{"product_id":"the-fire-in-the-equations-science-religion-search-for-god-9781932031676","title":"The Fire in the Equations: Science Religion \u0026 Search For God","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e “ In this beautifully and intelligently written book, Ferguson not only reports on some of the intellectual tremors jolting the world of thinking women and men, but also considers the basic questions with penetrating analysis, yet at a very readable level. . . . An excellent book.”\u003cb\u003e —\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Heralded for its readability and scholarship, \u003ci\u003eThe Fire in the Equations\u003c\/i\u003e offers a fascinating discussion of scientific discoveries and their impact on our beliefs. The book’s title is derived from Dr. Stephen Hawking’s pondering, “What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Originally published in the U.S. in 1995, it provides an excursion through new theories of quantum physics and cosmology, ranging from the nature of time, the big bang, the “unreasonable effectiveness” of mathematics, laws of nature, and their possible relation to God, chaos theory, black holes, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, particle physics, Darwin's theory of evolution, and the role of God in all these equations. It even raises such questions as “how God might answer prayers” from the point of view of physics. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e While she gives no absolute answers, Kitty Ferguson takes the reader through a world of paradoxes and improbabilities, explaining how believing in a pre-determined universe and free will as a theory of human behavior is possible. She concludes that what we know about science doesn't necessarily make God inevitable, but does not rule God out either. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“ In this beautifully and intelligently written book, Ferguson not only reports on some of the intellectual tremors jolting the world of thinking women and men, but also considers the basic questions with penetrating analysis, yet at a very readable level. . . . An excellent book.”\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e —\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e \"Ferguson weaves science, philosophy, and theology together with verve and clarity.\"\u003cbr\u003e – John Polkinghorne, Queen’s, Cambridge \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \"This is a clear account of the ultimate question.\"\u003cbr\u003e – Stephen W. Hawkings \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePreface \/ xi\u003cbr\u003e A Word about Inclusive Language \/ xiv\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments \/ xv\u003cbr\u003e 1 ‘They Buried Him in Westminster Abbey’ \/ 1\u003cbr\u003e 2 Seeing Things \/ 4\u003cbr\u003e Is the rational universe an illusion? \/ 12\u003cbr\u003e ‘In Nature’s infinite book of mysteries . . .can we read very much at all? \/ 19\u003cbr\u003e Is objective reality a mirage? \/ 25\u003cbr\u003e Are we really free agents? \/ 30\u003cbr\u003e Is the universe a uni-verse? \/ 33\u003cbr\u003e 3 Almost Objective \/ 35\u003cbr\u003e Where is fancy bred? \/ 37\u003cbr\u003e The spectacles-behind-the-eyes \/ 44\u003cbr\u003e The muse of science: Is truth beautiful? \/ 59\u003cbr\u003e Does truth surpass proof? \/ 63\u003cbr\u003e The elite of science \/ 66\u003cbr\u003e The spirit of the times \/ 69\u003cbr\u003e The essential Godlessness of science \/ 73\u003cbr\u003e At the limits of scientific truth \/ 78\u003cbr\u003e First steps beyond the mind’s-eye view \/ 80\u003cbr\u003e Is there anything else? \/ 81\u003cbr\u003e The insidiousness of God \/ 86\u003cbr\u003e The morality of science: Is truth good? \/ 87\u003cbr\u003e 4 Romancing the Creation \/ 89\u003cbr\u003e The uncomfortable concept of a beginning \/ 90\u003cbr\u003e The Gordian knot of singularity \/ 102\u003cbr\u003e The magic of imaginary time \/ 108\u003cbr\u003e The pulsing universe and the arrow of entropy \/ 117\u003cbr\u003e The mysterious wobbling of nothingness \/ 123\u003cbr\u003e ‘Reality (whatever that may be)’ \/ 126\u003cbr\u003e Reality in the absence of apples \/ 129\u003cbr\u003e What place for a creator? \/ 134\u003cbr\u003e The third candidate \/ 137\u003cbr\u003e The mother of all chicken-and-egg stories \/ 139\u003cbr\u003e 5 The Elusive Mind of God \/ 143\u003cbr\u003e God as the embodiment of the laws of physics \/ 145\u003cbr\u003e A presence behind the process 146\u003cbr\u003e The leap to purpose: The God who wishes to drink tea \/ 147\u003cbr\u003e The watchmaker \/ 149\u003cbr\u003e The universe as a ‘put-up job’ \/ 163\u003cbr\u003e Second Gordian knot: The anthropic principle \/ 164\u003cbr\u003e Hacking at the second Gordian knot \/ 166\u003cbr\u003e The inflationary universe \/ 167\u003cbr\u003e Baby universes to the rescue! \/ 171\u003cbr\u003e Not the ether again! 173\u003cbr\u003e The longing of Johannes Kepler \/ 178\u003cbr\u003e The fiddler on the roof \/ 184\u003cbr\u003e 6 The God of Abraham and Jesus \/ 185\u003cbr\u003e The law-breaker \/ 189\u003cbr\u003e The hard edge of legalism \/ 191\u003cbr\u003e The soft underbelly of legalism \/ 195\u003cbr\u003e The death of the God of the Gaps \/ 204\u003cbr\u003e Chaos meets Control 205\u003cbr\u003e ‘Top-down’ determinism? \/ 221\u003cbr\u003e ‘I AM’ \/ 225\u003cbr\u003e When truths collide \/ 228\u003cbr\u003e The ultimate self-confirming hypothesis \/ 231\u003cbr\u003e The masterful use of parallel perfect fifths \/ 234\u003cbr\u003e Who is the ‘I’ in ‘I AM’? \/ 239\u003cbr\u003e 7 Inadmissible Evidence \/ 241\u003cbr\u003e Public vs. private knowledge \/ 242\u003cbr\u003e Admissible evidence? \/ 245\u003cbr\u003e The spectacles-behind-the-eyes, revisited \/ 246\u003cbr\u003e The cloud of witnesses \/ 247\u003cbr\u003e A game of ‘I Doubt It’ \/ 251\u003cbr\u003e The Lucy problem \/ 253\u003cbr\u003e ‘I should not believe such a story were it told me by Cato!’ \/ 254\u003cbr\u003e ‘The Invincible Ignorance of Science’ \/ 259\u003cbr\u003e ‘For the Bible tells me so’—the evidence of scripture \/ 260\u003cbr\u003e Is there proof in the pudding? The evidence of results \/ 263\u003cbr\u003e Armchair truth: The argument from reason \/ 266\u003cbr\u003e The argument from explanatory power \/ 270\u003cbr\u003e The argument from nature \/ 274\u003cbr\u003e The argument from availability \/ 277\u003cbr\u003e 8 Theory of Everything . . . Mind of God \/ 279\u003cbr\u003e Notes \/ 284\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography \/ 293\u003cbr\u003e Index \/ 301\u003cbr\u003e Back to Tabs","brand":"Templeton Foundation Press,U.S.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53192091533655,"sku":"9781932031676","price":21.03,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-fire-in-the-equations-science-religion-search-for-god-9781932031676","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}