God and the New Physics [Paperback]

How did the universe begin and how will it end?
What is matter?
What is mind, and can it survive death?
What are time and space, and how do they relate to ideas about God?
Is the order of the universe the result of accident or design?
The most profound and age-old questions of existence -- for centuries the focus of religion and philosophy -- may soon be answered through the extraordinary advances of a field of science known as the new physics. In this illuminating work, Paul Davies, author of the acclaimedOther WorldsandThe Edge of Infinity,writes that the discoveries of 20th-century physics -- relativity and the quantum theory -- are now pointing the way to a new appreciation of man and his place in the universe. They could, in fact, bring within our grasp a unified description of all creation. Demanding a radical reformulation of the most fundamental aspects of reality and a way of thinking that is in closer accord with mysticism than materialism, the new physics, says Davies, offers a surer path to God than religion.
Described byThe Washington Postas impressive, God and the New Physicsis a fascinating look at the impact of science on what were formerly religious issues. Elegantly written, a book for both scholars and lay readers of science, it is, according to theChristian Science Monitor,a provocative...rewarding intellectual romp. Chapter 1

Science and religion in a changing world

'The wise man regulates his conduct by the theories both of religion and science.'

J.B.S. Haldane

'But because I have been enjoined, by this Holy Office, altogether to abandon the false opinion which maintains that the Sun is the centre and immovable, and forbidden to hold, defend, or teach, the said false doctrine in any manner...I abjure, curse, and detest the said errors and heresies, and generally every other error and sect contrary to the said Holy Church...'

Galileo Galilei