Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics [Paperback]

Diarmuid O'Murchu (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1997

From black holes to holograms, from relativity theory to the discovery of quarks,an original exposition of quantum theory tht unravels profound theological questions.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Postulating a new theology is, by any standard, no mean feat. Attempting to define, as O'Murchu valiantly does, a theology that embraces the latest advances in quantum physics can only be considered a task of Herculean proportions. While well-intentioned and well-researched, this book extrapolates farther and farther away from quantum mechanical insights into realms which, at times, are quite speculative in order to create a basis for a quantum theology. For example, O'Murchu begins his system with synergy, the principle that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, a principle that is not inherently a quantum mechanical conclusion at all. O'Murchu gives his argument sharper focus when he describes Stephen Hawking's concept of the birth of the universe, and he does a workmanlike job of creating what might best be called a cosmological theology. Unfortunately, the author's circuitous prose is difficult to follow. However, putting O'Murchu's audacious work into perspective, even Roger Penrose, in his Shadows of the Mind, admitted he was challenged to find a basis for consciousness in quantum mechanics. Finding a basis for God in quantum mechanics may be something else altogether.

Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Crossroad (February 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824516303
• ISBN-13: 978-0824516307
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,117,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well worth reading, but contains some serious flaws, November 13, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Grays Harbor County, WA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics (Paperback)

O'Murchu does an excellent job of introducing quantum theory (and to a lesser extent chaos theory) as a potential source of theological enlightenment. But one suspects he brings a lot of prior (Marxist?) baggage to the table that in places seems to contradict his central thesis. For example he makes a valid point of the wholeness of good and evil, light and dark, etc. and deplores our traditional way of dealing with these as polar opposites or dualisms. Fine so far, but then when he describes some of the "sins" of the contemporary world, he does so in much the same polemical way of any conventional "politcially correct" attack on the forces of evil as a typcial left-wing activist defines it. He proposes engagement with our shadow side as an alternative to the traditional Christian response to evil, however defined. But when listing his pet "sins" of today, O'Murchu promptly lapses into the traditional attack mode response himself and he seems oblivious to the contradiction.

For example he is highly critical of competition throughout the book and urges cooperation in its place. I agree that is often called for, but at the same time competition and cooperation often complement each other. In fact competition often has the effect of enchancing cooperation in a wide range of arenas such as team sports, etc. O'Murchu never invokes his broader understanding that these two modes are complementary aspects rather than polar opposites. For example O'Murchu himself describes how the competitive invasion of a virus into the body soon invokes a cooperative antibody response by the immune system. Yet he ignores the fact that something similar is often at work in the social body.

He also mentions alcoholism at several points but only as a "family disease" (which it certainly can become. But he hints that the individual alcoholic has no personal responsibility for making a decision to submit to addiction or not. He leaves the impression that it is caused by an unfair social order "which drives people to drink". That is of course nearly every alcoholics favorite excuse. Oddly enough O'Murchu ignores Alcoholics Anonymous which has had the greatest success by far in getting people to abstain from drink mainly by entering into a spiritual life much like the one he seems to be advocating.

Still, despite these criticisms, I liked the book and thought it well worth reading. It is loaded with excellent insights. It gives a good overview of the contemporary theological scene as well. And as I said, O'Murchu well explains how quantum theory opens the door to a fruitful theological and spiritual discussion that classical Newtonian physics precludes. However, for those who want greater depth of understanding on just how and why the wave/particle duality of quantum theory opens this door, I recommend reading Lothar Schafer's 1997 book, In Search of Divine Reality (U. of Ark. Press)

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good intentions, but fails to compel, March 23, 2001

By 

Ty Kain "Kanos" (New Joisay, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics (Paperback)

This book fails to set up and maintain a logical flow to advance its thesis. He should have started with the appendix as a list of axioms, then proven statements from those axioms to construct his theory. Instead, the text is rather scatter-brained and lacking in conciseness. He fails to give good definitions of many terms used (light, dark, etc), which leaves them as free parameters instead of giving them precise moral values.

To me, the objective of furthering the implementation of quantum physics within theology is admirable, though questionable in its justification. His principles are vast, unproveable generalizations of a poorly understood physical theory which itself is only an approximation to more fundamental theories (such as string/M-theory, if it turns out to really be a physical theory). So, even ignoring the free parameters, the applicability of his axioms to our universe is unclear.

Moreover, as faith is the one truly subjective human pursuit, completely lacking in objective data to ground together multiple viewpoints, any arguments involving faith fail to compel. This is because there is no reason for all beings to share the same faith, no evidence to draw or repel potential believers. Some may argue that holy scriptures are pieces of such evidence, however they are analogous to a report on a physical experiment conducted long ago which states only the results of the experiment, with no description of the setup itself. In this case, the experiment is not repeatable, since we don't know how it was conducted, and we have no way of knowing how much the authors' personal prejudices or mistakes influenced his/her report. Holy scriptures give, at best, second hand accounts of the true objective data (the miracles, revelations, etc) and since we are unable to witness those miracles, etc, for ourselves we are simply left with interesting, useless tales.

Thus, O'Murchu's axioms which ascribe a definite nature to the supernatural, hence require faith to be held as true, are merely arbitrary choices within an infinite array of equally weighted possibilities. Therefore, I find his project to be flawed in both its basis and its execution.

24 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Theos, Thea, or What?, July 27, 1999

By 

George N. Wells (Dover, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics (Paperback)

The author does make some interesting arguments. However, I recommend reading the appendicies first as a way of being introduced to the "theology."

The author is overly steeped in New Age, Femininst, and Anti-Industrial dogma and this seeps into an otherwise interesting view of the theological viewpoint.

I prefer the appendicies over the text as it provides a lot of ideas on which to work and think. Overall pretty good but would have been better without the preaching in the text.