Lessons from relativity

Over the past weeks a group of us from Solomon's Porch have been meeting to watch a lecture series on quantum Physics. So far we have been recapping the history of classic physics, wading back through history going through each of the monumental discoveries, how they came to be, and discussing some of the philosophical and spiritual implications along the way. One of the primary ideas that relativity insisted upon is that there is no such thing as absolute speed or time. That these terms are always relative to some point of reference.

I so appreciate the way emergent type thinking doesn't fall into the fallacy of the great divorce (in this case referring to both the church and science's insistence that they are incompatible). If the old adage that all truth is God's truth - then how could this ever really be?

Last night we looked at Einstein's special theory of Relativity (1905). For the very first time I think I understand how the time can lengthen relative to the speed of light.

For me the big insights have been tracking scientific theory with theology. The time Einstein was thinking about special relativity also effectively marks the time Christendom toyed with relative theology. That moral and religious absolutes were a construction of humanity and shrank God to small perspectives that made us feel good about how we could explain him.

Not knowing a whole lot about string theory and therefore, where exactly we are heading with this lecture series - I cant help but look forward to tracking how the expanse of modern scientific theory has influenced how we explain and understand creation and therefore God.