Amazing Universe Introductory quotes: The Heavens Declare the ...
Amazing Universe Introductory quotes: The Heavens Declare the Glory of God, the Skies Proclaim the Works of His Hands…Ps 19:1 Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? Isaiah 40:25 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made… Romans 1:20 After Job complains to God, “Then the Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said: Who is this that obscures divine plans with ignorance? … Where were you when I founded the earth?... when I made the clouds…?...Which is the way to the dwelling of light? … Have you fitted a curb to the Pleiades, or loosened the bonds of Orion?” Job 38 As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9 Themes: When we do science, we are learning about God’s creation, and so we are learning about God. Science is the process of learning about God’s amazing creation. By doing science, God is revealing something about his awesomeness/creativity/what He is like. We are privileged to live in a time (within the most recent century) where we can for the first time learn all this amazing stuff. This is an aspect of revelation about God that earlier peoples did not have. The way it all works (the part of it we understand) is absolutely amazing. So much has to work together to make human life possible. God provided the physical laws that make it all happen the way it needs to happen. Once we start looking for evidence of God in the way everything works, it seems to be everywhere. There is a whole lot we still don’t understand, even the basics that science works with all the time. Some of these mysteries have some similarities to the mysteries of who God is. In a universe governed by the laws of physics and probability, everything started simple and works towards complexity, and now we have plants, animals, and humans who wonder about it all. We should reject those forms of theology that reject what science tells us about the Universe, because science is telling us the truth about the Universe. What the class is not about: whether science and religion can get along. Of course they can, and should, because God created the Universe that we study when we do science. We will be talking about science, with some emphasis on physics, but we won’t get into the math. We’ll talk about creation, evolution, and God.
Note: During all of this class, please stop me if something doesn’t make sense, because if it doesn’t make sense to you there are a lot of other folks that it doesn’t make sense to as well. If you have a question outside of class time, my email address is [email protected].
Outline: 1. “Creation” article by George Martin. 2. Universe’s beginning and end. 3. Different views of Creation (mostly a discussion of the different books) 4. Evolution and related topics (The Language of Science and Faith)—the age of the Earth, good and evil, intro to the fine tuning of the universe, and more. A potential purchase. 5. The formation of the elements 6. Earth, life, and the fine tuning of the universe. Notes from Just Six Numbers 7. Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, water, materials. Why should it all work so well? 8. How Weird is That? Light and matter and God’s creation. This section contains the most physics discussion. Notes from The Way to the Dwelling of Light. 9. Radioactivity: age of the Earth, how it works, why we need it. 10. Earth’s Climate, Carbon, Oxygen, and Life 11. Notes from Making Sense of Evolution, by John Haught, possible purchase. 12. Notes from Creator God, Evolving World by Cynthia Crysdale and Neil Ormerod, possible purchase. We will have notes for each book, so there is no need to purchase the books. However, if you have the interest, please do buy the books and read sections prior to class. The notes will also be available before each class. If you read beforehand, you will get more out of it and be able to add your insights to the discussion.
Bibliography Internet references quoted in text A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking, Bantam, 1998. Creator God, Evolving World, by Cynthia Crysdale and Neil Ormerod, 2013. Exploring Reality: The Intertwining of Science and Religion, by John Polkinghorne, Yale University Press, 2005. Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientist’s Search for Common Ground between God and Evolution, by Kenneth R. Miller, Harper Perennial, 1999. God’s Word Today, A Daily Guide to Reading Scripture, June 1998 (Genesis). Hubble Reveals Creation by an Awe-Inspiring Power, by J. Paul Hutchins, Imagination Publishing, 2012. Introduction to Planetary Geology, by Billy Glass, Cambridge University Press, 1982. Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe, by Martin Rees, Basic Books, 2000. Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution, by Nick Lane, Norton, 2009. Making Sense of Evolution: Darwin, God, and the Drama of Life, by John Haught, 2010. Nature and God, by L. Charles Birch, Westminster Press, 1965 (out of print). Perspectives of Modern Physics, Arthur Beiser, McGraw Hill, 1969. Physical Chemistry, Fourth Edition, by Farrington Daniels and Robert Alberty, Wiley, 1975. Stellar Interiors, Physical Principles, Structure, and Evolution, Second Edition, by Carl Hansen, Steven Kawaler, and Virginia Trimble, Springer, 2004. Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion will Transform Your Life and Our World, by Michael Dowd, Penguin Group, 2009. The Creator and the Cosmos: How the Greatest Scientific Discoveries of the Century Reveal God, by Hugh Ross, Navpress, 1995. The Heavens Proclaim His Glory: A Spectacular View of Creation through the Lens of the Hubble Telescope, created and compiled by Lisa Stilwell, Thomas Nelson press, 2010. The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions, by Karl Giberson and Francis Collins, InterVarsity Press, 2011. “…the Way to the Dwelling of Light”: How Physics Illuminates Creation, by Br. Guy Consolmagno, Vatican Observatory, 1998.
The Mind of God, The Scientific Basis for a Rational World, by Paul Davies, Simon & Schuster, 1992.
Note: During all of this class, please stop me if something doesn’t make sense, because if it doesn’t make sense to you there are a lot of other folks that it doesn’t make sense to as well. If you have a question outside of class time, my email address is [email protected].
Outline: 1. “Creation” article by George Martin. 2. Universe’s beginning and end. 3. Different views of Creation (mostly a discussion of the different books) 4. Evolution and related topics (The Language of Science and Faith)—the age of the Earth, good and evil, intro to the fine tuning of the universe, and more. A potential purchase. 5. The formation of the elements 6. Earth, life, and the fine tuning of the universe. Notes from Just Six Numbers 7. Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, water, materials. Why should it all work so well? 8. How Weird is That? Light and matter and God’s creation. This section contains the most physics discussion. Notes from The Way to the Dwelling of Light. 9. Radioactivity: age of the Earth, how it works, why we need it. 10. Earth’s Climate, Carbon, Oxygen, and Life 11. Notes from Making Sense of Evolution, by John Haught, possible purchase. 12. Notes from Creator God, Evolving World by Cynthia Crysdale and Neil Ormerod, possible purchase. We will have notes for each book, so there is no need to purchase the books. However, if you have the interest, please do buy the books and read sections prior to class. The notes will also be available before each class. If you read beforehand, you will get more out of it and be able to add your insights to the discussion.
Bibliography Internet references quoted in text A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking, Bantam, 1998. Creator God, Evolving World, by Cynthia Crysdale and Neil Ormerod, 2013. Exploring Reality: The Intertwining of Science and Religion, by John Polkinghorne, Yale University Press, 2005. Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientist’s Search for Common Ground between God and Evolution, by Kenneth R. Miller, Harper Perennial, 1999. God’s Word Today, A Daily Guide to Reading Scripture, June 1998 (Genesis). Hubble Reveals Creation by an Awe-Inspiring Power, by J. Paul Hutchins, Imagination Publishing, 2012. Introduction to Planetary Geology, by Billy Glass, Cambridge University Press, 1982. Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe, by Martin Rees, Basic Books, 2000. Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution, by Nick Lane, Norton, 2009. Making Sense of Evolution: Darwin, God, and the Drama of Life, by John Haught, 2010. Nature and God, by L. Charles Birch, Westminster Press, 1965 (out of print). Perspectives of Modern Physics, Arthur Beiser, McGraw Hill, 1969. Physical Chemistry, Fourth Edition, by Farrington Daniels and Robert Alberty, Wiley, 1975. Stellar Interiors, Physical Principles, Structure, and Evolution, Second Edition, by Carl Hansen, Steven Kawaler, and Virginia Trimble, Springer, 2004. Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion will Transform Your Life and Our World, by Michael Dowd, Penguin Group, 2009. The Creator and the Cosmos: How the Greatest Scientific Discoveries of the Century Reveal God, by Hugh Ross, Navpress, 1995. The Heavens Proclaim His Glory: A Spectacular View of Creation through the Lens of the Hubble Telescope, created and compiled by Lisa Stilwell, Thomas Nelson press, 2010. The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions, by Karl Giberson and Francis Collins, InterVarsity Press, 2011. “…the Way to the Dwelling of Light”: How Physics Illuminates Creation, by Br. Guy Consolmagno, Vatican Observatory, 1998.
The Mind of God, The Scientific Basis for a Rational World, by Paul Davies, Simon & Schuster, 1992.
