The Divine Universe

Even if you are a religious believer like myself, this is a moot point. It might seem that it is not a theological issue but rather a philosophical one, but the question underpins theological debate. How do we know that something exists? Philosophers tell us that to exist means, strictly, to be a distinct entity amidst other entities. If, for example, I say that I exist, that depends on some kind of environment of other things. If we say that God exists, we mean that he (she or it) is a thing (or person) among other things and persons. It means that God and the universe are two distinct entities.

 

The word universe means every physical thing that exists, including atoms and subatomic particles and energy fields. If there are other similar entities like the one we observe around us, then the word universe should include them. Speculative cosmologists like the Astronomer Royal, Lord Rees, use the word multiverse.

 

Does the multiverse exist? It is not, in that case, a thing among things; it is all there is – the totality of being. Many philosophers, particularly those called ‘logical positivists’ would claim that the word exist is inappropriate.

 

Is God a thing (or person if you prefer) alongside other things or persons? Rowan Williams, one of the world’s leading theologians, says that we experience God with a certain sense of ‘alongsideness’. However he would hold, with all other mystics, that God is also within us and immanent in the whole of nature. The twelfth century German mystic, Meister Eckhart, said, “God is everything, but everything is not God.” In other words he was saying that God is everything, yet more than everything. God is all there is: there is nothing else. The universe is not a non-god thing; it is that in which God is immanent and embodied. It is, so to speak, the physical dimension of God. The Archbishop’s use of the word ‘alongsideness’ is metaphorical. God is not alongside in the sense of outside and separate.

 

The immanence of God is a basic doctrine of Christianity, derived most clearly from the prologue of John’s Gospel: He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him. (John 1:2,3) And in Paul’s letter to the Colossians he writes, For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible . . . All things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things and in him all things hold together. (1:16,17). Everything is in and comes into being through the Word, Christ. St Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-395) wrote, “Nothing can exist which does not have its being in God who is.” But God is not only in us; we are in God. God transcends the universe.

 

The cosmic Christ of Paul and John is the theological basis of the green movement and environmental science. American theologian and environmentalist, Sallie McFague, has written a book called “The Body of God”, focusing on the theology of matter. She, among others, sees the incarnation as a cosmic event – the cosmic event in fact. It would seem that she (and Paul) might celebrate the Big Bang at Christmas, not just the birth of Jesus!

 

For those who believe that God is some kind of entity who exists beyond the universe, this might seem to deny the independent existence of God. Many, if not most of those who believe in God conceive of him dualistically. They see God and the universe as two distinct entities, over against each other. But independence is not quite the same as separation. We say, metaphorically, that God has a will, a free will. But so has the universe. God created the universe to evolve freely according to its own laws. At its most basic, subatomic level there are no laws of cause and effect such as apply at our macroscopic level. Max Planck and others discovered this early in the twentieth century, and it is the basis of Heisenberg’s law of uncertainty and quantum theory.

 

When we say that God exists we are more or less forced to create an imaginary image of some kind. It doesn’t need to be anything as crude as an old man seated on a throne above the clouds. I saw a child’s drawing of God once that was simply a large grayish smudge on paper. This, I thought, was quite sophisticated for a six-year-old, but it was no less fundamentally idolatrous than any other image of God, Christian, Hindu or whatever. All images of God, even abstract mental images and philosophical definitions, are idolatrous.

 

It is often said that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There are obvious exceptions to this, such as a bag of beans, but it is powerfully true of any sort of organism. The universe is an organism containing an innumerable number of parts. The universe, as a whole, is more than a collection of stars: galaxies and so forth. As a whole it is a living organism. Some physicists and cosmologists, like David Bohm and Alfred North Whitehead, believe that the universe is even a self-conscious organism in which self-consciousness is materialized cosmically in the human beings of planet Earth and possibly elsewhere as well. Physicist, John Wheeler, drew a little picture of the universe as an eye looking at itself.

 

The doctrine of the Trinity suggests that God contemplates himself in love. The Trinity is the metaphorical image of the eternal, divine love affair.

 

The reification of the Trinity (making God into a thing or person) that the word exist implies bothers me. The Trinity is not a thing or person among things or persons. The Trinity is the whole of everything, immanent but also transcending everything. We cannot say, therefore, that God is a thing alongside some other non-god thing or collection of things. We cannot say that God does not exist, of course, but it is better simply to say, like Gregory of Nissa, that God is. This is the sense of the ineffable name YHWH, revealed to Moses.

 

Does God exist? If we have to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ then the answer has to be yes, but in fact the question is not quite so simple as that.

 

DOES GOD EXIST?

Even if you are a religious believer like myself, this is a moot point. It might seem that it is not a theological issue but rather a philosophical one, but the question underpins theological debate. How do we know that something exists? Philosophers tell us that to exist means, strictly, to be a distinct entity amidst other entities. If, for example, I say that I exist, that depends on some kind of environment of other things. If we say that God exists, we mean that he (she or it) is a thing (or person) among other things (or persons); or, at least, it means that God and the universe are two distinct entities.

The word universe means every physical thing that exists, including atoms and subatomic particles and energy fields. If there are other similar entities like the one we observe around us, then the word universe should include them. Speculative cosmologists like the Astronomer Royal, Lord Rees, use the word multiverse.

Does the multiverse exist? It is not, in that case, a thing among things; it is all there is – the totality of being. Many philosophers, particularly those called ‘logical positivists’ would claim that the word exist is inappropriate.

Is God a thing (or person if you prefer) alongside other things or persons? Rowan Williams, one of the world’s leading theologians, says that we experience God with a certain sense of ‘alongsideness’. However he would hold, with all other mystics, that God is also within us and immanent in the whole of nature. The twelfth century German mystic, Meister Eckhart, said, “God is everything, but everything is not God.” In other words he was saying that God is everything, yet more than everything. God is all there is: there is nothing else. The universe is not a non-god thing; it is that in which God is immanent and embodied. It is, so to speak, the physical dimension of God. The Archbishop’s use of the word ‘alongsideness’ is metaphorical. God is not alongside in the sense of outside and separate.

The immanence of God is a basic doctrine of Christianity, derived most clearly from the prologue of John’s Gospel: He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him. (John 1:2,3) And in Paul’s letter to the Colossians he writes, For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible . . . All things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things and in him all things hold together. (1:16,17). Everything is in and comes into being through the Word, Christ. St Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-395) wrote, “Nothing can exist which does not have its being in God who is.” But God is not only in us; we are in God. God transcends the universe.

The cosmic Christ of Paul and John is the theological basis of the green movement and environmental science. American theologian and environmentalist, Sallie McFague, has written a book called “The Body of God”, focusing on the theology of matter. She, among others, sees the incarnation as a cosmic event – the cosmic event in fact. It would seem that she (and Paul) might celebrate the Big Bang at Christmas, not just the birth of Jesus!

For those who believe that God is some kind of entity who exists beyond the universe, this might seem to deny the independent existence of God. Many, if not most of those who believe in God conceive of him dualistically. They see God and the universe as two distinct entities, over against each other. But independence is not quite the same as separation. We say, metaphorically, that God has a will, a free will. But so has the universe. God created the universe to evolve freely according to its own laws. At its most basic, subatomic level there are no laws of cause and effect such as apply at our macroscopic level. Max Planck and others discovered this early in the twentieth century, and it is the basis of Heisenberg’s law of uncertainty and quantum theory.

When we say that God exists we are more or less forced to create an imaginary image of some kind. It doesn’t need to be anything as crude as an old man seated on a throne above the clouds. I saw a child’s drawing of God once that was simply a large grayish smudge on paper. This, I thought, was quite sophisticated for a six-year-old, but it was no less fundamentally idolatrous than any other image of God, Christian, Hindu or whatever. All images of God, even abstract mental images and philosophical definitions, are idolatrous.

It is often said that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There are obvious exceptions to this, such as a bag of beans, but it is powerfully true of any sort of organism. The universe is an organism containing an innumerable number of parts. The universe, as a whole, is more than a collection of stars: galaxies and so forth. As a whole it is a living organism. Some physicists and cosmologists, like David Bohm and Alfred North Whitehead, believe that the universe is even a self-conscious organism in which self-consciousness is materialized cosmically in the human beings of planet Earth and possibly elsewhere as well. Physicist, John Wheeler, drew a little picture of the universe as an eye looking at itself.

The doctrine of the Trinity suggests that God contemplates himself in love. The Trinity is the metaphorical image of the eternal, divine love affair.

The reification of the Trinity (making God into a thing or person) that the word exist implies bothers me. The Trinity is not a thing or person among things or persons. The Trinity is the whole of everything, immanent but also transcending everything. We cannot say, therefore, that God is a thing alongside some other non-god thing or collection of things. We cannot say that God does not exist, of course, but it is better simply to say, like Gregory of Nissa, that God is. This is the sense of the ineffable name YHWH, revealed to Moses.

Does God exist? If we have to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ then the answer has to be yes, but in fact the question is not quite so simple as that.