Strangely enough this week I've seen two "peak viewing" type thriller programmes (Flashforward and Paradox) that have featured discussions about the "many-worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics. I don't understand much about physics, but I guess the people who came up with this theory didn't do it mainly to provide plot material for sci-fi writers.
Having said that, it seems such a weird theory to me that only a story can make sense of it, even if the nuances get lost in the process. So what? Well, it seems to me that a lot of academic theology is about as far removed from the lives of most Christians as quantum mechanics is from most TV viewers. Most people simply don't get that excited about the Cappadocian Trinity, the new perspective on Paul, or the finer points of the doctrine of justification. That doesn't mean to say that it doesn't have value, of course. But it does mean that we need, among other things, to tell stories to make the relevance of theology clear; and that the risk for those who do the academic stuff is not knowing quite what it will look like when translated into ordinary life.
Perhaps even more pointedly, we need to realise that even a lot of our basic beliefs as Christians seem as far removed from your average unbeliever as the finer points of quantum mechanics too.
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