New proofs for the existence of God : contributions of contemporary physics and philosophy

411 Pages·2010·1.91 MB·English

by  Spitzer

Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction

PART ONE - Indications of Creation and Supernatural Design in Big
Bang Cosmology
CHAPTER ONE - Indications of Creation in Big Bang Cosmology

Introduction
I. The Big Bang Theory
II. Can Science Indicate Creation?
III. Arguments for a Beginning of the Universe in Big Bang
Cosmology
IV. Conclusion
V. Metaphysical Implications

CHAPTER TWO - Indications of Supernatural Design in Contemporary Big
Bang Cosmology

Introduction
I. Universal Constants
II. The Extreme Improbability of Our Anthropic Universe
III. Many Universes or Supernatural Design?
Conclusion
CONCLUSION TO PART ONE

POSTSCRIPT TO PART ONE - Inflationary Cosmology and the String
Multiverse

Introduction
I. All Inflationary Cosmologies Must Have a Beginning and a
Transcendent Cause
II. A Preliminary Assessment of Inflationary Cosmology
III. All Inflationary and Non-Inflationary Cosmologies Appear to
Require a ...
IV. Inflation and Cosmological Fine-Tuning
V. Fine-Tuning and String Cosmology
VI. Conclusion

PART TWO - Three Philosophical Proofs for the Existence of God
Methodological Presuppositions of Philosophical Proof: Reasonable
and ...

CHAPTER THREE - A Metaphysical Argument for God’s Existence

Introduction
I. Step One: Proof of the Existence of at Least One Unconditioned
Reality
II. Step Two: Proof That Unconditioned Reality Itself Is the
Simplest Possible Reality
III. Step Three: Proof of the Absolute Uniqueness of Unconditioned
Reality Itself
IV. Step Four: Proof That Unconditioned Reality Itself Is
Unrestricted
Conclusion to Steps One Through Four
V. Step Five: Proof That the One Unconditioned Reality Is the
Continuous ...
Conclusion

CHAPTER FOUR - A Lonerganian Proof for God’s Existence

Introduction
I. Definitions of “Understanding” and “Intelligibility”
II. Proof of the Existence of God
III. The Mystery of Human Understanding: The Notion of Being

CHAPTER FIVE - Proof of a Creator of Past Time
Introduction
I. An Analytical Contradiction
II. An Ontological Explanation of Real Time
III. Hilbert’s Prohibition of Actual Infinities
IV. A Formal Argument Against the Infinity of Past Time in Any
Changeable Universe
V. Proof of a Creator of Past Time Which Is Not Itself Conditioned
by Time
Conclusion

CHAPTER SIX - Methodological Considerations and the Impossibility of ...

Introduction
I. Common Methodological Elements
II. Three Approaches to the Notion of “God”
III. The Impossibility of Disproving the Existence of God
IV. The Tenuous Rationality of Atheism

PART THREE - The Transcendentals: The Divine and Human
Mysteries
CHAPTER SEVEN - The Divine Mystery: Five Transcendentals

Introduction
I. The Interrelationship Among Absolute Simplicity, Perfect Unity,
and ...
II. The Ontological Status of Love, the Good, and the Beautiful
Conclusion to the Chapter

CHAPTER EIGHT - The Human Mystery: Five Yearnings for the Ultimate

Introduction
I. The Desire for Perfect Truth
II. The Desire for Perfect Love
III. The Desire for Perfect Justice/Goodness
IV. The Desire for Perfect Beauty
V. The Desire for Perfect Home
CONCLUSION TO PART THREE: THE DIVINE AND HUMAN
MYSTERIES

CONCLUSION
References
Index

© 2010 Robert J. Spitzer
All rights reserved

Published 2010 by
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 /
P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.

Printed in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Spitzer, Robert J., 1952-
New proofs for the existence of God: contributions of contemporary physics and philosophy / Robert J. Spitzer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8028-6383-6 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. God (Christianity) 2. God—Proof. 3. Physics—Religious aspects—Christianity. 4. Philosophical theology. I. Title.
BT103.S687 2010
212ʹ.1—dc22
2010013887
www.eerdmans.com
In memory of my mother,
whose faith has inspired me from childhood to this day;

and my father,
whose love of learning stirred the spirit of inquiry within me.

And in memory of Paul Weiss,
whose freedom and discipline in metaphysical creativity
made a lifelong impression.
Acknowledgments
I owe a sincere debt of gratitude to Camille De Blasi Pauley, without whom this
book would have never seen the light of day. She has not only typed multiple
drafts of this manuscript, but also has played a crucial role in transferring the
material from my head to the computer. She has spent countless hours
interacting with me and formatting and fine-tuning this text. Her many editorial
suggestions have made this volume clearer and more accessible.
I would also like to thank International Philosophical Quarterly for
permission to use my published materials from the June 2001 and September
2001 issues; Pachart Publishing and the Vatican Observatory for permission to
use my published materials from the 2003 issue of Philosophy in Science; and
the Journal of Ultimate Reality and Meaning (Toronto) for permission to use my
published materials from the December 2004 issue.
I am grateful to the many people who have supported and influenced me
intellectually throughout the last fifteen years, particularly Dr. Paul Weiss, Dr.
James Collins, Dr. Vernon Bourke, William Wallace, O.P., Dr. Timothy
Eastman, Thomas King, S.J., Joseph Koterski, S.J., and William Stoeger, S.J. I
am also grateful to Theodore Wolf, S.J., and William Carney, S.J., who got me
started in the philosophical enterprise at Gonzaga University in 1972-73.
I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to Joan Jacoby for her
invaluable help in preparing the final manuscript and to those who have helped
me indirectly, including the Jesuit Community, my staff, and the professors and
students at Gonzaga University, Seattle University, and Georgetown University.
Introduction
The last few years have seen several books championing agnosticism or atheism
making their way into the popular press. These books leave most informed
readers quite baffled, because they ignore the vast majority (if not the entirety)
of the considerable evidence for theism provided by physics and philosophy
during the last few decades. This evidence is capable of grounding reasonable
and responsible belief in a super-intelligent, transcendent, creative power that
stands at the origins of our universe or any hypothetically postulated multiverse.
The main purpose of this book is to give a brief synopsis of this evidence to
readers who are interested in exploring the strongest rational foundation for faith
that has come to light in human history.
The great physicist Sir Arthur Eddington remarked in his classic work The
Nature of the Physical World:
We all know that there are regions of the human spirit untrammeled by
the world of physics. In the mystic sense of the creation around us, in
the expression of art, in a yearning towards God, the soul grows
upward and finds the fulfillment of something implanted in its nature.
The sanction for this development is within us, a striving born with our
consciousness or an Inner Light proceeding from a greater power than
ours. Science can scarcely question this sanction, for the pursuit of
science springs from a striving which the mind is impelled to follow, a
questioning that will not be suppressed. Whether in the intellectual
pursuits of science or in the mystical pursuits of the spirit, the light
beckons ahead and the purpose surging in our nature responds.1
Perhaps this light is responsible for the persistent rational pursuit of ultimate
grounds and causation which has been frequently associated with God since the
time of Plato2 and Aristotle.3 Though there have been centuries of controversy
about the legitimacy of these proofs (particularly from the late eighteenth to
early twentieth centuries), contemporary developments in physics, philosophy,
and mathematics have led to a rekindled interest and an expanded pursuit of
them.4
In the twentieth century, David Hilbert (the father of finite mathematics) has
given new probative force and depth to the argument for the intrinsic finitude of