Modern physics and ancient faith / Stephen M. Barr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barr, Stephen M., 1953-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Physics--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Physics.

Physical Description:

ix, 312 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Notre Dame, Ind. : University of Notre Dame Press, [2003]

Summary:

A considerable amount of public debate and media print has been devoted to the "war between science and religion." In his accessible and eminently readable new book, Stephen M. Barr demonstrates that what is really at war with religion is not science itself, but a philosophy called scientific materialism. Modern Physics and Ancient Faith argues that the great discoveries of modern physics are more compatible with the central teachings of Christianity and Judaism about God, the cosmos, and the human soul than with the atheistic viewpoint of scientific materialism. Scientific discoveries from the time of Copernicus to the beginning of the twentieth century have led many thoughtful people to the conclusion that the universe has no cause or purpose, that the human race is an accidental by-product of blind material forces, and that the ultimate reality is matter itself. Barr contends that the revolutionary discoveries of the twentieth century run counter to this line of thought. He uses five of these discoveries -- the Big Bang theory, unified field theories, anthropic coincidences, Godel's Theorem in mathematics, and quantum theory -- to cast serious doubt on the materialist's view of the world and to give greater credence to Judeo-Christian claims about God and the universe. Barr's clear and elegant writing is in the best tradition of science for the non-physicist or non-mathematician and will appeal to anyone interested in science and religion.

Contents:

Part I The Conflict between Religion and Materialism

1 The Materialist Creed 1

2 Materialism as an Anti-Religious Mythology 4

3 Scientific Materialism and Nature 19

The Scientific Materialistis View of Nature 19

Five Plot Twists 22

A New Story and a New Moral 28

Part II In the Beginning

4 The Expectations 33

5 How Things Looked One Hundred Years Ago 36

6 The Big Bang 38

The Discovery of the Big Bang 38

Attempts to Avoid the Big Bang 44

The Big Bang Confirmed 45

7 Was the Big Bang Really the Beginning? 47

The Universe in the Standard Big Bang Model 48

The Bouncing Universe Scenario 52

The Baby Universes Scenario 54

The Eternal Inflation Scenario 54

8 What If the Big Bang Was Not the Beginning? 58

Part III Is the Universe Designed?

9 The Argument from Design 65

The Cosmic Design 65

Two Kinds of Design 69

10 The Attack on the Argument from Design 71

Pure Chance 71

The Laws of Nature 72

Natural Selection 72

11 The Design Argument and the Laws of Nature 76

Two Ways to Think about Laws of Nature 76

In Science, Order Comes from Order 79

In Science, Order Comes from Greater Order 80

An Example Taken from Nature: The Growth of Crystals 85

The Order in the Heavens 87

12 Symmetry and Beauty in the Laws of Nature 93

13 "What Immortal Hand or Eye?" 105

The Issue 105

Can Chance Explain It? 107

Is Natural Selection Enough? 109

Does Darwin Give "Design without Design"? 111

Part IV Man's Place in the Cosmos

14 The Expectations 115

15 The Anthropic Coincidences 118

16 Objections to the Idea of Anthropic Coincidences 138

The Objections 140

Answers to the Objections 143

17 Alternative Explanations of the Anthropic Coincidences 149

The Weak Anthropic Principle: Many Domains 151

The Weak Anthropic Principle: Many Universes 152

The Weakness of the Weak Anthropic Principle 153

The Problem with Too Many Universes 154

18 Why Is the Universe So Big? 158

How Old Must a Universe Be? 160

How Big Must a Universe Be? 160

Are We Really So Small? 161

Part V What Is Man?

19 The Issue 167

The Religious View 168

The Materialist View 169

Clearing Up Some Confusions 172

20 Determinism and Free Will 175

The Overthrow of Determinism 175

Quantum Theory and Free Will 178

Is Free Will Real? 184

21 Can Matter "Understand"? 190

Abstract Understanding 191

What are Abstract Ideas? 193

Truth 197

If Not the Brain, Then What and How? 204

22 Is the Human Mind Just a Computer? 207

What a Computer Does 207

What Godel Showed 211

The Arguments of Lucas and Penrose 213

Avenues of Escape 215

23 What Does the Human Mind Have That Computers Lack? 220

Can One Have a Simple Idea? 223

Is the Materialist View of the Mind Scientific? 225

24 Quantum Theory and the Mind 227

The London-Bauer Argument in Brief 229

Going into More Detail 232

Is the Traditional Interpretation Absurd? 242

25 Alternatives to Traditional Quantum Theory 245

Modifying Quantum Theory 246

Reinterpreting Quantum Theory: The "Many-Worlds" Idea 248

26 Is a Pattern Emerging? 253

A. God, Time, and Creation 257

B. Attempts to Explain the Beginning Scientifically 268

C. Godel's Theorem 279.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-306) and index.

ISBN:

0268034710

OCLC:

50774351