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Since Ian Barbour’s pioneering work in the mid-1960s, there has been a lively dialogue between spirituality and many scientific disciplines, including physics, biology, neuroscience, and genetics. By comparison, there has been relatively little dialogue between spirituality and mathematics. In this episode, Richard explores this emerging intersection with Dr. Sarah Voss, a mathematician and ordained pastor in the Unitarian Universalist Church. They also discuss her book, A Math Mystic’s Guide to Creative Spirituality.

Dr. Voss has dedicated much of her life to nurturing an emerging dialogue between math and spirituality. One of her most important contributions has been the development of “Mathaphors,” a word that she coined. Mathaphors occur when someone uses a law or insight from mathematics as a metaphor to understand some aspect of spirituality. For instance, Voss uses Snell’s rule—which describes how light bends, or refracts, when it passes from one transparent medium to another—as a Mathaphor to describe the human spirit when it experiences redemption.

In addition to Mathaphors, Richard and Sarah discuss how to affirm and learn from different religions in a pluralistic society. They also reflect on mysticism as a contributing component of the mathematics and spirituality interface.

Books Cited:

Sarah Voss, Math Mystic’s guide to Creative Spirituality, Wipf & Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 2024.

John Hick, An Interpretation of Religion: Human Response to the Transcendent, Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, 1989.

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Richard discusses the different ways ethics can inform the science and spirituality relationship. To lay the groundwork for his exploration of ethics in science and spirituality, Richard begins by drawing two very important distinctions: First, he discusses the distinction between ethics and morality. Second, he explains the distinction between secular or philosophical ethics versus religious or spiritual ethics.

From there, Richard proposes a Fivefold typology for relating religious or spiritual ethics with science. The five categories are:

1. Separation. In this category, spiritual ethics and science are kept completely separate from one another.
2. Independent Incorporation. Here, persons of faith reach ethical conclusions based solely on their interpretation of their religious tradition’s teachings and sacred scriptures concerning a particular issue. However, after reaching their ethical position, they will then invoke scientific observation and research to buttress their ethical conclusion or make it more accessible to others who do not share the same religious perspective. The key here is that their ethical position is predetermined before they draw from science.
3. Scientifically Informed. In this category, religious ethics incorporates scientific research and data into its ethical reflection. That is, scientific discoveries actually shape and influence the reflections, deliberations, and conclusions of spiritual ethics.
4. Mutually Informing. In this category, spiritual ethics and science mutually inform one another at the applied level. Spiritual ethics and science mutually shape and inform one another on particular ethical questions. Two examples of mutually informing are: (1) What ethical obligations would human space explorers owe to non-sentient extraterrestrial life, if it were discovered in our solar system? and (2) What are the ethical considerations for the use of the new genetic technology, CRISPR?
5. Foundation Integration. This category is at a deeper level than “Mutually Informing.” In this category, spiritual ethics and science mutually inform one another at the meta- or foundational level. Science and spiritual ethics will be used to inform the foundational assumptions, building blocks, and paradigms of one another. This mutual informing frequently occurs around the question, “What does it mean to be human?”

For Further Information:

• “We need to talk about human genome editing,” (Editorial) 8 January 2025,Nature 637, 252 (2025).
• Exploring the Origin, Extent, and Future of Life: Philosophical, Theological and Ethical Perspectives, ed. Connie Bertka, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2009. (This volume contains a collection of essays written by NASA scientists, as well as religious ethicists and theologians, concerning the obligations human space explorers may owe to non-sentient extraterrestrial life, if it is discovered in our Solar System.

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In this solo episode, Richard Randolph begins by acknowledging the disastrous misunderstanding prevalent in society that science and spirituality are somehow locked in a bitter winner-take-all conflict for supremacy. Against this false myth, Richard asserts that, on the contrary, most religions and spiritualities have historically supported and nurtured science as an important human endeavor. He provides evidence supporting this claim from Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Native American perspectives, and Christianity.

Richard claims that science can actually deepen and strengthen our religious faith or spirituality. He provides three illustrations of this claim, based upon his personal experiences in life. These three illustrations draw from scientific cosmology, ornithology, and quantum physics. He concludes by suggesting that people from other spiritual backgrounds may also find that the sciences can actually deepen and strengthen their spiritualities, as well.

For further information:

Gregory Cajete, Native Science, Natural Laws of Interdependence, Santa Fe, New Mexico: Clear Light Books, 2000.

Shawn Wilson, Research Is Ceremony, Indigenous Research Methods, Fernwood Publishing, 2008.

For more information about Sandhill cranes, check out the Rowe Sanctuary website at: https://rowe.audubon.org/.