Heller M, Woodin W.H. (eds.) Infinity. New research frontiers (CUP, 2011)(ISBN 1107003873)(O)(327s)_MAml_

276 god and infinitywith the world in which we live, particularly as it is illuminated by science. This wayof speaking is called “kataphatic,” from the Greek , meaning “according to”or by analogy. Thus, when we experience wonder and awe at the immensity and beautyof the universe, we are led to think of God as utterly wondrous, terribly awesome, thesource of ecstatic beauty. When we experience love in our lives, when we are forgivenour iniquities by those we have wronged, when we know the goodness of home, hearth,health, and family, we can be led to speak of God as perfect love, unconditional mercy,the source of all that is good, our final home beyond death and grief. Most importantly,when we look up from the daily routine of life and witness the sacred in our midst, asMoses did when he turned aside from tending his sheep to go to see the burning bush(Exod. 3:1–6), we are compelled to confess God as utterly holy. Thus, we are envelopedby the mystery of a God who surpasses all knowing, yet we know that this God seeksus and would be known by us, and so we move ahead in the light of this knowledge.This requires us to remember the poverty of faith in light of the surpassing mystery ofGod and cloak all that we wish to affirm in the spreading folds of our unknowing. Theway of faith is always the disposition of humility in which the kataphatic undergirdsthe apophatic.In this chapter I want to explore ways in which modern mathematics bears importantimplications for our theological conversation about God. The key mathematical piecewill be Georg Cantor’s work on infinity in relation to the ways in which divine revelationboth reveals and veils God and in relation to the concept of the divine eternity inthe theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg. This choice to focus on Cantor’s mathematicsarises because we normally think of infinity in relation to theology through the vianegativa: by way of utter contrast with the finite and temporal world that God created.This reflects a view of infinity that dates back to the ancient Greeks, where infinity isdefined apophatically through its contrast with the finite: the infinite is the apeiron – theunbounded, the unlimited, or the formless. Recent developments in mathematics sincethe nineteenth century may shed new light on this issue. Georg Cantor, in particular,has given us a new conception of infinity that is much more complex than previouslythought, with layers of infinities leading out endlessly to an unreachable Absolute.In effect, we now can say a lot more about infinity than merely that it contrastswith the finite – indeed, an infinite amount more! These revolutionary discoveries inmathematics might, then, lead to new insights into the ways we can use the concept ofinfinity in thinking theologically about God. 113.2 A Note on Infinity in Mathematics,Philosophy, and Theology 2The history of the concept of the infinite in mathematics, philosophy, and theologyfrom early Greek thought through the European Enlightenment is both extraordinarily1 For a readable and insightful introduction I recommend Rucker (1983). For a paper that explores themes in commonwith the present paper, see Pennings (1993). For online resources see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinityand http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/set-theory.2 Sections 2 and 3.1 draw in part from Rucker (1983).