From ChatGPT
Below is (1) a reading order, starting with the easiest and most accessible and moving to progressively more technical sources; and (2) a concise chart mapping how major traditions understand God/YHWH in relation to dimensions beyond spacetime.
Reading Order (from easiest → most advanced)
1. C. S. Lewis — Miracles (Chapter 3: “The Cardinal Difficulty of Naturalism”)
Why start here:
This is the simplest entry point. Lewis uses plain-language analogies to show why divine action must come from outside nature’s dimensional system.
2. Brian Greene — The Hidden Reality (chapters on extra dimensions & branes)
Why second:
This gives you a basic conceptual grasp of higher dimensions in physics (string theory, branes, bulk) without theology yet. You need this foundation for understanding later theological arguments that borrow these ideas.
3. N. T. Wright — Space, Time, and Resurrection
Why here:
Wright shows how 2nd-Temple Judaism and earliest Christianity already operated with concepts of “heaven” as a real but different realm, not just “far away.”
This trains you to see dimensional transcendence as something rooted in Jewish and Christian thought, not only modern physics.
4. John Polkinghorne — The God of Hope and the End of the World
Why next:
Polkinghorne integrates physics and theology. He argues that God relates to a universe with more dimensions than human perception can register.
This bridges classical theology and modern cosmology.
5. John Lennox — God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? (selected chapters)
Why now:
Still accessible, but adds more philosophical reasoning on why God cannot be contained within physical spacetime.
Good “mid-level” material before the more technical works below.
6. Arthur Willink — The World of the Unseen (1893)
Why this point:
This historical hyperspace theology is speculative but gives an early example of explicitly dimensional language for divine presence (heaven/hell/God in “higher space”).
You now have enough structure to see how Willink anticipates later dimensional models.
7. D. T. Everhart — “Transcendent Temporality: A Trans-dimensional Model of God’s Free Relationship to Spacetime” (2021)
Why here:
Everhart builds a fully analytic theologial model in which God literally transcends the dimensional structure of spacetime while having “His own time.”
This is your first truly formal “philosophy of dimensions and deity” paper.
8. William Lane Craig — “God and Space” (2024)
Why near the end:
This is a technical philosophical treatment of God’s spatiality/aspatiality, comparing classical theism, omnipresence models, and contemporary physics-informed proposals.
9. Eleonore Stump — Aquinas (chapter on eternity)
Why last:
This is the deepest classical-philosophical treatment.
You finish with a rigorous explanation of why God’s being is not in space or time at all, and how classical theism avoids treating God as a “being in a dimension.”
Chart: How Major Models Explain God and Dimensions
Below is a clean, practical chart comparing nine major approaches from classical theology → analytic theology → physics-integrated models.
“God and Dimensions” Comparative Framework
| Model / Thinker | How God Relates to Dimensions | Main Claim About YHWH and Spacetime | Practical Image or Analogy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classical Theism (Aquinas, Stump) | God is not in any dimension; no spatial or temporal extension. | God is eternal, not located in spacetime at all. | Like the author of a book who is not inside the story’s geometry or timeline. |
| Lewis (Miracles) | God intersects our world but exists beyond it. | Natural laws are an inner system; God operates from outside that system. | Like a 3-D hand touching a 2-D world. |
| Jewish/Christian Second-Temple Thought (as explained by N. T. Wright) | Heaven = God’s realm, interlocking with earth but not spatially “up.” | God’s realm is real but not a location in our 3-D space. It is a different mode of reality. | Two rooms separated by a wall but sharing the same foundation. |
| Willink (Hyperspace Theology) | Heaven/hell/God occupy “higher-dimensional spaces” beyond our 3D. | God’s realm literally exists in hyperspace. | A 4-D being observing a 3-D slice. |
| Polkinghorne (Physics + Theology) | God is not confined to our spacetime but interacts with it. | Modern physics already posits unseen dimensions; God transcends the whole physical structure. | God relates to the universe as its ground, not as an object within it. |
| Lennox (Philosophy of Science) | God exists beyond material dimensions. | Science describes the physical dimensions; God is the cause behind them. | Architect vs. building. |
| Greene (Physics Only — used by theologians) | Reality may include 10–11 spatial dimensions. | If creation has higher dimensions, the Creator cannot be confined to the lower-dimensional subset. | A 2-D creature unaware of the 3rd dimension. |
| Everhart (Trans-dimensional Temporality) | God transcends dimensional spacetime but has “God’s own temporal life.” | God is not timeless, but God’s time is not bound to our dimensional temporal structure. | A being with its own temporal axis intersecting a different timeline. |
| Craig (A-spatial / Superspatial Debate) | God either transcends space or occupies a kind of non-physical “superspace.” | God does not have measurable spatial extension; omnipresence isn’t spatial spread. | Light filling a room vs. the source outside space. |
If you want, I can also produce:
- a flowchart showing how each model “branches” from classical → modern → trans-dimensional views,
- or a one-page summary combining the reading order and chart into a printable outline.
Just tell me which one you want.
