Ann Blair, HS A-27
Lecture 24: physics and religion in the 20th
Alternatives to the pattern of conflict: beyond the "inerrant Bible or nothing" choice;
avoid science overextending itself (principle of humility)
I. Newtonian physics superseded
Special and general relativity (Einstein, 1905 and 1919)
Quantum mechanics: wave-particle duality; indeterminacy (Bohr’s atom,
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle 1930s)
Big Bang theory of origins vs steady-state theory (1960s)
II. Einstein’s religion: unusually explicit in public
Good source: Max Jammer, Einstein and Religion (1999)
Indiff to rel denominations (incl. Judaism); but hostile to atheism
Cosmic religious sensibility: harmony of the universe; Spinoza’s God;
static universe (requires cosmological constant) but accepts idea of
expanding universe; refuses quantum indeterminacy: “God does not play
dice”; searches for a unified field theory
=very liberal theo; rejection of personal God
mixed reception: relativity conflated with relativism; too liberal; appeals
to Paul Tillich (liberal Prot theologian)
III. New dev’ts in sci-rel relations in 1930s
QM indeterminacy as “doorway of religion” (Arthur Eddington). Bohr
and Schrödinger interested in Eastern religions; Bohr used the wave-
particle complementarity to describe the relations between science and
religion. Heisenberg lauded quantum indeterminacy as restoring humility
in science
Most (Einstein, C.A.Coulson) warn ag.“God of the gaps”
Neo-orthodoxy: keep Revelation; “wall with sci” (Karl Barth) =another
reaction to modernism
IV. Some current perspectives
Big Bang (Hubble: expanding universe, 1927, then cosmic background
radiation, 1960s): a moment of “creation” (including of laws of nature)
Anthropic principle (e.g. John Barrow and Frank Tipler): a universe that
makes life is special (strong); because we exist we see a universe that can
support life (weak version)
Emergence/process theo: God is the process
Terms to retain:
Einstein, cosmic religious feeling, personal God, “God of the gaps,” anthropic principle,
quantum indeterminacy