Table of Contents | No subject or perspective is off limits for anyone who desires to visit "the guest room." In fact, there is no intention to limit this page to questions about faith and religion. Subjects like "the new cosmology," terrorism, ecology, world peace, Islam, HIV-AIDS, human sexuality and orientation, inclusive language, etc. will have a place here. The questions of the nature of the Bible and authority will be on the agenda, as well as those issues that keep surfacing in the church. However, you need to know that some things are unacceptable, namely, perspectives that are judged disrespectful of others. If you have interest (or curiosity) about "the new cosmology" then you may wish to spend some time in "the guest room." The need for a new world view is becoming more and more obvious. The cosmology of the old world view is usually depicted as originating in the rise of classical science in the 16th and 17th centuries and in the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. This renaissance of science was the work of Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Descartes aand Darwin. We came to regard the universe as a great machine and understood it to operate primarily in a mechanistic way. In an essay entitled The Theological Implications of the New Cosmology Harry E. Moore claims, "Modern science has produced an incredible coup d'etat! The mechanistic concept of the universe that ruled scientific investigation for centuries has given way to the realization by scientists that we inhabit a mysterious universe and not one that functions like a machine. It has given modern humans reason for the rebirth of wonder, reason for shedding their egotism and arrogance and reason for seeing their place in the universe in a more realistic and humble perspective. It has underscored humankind's need to celebrate the awesome mysteries of the universe. This means that the four hundred year habit of scientists to 'torture nature until she reveals her last secrets to us' has reversed itself. In the light of the new cosmology a host of scholars from a variety of disciplines are calling for a new approach -- one that reinstates myth and calls on humankind to relate to the universe with respect and reverence." Why is the need for "the new cosmology" so crucial? Anthropologist Gregory Bateson makes a relevant observation. "If you put God outside and set him vis-a-vis his creation and if you have the idea that you are created in his image, you will logically and naturally see yourself outside and against the things around you. And as you arrogate all mind to yourself, you will see the world around you as mindless and therefore not entitled to moral or ethical consideration. The environment will seem to be yours to exploit. Your survival unit will be you and your folks or conspecifics against the environment or other social units, other races and the brutes and vegetables. "If this is your estimate of your relation to Nature and you have an advanced technology, your likelihood of survival will be that of a snowball in hell. You will die either of the toxic by-products of your own hate, or, simply, of overpopulation and overgrazing. The raw materials of the world are finite. If I am right, the whole of our thinking about what we are and what other people are has got to be restructured." Indeed, a new "mythology of Christianity is essential! See "The Planetarium" for an interpretation of the "new cosmology." |