"Stand in the place where you live, now face north. Think about direction, wonder why you haven't before." -R.E.M.

Einstein

Theology, Einstein, and Quantum Entanglement

02/03/2010 02:16 AM Filed in: Theology | Science

I’m going to give it to you straight-up: this blog post is probably not going to be of much interest to most of you. Great way to start an entry, eh?

Lately I’ve been pondering what quantum physics, more specifically quantum mechanics, Einstein, and a scientific view of determinism can mean for our theology. This post will essentially consist of me thinking out loud as I haven’t come to any real conclusions just yet.

I am not a determinist. I believe Scripture teaches that God has endowed man with a finite degree of free will. As many of you are aware there have been great debates on this topic, traditionally between Calvinists and Arminianists, for hundreds of years. I spent a great deal of time studying the matter in college and seminary and it continues to be a theological passion of mine, though it certainly pales in comparison to Christ crucified and resurrected.

I do not align myself with either Calvinists or Arminianists as I feel that both schools of thought leave much to be desired in their handling of the full biblical account. If labels must be applied, I would consider myself a neo-Molinist but it’s unlikely that this label means much to most of my readers. The bottom line is this: I believe that God determines much of what will happen but leaves the future partly open to allow for a degree of human freedom.

What’s interesting about determinism/free will debates is they are not confined to the theological arena. Theologians, philosophers, and scientists have all had disputes about whether humans are truly free to choose. I’d like to briefly discuss how this debate has played out in the domain of quantum mechanics and then make a few suggestions as to how this could bolster the beliefs of free-will theists.

Later this week (hopefully) I’ll continue by discussing why Einstein long struggled with the idea that the universe was probabilistic at the quantum level.

Tags: Einstein, quantum non-local connection, quantum entanglement, quantum physics, determinism, free will