God and the Universe - Hardcover

Gibson, Arthur

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415236665 ISBN 13: 9780415236669

Publisher: Routledge, 2000

Synopsis

Ambitious, controversial and absorbing, God and the Universe tackles the highly-charged issue of God's relevance in the light of new scientific thinking on cosmology. Engaging with poststructuralism, ethics, mathematics, and philosophy through the ages, this persuasively argued book reinvigorates religious debate for the new millennium.

About this title

Review:

God and the Universe is like a philosophical heavyweight title fight. Arthur Gibson--a philosopher from the University of Surrey, with an impressive CV from Cambridge--wades into the ring and slogs it out with the big questions which surround theology, cosmology and philosophy. He understands the philosophical and theological implications of modern theories about the beginning of the universe, and challenges the established antipathy between science and religion with an erudition that has mastered minds from Aristotle to Hawking and from Aquinas to Einstein. Without proposing facile, reactionary solutions, Gibson offers a fresh way forward in the relationship between science and religion.

In four exhaustive sections he covers the problem of religious and scientific language, the space-time continuum, the cosmology of life and cosmological ethics. In each section he aims to show how the language of cosmology, theology and metaphysics should converge. He suggests that "the philosopher and the cosmologist are midway between the poet and the physicist". Gibson is a professional philosopher and he argues his case with the density and precision which his profession requires. As a result, this book is not for the faint-hearted or lazy-minded. A basic philosophical knowledge, at least, is a required background and speed readers need not apply. Despite the density of his ideas, Gibson writes with lucidity and elegance. His arguments are carefully developed and cautiously applied. The final result is a challenging step away from the fragmented chaos of post-modernism, towards an exciting new synthesis of the differing strands of modern thought. --Dwight Longenecker

Review:

"Gibson refers to, and seems to understand in great depth, a vast number of subjects, ...so as to establish a conversation between science and theology It may not be easy, but it is enjoyable."
-Jeremy Craddock "Church Times
"Sweeping in its scope, creative in its approach and bold in its conclusions, this book will generate widespread interest and debate."
-Frank H. T. Rhodes, President Emeritus, Cornell University. Chair, American Philosophical Association
..."His power to assimilate and process information is enhanced rather than diminished by his gifts of fantasy and his associative range...he is either a madman or a genius; and I do not believe he is mad."
-Professor Sir Frank Kermode, University of Cambridge, Emeritus
..."an erudite and impressive achievement."
-Professor Sir Martin Rees, Cambridge University Institute of Astronomy, and Astronomer Royal
"I am filled with wonder at the breadth of the book and the grasp of the essentials, and the details, in each field...it is often quite startling in its illuminations."
-Very Reverend Professor Thomas F. Torrance, University of Edinburgh

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0415236665
• ISBN 13: 9780415236669
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 402