Hawking and theology
Hello Rabbi,
Is there a Torah response to Hawking's claim in his book A Brief History of Time, whose conclusion is: "The conclusion emerging from these experiments, at least for now, is even more surprising: a universe that has no boundaries in space, has no beginning or end in time, and there is nothing in it that the Creator can do."
I didn't understand the question. This is a statement, not an argument. I can only state for my part that the Creator has something to do in the world, and in particular to make this universe itself. So now you have a counter-statement. Does that help anything? To discuss, you need to bring reasons and arguments, not statements.
In general, I would say that Hawking is usually quite a chatterbox. I don't know if he's a good physicist or not (it's not my field, and journalists don't understand anything anyway. It's clear that he enjoys the aura that surrounds him, and rightly so, because of his impressive handling of his severe disability), but I do know that he's an extremely weak philosopher, and tends to use physical terminology and knowledge (and sometimes games and speculations) to impress laypeople in fields (like theology) that don't touch on this knowledge as much as the peel of a garlic clove.
Hello Rabbi
The questioner wrote that Hawking's book contains a statement that the universe has no beginning or end in time.
Regarding the beginning of the universe, is it not true that today it is estimated that the universe "began" 13.8 billion years ago? Or is there a disagreement with this theory?
Is that what you meant when you said he's usually quite a chatterbox?
I don't think it's written there. I was mainly referring to his stuff about philosophy, and the fact that he really likes headlines and presenting ideas as findings.
In a brief check on Wikipedia, I saw that the quote was taken from the introduction to the book, which was not written by Hawking:
Carl Sagan, in his introduction to "A Brief History of Time," wrote:
It is also a book about God… or perhaps the absence of God… to what extent God had a choice when he created the universe. Hawking is trying, as he clearly states, to understand God’s way of thinking… The conclusion that emerges from these attempts, at least for now, is even more surprising: a universe that has no boundaries in space, no beginning or end in time, and nothing in it that the Creator can do.
Thank you very much, Rabbi.
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