Entropy,the Fall,and Tillich: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Original Sin

The focus of this paper is to present a bridge between the theological notion of original sin and the scientific concept of entropy. Physics has firmly established that the universe is moving towards increasing entropy, whereby the cosmos is in a state of decay and growing disorder. At the same time, traditional theology has perceived that the world is in a state of chaos, resulting from the sin of Adam and Eve. While these notions have a number of significant similarities, the causal explanation for both theories poses a problem for any correlation between the two. Theology has struggled to explain how human action produced entropic phenomena without enacting anachronistic explanations that discount scientific data. This paper intends to close the gap by positing the principle of entropy as an existential dynamic of the Fall, thus reasserting the universality of original sin and evading the narrowness of anthropocentrism. Paul Tillich's interpretation of the Fall provides important insights that can affirm the corrosion of the world from a scientific and a theological perspective, potentially bringing these two disciplines into a position for a more fruitful dialogue.     

Endless forms most beautiful 1

Beautiful form rather than efficient cause is the crucial category for understanding living processes, especially evolution. Drawing on the fields of non-equilibrium thermodynamics and citing Darwin's own observations, the author proposes a new understanding of form that corresponds to the dynamism present in living forms and overcomes the limitations of other metaphysical notions of form. Form as beautiful “dynamic form” promises an enriched empiricism, which not only can speak “correctly” about nature but also “well” of nature. In other words, an enriched empiricism of beautiful dynamic forms allows for a fruitful dialogue between science and theology. It avoids theological explanations that call for special divine intervention in the world of Nature which threaten the dignity and self-integrity of Creation. It opens up a view, however, of a divine “milieu,” a divine “Openness,” that providentially calls for beautiful dynamic forms to emerge and entangle through the evolutionary process of nature.