Both Christian theology and atheism have to contend with the humbling concept of “truth.”
Let’s begin with Christianity.
History and culture have shaped people’s understanding of Christian truth through the ages. In general terms, conservative Christianity, as seen in evangelical, Pentecostal and Roman Catholic traditions, sees biblical truth as more literal. As such, they have no difficulty believing in miracles, Jesus’ bodily resurrection, or traditional biblical sexual ethics.
Liberal Christians, however, have been particularly prominent in the last 150 years in Western Protestant denominations. The United Church of Canada, followed by the Uniting Church in Australia, have been seen to be particularly “progressive” – particularly in regard to sexual ethics. Sizeable cadres in both denominations have been devotees of the theology of the late John Spong, who was once the bishop of Newark in New Jersey. It was the liberals in the Uniting Church in Australia who agitated for, and funded, the visit of John Spong to Australia in 2007.
These progressives see the consistent principles of the Bible as being revisable. They view biblical truth claims through the filter of rational empiricism, and modern social mores. For example, liberals follow the moral lead of wider society when determining sexual ethics.
Spong, thought he was being both rational and progressive when he said in his 5th“article” of faith: ‘The miracle stories of the New Testament can no longer be interpreted in a post-Newtonian world as supernatural events.’[1]
I have a number of difficulties with this comment. The first is that it is patronising, as it suggests that Christians have not caught up with the Enlightenment or Newtonian physics. It implies that conventional Christians are irrational. Spong has, of course, conjured up a false dichotomy, and in doing so, has continued a long tradition of atheists who build a “straw man” of their enemy (conventional Christians) that he finds easier to burn, rubbish and ridicule.[2]In reality, most Christians have no problem with rational science, and for almost the entire history of Western civilization, Christians have led the way when it came to scientific research. Sir Isaac Newton himself had a firm belief in God. So, it is not a choice between miracles or Newtonian physics. The issue, which Spong has not appreciated, is whether there is anything morethan physical reality (as Christians believe), or not (as Spong believes).
This brings us to my second difficulty with Spong’s anti Christian assertion. By saying what he did, he seems to suggest that all reality has to be defined by Newtonian physics. Unfortunately for Spong, science has moved on a long way from the macro-mechanical world of Isaac Newton. Newtonian physics is now not seen to be a discipline that explains all of scientific reality. Therefore, his claim that Christians are out of date with science must now be directed at himself. His rational empiricism can no longer be believed. Scientists now know that reality is composed of more than tiny particles of matter. This means that our identity must now be defined by more than tiny physical particles moving about in space/time. In other words, we are more than the sum of tiny bits of matter that have come together fortuitously and without reason.
Two areas of research have led to this new thinking. The first is research into quantum physics. The second is research into black holes.
Early research into the extraordinary non-intuitive world of quantum physics has uncovered the primacy of “consciousness” in determining whether a sub-atomic particle exists as a tiny bit of matter, or whether it exists as a “cloud of probability”. No less than two Nobel Prize winners for physics, Eugene Wigner and John von Neumann, have said that “contents of consciousness” now seem to be the ultimate reality.[3]
Similarly, the English cosmologist, Brian Cox, has said (as a result of studies into black holes): ‘Space and time are not fundamentally a property of nature. They emerge from a deeper reality in which neither exists.’[4]
The discovery that there is a deeper reality behind physical things is consistent with the idea of their being a “mind” behind the cosmos. We see it in the ridiculous level of “fine tuning” of forces (to the degree of many trillionths) that has allowed life to develop in the universe.
Christians would be forgiven for smiling at this point, thinking it nice that scientists are beginning to discover things Christians have known for centuries!
So, what does all this mean for us practically?
First: it means that Christian belief in God is scientifically reasonable.
Secondly: it means that the liberal thinking of “progressive” theologians (such as John Spong) is actually regressive. Not only is such thinking scientifically out of date, it also has the unenviable reputation of emptying churches. This is perhaps not surprising given that Spong has no answers to the questions of sin or suffering. He offers no hope, either in this world or the next.
What, then, is the truth that Christians can believe about Jesus and his teaching? May I suggest it is a truth that is in line with the consistent principles espoused by the apostles John, Peter and Paul. This biblical position has been the “safe place” where Christians have gathered throughout history, and it is the place to which the Holy Spirit has never failed to return the church whenever a God-breathed revival has occurred. The consistent principles of Scripture have stood as a bulwark against the excesses of centralised power and institutionalism, and against the excesses of popularist licence.
So, I invite you to stay within that “safe place.”
[1] John Spong, “A Call for a New Reformation”, (Westar Institute, Volume 11-4, July-August 1998), see Article 5.
[2] Betrand Russell and the “new atheists” Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens have all been guilty of this.
[3] Eugene Wigner “Remarks on the Mind-Body Question,” pp. 171-174 in Symmetries and Reflections, Bloomington: IN, Indiana University Press, 1967), 171.
John von Neumann, in Keith Ward, Is Religion Irrational?(Oxford: Lion Hudson, 2011), 21.
[4] Brian Cox, The Universe with Brian Cox(film), Series 1, Episode 4, “Heart of Darkness: Black Holes,” 2021 (see: 41 – 50 minutes). https://view.abc.net.au/video/ZW3171A004500
