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 (born in Córdoba in 1970), author of the book degree scroll same degree scroll the seminar, holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the Autonomous University of Madrid (1999) and a Ph.D. in Theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome (2006). He has served as teaching assistant the department Theoretical and subject Physics at the Autonomous University of Madrid, as Associate Professor moral theology at the School of Theology Professor the Ecclesiastical School of Philosophy the University of Navarra. He is currently researcher group at Institute for Culture and Society a member of group , Reason, and Faith” (CRYF) group at the University of Navarra, of which he was also director 2016–2021). He was appointed Full Professor July 21, 2022. His main interests focus on the relationship between science and religion, interpretations of quantum mechanics, and the mind-brain problem. He has published dozens of books and research articles research physics, philosophy, and theology. Among them are *Reason and Faith: The Fullness of Moral Life* (2013) and *Singular Universe: Notes from Physics for a Philosophy of Nature* (2019), for which he received a award Abierta 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.