Peter Bussey

Peter Bussey offers a clear introduction to the relationship between physics and religious (specifically Christian) belief. His discussion of the nature of matter given quantum field theory is fascinating--it is difficult, if not impossible, to say what matter is. This could suggest a softening of the Cartesian divide between mind and matter.

Bussey presents a detailed version of the Kalam Cosmological Argument for the existence of God. This version of the cosmological argument attempts to show that the universe had a beginning in time, and if so, it must have had a Creator since something cannot come out of nothing. He argues that current cosmological theories that posit "something from nothing" are not talking about true nothingness. Quantum fields or new universes forming are not nothing and still require an explanation. For Bussey, only God can be an adequate explanation.

Although I agree with Bussey's point about "nothing" as it is misused by some contemporary physicists, I am not yet convinced that the version of the cosmological argument he uses in such cases is the Kalam argument; rather, it seems to be a version of Aquinas' first three ways to prove God's existence. The heart of those arguments is that the universe is contingent, dependent on something or someone else in order to exist. All of Aquinas' versions of the Cosmological Argument assume that the universe exists everlastingly, although Aquinas personally disagrees with it due to his Christian faith. It does not appear that Bussey's argument, at least in response to Hawking or the bubble university theory or other theories of "something coming from nothing" can prove a temporal beginning of the universe. Bussey, however, does an excellent job of showing why none of those new theories disprove the existence of God.

I recommend this book to the layman interested in religion and science; it is readable and as easy to follow as any book on science and religion I have read.… (mere)