ABSTRACT
Science and religion both take for granted that the universe is much deeper than it seems. The whole thrust of science, for example, is to dig beneath what appears on the surface of nature. In theologian Paul Tillich's terms, religion is a state of being grasped by the inexhaustible depth that lurks beneath the surface of human lives and of nature too. The experience of learning to “read in depth” is applicable to the natural world also. Nature itself has a dimension of depth that invites both scientific and religious readings. Science and religion may each “read” the universe in search of what is going on beneath the surface. Whenever it takes its founding metaphors and symbols too literally religion also loses its own depth. For example, Judaism, Christianity and Islam represent the depth of nature in personal or anthropomorphic terms.
