Hosted by Campion College at the University of Regina, this annual lecture is being delivered by Brother Guy Consolmagno (pictured). American born, Consolmagno joined the Jesuit order in 1989, and now works as an astronomer for the Vatican and manages its meteorite collection.
The title of Consolmagno’s talk is The New Physics & the Old Metaphysics. Religion is usually a pretty touchy subject on Dog Blog, so to avoid inflaming anyone’s passions I’ll simply lift the synopsis for the talk that Campion has on its website:
The Grand Design, co‑authored in 2010 by the physicists Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, argues that God is not necessary for the origin of the Big Bang. This argument follows a theme quite popular with a group of scholars sometimes labeled “The New Atheists” who insist that science can replace a need for God. Of course, there’s nothing new about this sort of atheism, nor is Stephen Hawking the first scientist or philosopher to declare God obsolete. But his latest book about the origins of the universe provoke some interesting questions about our understanding of the nature of God and the relationship between science and theology. It is easy to mock the theological naivety of The New Atheists; what is more important, however, is to recognize where theologically they are actually correct.
The talk goes at Campion Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Then tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. Consolmagno will conduct a seminar at the same location on the topic Faith and the Cosmos. For more info on either event call 359-1244.
