Friday, May 14, 2021

Iain McGilchrist - Some Themes for Theologians

 I can't help thinking that some of the themes in Dr Iain McGilchrist's work might have interesting connections with the Trinity and Christology because he is very concerned with problems of the One and the Many, how do we account for the particular and the general. And how can we speak of a unity without confusion and a distinction without separation. 

Maybe there could also be a dialogue with sacramental theology and the philosophy of language because there are themes here of being and representation, attention and presence, the thing and the thing signified. In a way, the word (the language category) might be said to bring things into being, to create the reality for people to receive. 

Theologians may also be interested in his chapter on paradox in the forthcoming The Matter with Things

McGilchrist's case that matter (things, stuff, persons as machines) is not all that matters is if course pertinent to Christians. 

Other interesting things in McGilchrist's work include the importance of relations as well as things in themselves. 

And the interconnected nature of all things, which of course makes sense if God is the creator and sustained of all things. As John Muir wrote: "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." For the Christian, anything leads ultimately back to its Maker. 

The moral theologian might be interested in themes of acting whilst remaining open, how we need to decide but also live with uncertainty. 

McGilchrist will likely have useful things to say about epistemology as he discusses science and reason (and their limits) as well as intuition and imagination. 

McGilchrist calls for humility and awe, a sense of the sacred. He pays attention to truth, goodness and beauty and wants to address consciousness, meaning, purpose and value as things given in the cosmos. 

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