Doppler Effect and Theology
The Doppler Effect is this: the change in frequency of a sound (or other event) for an observer based on the movement of either the observer or the source. Most commonly, this is heard when a vehicle with a siren is heard approaching, beside, passing and receding.
It is a phenomenon we all experience, and I think it is an important illustration. Because the sound and the observer or, I suppose, listener, do not actually change. Just the change of sound or observation based on position. But that position changes how we interpret the sound: is it close? Is it moving away from me? Is it a threat? Do I need to move? etc. etc.
As someone who has driven a fire engine, I know that the siren sounds the same from start to finish. But that doesn't mean it sounds the same to everyone else as we encounter them.
The same is true for theology. I have found that, especially as I re-read some old books, that the words on the page haven't changed, but my relative position to them has. As such, what I hear is not the same as what I once heard and, I would surmise, it will also not be what I will hear at some future point. It suggests movement and fluidity, both of my thought processes, as well as my relationship to the theological point.
It is not always a truth that particularly steadfast religious people can acknowledge. Because it implies that things have changed. For many, the desire to keep one's faith and beliefs at a particular place indefinitely comes from a variety of places: fear of change (due largely to lack of reflection), and the fact that for many of us, our theological education stops about the time we graduate from high school and we never have people to teach us to push further.
Therefore, many of us don't hear any Doppler shift in our theological thinking because our position relative to the theology hasn't changed. Of course that's good news for fundamentalists, because they don't want to change, nor do they think that kind of change is a good one anyway.
However, those kinds of changes can creep up on you, and it is only when we realize the change in sound that we realize our position in relation to particular theologies has changed.
Do you wear the same clothing you wore 10 years ago? Probably not. And I would guess that you think differently about a variety of topics from political to personal. But theology?
Stop and listen.
It is a phenomenon we all experience, and I think it is an important illustration. Because the sound and the observer or, I suppose, listener, do not actually change. Just the change of sound or observation based on position. But that position changes how we interpret the sound: is it close? Is it moving away from me? Is it a threat? Do I need to move? etc. etc.
As someone who has driven a fire engine, I know that the siren sounds the same from start to finish. But that doesn't mean it sounds the same to everyone else as we encounter them.
The same is true for theology. I have found that, especially as I re-read some old books, that the words on the page haven't changed, but my relative position to them has. As such, what I hear is not the same as what I once heard and, I would surmise, it will also not be what I will hear at some future point. It suggests movement and fluidity, both of my thought processes, as well as my relationship to the theological point.
It is not always a truth that particularly steadfast religious people can acknowledge. Because it implies that things have changed. For many, the desire to keep one's faith and beliefs at a particular place indefinitely comes from a variety of places: fear of change (due largely to lack of reflection), and the fact that for many of us, our theological education stops about the time we graduate from high school and we never have people to teach us to push further.
Therefore, many of us don't hear any Doppler shift in our theological thinking because our position relative to the theology hasn't changed. Of course that's good news for fundamentalists, because they don't want to change, nor do they think that kind of change is a good one anyway.
However, those kinds of changes can creep up on you, and it is only when we realize the change in sound that we realize our position in relation to particular theologies has changed.
Do you wear the same clothing you wore 10 years ago? Probably not. And I would guess that you think differently about a variety of topics from political to personal. But theology?
Stop and listen.
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