A Matter of Gravity: God, the Universe and Stephen Hawking

De când l-am ascultat pe viu pe Dr. David Gooding, prin 2000, pot spune că am descoperit modelul profesorului britanic: profesionist în ce spune, jovial în cum o spune, profund în lecturi, întrebări și variante de răspuns, cu un echilibrat simț al umorului, foarte bine pregătit dar și spontan, inteligent dar și respectuos cu ceilalți. După ceva ani aveam să descopăr faptul că toate aceste calități se potrivesc perfect  bunului său prieten de la Oxford, Dr. John Lennox. Pentru cei care nu l-au descoperit pe John Lennox, recomand să își ia timpul să îl asculte. Vor fi cu adevărat îmbogățiți!

Iată prezentarea Dr. John Lennox de pe propriul său site:

John Lennox is Professor of Mathematics in the University of Oxford, Fellow in Mathematics and the Philosophy of Science, and Pastoral Advisor at Green Templeton College, Oxford. He is also an adjunct Lecturer at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University and at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics and is a Senior Fellow of the Trinity Forum. In addition, he teaches for the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme at the Executive Education Centre, Said Business School, Oxford University.

He studied at the Royal School Armagh, Northern Ireland and was Exhibitioner and Senior Scholar at Emmanuel College, Cambridge University from which he took his MA and PhD. He worked for many years in the Mathematics Institute at the University of Wales in Cardiff which awarded him a DSc for his research. He also holds a DPhil from Oxford University and an MA in Bioethics from the University of Surrey. He was a Senior Alexander Von Humboldt Fellow at the Universities of Wuerzburg and Freiburg in Germany. In addition to over seventy published mathematical papers he is the co-author of two research level texts in algebra in the Oxford Mathematical Monographs series.

His most recent book, on the interface between science, philosophy and theology, is God’s Undertaker – Has Science Buried God?, Oxford, Lion-Hudson 2009. He has lectured extensively in North America, Eastern and Western Europe on mathematics, the philosophy of science and the intellectual defence of Christianity.

He debated Richard Dawkins on “The God Delusion” in the University of Alabama (2007) and on “Has Science buried God?” in the Oxford Museum of Natural History (2008). He has also debated Christopher Hitchens on the New Atheism (Edinburgh Festival 2008) and in Samford University, Alabama on the question: Is God Great?

His hobbies are languages, amateur astronomy, amateur bird-watching and some walking. John is married to Sally, they have three grown up children and four grandchildren and live near Oxford.

În așteptarea lecturării ultimei sale cărți, God and Stephen Hawking: Whose Design is it Anyway? scoasă din tipar la sfârșitul lunii ianuarie 2011,

să ascultăm prelegerea sa despre St. Hawking, A Matter of Gravity: God, the Universe and Stephen Hawking.

Dar mai întâi trebuie să avem în vedere:

• Să fie un conflict între legile fizicii și Dumnezeu?
• Să fim realiști si să nu înzestrăm cu venerație religioasă procese ale naturii: legile fizicii nu crează nimic în sine, ele sunt niște descripții a ceea ce poate avea loc dacă se îndeplinesc anumite condiții.
• Dacă existența gravitației este necesară și suficientă pentru crearea “spontană” a universului, cine ne explică cum a apărut gravitația?
• Cum rămâne cu dezacordul flagrant dintre religie și știință? Iată punctul de vedere al Dr. John Lennox:

For me, as a Christian believer, the beauty of the scientific laws only reinforces my faith in an intelligent, divine creative force at work. The more I understand science, the more I believe in God because of my wonder at the breadth, sophistication and integrity of his creation.

One of the fundamental themes of Christianity is that the universe was built according to a rational , intelligent design. Far from being at odds with science, the Christian faith actually makes perfect scientific sense.

Some years ago, the scientist Joseph Needham made an epic study of technological development in China. He wanted to find out why China, for all its early gifts of innovation, had fallen so far behind Europe in the advancement of science.

He reluctantly came to the conclusion that European science had been spurred on by the widespread belief in a rational creative force, known as God, which made all scientific laws comprehensible.

Despite this, Hawking, like so many other critics of religion, wants us to believe we are nothing but a random collection of molecules, the end product of a mindless process

• Apelul la credința în alte forme de viață în univers și poetica multi-universurilor este un aspect ce ține de o îndîrjită credință ce neagă evidența și dovezile de până acum, fapt cât se poate de straniu pentru niște oameni care își fac un titlu de glorie din privatizarea științei, cu metodologia și instrumentele ei empirice.