Matheology is a combination of the words “math” and “theology.” The On-Line Museum of Matheology is a Web exhibit which presents an overview of ideas involved in science and religion through the “bridge” of metaphors drawn from mathematics, or mathaphors.
“Schematic diagram of the future On-Line Museum of Matheology” The anticipated format of the exhibit will be something similar to that found format of such a museum can be found here.
The exhibit contains eight virtual displays arranged in a circle; the on-line visitor peruses these exhibits by repeatedly “zooming in” for closer inspection. Each display consists of selected quotations, graphics, cartoons, news articles, and supporting materials.
When possible, the exhibit will use appropriate “links” to explore the material more deeply. At the circleÕs center is a virtual bench where visitors can meditate (to music, if desired) on original art works which reflect eight themes, including Metaphors in Mathematics, Science and Religion; Holy Numbers; Math Images of the Divine; Conscious Computers; Out of Chaos, Order; Illusions and Religion; Beyond the Copernican Revolution; Mathematics, Compassion, and Life Itself. The exhibit introduces visitors, both lay and professional, to the many ways in which math, science, and religion have historically influenced each other, and to exciting new concepts currently being explored. Designed by Sarah Voss, a retired Unitarian Universalist minister and former mathematics teacher, this on-line museum can also be used as an interfaith adult religious education resource.
Topical Overview
On-line Museum of Matheology
- Metaphors in Mathematics, Science and Religion (history of math/science and religion; math as language; symbolism; math in everyday life)
Sample Quote: “Anyone who tried to explain modern science to the general public faces a choice, either to write an elementary textbook with technical terminology carefully defined, or to take refuge in metaphor. Freeman Dyson, Infinite in All Directions
- Holy Numbers (Pythagorean mathematics; math and music; number mysticism; magic, superstition, fact)
Sample Quote: Verily God is an odd number and loves the odd numbers. Islamic Saying
- Math Images of the Divine (mathematics behind sacred art; geometry and the sacred; non-mathematical images of God; mathematical images of God)
Sample Quote: If it be true that God is a circle whose centre is everywhere, the saint goes to the center, the poet and the artist to the ring where everything comes round again. William Butler Yeats, Irish poet,1865-1939
- Conscious Computers? (history of computers; cultural concepts of computers; artificial intelligence and robotics; neuroscience; life/machine symbiosis; computers and the soul)
Sample Quote: And now we stand at the start of a new movement in this delicate dance of technology and faith: the marriage of God and the global computer networks. Cover Story, Time Magazine, December 1996
- Out of Chaos, Order (chaos theory and its implications for theology, for life/biology, and for religion as a social institution)
Sample Quote: In our current patriarachal paradigm, Order is to Chaos as good is to evil, and this has been the status quo for the past four to six millennia. But in the new paradigm of the Chaos Revolution, chaos is the favored state of Nature, where it is truly good. Ralph Abraham, Chaos, Gaia, Eros
- Illusions and Religion (mathematics behind illusions; spiritual use of illusions; quantum theology; holographic world-view; many faiths/one faith)
Sample Quote: Mind is a mathematics. Karl Pribram, quoted in Aquarian Conspiracy
- Beyond the Copernican Revolution (role of math, science and religion in shaping views of the cosmos; past and present maps of the universe; hyperspace and other speculative theories)
Sample Quote: The great Architect of the Universe now begins to appear as a mathematician. James Jeans, English astronomer, physicist, mathematician, 1877-1946
- Mathematics, Compassion, and Life Itself (mathematics, religion, evolution and biogenetics; mathematics of social behavior; math and religion as forms of moral order)
Sample Quote: In mathematics we can see inside… to an extent that would be Godlike in the external world. Robert Rosen, Mathematical biologist, in Life Itself
This exhibit will be constructed over time. Individuals are needed to help “build” it collaboratively. If you can contribute technical skill, mastery of subject matter, and/or funding, please contact Sarah Voss here.
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