Astrophysics and Creation Perceiving the Universe through Science and Participation

by Arnold Benz

Overview

Written by a prominent and active scientist, this book, based on personal experience and biblical theology, does not try to derive God's existence from science. It is critical of scientific inferences on the notion of God (Natural Theology). Cosmic fine-tuning and other coincidences are no proof of the divine, but they are astounding and have never been fully explained. Amazement, therefore, is the appropriate emotional perception of reality. Human life, the beauty of nature, and the habitability of planet Earth can be considered undeserved gifts. In the light of these gifts, the universe is metaphorically interpreted and existentially believed, by many, to be a divine Creation. Science cannot create such faith, but it can foster it. This volume asks: Is God necessary to explain the universe? Is the idea of a Creator excluded by modern science? Why continue speaking of a Creator and to believe in His continuing creation, when God cannot be demonstrated in scientific data? Arnold Benz, a renowned astrophysicist and Christian, insists that human perception reaches further than science and demonstrates this in various examples—personal, biblical, and literary.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780824599379
Publisher:	The Crossroad Publishing Company
Publication date:	06/01/2019
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Arnold O. Benz of ETH Zurich is an expert in the exploration of star and planet formation, using ESA and NASA satellites. He is a past-president of Div.II of the International Astronomical Union and a member of the European Academy of Science.

Table of Contents

Preface to the English Edition xi

Preface xiii

Prologue 1

Part I Amazing Formation 5

1 The Stuff We Are Made Of 7

1.1 Clouds in Space 7

1.2 Early Ideas about the Formation of Stars 9

1.3 A Ramble through Our Cosmic Environment 12

1.4 The Rationality of Nature 17

2 When Stars and Planets Form 21

2.1 Accretion Disks 21

2.2 Why Do Planets Orbit? 22

2.3 From Accretion Disk to Protostar 28

2.4 Planets Form 31

2.5 From Protostar to Star 33

2.6 Unfathomable Puzzles 36

3 Boundless? 41

3.1 The First Stars 42

3.2 The Big Bang: Our Horizon in Time 46

3.3 Black Holes: Horizons in Space 51

3.4 Silence of the Stars: Limits of Methodology 52

4 Origin and Creation 58

4.1 Physico-Theology 59

4.2 Why Speak of Creation? 61

4.3 The Parable of the Invisible Gardener 63

Part II Dissolution and Horror 67

5 The Development Continues 69

5.1 The Young Sun 69

5.2 Design or No Design? 72

5.3 The Decay of the Sun 74

5.4 Becoming and Decaying 76

6 Living in the Midst of Evolution 78

6.1 The Young Earth 79

6.2 Earth Is Still Growing 81

6.3 Evolution of the Atmosphere 85

6.4 Life Is a Risk 87

7 Reality in the Cosmos and in Life 93

7.1 Levels of Reality 94

7.2 Religious Perceptions 96

7.3 Participatory Perceptions 100

7.4 Depth of Reality 104

8 From Perception to Interpretation 108

8.1 Explaining and Modeling 108

8.2 Comprehending 114

8.3 Construing 116

8.4 Many Possible Interpretations 118

Part III Interpretation as Creation 125

9 What Could Creation Mean Today? 127

9.1 The Creative Principle 128

9.2 The Formation of Life in the Universe 130

9.3 Anyone Else out There? 136

9.4 Ethical Reflections 136

9.5 Hope in Spite of Decay 140

10 God in the Universe 144

10.1 Biblical Creation Stories 146

10.2 Cosmic Icons 152

10.3 Creation Today 154

11 Longing for Meaning 158

11.1 Big Bang or Creation: What Is the Question? 159

11.2 A Theory of Everything 161

11.3 Is the Universe a Unity? 163

11.4 Spooky Actions at a Distance 165

11.5 Is Humankind the Goal? 167

11.6 The Question of Meaning 168

12 Space and Time-Surprised by Creation 171

12.1 The Frightening Size of the Universe 171

12.2 Empirical Dimension of Time 174

12.3 The Origin of Time 176

12.4 Outlook 179

Epilogue 182

Acknowledgments 186

Notes 187

Index 197

Editorial Reviews

"A sparkling gem lying in a vast field of books of science and religion. Reading it is a religious experience in itself."—Jesse Thomas, author of The Youniverse: The Spirit of the Twenty First Century
 
"Benz, an eminent scientist, describes brilliantly the wonders revealed by modern astronomy about the origin and structure of galaxies, stars and planets. But he also demonstrates with great clarity how other levels of reality lying in a different plane or dimension are an equally important part of human experience and a search for meaning." —Eric R. Priest FRSE FRS, University of St. Andrews, UK, renowned physicist, mathematician, and author
 
"In this beautiful and at times deeply moving reflection Arnold Benz affirms the human quest for meaning, a quest that can never be satisfied solely within the boundaries of science, but requires our engagement and our awe in the presence of an amazing reality of which we are a part, and to which we belong." —Christopher Bryan, Professor for New Testament, University of the South, Sewanee, USA, author of The Resurrection of the Messiah and Listening to the Bible
 

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