[Fresh religious insights are often found by reference to the language and metaphors of other disciplines, especially the sciences. St. Andrew's Church in Framingham, Mass., recently hosted such a cross-disciplinary "fertilization" opportunity, led by Network member Paul Bamberg, Senior Lecturer on Mathematics, Harvard University. He has kindly provided us with his notes below, including the caveat.]
Beware: the author is a well-trained physicist and and mathematician but has no credentials in theology. Understand the physics, then draw your own theological conclusions!
Issues to be considered:
- 1. Quantum mechanics and statements that appear self-contradictory (e.g., waves, particles, and the dual nature of light and matter)
- 2. What does it mean to "know everything?"
- Probability in classical physics
- Probability in quantum physics
- Does God really "play dice with the universe"?
- Might God have access to "hidden variables"?
- 3. Can a system be observed without influencing it?
- a. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle
- b. The importance of "indistinguishable alternatives"
Question for discussion: Of the following statements, what do 2) and 3) have in common?
- 1) Karo syrup is completely colorless and extremely sticky.
- 2) Jesus Christ was both fully human and fully divine.
- 3) Light behaves both exactly like a wave and exactly like a particle.
- 4) Jesus Christ was a devout Jew and a skilled carpenter.
References:
- From the Book of Common Prayer: Definition of the Union of the Divine and Human Natures in the Person of Christ, according to the Creed of Saint Athanasius
- From Richard Feynman's Lectures on Physics, Volume 1: chapter 37 ("Quantum Behavior"), and chapter 38 ("The Relation of Wave and Particle Viewpoints")
Lecture demonstrations:
- a. The wave nature of sound: interference between two loudspeakers
- b. The wave nature of light: Young's double-slit experiment
- c. The particle nature of light: photoelectric effect
- d. Random events and particle detection: Geiger counter with beta and gamma sources
- e. Energy levels: fluorescence of minerals and quinine water
Questions for Dr. Bamberg? Send them by email to the Newsletter Editor.
