Why Science Does Not Disprove God

by Amir D. Aczel

Overview

Based on interviews with eleven Nobel Prize winners and many other prominent physicists, biologists, anthropologists, and psychologists, as well as leading theologians and spiritual leaders, Why Science Does Not Disprove God is a "well-informed and readable" (Wall Street Journal) analysis of the religious implications of our ever-increasing understanding of life and the universe. The renowned science writer Amir Aczel ("One of our best science popularizers"—Publishers Weekly) masterfully refutes the overreaching claims of the "New Atheists," providing millions of educated believers with a clear, engaging explanation of what science really says, how there's still much space for the Divine in the universe, and why faith in both God and empirical science are not mutually exclusive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062230607
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/17/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	1,031,917
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Amir D. Aczel, Ph.D., is the author of the international bestseller Fermat's Last Theorem, which has been published in twenty-eight languages. A past recipient of a Sloan Foundation grant and a Guggenheim fellowship, Aczel was a visiting scholar at Harvard University from 2005 to 2007 and is currently a research fellow in the history of science at Boston University. He is a regular contributor to Discover magazine.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Prologue: The Birth of the New Atheism 9

1 The Coevolution of Very Early Science and Religion 23

2 Why Archaeology Does Not Disprove the Bible 50

3 The Revolt of Science 64

4 The Triumphs of Science in the Nineteenth Century 84

5 Einstein, God, and the Big Bang 94

6 God and the Quantum 108

7 The "Universe from Nothing" Deception 125

8 And on the Eighth Day, God Created the Multiverse 138

9 Mathematics, Probability, and God 148

10 Catastrophes, Chaos, and the Limits of Human Knowledge 169

11 Between God and the Anthropic Principle 177

12 The Limits of Evolution 192

13 Art, Symbolic Thinking, and the Invisible Boundary 211

14 Engaging the Infinite 224

15 Conclusion: Why the "Scientific" Argument for Atheism Fails 242

Notes 255

Bibliography 269

Index 283

Editorial Reviews

Amir Aczel combines scientific credibility, stylistic elegance, and argumentative vigor in Why Science Does Not Disprove God. What’s more, he’s right.

RABBI DAVID WOLPE

Amir Aczel is a pop idol of the science-writing world.

Willamette Week

If everyone understood as well as Amir Aczel does that scientific and religious ways of knowing belong to entirely separate and uncompeting forms of human experience, the world would be a much more pleasant place to live in.

IAN TATTERSALL

Explains that science and religion should not be mutually exclusive [and] you can embrace scientific progress while staying devoted to your faith.

Beliefnet Editors

[An] intelligent and stimulating book. ... Part of the continuing and restorative conversation of humanity with itself. In the end, all of our art, our science and our theological beliefs are an attempt to make sense of this fabulous and fleeting existence we find ourselves in.

ALAN LIGHTMAN

In Aczel, Richard Dawkins and his fellow New Atheists face a formidable opponent. Aczel wields impressive intellectual weapons in demolishing the New Atheists’ claims. ... With compelling reasoning, Aczel demonstrates that Dawkins and his allies ... distort or misrepresent the methods and findings of science.

Booklist (starred review)

[A] thoughtful, erudite journey through modern science and philosophy, and a clear exposition of a problem with which humans have struggled for millennia.

MARIO LIVIO

If everyone understood as well as Amir Aczel does that scientific and religious ways of knowing belong to entirely separate and uncompeting forms of human experience, the world would be a much more pleasant place to live in.” — IAN TATTERSALL, American Museum of Natural History (Division of Anthropology); author of Masters of the Planet: In Search of Our Human Origins

“Amir Aczel combines scientific credibility, stylistic elegance, and argumentative vigor in Why Science Does Not Disprove God. What’s more, he’s right.” — RABBI DAVID WOLPE, Sinai Temple (Los Angeles); author of Why Faith Matters

“[A] thoughtful, erudite journey through modern science and philosophy, and a clear exposition of a problem with which humans have struggled for millennia.” — MARIO LIVIO, astrophysicist, Space Telescope Science Institute; author of Is God a Mathematician? and Brilliant Blunders

“Aczel is one of our best science popularizers.” — Publishers Weekly

“Amir Aczel is a pop idol of the science-writing world.” — Willamette Week

“In Aczel, Richard Dawkins and his fellow New Atheists face a formidable opponent. Aczel wields impressive intellectual weapons in demolishing the New Atheists’ claims. ... With compelling reasoning, Aczel demonstrates that Dawkins and his allies ... distort or misrepresent the methods and findings of science.” — Booklist (starred review)

“[An] intelligent and stimulating book. ... Part of the continuing and restorative conversation of humanity with itself. In the end, all of our art, our science and our theological beliefs are an attempt to make sense of this fabulous and fleeting existence we find ourselves in.” — ALAN LIGHTMAN, Washington Post

“Explains that science and religion should not be mutually exclusive [and] you can embrace scientific progress while staying devoted to your faith.” — Beliefnet

From the Publisher