Alexei V. Nesteruk - The Sense of the Universe

This book, in a way, represents a further extension of some ideas on the dialogue between science and theology that were formulated in my previous books Light from the East and The Universe as Communion. My position on the general approach to the dialogue between theology and science has experienced a considerable transformation toward an understanding that theology and science cannot enter this dialogue on the same footing, that is, on equal terms. Orthodox Christianity treats theology as experience, related specifically to communion of human persons with God while being in the physical universe. In fact, life is communion, so that all other activities (including a scientific one) originate in this communion. In this sense, to establish the dialogue between theology and science means to appropriate science theologically, that is, experientially or existentially. The symmetry between theology and science is not sustainable simply because existence, that is, life as a center of disclosure and manifestation, precedes its explication through science. This asymmetry reveals itself in the dialogue as a certain (a priori) theological commitment. Theological commitment means an intentional approach to science through the eyes of (existential) faith. Being a commitment, it entails a method: namely a phenomenological explication of those premises in the coherence between human rationality and the rationality of the cosmos that make cosmology possible at all. The aim and the final result of such an analysis is the creation of a solid ground for understanding the sense of cosmologys dialogue with theology. This book deals with three principal aspects of explication of the theological commitment in cosmology: 1) the reinstatement of personhood to its central place in the dialogue between theology and cosmology as being a center of disclosure and manifestation in both theology and cosmology; 2) the elucidation of the sense of retaining transcendence while conducting research within the rubrics of intentional immanence, which ultimately elucidates the sense of humanity as not being circumscribed by the necessities of the universe, but carrying in itself the Divine image; and thus 3) the elucidation of cosmology as activity explicating the history of salvation and thus contributing to faith in God.

There are many colleagues and friends who through discussions and indirect support contributed toward the writing of this book. Among many, I would like to express my feelings of gratitude to my sons Dmitri and Mark, as well as my wife Zhanna, for existential support and encouragement. My sister Nina was very helpful in obtaining necessary Russian books while I was outside Russia: my deep gratitude to her. George Horton deserves special thanks as a first reader of the book, contributing a lot to its style and ultimate shape. Among others, my thanks for fruitful conversations and discussions go to Christopher Dewdney, David Matravers, Roy Maartens, David Bacon, David Coule, Joel Matthews, John Bowker, Niels Gregersen, Adrian Lemeni, Michael McCabe, Mogens Wegener, Alfred Osborne, Argyrios Nicolaides, Rev. Christopher Knight, Andrei Pavlenko, Grigory Benevich, Grigory Goutner, Dmitri Biryukov, Marina Vasina, Aleksandr Shevchenko, Alexandr Soldatov, Natalia Pecherskaya, Tatiana Litvin, Sister Teresa Obolevich, Oksana Kuropatkina, Stoyan Tanev, Ruslan Loshakov, Andrei Grib, Peter Coleman, Antonio Samons, Rev. Konstantin Litvinenko, Rev. Kyrill Kopeikin, Rev. Brian Macdonald-Milne, Brother Christopher Mark (CSWG), Florin Caragiu, Andreas Marcou and Alex Ali. I am particularly grateful to Metropolitan John of Pergamon (Zizioulas) for appreciation of my contribution to the dialogue between Orthodox Christianity and science, as well as for encouragement. The department of mathematics of the University of Portsmouth was very helpful in providing me with the conditions for conducting research and writing: my special thanks to its head Andrew Osbaldestin for comprehension and support. I always used the opportunity to communicate general ideas developed in this book through the courses in theoretical and mathematical physics, as well as history and philosophy of mathematics which I taught an the University of Portsmouth. In this regard I would like to thank all my students who were patient and perceptive in grasping complicated ideas. St. Andrews Biblical and Theological Institute in Moscow was also very helpful for providing me an opportunity to approve ideas developed in this book during its summer institutes in 2005-2014. I am grateful to Alexei Bodrov and Mikhail Tolstoluzhenko for inviting me to collaborate and contribute to various scientific events. Since the project of this book dates back many years, the research and publication of its ideas were indirectly supported by the John Templeton Foundation (JTF) through its grants (#1573 and #11921) as well as through numerous international projects where the ideas of the book were approved. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Foundation for this support. Some papers related to the content of this book have been published with the support of JTF through the Copernicus Centre in Krakow. The opinions expressed in those publications as well as in this book are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the JTF.