Reconciling Religious and Scientific Perspectives of Creation Essay

Reconciling Religious and Scientific Perspectives of Creation â€Å"In the beginning was the big bang,†[i] writes John Polkinghorne, a physicist turned theologian. As the reader follows through the remainder of his cosmic creation story, the reader is intrigued at how mystical and religious the story sounds. â€Å"The space boiled, in the rapid expansion of the inflation era, blowing the universe apart with incredible rapidity in the much less than 10-30 seconds that it lasted. . . . The world suddenly became transparent and a universal sea of radiation was left to continue cooling on its own . . .†[ii] Then, the story unfolds to tell of the creation of hydrogen and helium and the creation of stars. The death of stars follow, which in turn gives rise to conditions that are favorable for the formation of life.[iii] Though seemingly mystical, the story of the cosmic creation is also the epitome of logic. As we rewind the story of creation, we see a definite causal link between one event and another. Why do we have life? Because we have carbon. Why do we have carbon? Because of the chemical reaction in stars. Why do we have the chemical reactions in stars? Because . . . and this chain will continue, explaining one phenomenon as an effect of another. The story is in fact the triumph of human reason. However, if we rewind the story long enough, we find ourselves reaching a dead end – â€Å"In the beginning was the big bang.† A beginning is where there is no before. However, how can something be when there is no prior? The question of the origin is further complicated when we see how finely tuned the universe is. For the emergence of life, the universe had to have initial conditions at the point of origin ... ... with a whole number amount of spin (as opposed to half a spin). [xxxviii] Ferris, Coming of Age in the Milky Way, pp. 354-353. [xxxix] Polkinghorne, The Faith of a Physicist, p. 75. [xl] Ferris, Coming of Age in the Milky Way, p. 351. [xli] Ferris, The Whole Shebang, p. 224. [xlii] Greene, pp. 357-358. [xliii] Ibid., p. 358. Brian Greene then says that Brandenberger and Vafa verified this phenomenon through detailed calculations. [xliv] Ibid. [xlv] Ibid., p. 362. The Nugget that gave rise to our universe is one of the many nuggets that were formed in prehistory of our universe. This theory is still a speculation and is not widely accepted like the string theory. Therefore, the theory about the cosmic prehistory should be taken as a possible solution and not as the definite answer. [xlvi] Found in Davies, p. 148. [xlvii] Davies, p. 232.