One key to unlocking science and the Christian faith is materialism. There seem to be a variety of interpretations of this word. I will use materialism and its derivatives in the sense of a belief that is essentially reductionist. The belief that everything we encounter can be explained in terms of the fundamental particles from which it is made. This is also sometimes described as a mechanical view of the universe.
My point is that the world cannot be explained in materialist terms alone; that consciousness is an essential element of the universe and the universe cannot be explained without it. I would also maintain this is not a belief in the supernatural. The material and the spiritual are both essential to our understanding of the world. For the moment I use the word spiritual to mean those elements of the universe that are not material, the term will become clearer later.
My guide for this exploration is a book by Graham Dunstan Martin, Does It Matter?: The Unsustainable World of the Materialists. I will build on Martin's work by exploring how conversation, or relationships, are essential to a non-materialist reading of the universe. A spiritual nature implies relationship which will manifest itself as conversation of some description. It seems to me that conversations between theology and science will themselves generate a new reality.
Most Christians insist upon a Trinitarian understanding of God. This implies relationship in the heart of the Godhead and perhaps this will be as good a place to start as any.
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