Interstellar, Space-Time and Jesus

Last updated on: February 17, 2016 at 9:31 am by Paul Louis Metzger

Interstellar, Space-Time and Jesus 2016-02-17T09:31:23-08:00 Paul Louis Metzger

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Beware of spoilers and black holes!

Space and time are not absolute, as Galileo and Newton claimed. They are “personal” and intimately connected, as Einstein argued, according to Kip Thorne, the astrophysicist behind the movie Interstellar. Our time flows at different rates, according to Thorne (See his interview titled “What Is Space-Time?”).

The movie Interstellar draws on Einstein’s insight that time passes more slowly when the gravitational pull is stronger. See the following article: “The Science of ‘Interstellar’ Explained.” An article in Business Insider refers to “gravitational time dilation” in its discussion of the movie:

Gravitational time dilation is a real phenomenon that has been observed on Earth. It occurs because time is relative, meaning time runs at different rates for different reference frames. When you’re in a strong gravitational environment time runs slower for you relative to people in a weak gravitational environment.

If you are near a black hole, like the one in the film, your gravitational reference frame, and therefore your perception of time, is different than someone standing on Earth. This is because the gravitational pull from the black hole is stronger the closer you are to it.[1]

In Interstellar, one hour on the planet near the black hole equals seven years on earth. While that might be very difficult for us to imagine given our experience and the Earth’s weak gravitational pull, time does operate in this way in relation to gravity. Actually, we can draw from our everyday experience to account for it.

Take for example a GPS satellite. Did you know that time goes faster above the earth in a GPS satellite than it does on earth? A GPS satellite is wired to auto correct its time measurements to compensate or account for gravity. Given its distance from Earth’s gravitational pull, the satellite must adjust its time calculations to account for the stronger gravitational pull that slows time the closer one gets to Earth.

As noted above, the force is far stronger, if we are talking about a black hole. See the discussion of time and relativity as it relates to gravitational pull in this video titled “Neil deGrasse Tyson on ‘Interstellar’” (beginning around the 5:30 mark). See also the documentary, “The Science of Interstellar”(beginning around the 9:00 mark); as the narrator of the documentary states, “The more massive the object, the more space-time is warped, and the greater the gravity … the greater the gravity, the more slowly time flows.”

Beyond physics, metaphysical reality operates analogously in this way, too. Take for example the biblical claims that “…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14; ESV); and “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law…” (Galatians 4:4; ESV). Spiritually speaking, Jesus bends space-time to conform to the gravitational force of his love. In love, he accommodates himself to our context, our categories and dimensions so as to communicate with us and save us from the mess we have made of life on planet Earth.

It is almost as if Jesus lived beyond the fourth dimension in a kind of tesseract, whereby the entire sequence of his life and all of life are constantly before him.[2] After all, he is the Alpha and Omega in whom eternity and time interpenetrate. Perhaps he based his narrative on Interstellar (!), or is it the other way round?

The movie Interstellar is a bold project in at least two ways. It seeks to account for state of the art science with state of the art cinematography; it also seeks to couple deep science with deep love. Scientists and astronauts race across and slice through space-time to save humanity from extinction. According to Scripture, Jesus also races across space-time, shall we say, to save humanity from extinction. The gospel is a bold project, too.

I love how Jesus engages Nicodemus in John 3 and the woman at the well in John 4. He relativizes or personalizes his spatial-temporal framework to account for their spiritual needs in those moments of encounter. He does the same with each of us and calls on us to do the same for each other rather than fit people into our fixed coordinates. Jesus challenges me to stop fitting people into the coordinates that benefit me, as if I were a human (or inhumane) version of a black hole that swallows everything around it based on its “self-serving” gravitational pull. The gravitational force bound up with the mass of his love does not cause him to implode like a black hole or spaghetti-fy people, as would a black hole. Rather, he goes out of himself to make relational space-time for us.

Will we go back to the spiritual analogue of absolute space and time or forward in view of Jesus to the spiritual analogue of personal space-time in our engagement of one another?

_______________

[1]For various discussions on relativity, see the following: “What is the difference between Special and General Relativity?”; “Special & General Relativity Questions and Answers;” “What is a space time continuum?”; “Theory of relativity explained….” See also “Gravitational Waves: Ripples in the fabric of space-time.”

[2]Regarding higher dimensions and tesseracts see “Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains the End Of ‘Interstellar.’” The fourth dimension involves the three spatial coordinates (up-down, front-back, left-right) and time. The tesseract in Interstellar requires a higher dimension(s) (see “Neil deGrasse Tyson on ‘Interstellar’” beginning around 12:16).

Uncategorized

Previous Post

February 6, 2015

“Blessed are the merciful”—not those who look out for number 1

Next Post

February 12, 2015 Lincoln’s Birthday, Black History and Church Growth

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month June 2025 April 2025 March 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz