Abstract:
This article takes
as its point of departure two citations. The one is from Marshall and Zohar’s contention that
the wave-particle dualism is more than a metaphor and the other is from Clayton claiming
that indeterminacy was not merely a temporary epistemic problem, but reflected an inherent
indeterminacy of the physical world itself. What does it mean if it is not a mere way of speaking?
The author of this article departs from the premise that the task of systematic theology is the
endeavour to understand reality and that this is a collective enterprise together with other
sciences as well. A constructive empiricism could indeed lead to an understanding of reality
where reality is more than merely idealistically conceived. Truth is therefore to be replaced
with a pragmatic, but value-laden concept of understanding or comprehension. This has the
effect that both epistemology and ontology have to be revisited and subsequently panentheism
too. The argument finds its niche in Old Testament wisdom literature and Proverbs 6:6 forms
the lens of reference. The late South African ethologist Eugène Marais’s epic work, The Soul of
the Ant, is applied to illustrate such a proposed epistemic community.
