Scientific Cosmology Meets Western Theology

A Historical Perspective

  1. OWEN GINGERICH*

Article first published online: 25 JAN 2006

DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2001.tb02125.x

Issue

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Volume 950, Cosmic Questions pages 28–38, December 2001

Additional Information

How to Cite

GINGERICH, O. (2001), Scientific Cosmology Meets Western Theology. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 950: 28–38. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2001.tb02125.x

Author Information

  1. Professor of Astronomy and the History of Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

*Address for correspondence: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. Voice: 617-495-7216; fax: 617-496-7564; ginger@cfa.harvard.edu.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 25 JAN 2006
  2. Article first published online: 25 JAN 2006

SEARCH

SEARCH BY CITATION

ARTICLE TOOLS

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (189K)

Keywords:

  • Copernican revolution;
  • Johannes Kepler;
  • Galileo;
  • Edwin Hubble;
  • Big Bang cosmology;
  • Fred Hoyle;
  • steady-state cosmology

Abstract: Traditional sacred geography of Christendom met a challenge not so much from Copernicus' heliocentrism per se as from the greatly explanded vision of the cosmos that it ushered in. The twentieth-century view of the vastness of both space and time has brought revolutionary conceptual changes to the sacred landscape. From a theistic perspective, God is not simply the source of the Big Bang, but the Creator in the larger sense of designer and intender of the universe.

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (189K)