Atomic Tension

Allen explains the atomic tensions that are the root of all the variety we witness in the universe. From this exploration he is able to glean spiritual truths that mimic this fundamental creative dynamic. This was first published in the student newspaper of the Bryn Athyn College, BACON Bits, in April of 2009. -Editor.

Teaching chemistry at Bryn Athyn College, a New Church institution, I have the opportunity to explore science and religion in a Swedenborgian context. Seeing the physical world as God’s creation and therefore reflecting, at least in its matter and forces, God’s intent, opens up additional dimensions of meaning embedded in physical law. If the natural and spiritual worlds are both created by God, and created as a whole rather than as wholly separate cosmoses, then we can expect to find in our study of the natural world insight into the spiritual world as well. In the New Church these connections are often called “correspondences,” a term used many times in English translations of Swedenborg’s theological works. I find pursuit of these connections more satisfying than engaging in debates about the authority of science and religion. Rather than determining which perspective should have more standing, I feel that each has standing in its own context, and that the tension sometimes created between the two can enrich both.

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Some Ideas Regarding Science and the Writings

This piece is a condensed version of the forty-nine page essay Allen had published in The New Philosophy, in July 2008. He addresses the friction created when science and religion do not meet neatly in the middle. Allen takes a positive view of this conflict and suggests holding sharp things gently. -Editor.

The Writings contain many pieces of information about the natural world. Often, this information is in agreement with contemporary, scientific understanding. Sometimes it is not. One example of conflict between the two regards the topic of life on other planets: the Writings claim that humans live on all planets and satellites of this solar system, but contemporary science does not support this claim. What are New Church readers to do with conflicts like these? I’ve had that question put to me many times. I offer here a few thoughts on the subject, intended not as the final word but as a few ideas to engage the subject.

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