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A prolegomenon to a scientific theology

' . . . theory is the most practical thing conceivable . . . ' Ludwig Boltzmann quoted in Cercignani: Ludwig Boltzmann page 188

A scientific revolution becomes necessary when the gap between experience and understanding becomes intolerably great.

The greatest revolution in modern history was the introduction of the theory of evolution principally attributed to Charles Darwin. Drawing on paleoontological discoveries and the experience of plant and animal breeders, Darwin replaced creation stories which saw the source of the world as the work of an ancient creator with a long slow process of evolution which suggests that the world creates itself.

The purpose of this site is to reveal a new vision of the human world, a new theology. Theology is the study of creation. Creation is what is, so theology is the theory of everything that is. It is the traditional theory of everything and the oldest science. Archaeological evidence reveals that people had theological ideas more than 100 000 years ago. Theology - Wikipedia

Much traditional theology is based on ancient texts like the Bible. These texts are believed to have been inspired or dictated by mythological beings and to represent in some way a true account of our human place in the world. The Jerusalem Bible

Traditional theologies based on mythology are no longer seen to be scientific in the modern sense of the word. Darwin's story of creation, based on contemporary experience and the discoveries of paleoontologists and anthropologists, provides a new way for us to understand ourselves. We are the product of a vast cosmic process that has taken 14 billion years to create its present state. From a practical and spiritual point of view, this story is far more useful and exciting than its predecessors. Fortun & Bernstein: Muddling Through: Pursuing Science and Truths in the Twenty-First Century

Many of the ancient creators are modelled on ancient warriors, warlords, king, queens and emperors. They date from days when a wealthy and powerful elite controlled the lives of the vast majority of the people who were taxed to maintain the luxury and magnificence of their rulers. The ruling powers often used their theological stories as a means to control their subjects.

The most powerful theological institution in the modern world is the Catholic Church, a direct descendent of the Roman Empire. The myths upon which this Church is based are no longer a satisfactory foundation for human religious feeling because they contradict so much of what we know about out history and the history of the universe. Robert Crotty: How Roman Christianity Defeated Its Early Competitors

Here, therefore, I assume that the universe we inhabit is the ultimate reality, that it is the divine source of all life. Unlike ancient gods, it is both divine and visible, so that that every human experience is an experience of God.

Given this assumption, theology can become a science in the modern sense. Natural theology (think natural science) may consider every thought, feeling, action or event in the whole Universe as revelation from and of God. The data for natural theology are everything that happens, a vast treasury that outweighs countless ancient texts.

Like the other sciences, theology must sift through its databases seeking connections between different phenomena. These connections are expressed as models. Newton started the trend when he found a simple formula to model the complex motions of the planets and their satellites. Here we develop and study a new model of God. Cohen

The traditional model of God, perfected by Thomas Aquinas, envisages a being utterly unlike our world. The most important feature of the new theological model is that it seems to be consistent both with the world of experience and modern science and with the ancient model of God. This model allows is to say that the Universe is divine, that is, God is observable, no longer invisible. Thomas Aquinas, Summa: Does God Exist?

The new model of God adds weight to the assumption that God and the Universe are identical. By exploring the Universe we explore God and may learn something about managing a secure and pleasant human presence on Earth. Unlike the rather capricious personalities of the ancient Gods, the Universe has a fixed nature which may be exploited to develop ever more complex and beautiful ways of life. Miles: God: A Biography

Very little has changed in Christian theology since Thomas Aquinas developed the 'standard model' of God more than seven hundred years ago. The Summa is the inspiration and starting point for this work. Very little of what Aquinas wrote needs to be changed. It simply needs to be adjusted to reflect the position taken here, that we are not outside God, but inside. Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas: Opera Omnia

(revised 24 January 2021)

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Further reading

Books

Cercignani, Carlo, Ludwig Boltzmann: The Man Who Trusted Atoms, Oxford University Press, USA 2006 'Cercignani provides a stimulating biography of a great scientist. Boltzmann's greatness is difficult to state, but the fact that the author is still actively engaged in research into some of the finer, as yet unresolved issues provoked by Boltzmann's work is a measure of just how far ahead of his time Boltzmann was. It is also tragic to read of Boltzmann's persecution by his contemporaries, the energeticists, who regarded atoms as a convenient hypothesis, but not as having a definite existence. Boltzmann felt that atoms were real and this motivated much of his research. How Boltzmann would have laughed if he could have seen present-day scanning tunnelling microscopy images, which resolve the atomic structure at surfaces! If only all scientists would learn from Boltzmann's life story that it is bad for science to persecute someone whose views you do not share but cannot disprove. One surprising fact I learned from this book was how research into thermodynamics and statistical mechanics led to the beginnings of quantum theory (such as Planck's distribution law, and Einstein's theory of specific heat). Lecture notes by Boltzmann also seem to have influenced Einstein's construction of special relativity. Cercignani's familiarity with Boltzmann's work at the research level will probably set this above other biographies of Boltzmann for a very long time to come.' Dr David J Bottomley  
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Cohen, I Bernard, and George E Smith (Editors), The Cambridge Companion to Newton, Cambridge University Press 2002 Book Description: ' Sir Isaac Newton was one of the greatest scientists of all time, a thinker of extraordinary range and creativity who has left enduring legacies in mathematics and the natural sciences. In this volume a team of distinguished contributors examines the principal aspects of Newton's thought. They include not only his approach to space, time, mechanics, and universal gravity in Principia and his research in optics and mathematics, but also his lesser known clandestine investigations into alchemy, theology, and prophecy. ' 
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Crotty (2017), Robert, The Christian Survivor: How Roman Christianity Defeated Its Early Competitors, Springer 2017 ' The book puts the current interest in historical Jesus research into a proper historical context, highlighting Gnosticism’s lasting influence on early Christianity and making the provocative claim that nearly all Christian Churches are in some way descended from Roman Christianity. Breaking with the accepted wisdom of Christianity’s origins, the revised history it puts forward challenges the assumptions of Church and secular historians, biblical critics and general readers alike, with profound repercussions for scholarship, belief and practice. About the Author Robert Brian Crotty is the Emeritus Professor of Religion and Education at the University of South Australia. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Oxford University, and a Visiting Fellow at the Woolf Institute, Cambridge University. Professor Crotty was educated in Australia, Rome and Jerusalem. He has research degrees in Ancient History, Education, Christian Theology and Biblical Studies. He is an Élève Titulaire of the École Biblique in Jerusalem. In Rome and Jerusalem, he studied under some of the great scholars of early Christianity, including Ignace de la Potterie, Marie-Émile Boismard and Pierre Benoit and studied Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin and Syriac in order to further his intimate understanding of biblical texts. He has authored or edited some 33 books, multiple book chapters and journal articles in the areas of Theology, Biblical Studies and World Religions.' 
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Fortun, Mike, and Herbert J Bernstein, Muddling Through: Pursuing Science and Truths in the Twenty-First Century, Counterpoint 1998 Amazon editorial review: 'Does science discover truths or create them? Does dioxin cause cancer or not? Is corporate-sponsored research valid or not? Although these questions reflect the way we're used to thinking, maybe they're not the best way to approach science and its place in our culture. Physicist Herbert J. Bernstein and science historian Mike Fortun, both of the Institute for Science and Interdisciplinary Studies (ISIS), suggest a third way of seeing, beyond taking one side or another, in Muddling Through: Pursuing Science and Truths in the 21st Century. While they deal with weighty issues and encourage us to completely rethink our beliefs about science and truth, they do so with such grace and humor that we follow with ease discussions of toxic-waste disposal, the Human Genome Project, and retooling our language to better fit the way science is actually done.' 
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Jones, Alexander (ed), The Jerusalem Bible, Darton Longman and Todd 1966 Editor's Foreword: '. . . The Bible . . . is of its nature a written charter guaranteed (as Christians believe) by the Spirit of God, crystallised in antiquity, never to be changed . . . . This present volume is the English equivalent of [La Bible de Jerusalem] . . . an entirely faithful version of the ancient texts which, in doubtful points, preserves the text established and (for the most part) the interpretation adopted by the French scholars in the light of the most recent researches in the fields of history, archaeology and literary criticism.' (v-vi) 
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Kuhn, Thomas S, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, U of Chicago Press 1962, 1970, 1996 Introduction: 'a new theory, however special its range of application, is seldom just an increment to what is already known. Its assimilation requires the reconstruction of prior theory and the re-evaluation of prior fact, an intrinsically revolutionary process that is seldom completed by a single man, and never overnight.' [p 7]  
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Miles, Jack, God: A Biography, Vintage Books 1996 Jacket: 'Jack Miles's remarkable work examines the hero of the Old Testament . . . from his first appearance as Creator to his last as Ancient of Days. . . . We see God torn by conflicting urges. To his own sorrow, he is by turns destructive and creative, vain and modest, subtle and naive, ruthless and tender, lawful and lawless, powerful yet powerless, omniscient and blind.' 
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Nielsen, Michael A, and Isaac L Chuang, Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, Cambridge University Press 2000 Review: A rigorous, comprehensive text on quantum information is timely. The study of quantum information and computation represents a particularly direct route to understanding quantum mechanics. Unlike the traditional route to quantum mechanics via Schroedinger's equation and the hydrogen atom, the study of quantum information requires no calculus, merely a knowledge of complex numbers and matrix multiplication. In addition, quantum information processing gives direct access to the traditionally advanced topics of measurement of quantum systems and decoherence.' Seth Lloyd, Department of Quantum Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Nature 6876: vol 416 page 19, 7 March 2002. 
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Tapsell, Kieran, Potiphar's Wife: The Vatican's Secret and Child Sexual Abuse, ATF Press 2014 Back cover: 'For 1500 years the Catholic Church accepted that clergy who sexually abused children deserved to be stripped of their status as priests and then imprisoned. . . . That all changed in 1922 when Pope Pius XI issues his decree Crimen Sollicitationis that created a de facto 'privilege of clergy' by imposing the 'secret of the Holy Ofice' on all information obtained through the Church's canonical investigations. If the State did not know about these crimes, then there would be no State trials, and the matter could be treated as a purely canonical crime to be dealt with in secret in the Church courts.' 
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Links

Aristotle - Wikipedia, Aristotle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Aristotle Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs, pronounced [aristotélɛːs]; 384 – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He was the founder of the Lyceum and the Peripatetic school of philosophy and Aristotelian tradition. Along with his teacher Plato, he has been called the "Father of Western Philosophy". His writings cover many subjects – including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theatre, music, rhetoric, psychology, linguistics, economics, politics and government.' back

Cognitive science - Wikipedia, Cognitive Science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition (in a broad sense). Cognitive scientists study intelligence and behavior, with a focus on how nervous systems represent, process, and transform information. Mental faculties of concern to cognitive scientists include language, perception, memory, attention, reasoning, and emotion; to understand these faculties, cognitive scientists borrow from fields such as linguistics, psychology, artificial intelligence, philosophy, neuroscience, and anthropology.' back

Epistemology - Wikipedia, Epistemology - Wikipedia,the free encylopedia, 'Epistemology . . . (from Greek ἐπιστήμη (epistēmē), meaning "knowledge, science", and λόγος (logos), meaning "study of") is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (limitations) of knowledge. It addresses the questions: What is knowledge? How is knowledge acquired? How do we know what we know?' back

Gnosticism - Wikipedia, Gnosticism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: γνωστικός gnōstikós, "having knowledge") is a collection of ancient religious ideas and systems which originated in the first century AD among early Christian and Jewish sects. These various groups emphasised personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) over orthodox teachings, traditions, and ecclesiastical authority. Gnostic cosmogony generally presents a distinction between a supreme, hidden God and a blind, malevolent demiurge responsible for creating the material universe. Viewing this material existence as flawed or evil, Gnostics considered the principal element of salvation to be direct knowledge of the supreme divinity in the form of mystical or esoteric insight.' back

Heaven - Wikipedia, Heaven - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious, cosmological, mythological, or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings (such as a God, angels, the jinn, and sky deities like King or Queen of Heaven, Heavenly Father, Heavenly Mother, Son of Heaven, heavenly saints or venerated ancestors) originate, are enthroned or inhabit. It is commonly believed that heavenly beings can descend to earth or incarnate and that earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife or, in exceptional cases, enter Heaven alive.' back

John Paul II, Truth Cannot Contradict Truth, Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences October 22, 1996 , 'Consideration of the method used in the various branches of knowledge makes it possible to reconcile two points of view which would seem irreconcilable. The sciences of observation describe and measure the multiple manifestations of life with increasing precision and correlate them with the time line. The moment of transition to the spiritual cannot be the object of this kind of observation, which nevertheless can discover at the experimental level a series of very valuable signs indicating what is specific to the human being.' back

John Paul II (1983), Code of Canon Law, Canon 252: §3. ' There are to be classes in dogmatic theology, always grounded in the written word of God together with sacred tradition; through these, students are to learn to penetrate more intimately the mysteries of salvation, especially with St. Thomas as a teacher. There are also to be classes in moral and pastoral theology, canon law, liturgy, ecclesiastical history, and other auxiliary and special disciplines, according to the norm of the prescripts of the program of priestly formation.' back

John Paul II (7 December 1992), Address during the official release of the new Catechism of the Catholic Church , 'The Holy Church of God rejoices today because, as a special gift of divine providence, she can solemnly celebrate the promulgation of the new "catechism," presenting it officially to the faithful of the whole world. I give great thanks to the God of heaven and earth because He has allowed me to experience with you an event of incomparable richness and importance. . . . Most of all, it is a true gift, a gift, that is, which presents the Truth revealed by God in Christ and entrusted by Him to His Church. The catechism explains this Truth in the light of the Vatican Council as it is believed celebrated, lived and prayed by the Church and does so with the intention of fostering unfailing adherence to the Person of Christ.' back

Lana Guineay, 70 years of family practice, ' From rural South Australia to the jungles of Bougainville, in war and in peacetime, one talented husband-and-wife team have spent over 70 years dedicated to improving the health - and lives - of others. Their names might not be well-known - but University of Adelaide graduates Jim and Phillipa Nicholls have been making a significant, if unsung, impact on the health and wellbeing of South Australians for seven decades. This year marks a major milestone for the husband-and-wife GPs - the 70th anniversary of their graduation from the University of Adelaide.' back

Nicene Creed - Wikipedia, Nicene Creed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Nicene Creed (Greek: Σύμβολον τῆς Νίκαιας, Latin: Symbolum Nicaenum) is the profession of faith or creed that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It forms the mainstream definition of Christianity for most Christians. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea (present day Iznik in Turkey) by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325. The Nicene Creed has been normative for the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox churches, the Anglican Communion, and the great majority of Protestant denominations.' back

Platonism - Wikipedia, Platonism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Platonism is the philosophy of Plato or the name of other philosophical systems considered closely derived from it. In a narrower sense the term might indicate the doctrine of Platonic realism. The central concept of Platonism is the distinction between that reality which is perceptible, but not intelligible, and that which is intelligible, but imperceptible; to this distinction the Theory of Forms is essential. The forms are typically described in dialogues such as the Phaedo, Symposium and Republic as transcendent, perfect archetypes, of which objects in the everyday world are imperfect copies.' back

Protestant Reformation - Wikipedia, Protestant Reformation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to ("protested") the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led to the creation of new national Protestant churches. The Reformation was precipitated by earlier events within Europe, such as the Black Death and the Western Schism, which eroded people's faith in the Roman Catholic Church. This, as well as many other factors, contributed to the growth of lay criticism in the church and the creation of Protestantism.' back

Scientific Revolution -Wikipedia, Scientific Revolution -Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The Scientific Revolution was a series of events that marked the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transformed the views of society about nature. The Scientific Revolution took place in Europe towards the end of the Renaissance period and continued through the late 18th century, influencing the intellectual social movement known as the Enlightenment. While its dates are debated, the publication in 1543 of Nicolaus Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) is often cited as marking the beginning of the Scientific Revolution. back

Theology - Wikipedia, Theology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Theology is the systematic and rational study of concepts of God and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university, seminary or school of divinity. . . . 'During the High Middle Ages, theology was therefore the ultimate subject at universities, being named "The Queen of the Sciences" and serving as the capstone to the Trivium and Quadrivium that young men were expected to study. This meant that the other subjects (including Philosophy) existed primarily to help with theological thought.' back

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas: The medieval theological classic online : 'Because the doctor of Catholic truth ought not only to teach the proficient, but also to instruct beginners (according to the Apostle: As unto little ones in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not meat -- 1 Cor. 3:1-2), we purpose in this book to treat of whatever belongs to the Christian religion, in such a way as may tend to the instruction of beginners. We have considered that students in this doctrine have not seldom been hampered by what they have found written by other authors, partly on account of the multiplication of useless questions, articles, and arguments, partly also because those things that are needful for them to know are not taught according to the order of the subject matter, but according as the plan of the book might require, or the occasion of the argument offer, partly, too, because frequent repetition brought weariness and confusion to the minds of readers.' back

Thomas Aquinas, Opera Omnia, The complete works of one of the most important writers in the Christian tradition. [© 2019 Fundación Tomás de Aquino Iura omnia asservantur OCLC nr. 49644264] back

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae - Home, ' Because the doctor of Catholic truth ought not only to teach the proficient, but also to instruct beginners (according to the Apostle: As unto little ones in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not meat—1 Corinthians 3:1-2), we purpose in this book to treat of whatever belongs to the Christian religion, in such a way as may tend to the instruction of beginners. We have considered that students in this doctrine have not seldom been hampered by what they have found written by other authors, partly on account of the multiplication of useless questions, articles, and arguments, partly also because those things that are needful for them to know are not taught according to the order of the subject matter, but according as the plan of the book might require, or the occasion of the argument offer, partly, too, because frequent repetition brought weariness and confusion to the minds of readers. Endeavouring to avoid these and other like faults, we shall try, by God's help, to set forth whatever is included in this sacred doctrine as briefly and clearly as the matter itself may allow.' back

Thomas Aquinas, Opera Omnia, Summa, Proemium, The complete works of one of the most important writers in the Christian tradition. [© 2019 Fundación Tomás de Aquino Iura omnia asservantur OCLC nr. 49644264] back

Thomas Aquinas - Wikipedia, Thomas Aquinas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Thomas Aquinas, OP (1225 – 7 March 1274) . . . was an Italian Dominican friar and priest and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, within which he is also known as the "Doctor Angelicus" and "Doctor Communis". . . . He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology, and the father of Thomism. His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy was conceived in development or opposition of his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law, metaphysics, and political theory. Unlike many currents in the Church of the time. Thomas embraced several ideas put forward by Aristotle — whom he referred to as "the Philosopher" — and attempted to synthesize Aristotelian philosophy with the principles of Christianity.' back

Thomas Aquinas, Summa, I, 2, 3, Does God exist?, 'I answer that, The existence of God can be proved in five ways. The first and more manifest way is the argument from motion. . . . ' back

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