Christianity & the living Earth

[Doug Millison]

How can Catholic thought contribute to the scientific understanding of the
universe? 
The main contribution of Catholicism is its sacramental tradition and its
view of the universe as revelatory-as a direct revelation of God. One
example of this would be our sun. Our sun creates light by an amazing
process where 600 million tons of hydrogen are transformed into 596 million
tons of helium. The 4 million tons left over become light. Every second our
sun is transforming 4 million tons of itself into light. Now that ongoing
transformation of itself is irreversible, the sun doesn't get back the
energy. Once it transforms itself into light, the light disperses in all
directions. Everything that's happened in the life of this planet is
directly dependent upon that light. We're moving here and talking and
thinking only because coursing through our bodies is the energy from the
sun. If the sun were not there, earth's temperature would be 400 degrees
below zero. The whole biosphere would shrivel up and die. 
In other words, all of human activity is powered by the generosity of the
sun. Our existence directly depends upon the giveaway of the sun; this is a
real sacrificial, ongoing event. The Catholic way of interpreting this event
would be to see the sun as a revelation of God-thus, this act reveals part
of the nature of God. God is constantly bestowing gifts; the sun is a
primary exemplar of that, and without this generosity, life itself would
cease. 
Another area I would say that Catholicism will inform the dialogue between
religion and science is in terms of community-the Catholic sense of
community. The universe is primarily a community affair; the whole community
of earth rises together out of the birth of the sun. 

continues at
http://www.uscatholic.org/1997/06/cosmos.html


another interview with Brian Swimme:
http://www.wie.org/j19/swimmeintro.asp