Sunderland & Boldon minister David Whiting shares his thoughts on Stephen Hawking's latest best-seller
Some years ago Stephen Hawking wrote a book entitled A Brief History of Time (Bantam Press, London, 1988). It is a book to be found on many people’s bookshelves but perhaps it has not always been read. In the book Stephen Hawking discusses the possibility of a unified theory for the cosmos and he finishes his book with a teasing paragraph:
‘If we do discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason – for then we shall know the mind of God’ (P.175).
That phrase about knowing ‘the mind of God’ is frequently quoted and it was brought out again earlier this month because Stephen Hawking has co authored with Leonard Mlodinow a new book entitled The Grand Design: New answers to the ultimate question of life (Bantam Press, London 2010). The press coverage has focussed on the idea the Stephen Hawking is saying that there is no need to invoke the idea that God created the universe. The actual phrase that caused the discussion appears on the penultimate page: ‘It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper to set the universe going’ (p. 180)
I just want to make a few brief comments, but first I need to preface what I write by saying that the book is a brief history of modern cosmological physics. It is a readable book and slightly more up to date than other books on the subject produced because it is the latest. The book is nicely illustrated and ends with a useful glossary of terms.
To begin with I want to say that although his first book was peppered with references to God I don’t think Stephen Hawking was ever really invoking a supernatural idea to the origin of the universe. A scientist does the mathematics and the physics without the assumption that God is involved. That is not the same as assuming God does not exist just that God is not necessary for the scientific method to be used. Even scientists who are people of faith do not make that assumption. They can then talk confidently about the history of the universe from a very short time after its beginning.
Secondly you cannot prove a negative namely that God does not exist. All you can do, from a scientific perspective, is produce partially testable theories about scientific origins without invoking the idea of the creator.
Thirdly, a positive, the Christian doctrine creation is not primarily about the origins of the universe but is about the relationship of that universe with God at every moment of its existence. The God we believe in is not the God that Hawking thinks we believe in, that is a God who lights ’the blue touch paper to set the universe going’. For the God we believe in is not merely involved with the origins of the universe but is an explanation of why the universe exists at all.
Read the book and enjoy it and don’t be too alarmed by press coverage which implies science has done away with God. It hasn’t and neither will it. Science and theology are partners in understanding this universe and what it is all about.