This series of articles has been offering theological
conversation around the philosophy of John Boyd. Boyd was an officer in the
United States Air Force, famously known for his theories on winning tactical
engagements (OODA, Energy-Maneuverability). Boyd built these theories on the
foundation of a much deeper study of epistemology: how we experience and make
sense of the world around us. A key foundational premise in Boyd’s thinking is
the idea that the Universe is, “uncertain, ever-changing, unpredictable;” the
Universe is chaos.[1] Any
reliable order we find is an anomaly within a larger chaotic system. Any order
we find swims in a sea of disorder.[2]
In order
to engage Boyd’s thinking on a theological level, we must address this basic
question: is the Universe inherently orderly or chaotic? When I began
attempting to make sense of this question, I did what all thinkers do, I asked
my family and friends. I’m inclined to believe my family and friends are
uniquely insightful, but don’t we all? Regardless, their answers fell into
three broad themes.[3]
The Universe is Orderly
Within traditional theological interpretation, order
seems to be the only acceptable answer. The initial creation narrative shows
God creating a series of clear categories, distinctions, and systems, even
giving humanity dominion within these systems (Gen. 1:1-31). Today, we refer to
these orderly systems as natural “laws,” really just observations on how nature
never fails to do what it has always done. The rising and setting of the sun,
the coming and going of the seasons, the inevitability of water flowing from
the mountains to the sea, only to be absorbed into the air to fall on the
mountains once again. The writer of Ecclesiastes appears to lament that nature
is predictable to the point of boredom (1:3-9). Today, science has shown us
this order pervades to the atomic level, where the spinning of one atom is
matched by a partner atom, regardless of the distance between them.
An
objection to this view might be human free will, the capacity of any person at
any time to choose a disruptive, chaotic series of actions. To that, order
advocates note that free will is not truly chaotic. It is not random or
unexpected. Humans offer logical reasons for their actions, and those reasons
are often attempts to attain some type of order. Even decisions designed to be
disruptive tend to use that disruption to upset the status quo and establish a
new order.
Scripture
is rich with imagery of God repeatedly defeating chaos to bring order in life
creating and sustaining ways. Whether it is the ordering of the formless void
at creation, the splitting of the sea to preserve Israel, the taming of Job’s
Leviathan, or the silencing of the sea with a word; God consistently tames the
forces of chaos to bring order (Gen: 1:1-31; Is. 51:10; Job 41; Mt. 4:35-41).
Yet, this raises an objection. Disorder remains in the world. The biblical
motifs of desert and sea acknowledge the reality of times and places where the
apparently orderly systems of creation do no thrive. If those elements of chaos
had been completely eliminated in the creative act, we would not know of them;
but here they are.
The Universe is Chaotic
Advocates for a chaotic universe point to the primordial
“stuff” of creation. Genesis 1:2 famously declares “the earth was without form,
and void; and darkness was upon the face of deep (KJV).” Upon this formless
nothing, God created the order which we now experience; yet, don’t experience.
The narrative arc of the first few chapters of Genesis relate an initial
created order which did not last. Through the Fall, a chaotic element was
introduced to the world, rendering creation unstable; the chaotic realms of
desert and sea maintain their domain.
Science
names this chaos as entropy, the consistent loss of energy across time. The
universe is winding down, and as less energy is available, order decays into
disorder. Even the laws of nature which we regularly observe are subject to
decay. In lived experience, we encounter this through weeds in a garden, or the
messy room of a teenager. Order requires the expenditure of energy; and when
energy is not available, disorder rules. Without intervention, creation seems
to want to return to its initial formless and void state.
Key in
this trend towards chaos is human free will. We may place logical reasons, or a
desire to establish a new order, behind our decisions, but the fact remains
that even our carefully reasoned order may serve selfish desires, detrimental
to nature and humanity. The ability to choose a path which degrades the quality
and even possibility of life is a chaotic element.
Genesis
tells the story of God moving chaos to order, but also the story of humanity’s
freedom to resist that order; and the Universe’s tendency to return to
disorder. In this system, any order we find is the expenditure of a creating or
sustaining energy into a Universe which desires to fall apart. Any remnant of
creation which remains is an act of grace.
We Can’t Know
Some of the friends and family I polled declined to
answer, arguing it is impossible to know. The breadth and efficacy of human
observation and judgment is notoriously limited. Perhaps what we see as chaos
has an order on a magnitude we cannot see. Maybe what we see as a routine
ordering of events sows seeds of chaos on a grand scale. We simply can’t know.
Scripture
attests to this in several ways. The story of Joseph is that of a young man
sold into chaos, despised by his brothers who faked his death and sent him to
Egypt as a slave, and later imprisoned on the false accusations of his
employer’s wife. Yet, decades later, as one of the most powerful men in Egypt,
and reconciled with his family, Joseph reflected, “You intended to harm me, but
God intended it for good (Gen. 50:20 NIV).”
On a
broader scale, several biblical books seem to live in tension. The Pentateuch
describes God’s ordered creation, and the laws by which man must live to be
blessed as God’s people. Yet, Job offers the story of a man who is faithful,
and despite - or perhaps even because of - that faithfulness, experiences
calamitous tragedy. When he lodges a grievance with God, the only response he
receives is, “Are you God?” Likewise, Proverbs presents the orderly praise of
wisdom, and pithy couplets advising the surest way to live a good life. Yet,
Ecclesiastes laments the uncertainty of finding satisfaction in this life, the
futility of human striving. Even the Bible itself, while attesting to an
orderly God, leaves open the question of whether we can rest in a reliable,
orderly world.
Conclusion
While we can debate whether the universe is ordered or
disordered, whether we are on an island of disorder floating in a sea of order;
or an island of order floating in a sea of chaos, scripture does attest that
order is our final destination. While the monsters of chaos have some dominion
in the world, scripture repeatedly represents their defeat at the hands of God.
The book of Revelation offers the promise of a coming time when the forces of
chaos are cast into a lake of fire, and a new Earth is established free from
their influence (chs. 20-21). For the time being, we are left in a situation
where the reality is uncertain. Are we floating in a sea of order or chaos?
[1]John R. Boyd,
“Conceptual Spiral”1976), 33.
[2]John R. Boyd,
“John Boyd’s ‘Conceptual Spiral’ Presentation”1976), 41:00 Boyd’s exact
quote is, “Linear phenomena swims in a non-linear sea.”
[3]Special thanks
to Dr. Geoffrey Bruschi, Yvonne and Daniel Cabrol, Ashleigh and Ryan Cagno,
Doris and Galen Hackman, Jeremy Krider, Gloria and Steve Mann, Michael Milunic,
Andrew Ruggiero, and Jon Zabick for their insights on this topic.
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