Enigmatology
Enigmatology n. the investigation or analysis of enigmas; also, the art and science of puzzle construction.
Allow me to appropriate a word coined by New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz to describe his particular specialty. The word is “enigmatology,” which Shortz first used when he needed an academically respectable name for the undergraduate major he cooked up for himself at Indiana University. However, I see no reason why such an impressive word should be frittered away on crossword puzzles when so many other fields of inquiry are also steeped in riddles. Math and science disciplines, of course, all have their share of unresolved mysteries, as well as formidable terminology that can be strategically employed to ward off mere curiosity seekers. But if you are seeking a true riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, as Winston Churchill might have put it, nothing beats religion.
Every religion has its own specialized vocabulary, usually borrowed from a dead language, to characterize the ineffable. Of course, the ineffable can’t really be rendered in any language since it is, by definition, beyond characterization. That doesn’t stop people from talking about it anyway. But since those who are most practiced in the art use terms borrowed from dead languages, they at least give the impression of knowing what they are talking about, even if normal people can’t figure out they are saying. Theologians are usually of little help in this situation, since they tend to talk in riddles rather than solve them. This is a field that cries out for a true enigmatologist.
Admittedly, the hard sciences can also be formidably difficult, bordering in some cases on outright mystification (string theory leaps to mind). Nevertheless, even the most abstruse scientific theory must eventually be sanctified by hard evidence; otherwise, it will eventually be discarded. Furthermore, there is a bias toward the simplest explanation for any natural phenomenon – a principle known as Occam’s razor. All other things being equal, you go with the theory that has the fewest moving parts. For example, scientists once believed the universe was pervaded by an invisible (and undetectable) substance called “luminiferous aether” that was supposedly needed to propagate light through space. But then Albert Einstein, who had a true gift for simplicity, demonstrated in his special theory of relativity that no such medium was needed to transmit light, and so the idea was abandoned.
What is most striking about religion as a field of inquiry is that it reverses the prevailing direction of the natural sciences, moving from the simple to the complex. For example, the starting point in Christianity is Jesus of Nazareth, an itinerant preacher who used no theological terminology whatsoever and, so far as anyone knows, wrote nothing down himself. He mainly told stories that simple folk could easily understand. He talked about ineffable things by likening them to the everyday experience of his listeners. The kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field, Jesus said. It is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds that grows into the greatest of shrubs. It is like a merchant who finds a valuable pearl and sells everything he has to buy it. There is nothing here that even a child couldn’t grasp; in fact, Jesus suggested more than once that it actually helped to have child-like qualities if you wanted to enter the kingdom of God. So how is that that we now think you need an advanced degree before you are qualified to understand these things? That truly is a puzzle.
Matthew 13:44, 31-32; 45-46
Mark 10:15; Luke 8:51
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