Table of Contents | In A History of God and The Battle for God Karen Armstrong says that the modern world is in transition to a "second axial age." Some social thinkers differ and believe the crucial transition taking place is from the industrial age to the information or electronic era. However, this view is challenged by those who think that the technology of the information age is an abstract notion of the industrial age and does not represent a real shift in values. Other critics claim that we are moving out of the modern age of positivism and rationalism into a post-modern age of relativism where no perspective has "privileged access." The third shift or transition, some say, is from the cenozoic age into the ecozoic era. The human role shifts from that of conquest and dominion to an interdependent community life. If it is true that the old metaphysical, sacral aand mythological world view is dying, to change the image, while being attended by hospice workers then it is time for the mid-wives to create the space for another world view to be born. Brian Swimme's book, The Universe Is A Green Dragon! is a gentle yet powerful birthing room for this "new cosmology." His first chapter describes the story of the universe as a whole. He asserts that "the new cosmology" is "an origin story of the universe that already captivates minds on every continent of our planet." One thing more for those with little scientific understanding. My background in science, for example, is quite limited so I set out to find just what is meant by the word cosmolosgy. Sallie McFague is my source. "Cosmology may mean many things. The term can refer to theological accounts of the world as God's creation; or to philosophical reflection on the categories of space and time; or to observational and theoretical study of the evolution of the physical universe; or, finally, to world views: unified imaginative perceptions of how the world seems and where we stand in it." Swimme observes that we need "a new human in a new earth, creating and entering new relationships with the primary realities of the universe. We enter a period of enormous promise. The scientific-technological, Christian, masculine, individualistic, Northern European spirit joins with the ecological, animistic, feminine, communal native spiritualities in the creation of a new form of society whose significance towers over that of all other political or social events." He sees the universe as a living organism evolving in intelligence. All of the universe comes from the same stardust. The human species is a partner with all species in preserving the health and sustainability of the planet. Science and faith are reconnected and mystery and awe can be experienced once more. The universe cannot revolve around the human any more. This "new story" is, at its roots, a new consciousness of communion within the universe. I am utterly convinced that we need new language, new non-fundamentalist religious language and imagery, yes, even a new "myth of Christianity" and a new economic understanding. These concerns are being articulated by many pioneers and Swimme's perspective is in the first rank of those who are leading the way. What are the implications? An essay by Harry E. Moore called The Theological Implications of the New Cosmology offers these. One, the universe in all of its glory and beauty, complexity and mystery, inspires a sense of awe and wonder in the person who turns aside to see. Two, the new cosmologoy has uncovered so many spine-tingling examples of mystery and has given so many intimations and clues of the activity of God that a person of faith will have a deeper faith. Three, the only stance that is appropriate, for me, is "the capacity to tolerate complexity and to welcome contradiction" while being open to Mystery. Joan Chittister sets the question of the implications of "the new cosmology" in context. She says, "The church must be a hospice worker for the old paradigm and a mid-wife for the new that is being born." Is that enough? It is for me. |