Modern Physics and Ancient Faith

by Stephen M. Barr

Book Overview

A considerable amount of public debate and media print has been devoted to the "war between science and religion." In his accessible and eminently readable new book, Stephen M. Barr demonstrates that what is really at war with religion is not science itself, but a philosophy called scientific materialism. Modern Physics and Ancient Faith argues that the great discoveries of modern physics are more compatible with the central teachings of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0268021988
• ISBN13: 9780268021986
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A Sound Defense

The title of this book is straight to the point, but it does not by itself convey the whole point of the book. The first paragraph on the jacket flap does a pretty good job, though: 'A considerable amount of public debate and media print has been devoted to the "war between science and religion." In his....book, ....Barr demonstrates that what is really at war with religion is not science itself, but a philosophy called scientific materialism. [This book] argues that the great discoveries of modern physics are more compatible with the central teachings of Christianity and Judaism about God, the cosmos, and the human soul than with the atheistic viewpoint of scientific materialism.' That is the book promised and that is the book you get. The arguments presented are, of course, in favor of one side of the debate and contrary to the opposite side. They are, also, consistently honest and fair. They are certainly not exhaustive, but then, this is pretty sparsely typed 300-page book. Barr never pretends to be absolutely disproving all variants of scientific materialism. Instead, he picks a number of often voiced and frequently heard materialist prejudices (specifically anti-theist or anti-Biblical or anti-Christian prejudices) of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, presents them in their most basic terms, then presents scientific theories and discoveries that appear to confute them. Occasionally he points out as "irony", little points at which the data seems to uphold some separate detail of the Christian theist world-view. Another reviewer refers disparagingly to "axes to grind." To that I reply that this book is perfectly honest in presenting itself as a substantive but incomplete answer to specific, repeated attacks and criticism from a vocal and numerous bevy of scientists for the past two hundred years. Naturally that task is going to include a good deal of refutation. I would also point out regarding one of said reviewer's preferred books, Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time - supposedly free of "axes": the preface to that book begins with a caricature of Revelation-based religion per se as the pig-headed assumption of "turtles all the way down". (See Hawking's book.) No axes to grind, indeed. It is precisely to that ugly false note, constantly recurring in the writings of many of the popularizers of science of our time, that Barr's book intelligently and adequately responds. Finally, I will mention that, though Barr does make an effort to defend the bulk of "Jewish and Christian" belief, his own religion of choice is Catholicism, and it shows. Any reader disinclined to hear and acknowledge the cleverness of great minds like Augustine and Aquinas, or the lucidity of the teachings of the Council of Trent and the First Vatican Council, will find plenty to vex him in the pages of Barr's book. That said, no one who doesn't begin with an anti-Catholic prejudice will find anything that offends or disparages his own religion. Barr com

Essential Reading for Students of Science and Religion

Dr. Barr's book lays the key points of traditional debates between theists and materialists' on how discoveries in physics relate to or actively disprove religious beliefs.His greatest achievement is how he stays balanced and grounded. He shows how religion is compatible with science, but does not get bogged down trying to show how a given set of scientific discoveries *proves* a particular item of religious doctrine. Many Christians have gotten into trouble for this since if they rest their religious belief on a certain piece of scientific evidence, they will be grave trouble when further scientific progress may render that evidence they used obsolete.While at least one reviewer has accused Barr of making straw men out of the materialist philosophers, I found him fair. At one point in the beginning of the book he wrote summarization of a materialistic case against religion. The wording was rather sweeping, and the footnote said that while this denunciation was written by Barr himself, it summarizes many anti-religion arguments. He does not directly cite any of the sources that he had in mind, which is unfortunate, especially in the light of his otherwise excellent documentation. However, when Barr goes into individual arguments, he documents everything well, and takes the materialists seriously.The key value of the book is that it helps clarify what many of the science v. religion debates are really arguing about, and the hefty endnotes will help the reader continue on his own explorations. It makes a reliable starting point. Too frequently I have gotten into debates with people of differing religious beliefs (or lack thereof) where we wind up talking past each other.This book helps cure that. When asked what he would do to help his country, Confucius said that he would first have everyone agree on their definitions.This book helps us agree on our definitions, or at the very least, know how they differ and understand what the other side is saying.

extraordinary must read

First, scan down the list of reviews to: A Superb Book That Fills a Great Need, May 30, 2003 Reviewer: John W. Keck from Washington, DC his review is chapter by chapter and sets the stage for my ideas about this book.Second, the author is an atomic physicist who has thought deeply about these issues and for our benefit has organized and explained these ideas in a very sympathetic yet comprehensive way that deserves the widest possible audience. The writing is clear, interesting and of the highest possible caliber. I only wish more scientists wrote this well, not just their works for the laymen but for professional consumption as well, it would make the role of a student far more pleasurable.So what is the book about? What are the big issues that this author wants us to remember and to use in our intellectual life?First is the issue of materialism as a faith. This is chapter 1 and continues to be an explicit organizing principle throughout the book. "The fact of the matter is that there is a bitter intellectual battle going on, and it is about real issues. However, the conflict is not betwen religion and science, it is between religion and materialism. Materialism is a philosophical opinion that is closely connected with science. It grew up alongside of science, and many people have a hard time distingusihing it from science. But it is not science. It is merely a philosophical opinion. And not all scientists share it by any means. In fact, there seem to be more scientists who are religious than who are materialists." pg 1This is what i term the "like speaks to like issue". Materialism is the idea that all is matter in motion, sufficent to explain all phenomena in the universe. As he aptly points out this is philosophic opinion, or metaphysics. Christianity competes with a rival faith materialism not with science as technic of reading the book of nature. The second big idea is the human mind. This is the issue that materialism is unable to explain the fact that we are conscious of ourselves as free, thinking, acting beings in a material world where consciousness appears to be limited to ourselves. These are the related topics of part 4, chapters 19-25. I word the issue a little bit differently than does he, i use the term methodological naturalism to explain how science investigates the things of this universe, and further believe that the MN breaks as it encounters the human consciousness. This is what stops MN from being philosophic materialism. It is not a sufficent principle to explain everything we experience. The introduction to chpt 19 contains one of the most concise explanations of the problem of the consciousness of man that i can remember reading. If you only have time to skim this book, read chpt 1 and 19.It is truely an important and timely work, i deeply thank the author for the time, energy, sweat and tears that so evidently went into the writing of this excellent 5 star book. The clarity of thought, the organization and structure do

A Superb Book That Fills a Great Need

Let me begin by saying that as a physicist with some philosophical training I may not be the best judge for lay readers, but I loved this book and found it straight-forward to understand.The first chapter is introductory. The author, Stephen M. Barr, describes himself as "someone who adheres to traditional religion and who has worked in some of the subfields of modern physics that are relevant to the materialism/religion debate." Barr sees clearly that "the conflict is not between religion and science, it is between religion and materialism....a philosophical opinion that is closely connected with science. But it is not science." His purpose is to show how "new discoveries made in the last century in various fields have changed our picture of the world in fundamental ways. As a result, the balance has shifted in the debate between scientific materialism and religion.... [20th century] discoveries coming from the study of the material world itself, have given fresh reasons to disbelieve that matter is the only ultimate reality." Barr is honest about the stakes involved: "None of this is a matter of proofs.... What the debate is about, as I shall explain later, is not proof but credibility." And indeed, such simple honesty is characteristic.In the second chapter Barr begins by restating, then demolishing, the anti-religious mythology. His paraphrase of the anti-religious mythos sounds like it was cold-pressed straight from the pronouncements of Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and other spokesmen of materialism. This chapter alone is worth half the price of the hardcover. He makes his points so clearly that it is a wonder we could all be duped by "scientific" materialism for so long. I particularly admired the tactic that he gainfully employed throughout the book: demolishing the straw-men that the materialists have raised against believers, e.g. that the Bible is unscientific. "In fact", he observes, "the Bible shows almost no interest in natural phenomena.... [The] primary concern is with God's relationship to human beings, and with human beings' relationship to each other." Barr beautifully explains the concepts of religious mystery and dogma: "Dogmas do not shut off thought, like a wall. Rather they open the mind to vistas that are too deep and broad for our vision. A mystery is what cannot be seen, not because there is a barrier across our field of vision, but because the horizon is so far away." Masterfully he turns the tables on the materialists by observing, "Anything that stands in the way of materialism is ignored or denied [by the materialists]. The materialist lives in a very small world, intellectually speaking." Appendix A on the types of causes brings wonderful clarity to concepts that are often difficult for non-philosophers (including most scientists). It was very satisfying to see such common-sense explanations of the real positions of traditional believers, instead of the limp impostors put forward by the faithless a

Transcendentally Fine Book by Physicist Stephen Barr

Barr is a theoretical particle physicist who does research on grand unified theories and Big Bang cosmology. MODERN PHYSICS AND ANCIENT FAITH is an incisive, balanced, and powerful critique of scientific materialism. Barr brings his impressive knowledge and scientific expertise to bear on such issues as the distinction between science and materialist philosophy, the findings of physics, the nature of the Big Bang, anthropic coincidences, divergent views on Man's place in the cosmos and an extensive consideration of what the human mind is and does.Without dumbing down the data or the insights, he expounds a vigorous intellectual assault on the myth that science somehow renders religion null and void. Modest and nuanced, this book nonetheless possesses clarity and a scope which is literally and metaphorically cosmic. Barr's book is a "must-read" for everyone interested in the complex and creative interplay between physics and faith; it is even more essential for non-scientists (like myself) who want to be informed by a professional scientist and researcher like Stephen Barr about questions pertinent to all of us in our humanity.