For quite awhile governments, corporations, as well as academics
have pursued their interests via a multidisciplinary approach. This
approach has superseded looking at an interest or topic just from the
viewpoint of a single discipline.
This does *not* mean that analysts or scholars are now all generalists.
Rather it implies that they have to be more expansive in not only their
training but also in their outlook.
Probably, at least for some, there's also the multidimensional approach
as well. This applies engaging all our human capacities, not just logic
for example. There's our intelligence, but also our intuition and insight.
There's that "gut feeling." Smart people, past and present, have
employed a multidimensional approach, even if they didn't know what
this might entail.
As for "seeking God," or at least questing after the "contours of God'
spiritually or scientifically, the multidisciplinary approach is more and
more being employed by serious scholars--specifically by theologians
and religious studies academics.
For example in the field of Biblical Studies, scholars examine ancient
scripture not only from the perspectives of their religion, but also via
cross-cultural studies and archaeology. More insight and understanding
seem to follow. Theologians, also, are now more inclined to look at
not only the Book of Scripture but also the Book of Nature. Some are
writing tomes combining Science and Religion, blending Natural
Theology with what once was considered Orthodox Theology.
There's "modeling" as well. Systems Philosophy introduced the idea
of evolving second-order models out of the synthesis of first-order
models. This kind of modeling is not only multidisciplinary in its
approach, but multidimensional in its tasking.
Overall, these new second-order models can make for far more
insightful--and sometimes more adventurous --studies when it comes
to the God quest. Already employed here and now, there's little doubt
these multidisciplinary and multidimensional approaches will be
employed in far more imaginative ways with hopefully far better results
in the future.
