How the spirit acts in the world: God and the soul in the context of contemporary science.

How the spirit acts in the world: God and the soul in the context of contemporary science
seminar of the group Science, Reason and Faith.
Javier Sánchez Cañizares, May 6th, 2025

Javier Sánchez Cañizares (Córdoba 1970), author of the book of the same degree scroll as the seminar, holds a PhD in Physics from the Autonomous University of Madrid (1999) and a PhD in Theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome (2006). He has been teaching assistant professor in the department of Theoretical Physics of the Condensed subject at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Associate Professor of Moral Theology at the School of Theology and Professor at the Ecclesiastical School of Philosophy at the University of Navarra. Currently, he is a researcher of the group "Mind-Brain" of the Institute for Culture and Society and member of the group "Science, Reason and Faith" (CRYF) of the University of Navarra, of which he has also been director (2016-2021). Accredited as Full Professor on July 21, 2022. His main interests focus on the relations between science and religion, interpretations of quantum mechanics and the mind-brain problem. He has published several dozen books and research articles in physics, Philosophy and theology. Among them, Reason and faith: the fullness of moral life (2013) and Singular Universe. Apuntes desde la física para una Philosophy de la naturaleza (2019), for which he received an Open Reason award in the research category.

summary 

God and the human soul are terms that have been relegated in the scientific narrative. The activity of the spirit seems to have no place within the worldview offered by science: at best, it is considered part of a supernatural realm, alien to any scientific discipline ; at worst, a notion incompatible with a scientific understanding of the world. But is this really the case? In the first part of the seminar, I will examine why modern science has Closed the door to the immaterial and how, paradoxically, contemporary science breaks with the idea of a world causally Closed and completely determined by physics, opening up new possibilities for understanding how God and the soul act in the world. In the second part, I will outline a concrete model of immaterial causality, respectful of the current scientific framework . This model also offers clues to understand why novelties emerge in nature and what sense the presence of evil makes. As a consequence, the scientific worldview need not be hostile to the activity of the spirit and, in fact, can establish a fruitful dialogue with the Christian faith from a renewed understanding of creation.