> > What I think I said (or anyway, what I say now) is that the
> >universe is an embodiment of a math pattern in the mind of God. While
> >this is in the Platonic tradition, I would add:
> > a) The pattern is contingent - there are many different
> >patterns which _could_ be embodied, & God has chosen this one.
> > b) Our laws of physics are approximations to this pattern.
> > c) The embodiment of the universe is not simply an inferior
> >shadow, but in a sense an improvement upon bare pattern.
> > d) The pattern includes dynamics, & thus "becoming" as well as
> >"being".
> > e) Goedel's theorem seems to imply that a universe embodying
> >such pattern is logically open.
> > f) The uncreated Logos includes (but is not limited to) all
> >rational patterns for possible universes.
> > g) Our knowledge of the Logos is given to us in the Word made
> >flesh.
> > George Murphy
>
> I agree with a) through d). As for e), I'm not sure Goedel can be
> stretched that far, unless the "pattern" of which you speak is an
> axiomatizable system. I agree that this is more speculative.
And f) and g) sound too much like Plotinus for me to swallow easily.
Are you identifying the uncreated Logos with the Logos of
> John's Gospel? Yes. Augustine said that he had found "In the beginning was the
Word" in Plato but not "The Word was made flesh." But because of the
contingency of creation, we can't read back unambiguously from the
pattern of the world to the mind of God. We may be able to guess that
there is a Logos, but we know who the Logos is only in the Incarnation.
George Murphy