In this first of three papers, I identify three fundamental epistemological themes that have informed Christian mystical theology and then explore how these themes might be given further ...understanding via natural science. The first theme, the spiritual senses, is modeled after the physical senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting. From a scientific viewpoint, the spiritual senses are like virtual senses which perceive through the mind rather than through the body. The second theme, the energies of God, can be expressed metaphorically through cross-domain mapping, wherein physical energy is the source domain and spiritual energy is the target domain. Physical energy is useful energy for work, whereas spiritual energy represents God's work in the natural world. The third theme, negation by apophasis, disavows both affirmation and denial, thus emphasizing that God is beyond all language. Affirmation and denial imply an unveiling and veiling, a process that occurs in both science and religion. Because of its simplicity and fecundity, this third theme can also be linked with science through considerations of beauty and elegance.
. The present malaise of religion—and of theology, its intellectual formulation—in Western society is analyzed, with some personal references, especially with respect to its history in the United ...Kingdom and the United States. The need for a more open theology that takes account of scientific perspectives is urged. An indication of the understandings of God and of God's relation to the world which result from an exploration starting from scientific perspectives is expounded together with their fruitful relation to some traditional themes. The implications of this for the future of theology are suggested, not least in relation to the new phase, beginning in 2003, of the development of the Zygon Center for Religion and Science. In a concluding reflection the hope is expressed that the shared global experience and perspectives generated by the sciences might form a more common and acceptable starting point than hitherto for the exploration towards God of the seekers of many religious traditions and of none.
