Friday, April 22, 2005
Theology, Mathematics, and Physics
Pope Benedict XVI, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is reputed to be a strict theologian. I assume that the term means that he believes in a theology that is unchanging and absolute. It's like mathematics. The value of pi, the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle on a plane surface is the same today as it was two thousand years ago. We may be able to calculate the value to more significant figures than could Euclid or Archimedes, but pi is a universal, unchanging constant. It is possible that the Pope views theology in the same way.
I am not a theologian. If I were, I would view theology as more like physics or even biology. Things change in such sciences. For thousands of years, light was believed to travel in straight lines. Einstein and recent investigators have shown that light is bent in traveling through a gravitational field. Theories of physics and other sciences have to change when a new experimental result shows that the former theory was incorrect. I think that theology ought to be viewed in the same way as physics and biology, not as mathematics.
I am not a theologian. If I were, I would view theology as more like physics or even biology. Things change in such sciences. For thousands of years, light was believed to travel in straight lines. Einstein and recent investigators have shown that light is bent in traveling through a gravitational field. Theories of physics and other sciences have to change when a new experimental result shows that the former theory was incorrect. I think that theology ought to be viewed in the same way as physics and biology, not as mathematics.
