can we construct a new interpretation of special relativity which is consistent with “flowing time” but which avoids these problems? • SRP 2: Can we revise special relativity to support a “flowing time” interpretation over a “block universe” interpretation? Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 32

TRP SRP: Five potential SRPs drawn from “flowing time” and “duration” • SRP 3: Can we construct a new and more competitive interpretation of quantum mechanics which more definitively supports “flowing time. ” • SRP 4: Can we modify the formalism of quantum mechanics which support “flowing time”, such as nonlinear or stochastic versions of the Schrödinger equation. • SRP 5: One might search for mathematical ways to represent time as duration, such as set theory or quantized time, and then by exploring their implications for research physics Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 33

Conclusions: Creative mutual interaction: a project underway with a long road ahead… Copyright R. J. Russell 2005 34