Dean L. Overman

A Case for the Existence of God (eBook, PDF)

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

Some of the brightest scientific minds of our time, from Albert Einstein to Stephen Hawking, have made incredible insights into the earliest origins of the universe, but have failed to ultimately discover why there is something rather than nothing-why we exist. In A Case for the Existence of God, Dean L. Overman examines the latest theories about the origins of the universe and explains why even the most sophisticated science can only take us so far. Ultimately we must make a leap of faith to understand the world, and Overman argues that a leap into theism provides the most satisfying conclusions. Overman explores fundamental questions about why our world exists and how it functions, using principles of logic, physics, and theology. In a time when religion and science are often portrayed as diametrically opposed, A Case for the Existence of God presents a refreshing view of the interplay between science and religion and makes a compelling case for the existence of God and his role in our world.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury eBooks US
• Seitenzahl: 1
• Erscheinungstermin: 17. Oktober 2008
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9798216218890
• Artikelnr.: 75142576

Autorenporträt

Dean L. Overman is former senior partner of the international law firm Winston & Strawn. A former Templeton scholar at Oxford University in the fields of information theory, physics, and religion, he has also studied theology at Princeton Theological Seminary and was a visiting scholar at Harvard University. He is the author of A Case Against Accident and Self-Organization.

Inhaltsangabe

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: The question of God's existence: the radical contingency of the
universe points toward a necessary being
Chapter 3: Many generations of philosophers have made the mistake of
assuming Hume and Kant's objections disposed of the cosmological argument
Chapter 4: A universe with an infinite past would still require a necessary
being to sustain its existence
Chapter 5: Because the universe (or multiverse) had a beginning, it is
contingent and has a cause for its coming into existence
Chapter 6: The philosophy of nature set forth in this book emphasizes the
intelligibility of the universe noted in Einstein's statement: "The most
incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible." A
significant issue in examining the "something" that exists is Why is it
intelligible?
Chapter 7: Evolution is not dispositive of the question of why there is
something rather than nothing and why the universe is rational and
intelligible
Chapter 8: The mystery of information challenges a strict materialism
Chapter 9: The existence of God gives an absolute that is consistent with
the real existence of right and wrong
Chapter 10: Evidential force of religious experience: If God is a person,
God can be known to only a very limited extent by abstract reasoning and is
more fully known by personal acquaintance in an I-Thou relationship with
the Wholly Other
Chapter 11: Recorded experiences of encounters with the divine bear witness
to a way of knowing that includes Kierkegaard's Kendskab, Buber's I-Thou,
Otto's Wholly Other, and Marcel's Mystery
Chapter 12: These nine witnesses testify to another way of knowing that is
compatible with the empirical and the metaphysical rational ways of
knowing, but is beyond the describable and requires personal participation,
commitment, and personal transformation
Chapter 13: Concluding reflections and summary: Theism requires a leap of
faith, but it is a leap into the light, not into the dark; theism explains
more than Atheism, which also requires a leap of faith
Afterword
Appendix A: The new mathematics of algorithmic information theory is
relevant to theories concerning the formation of the first living matter
Appendix B: The limits of mathematics and the limits of reason: Why
everyone will always live by faith rather than certainty
Appendix C: The evidence from contemporary physics supports the concepts of
personal responsibility and free will
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the Author