Famed Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson once (well, several times actually) claimed Christianity was irreconcilable with the science of the Universe.
We’ve found two Astrophysicists and a History / Philosophy Professor who beg to differ.
Meet our guests
Peter D. Harrison FAHA is Professor Emeritus of History and Philosophy at the University of Queensland and a Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Notre Dame, Australia. He was previously the Idreos Professor of Science and Religion and Director of the Ramsey Centre at the University of Oxford
Dr Sarah Sweet is a Senior Lecturer in Astrophysics & ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow at the University of Queensland. Her research interests are in the formation and evolution of galaxies.
Dr Luke Barnes is a Senior Lecturer in astronomy and cosmology at Western Sydney University. The focus of his research has been the cosmic evolution of matter, and he has published papers in the field of galaxy formation and evolution, and on the fine-tuning of the universe for life.
Links
Special thanks to our season sponsor Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions
This episode was recorded live in Brisbane, in 2024. Keep an eye on the Undeceptions website for information on future live events.
A transcript of this episode is available here. Please note that due to software not all exchanges between guests will be completely accurate.
Extras
We’d like to give a huge shoutout to ISCAST, a great network of Christian scientists and thinkers which our guests are all involved with. Check them out here
The famous “Cosmic Cliffs” of the Carina Nebula, captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
To Read
- Our guest Peter Harrison has written loads on this topic. Here’s a great chapter he wrote published in Protestantism After 500 Years (Oxford University Press) on the Christian influence on the making of modern science
- Here’s a fascinating article on the influence of Augustine on modern science
- Luke’s book with Geraint Lewis is a fascinating dialogue between a sceptic and a believer about the origins of the universe. Get your copy here
- Famed astronomer Fred Hoyle famously asked, “has a superintellect monkeyed with the physics of our universe?” Here’s a great article looking into that famous quote
To Watch
- The Wile E Coyote gravity scene is what you heard at the start of the episode. Here it is
- Luke Barnes has done some great videos on all kinds of nerdy astro-physic things for the Closer to the Truth website. You can find them here
- This video shows some of the incredible images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope
- Brian Greene is no Christian, but he’s got this fascinating talk on the fine-tuning of the universe
To Listen
- Here’s Sean Carroll – who we quote a lot in this episode – giving his take on the rules that govern life on Earth.
- We’ve covered lots of similar topics in previous Undeceptions episodes. Here’s our episode The Multiverse, featuring some more Luke Barnes gold
- Our episode ‘Outer Space’ is also a good companion piece to this episode
- Rational Universe, with the brilliant Ard Louis, goes deeper into some of the concepts discussed in this episode
- True Science with Alastair McGrath goes further into natural philosophy, which Peter talks about in this episode
… and finally
- This episode comes with loads of philosophical questions, especially with regard to the place of humans in the universe. This article from The Atlantic asks some of the more ‘out there’ questions
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