Cosmic ChemistryJohn C. Lennox, Lion Books, 2021Preface Names this book the same as his opening section of his 2019 book "Can Science Explain Everything?", which in turn he compared to "God's Undertaker" which was the first of his books that I read and which got me hooked on his books. I am reproducing the "two sides" he proposed in "Can Science Explain Everything?"
Part 1: Surveying the Landscape 1. Introduction The introduction is a good source of quotes:
p12
p 2. Matters of Evidence and Faith p19 "..we point out the important principle that statements by scientists are not always statement of science." "Humanity should accept that science has eliminated the justification for believing in cosmic purpose, and that any survival of purpose is inspired only by sentiment." "It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, 'mad cow' disease and many others., but I think that a case can be made that faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate. Faith, being belief that isn't based on evidence, is the principal vice of any religion." p20 Lennox continues to hammer on Dawkins' willingness to assert that faith has no evidence without even attempting to show that it has no evidence. Dawkins' "scientific belief is based upon publicly checkable evidence, religious faith not only lacks evidence; its independence from evidence is its joy, shouted from the rooftops." p21 Lennox quotes Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. p22 Lennox quotes approvingly one statement in Dawkins' "The Devil's Chaplain": "Next time that somebody tells you something is true, why not say to them: 'What kind of evidence is there for that?' And if they can't give you a good answer, I hope you'll think very carefully before you believe a word they say." But then he uses it to hammer him again with: "One might be forgiven for giving in to the powerful temptation to apply Dawkins' maxim to him- and just not believe anything he says." p22 Cites Alvin Plantinga from "Where the Conflict Really Lies" pg xi: "the new atheists are but a temporary blemish on the face of serious conversation in this crucial area." p23 Survey of scientists belief in God, sent to 1000 in 1910 with 70% reply Response to "I believe that science and religion occupy non-overlapping domains of discourse and can peacefully coexist (NOMA)" Sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund, Rice University survey: 50% of evangelicals believe science and religion can work together. But for general population of U.S. only 38% belived so. p25 Returns to his statement p19 "..we point out the important principle that statements by scientists are not always statement of science." and then suggests "it could be worth exploring what exactly the relationships between science and atheism and between science and theism are. In particular, which, if any, of these diametrically opposing worldviews of theism and atheism does science support?" 3. A Historical Perspective: The Forgotten Roots of Science and Arguments from Design p26 Starts with the Paley Watchmaker quote. p27 Note the monotheism of Melvin Calvin (Nobel prize, Calvin Cycle) like the quotes of Psalm 19:1 and Psalm 94:9 which points to the one God who formed life. Counters the popular conception that the ancient Greeks set aside polytheism to pave the way for the scientific revolution. The Hebrews' monotheism was much earlier. p28-29 Discusses "argument to design" in which we expect a creating God to show design and find it, and "argument from design" in which we find design in creation an infer a Creator. Cites the teleological argument from Del Ratzsch. p30-31 Interesting discussion about Hebrews far preceding Greeks in rejecting polytheism - so it was not the Greeks who aided science's agenda. The Greeks got so messed up in polytheism that they eventually emerged on one of two trajectories - Xenophanes (and the Hebrews) believed in one creator God, and the other branch was atheist and materialist. Tempting to do graphic, and tempting to do concept map of all these philosophers to help me keep track. p30-36 would be a good place to start with it. Leucippus and his better known student Democritus founded the atomic theory. p32 Feynman quote about the importance of the atomic hypothesis. p32-36 Material I need to clarify my picture of Aristotle and his four ways and Aquinas and his five ways. Plutarch's view of chance on p34. Also discussion of Maimonides, whose statue we viewed while walking on the street in Cordoba, Spain after viewing the massive mosque structure with imbedded Christian cathedral. P36 quote Aquinas and Ward. The 5th way of Aquinas is the teleological argument. Note the difference from Aristotle. p36-37 Lots of thinkers on p36-37 and useful list of theist scientists to use for the earlier list. p38 Dawkins and Chinese picture. p38 "We are by no means claiming that all aspects of religion in general and Christianity in particular have contributed to the rise of science.What we are suggesting is that the biblical doctrine of a unique Creator God, who is responsible for the existence of and order in the universe, has played an important role in the history of science." p39 Whitehead and Torrance on the examples of hindering science by religious ideas. Brooke and Harrison contribute to the discussion. Newtonian Mechanics and Determinism p40 Some critique of Aristotle for trying to derive from philosophical principles how the universe ought to be. There had to be a departure from such an approach to the idea of a contingent universe. Examples were Galileo and Kepler who "went and looked". p41 Isaac Newton had a strong theistic worldview, but the laws of mechanics which he discovered contributed to an atheist-materialist worldview. Cites quantum physicist Henry Stapp. Interesting idea that if Newtonian deterministic mechanics prevails where everything is determined by the initial conditions and the deterministic laws, this destroys the basis for human moral responsibility. Of course the quantum view must enter here, but Lennox defers detailed discussion of this until Ch 21 p p p p p p Part 2: Science and Explanation 4. Science, its Presuppositions, Scope, and Methodology p p p 5. Worldviews and Their Relation to Science: Naturalism and its Shortcomings p p p p 6. Theism and its Relationship to Science: God of Gaps, Complexity of God, and Miracles p114 Dawkins' complexity of God objection p114-118 Extended discussion to refute Dawkins' "complexity of God" objection. Dawkins' statement: "Any God capable of designing a universe ... must be a supremely complex and improbable entity who needs an even bigger explanation than the one he is supposed to provide." The God Delusion p147 p114 Lennox points out that Dawkins' major logical error here is the presumption that explanations must proceed from the simple to the complex, like atoms to molecules to proteins. He asserts that Dawkins' argument falls apart like a house of cards when you consider that simple phenomena have complex foundations as explanations, the key being explanatory power:
p118 Miracles, chance, and the supernatural God and nature p118 God is the reason the universe exists p119 Francis Crick "The origin of life seems almost to be a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going." p119-131 Mostly a discussion of God's creative activity and discussion of miracles, noting the kinds of objections to the possiblity of miracles. p120 One of the most scornful rejections of miracles comes, unsurprisingly, from Richard Dawkins in "The God Delusion", p187 "The nineteenth century is the last time when it was possible for an educated person to admit to believing in miracles like the virgin birth without embarrassment. When pressed, many educated Christians are too loyal to deny the virgin birth and the resurrection. But it embarrasses them because their rational minds know that it is absurd, so they would much rather not be asked." Lennox counters by naming Sir John Polkinghorne, Dr Francis Collins, and Dr William Phillips, physics Nobel laureate, all of whom have publicly asserted belief in the resurrection. p120-121 Cites Ian Hutchinson, Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT, who says that "he and millions of other scientists around the world think that the literal miracle of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is not only possible but it actually happened." A short quote is added on p124 "Still, the fact that the resurrection was impossible in the normal course of events was as obvious in the first century as it is for us. Indeed that is why it was seen as a great demonstration of of God's power." p121 Cites Francis Collins on miraculous events: "It is crucial that a healthy scepticism be applied when interpreting potentially miraculous events, lest the integrity and rationality of the religious perspective be brought into question. The only thing that will kill the possibility of miracles more quickly than a committed materialism is the claiming of miracle status for everyday events for which natural explanations are readily at hand." p121-129 Extensive discussion of David Hume in regard to miracles and other issues related. p121 "David Hume .. asserted .. that miracles are 'violations of the laws of nature'. He regarded the laws as firmly established by experience and so the argument against them based on experience is as complete as you could ask for." p122 Hume: "A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience as can be imagined. ... It is no miracle that a man, seemingly in good health, should die on a sudden: because such a kind of death, though more unusual than any other, has yet been frequently observed to happen. But it is a miracle that a dead man should come to life; because that has never been observed, in any age or country. There must,therefore, be a uniform experience against every miraculous event, otherwise the event would not merit that appellation." p123 "Philosopher Anthony Flew, a world authority on Hume and once a much-feted atheist, radically revised his assessment of Hume": "in the light of my new-found awareness that Hume was utterly wrong to maintain that we have no experience, and hence no genuine ideas, of making things happen and preventing things from happening, of physical necessity and physical impossibility. Generations of Humeans have ... been misled into offering analyses of causation and of natural law that have been far too weak because they had no basis for accepting the existence of either cause and effect or natural laws ... Hume's scepticism about cause and effect and his agnosticism about the external world are of course jettisoned the moment he leaves his study." p125 Just touches on reflection of the role of quantum mechanics and divine action and refers off to Alvin Plantinga and his book "Where the Conflict Really Lies". p125-126 Quotes of philosopher Daniel von Wachter relevant to the possibility of miracles. p127 and 128 two relevant quotes of C. S. Lewis. p129 At the close of this extensive discussion of David Hume, he adds a somewhat surprising quote sympathetic to theism and intelligent design! "The whole frame of nature bespeaks an intelligent author; and no rational enquirer can, after serious reflection, suspend his belief a moment with regard to the primary principles of genuine Theism and Religion." From Introduction There is also a similar thought from the participant Cleanthes in Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion that we seem to see "the image of mind reflected on us from innumerable objects in nature." Lennox's response: "Many who quote Hume assiduously against miracles do not seem to be aware of his sympathy with intelligent design." Part 3: Understanding the Universe and Life 7. Understanding the Universe: The Beginning and Fine Tuning p p p 8. The Wonder of the Living World p p p p 9. The Genetic Code p p p p 10. A Matter of Information p p p p 11. Algorithmic Information Theory p p p p 12. Life's Solution: Self-Organization p p p p Part 4: The Modern Synthesis 13. Life's Solution: Evolution? p p p 14. Evolution: Asking Hard Questions p p p p 15. The Nature and Scope of Evolution p p p p 16. Natural Selection p p p p 17. The Edge of Evolution p p p p 18. The Mathematics of Evolution p p p p Part 5: The Information Age 19. Systems Biology p p p 20. The Origin of Information: A Word-Based World p p p p 21. Brain, Mind, and the Quantum World p p p p Epilogue: Beyond Science But Not Beyond Reason p p p
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