I “do” theology by weaving together different threads and spheres of interest.
One centre of interest, the one most related to “orthodox” theology, is informed by contemporary books analysing the health and sickness of the Church of England.
I have already written a blog about Adrian Thatcher’s Ending Abusive Theologies here , here and here .
I have also blogged about Stephen Kuhrt’s book Safeguarding the Institution here and here
The Bibliographies in both books reference numerous other recent books addressing abuse and safeguarding in the Church of England.
Also related to “orthodox” theology is the shockingly inadequate performance of the House of Bishops in General Synod and the failings of the Crown Nominations Commission to appoint new bishops to a growing list of vacant Sees. I’ve blogged about Bishops here and here and here.
I also “do” my theology by reading books and articles about developments in human life that sometimes inspire and sometimes alarm me. For example, I wrote about AI here
And I “do” theology through my commitment to a contemplative spiritual life, spending ninety minutes every morning in reflection and meditation. I explore the meaning of dreams (a very biblical approach) here
And through reading the works of visionary, inspiring wisdom people, blogged about here.
I also “do” my theology by engaging with philosophers and physicists and scientists who explore the world in ways that open new visions and understandings of divine, holy, sacred presence in my life. One source of inspiration is Carlo Rovelli, an Italian theoretical physicist and writer. He works mainly in the field of quantum gravity and is a founder of the theory of loop quantum gravity. In 1994, Rovelli introduced the relational interpretation of quantum mechanics, based on the idea that the quantum state of a system must always be interpreted relative to another physical system.
Rovelli has just published a new book, On the Equality of All Things: Physics and Philosophy, described by a reviewer in the Guardian as “a dazzling philosophical exploration of our place in the universe”.
Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity
In 2017 Rovelli published Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity posing existential questions: Do space and time truly exist? What is reality made of? Can we understand its deep texture? The book shows how our understanding of reality has changed throughout centuries from Democritus to loop quantum gravity and invites us to imagine a whole new world -- a vast universe still largely undiscovered. As a spiritual contemplative theologian, Rovelli’s explorations and ideas excited me.
Helgoland and Uncertainty
In 2022 Rovelli published Helgoland telling the story of the birth of quantum physics, a story, as he describes it, of youthful rebellion and intellectual revolution. In June 1925, a century ago, the twenty-three-year-old Werner Heisenberg had retreated to the wind-battered island of Helgoland in the North Sea. There he had the idea that would transform the whole of science and our conception of the world. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle states that there is a limit to the precision with which certain pairs of physical properties, such as position and momentum, can be simultaneously known. The more accurately one property is measured, the less accurately the other property can be known. Carlo Ravelli's theories are developments of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Rovelli offers his own view of this science, describing the world we experience as a fabric woven by relations where we, with everything around us, exist in our interactions with one another.
On the Equality of All Things: Physics and Philosophy
In On the Equality of All Things: Physics and Philosophy Rovelli asks what can we really know about the world around us and raises the question, is there beauty in daring not to know? There should be no fear, he says, in testing the limits of the speculative frontiers of modern physics and the boundaries of thought, not least because there may be no final ground to reach.
Rovelli shows that electrons and minds, stones and laws, judgements and galaxies are not essentially different in nature from one another, but rather ideas that illuminate each other; reality is shaped by a continuous play of reflections. From this emerges his visionary insight: the equality of all things. The book blurb says “Rovelli invites us to see reality anew, recognizing that our knowledge is coherent but also uncertain and circular. We humans are made of the same stuff as the rest of reality.”
It’s all relative
The book was reviewed in the Guardian on 3 October 2026. Rovell’s theory of quantum mechanics asks us to abandon the notion that the world is made up of things with fixed properties. Everything’s moving all the time, and there’s no fixed point around which we are in motion. Rovelli urges us to accept circularity and question the need to identify the ultimate foundation of things.
The world is not made up of objective things but processes. Every fact is only a fact relative to something else. We humans, living in this relational dynamic, describe the world from one perspective – ours; our subjective human experience.
His emphasis on perspective and relationality invites us to stop thinking about the world as something we observe from outside. He asks us to see the world as a set of interconnected relationships. We human beings are physical systems dancing among other physical systems. We are integral to and on the inside of the process of life.
Rovelli asks us to embrace what he calls “the nimble lightness of circularity, complexity, ambiguity, metaphors, emotions, the acceptance of uncertainty and change.” The term “consciousness” has superseded the word “soul” because it is perceived to be more scientific, even though it is just as nebulous. Rovelli sees no reason why we may not “calmly speak of the soul and emotions just as we speak of a table even if a table is just a collection of atoms. Provided we understand that physical processes underlie everything,
Christian Faith and the Uncertainty Principle
My Christian faith is rooted in my intuition that life is uncertain, and God is ultimately unknowable as an object. Let me put that more strongly. God cannot be known as an object. The fact that Jesus is worshipped as the Son of God doesn’t mean that Jesus can any more easily be known as an object. This is why I have a problem with the way the Church talks about God - and those who self-identify as orthodox, traditional, biblical Christians have a problem with me identifying as a Christian priest.
Self-defined orthodox traditional Christians are convicted about the truth of what they observe and know about God rooted in the authority and truth of the Bible. They are confident they know about God and Jesus because of what the Bible and the Church teach. For me, any religion can only be an imaginative, uncertain trust in something other. It’s our trust in love, goodness, wisdom that creates the substance of a healthy emotional, spiritual and conceptual life, Christian or other faith.
Trust
True faith is more about trusting in the quality of life rather than needing rigid certainty. Heisenberg and Rovelli argue that there is no such thing as rigid certainty. Our experience of life and divine, sacred otherness can only ever be an experience of trust, trust in values and qualities and trust in otherness, the sacred, the holy, and trust in our self. The ‘other’ doesn't exist without us observing it. It may or may not be there when we are not observing it. We are key in "making God present." That’s the point for me of being an “active” Christian.
Active Faith
Choosing faith puts the responsibility on us to actively choose love, goodness and truth to make them real in the world. We are essential to 'incarnation'. The incarnation of Jesus can't happen without us firstly observing it and secondly manifesting it, living it in our ideals and pattern of life and relationships. Effectively, “we make it". Most people seem to be very resistant to the idea. Uncertainty makes us essential actors in the manifestation of spiritual or Christian values and dynamics in life. We are "the real presence". Uncertainty places the focus on how we treat people and live out our Christian values every day.
Although Heisenberg formulated the uncertainty principle a century ago, most people don't yet understand its implications The dominant belief colludes in the idea of God ‘out there’ or ‘up there’, a being who is ultimately responsible for everything and to whom we are his irresponsible children, saved by Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross, appeasing His Father God who otherwise is justifiably angry with us. Hence the theology of sacrificial atonement, which I have never believed and which is dangerously abusive
We are responsible for manifesting Christian reality
Spiritual life is about taking responsibility for how we treat others rather than relying on conformity to abstract dogma. Abstract dogma resides in the head, not in the entire dynamic of our body systems and especially in our hearts and souls; it's in the ideas we live with, not the reality of relationships and emotions and feelings. I think the majority don’t seem to cope with this truth - that we are responsible - responsible adults for living in loving, creative relationships, creating life in all its fullness. Or if people do understand this in their everyday lives, they allow their understanding to be corrupted by Christian dogmatic teaching.
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