Fractal imagination and Christian formation

Abstract

We make two interventions in two evolving scholarly literatures. First, we show how fractal metaphors escape a recurring dichotomy in Christian pedagogical scholarship, the either/or of alienation from one’s object of study versus union with it in “an act of love.” Second, we try to replace recent interdisciplinary work’s emphasis on “complexity” with “irreducibility.” Fractals allow us to define these concepts and develop alternative “ways of knowing” with greater rigor. Both interventions bear directly on Christian formation, and so we derive five ways the Christian classroom can combat spiritual alienation and instead cultivate the “fractal imagination” of our students.