The Spacetime of Dreams: An Interview with Christopher White

February 27, 2018
Professor Christopher White
Christopher White, Professor and Chair of the Religion Department, Vassar College

On Monday, March 5, at 5:30 PM, Christopher White will give a lecture at the CSWR entitled "The Spacetime of Dreams." White, Professor and Chair of the Religion Department at Vassar College, will examine the higher-dimensional time theories of the British aviator and writer John Dunne, whose widely-read Experiment with Time (1927) offered anecdotal evidence that dreams and other visionary experiences allowed people to perceive events from the future. Below, White spoke about his work at the intersection of American religious history and science and technology studies.

CSWR: What inspired you to look at Dunne’s theories of time? How does his concept of Serialism differ from Einstein’s theory of relativity, generally?

CW: I got interested in Dunne because I was writing a book that examined how people in the last century have attempted to develop more scientific ways of talking about the supernatural and transcendent. My new book, which is just now being published, examines how scientists, writers, televangelists, TV producers, and others have used one scientific idea in particular to re-enchant their world—the idea that the universe has invisible dimensions or layers. The book examines many different people, from mathematicians to writers such as C. S. Lewis and Madeleine L'Engle, and I found that Dunne had a particularly dramatic story that I wanted to include. He claimed to have dreamed the future. Not everyone can make such claims!

CSWR: Since Einstein’s theory of relativity was verified in 2016, do you believe Dunne’s theories will be, as well? If so, how do you think that might affect theology and religious studies?

CW: Einstein's theories were confirmed by empirical data much earlier in the century. In 1919 his theory of General Relativity was proven correct from measurements taken during a total solar eclipse and he instantly became a worldwide celebrity. But Dunne's theories of dreams and higher dimensions are related in complicated ways to Einstein's science. We will discuss these matters during my upcoming talk. There's no question that a scientific-sounding rhetoric of higher dimensions has come to dominate popular religious discussions about God, angels, death, and transcendence, so I do believe that Dunne's ideas and the ideas of others in my book have influenced our culture dramatically. But again the relationship between religious and spiritual appropriations of scientific concepts and the scientific concepts themselves is complicated.

CSWR: What are you working on now?

CW: I continue to work on issues related to science, technology, electronic media, and spirituality. I'm interested in how modern technologies such as television and the internet are reshaping people's spiritual beliefs and sensibilities. I'm interested in particular in how new these new technologies (as well as television shows and films) are abetting interest in things such as ghosts, ghost hunting, mediums, and other paranormal phenomena.