QUANTUM MECHANICS,TIME, AND THEOLOGY: INDEFINITE CAUSAL ORDER AND A NEW APPROACH TO SALVATION

Quantum mechanics has recently indicated that, at the fundamental level, temporal order is not fixed. This phenomenon, termed Indefinite Causal Order, is yet to receive metaphysical or theological engagement. We examine Indefinite Causal Order, particularly as it emerges in a 2018 photonic experiment. In this experiment, two operations A and B were shown to be in a superposition with regard to their causal order. Essentially, time, intuitively understood as fixed, flowing, and fundamental, becomes fuzzy. We argue that if Indefinite Causal Order is true, this is good evidence in favor of a B-theory of time, though such a B-theory requires modification. We then turn to theology, suggesting that a B-theoretic temporal ontology invites serious reconsideration of the doctrine of salvation. This paper concludes that the best explanation for salvation given a B-theory is mind-dependent salvific becoming, a type of psychological soteriological change that occurs through downward causation.     

Small angle X-ray analysis of alternate-layer Langmuir—Blodgett films

Abstract

Using small-angle X-ray diffraction, we demonstrate in this Letter that alternate-layer Langmuir-Blodgett films of tricosanoic acid/1-docosylamine and docosanoic acid/1-docosylamine retain their ‘as-deposited’ structure. Both of these non-centrosymmetrical bilayer structures exhibit a smaller tilting of their hydrocarbon tails than that observed for the corresponding centrosymmetric monocomponent systems. The electron-density profiles obtained for the alternate-layer systems reveal that the points of contact for the ends of the hydrocarbon chains are shifted from the centre of the unit cell and that the density maxima, corresponding to the positions of the polar head groups, possess an asymmetrical shape.     

Conversation with 2017 American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching award winner Lynn Neal

This conversation between the 2017 American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching award winner Lynn Neal and the editors of Teaching Theology and Religion continues an occasional series of interviews that has previously featured Jonathan Z. Smith, Stephen Prothero, Mary Pierce Brosmer, Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore, and the 2016 Teaching award winner Joanne Maguire Robinson. The exchange takes as its point of departure the AAR teaching statement that Professor Neal submitted. Topics discussed include introductory courses, active learning assignments, religious intolerance and privatization, student learning outcomes, different levels of student skills and preparation, augmenting assignments through the production of video interviews with scholars, and finding conversation partners for reflecting on teaching under the life balance stresses of the academy today.