Big Bang Cosmology and Divine Creation: The New Physics and the Old Metaphysics by Br. Guy Consolmagno, S.J., Director of the Vatican Observatory.
Program Abstract:
The concept of God as Creator is not tied to any particular cosmology, but has endured even as our scientific cosmologies have radically changed. The traditional Christian understanding of God is not merely as some force within nature, operating alongside gravity or electromagnetism at ‘time zero’ to start a universe. Rather, God is supernatural, outside nature, and responsible for the very dimensions of space and time and the laws of science that allow matter to exist. This talk will explore the outline and history of our current cosmological thinking, and how it both challenges and expands our traditional metaphysics.
Speaker Bio:
Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J. is the Director of the Vatican Observatory. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he earned degrees in Planetary Science from MIT and the University of Arizona. He was a research fellow at Harvard and MIT, served in the US Peace Corps (Kenya), and taught university physics before entering the Jesuits in 1989. At the Vatican Observatory since 1993, in 2015 Pope Francis appointed Dr. Consolmagno director of the Vatican Observatory.
Br. Guy’s research explores connections between meteorites, asteroids, and the evolution of small solar system bodies. Along with more than 250 scientific publications, he is the author of a number of popular astronomy books.
This presentation was given at First Presbyterian Church, New Bern, on October 20th, 2024.
