Theology and Modern Physics
ISBN: 9781315236407
Platform/Publisher: Taylor & Francis / Routledge
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited
Subjects: Humanities; History; Philosophy; Religion; History of Science & Technology; Philosophy of Science; Religion in Context;

The new discoveries in physics during the twentieth century have stimulated intense debate about their relevance to age-old theological questions. Views range from those holding that modern physics provides a surer road to God than traditional religions, to those who say that physics and theology are incommensurable and so do not relate. At the very least, physics has stimulated renewed theological discussions. In this critical introduction to the science-theology debate, Peter E. Hodgson draws on his experience as a physicist to present the results of modern physics and the theological implications. Written for those with little or no scientific background, Hodgson describes connections between physics, philosophy and theology and then explains Newtonian physics and Victorian physics, the theories of relativity, astronomy and quantum mechanics, and distinguishes the actual results of modern physics from speculations. The connections with theology are explored throughout. The concluding section draws discussions together and makes an important new contribution to the debate.

Peter E. Hodgson is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, UK. He has lectured on physics and mathematics at Oxford for over thirty years and his main research interest is the theory of nuclear structure and reactions.

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