God and the Big Bang (1st Edition): Discovering Harmony between Science & Spirituality

by Daniel C. Matt

Overview

Mysticism and science: What do they have in common? How can one enlighten the other? By drawing on modern cosmology and ancient Kabbalah, Matt shows how science and religion can together enrich our spiritual awareness and help us recover a sense of wonder and find our place in the universe.

Drawing on the insights of physics and Jewish mysticism, Daniel Matt uncovers the sense of wonder and oneness that connects us with the universe and God. He describes in understandable terms the parallels between modern cosmology and ancient Kabbalah. He shows how science and religion together can enrich our spiritual understanding.

We “embody the energy” of the big bang, writes Matt. Furthermore, “God is not somewhere else, hidden from us. God is right here hidden from us.” To discover the presence of God, Matt draws on both science and theology, fact and belief, and on the truths embodied in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity, as well as Judaism.

A rich dialogue between the physical and the spiritual, God&the Big Bangtakes us on a deeply personal, thoughtful and inspiring journey that helps us find our place in the universe—and the universe in ourselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580235495
Publisher:	Turner Publishing Company
Publication date:	11/23/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	216
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Daniel C. Matt is a leading authority on the Zohar and Kabbalah. He is the author of the best-selling The Essential Kabbalah (HarperSanFrancisco, translated into seven languages); Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment (Paulist Press); God and the Big Bang: Discovering Harmony Between Science and Spirituality; and Zohar: Annotated and Explained (Jewish Lights). He is also the author of the annotated translation The Zohar: Pritzker Edition (Stanford University Press). He has so far completed six volumes of this immense project, which has been hailed as "a monumental contribution to the history of Jewish thought." Formerly professor of Jewish spirituality at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Daniel C. Matt now resides in Berkeley.

Daniel C. Matt is available to speak on the following topics:

• Shekhinah: The Feminine Half of God
• Raising the Sparks: Finding God in the Material World
• The Mystical Meaning of Torah
• The Zohar: Masterpiece of Kabbalah
• God and the Big Bang: Discovering Harmony between Science and Spirituality

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 9
Preface 11

Part One: The Big Bang
1 In the Beginning 19

Part Two: God, Self and Cosmos
2 Oneness and Nothingness 35
3 The Personal God—and Beyond 47
4 Self and God 59
5 Cosmic Hide-and-Seek 69

Part Three: Torah and Wisdom
6 The Essence of Torah 93
7 The Ripening of Torah 103
8 Halakhah: Walking the Pathless Path 117
9 Transforming Evil, Tasting Oneness 141
10 Israel's Covenant and Other Wisdoms 149

Hereafter
11 The End of Days 167

Notes 173
Glossary 197

What People are Saying About This

Laura Geller

For anyone who has ever wondered about the origins of the universe and our place in it, this is an important book....Tackles profound, difficult and complex issues, and makes them understandable.

Robert J. Russell

Contributes in a significant and distinctive way to the contemporary dialogue between science and theology.

Editorial Reviews

In the past, the conversation between religion and science often turned bitter and acrimonious because neither camp was willing to listen to the other's ideas.In recent years, however, as both scientists and religious thinkers have demonstrated, the congruence between the two worldviews runs far deeper than either is sometimes willing to admit. In this marvelous new book, Matt, a professor of Jewish spirituality, explores the connections between Jewish mysticism and the cosmological theory of the Big Bang. Several questions motivate Matt's study: How does the Big Bang theory challenge the Jewish concept of God? How may a study of the dimensions of this theory help us discover new insights into spiritual dimensions of human life? In his answers to these and other questions, Matt draws a relationship between the kabbalastic teachings that describe the "breaking of the vessels" that sever an individual's oneness with God and the physical theory of "broken symmetry," which articulates a sense of lost unity in the universe. Both kabbalists and physicists, he says, dream of finding unity, and this dream is expressed in their writings. Playful, imaginative and thoughtful, Matt's book carries the dialogue between religion and science to new levels. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The controversy surrounding NASA's recent announcement of the discovery of possible life on Mars poses challenges to long-cherished beliefs in science and religion. How spirituality can integrate these discoveries is given an explanation in Matt's (Jewish spirituality, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley) important and timely book. Borrowing primarily from the traditions of Jewish mysticism and Hasidism, the author opens a dialog between modern scientific cosmology and spirituality whose goal is to seek the existence and significance of God for contemporary people. Ein Sof (literally, "there is no end"), the name given to God by Jewish kabbalists, underscores the notion that God is present everywhere, and Matt identifies Ein Sof as quantum physics' "zero-point energy" left over from the primordial bang. Ein Sof points to the oneness, the interrelatedness, of all creation, making God part of our world. Matt includes a very helpful glossary of terms, though an index would have been extremely useful. Highly recommended for the general reader.Pius Murray, Holy Apostles Coll. and Seminary, Cromwell, Conn.

Library Journal

"Contributes in a significant and distinctive way to the contemporary dialogue between science and theology."
—Robert J. Russell, PhD, Christian theologian, director of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences

"Admirable clarity and wit…. Will be appreciated by everyone who takes an inclusive approach to the riddles of creation and the creator."
—Timothy Ferris, author of Coming of Age in the Milky Way

“Revel in the informed, unexpected correlations this young master of our mystic literature finds between his Kabbalah and our cosmologists' learned imaginings.”
—Rabbi Eugene B. Borowitz, Sh'ma

“Tackles profound, difficult and complex issues and makes them understandable.”
—Rabbi Laura Geller, Temple Emanuel, Beverly Hills, California

“A lively and fascinating volume that should provide the basis for much further dialogue and discussion.”
—Dr. Arthur Green, author of Ehyeh: A Kabbalah for Tomorrow

"This poetic book...helps us to understand the human meaning of creation."
—Joel Primack, leading cosmologist, Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz

From the Publisher