THE FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSE

Chance, Chaos, God?

Arnold Benz

Contents

Introduction  

First Part: Universe, Time, and Creation

A Night at the Very Large Array

The Time of Stars

A Star is Formed
The Terminus of a Star
New Generations of Stars
The Universe Develops

Conflict or Distance?

Causality and Time in Science
Religious Perception
The Function of Creation Stories

Let's Separate What Does not belong Together!

Two Levels of Perception
Perception, Experience, Faith: What is Truth?
Consequences and Problems of the Separation of Faith and Science

Necessary Rapprochement

The Nexus of Amazement
Crisis of Metaphysics
The Biblical Model

The Universe as a Creation

A New Song of Praise
Conclusions

Second Part: Physics and Reality

An Astronomical Breathing Meditation

Relation between Subject and Object

Uncertainty in Quantum Mechanics
What is physical reality?

How Material is Matter?

Particle and Field Quanta

The Vacuum is not Nothing

The Beginning of the Universe

The Vacuum Hypothesis
Dark Matter: More Important than Expected
Developments in the Early Universe

Why this Universe?

Fine Tuning of the Universe
The Anthropic Principle
God as a Power of Nature, God of the Gaps, or Transcendence?

Third Part: Living and Dying

Life at the Pond Old and New
Life and Death

How New Things Emerge
Novel Structures in the Universe

The Evolution of Living Beings

The Life of Molecules
Evolution of the Theory of Evolution
The role of death

The Nexus of Death

Two Levels of Resurrection
Different Conceptions of God
Sympathetic Faith

Thesis

Fourth Part: The Future

Sensations of the Future The Future is Open

Chance is Part of Physics
Chaos Limits our Knowledge
Self-organization without Self
Openness and Freedom

The Future of the Universe

Sun and Earth will Pass Away
The Universe will not Remain as it is

Another View of the Future

"I am" Sayings
Christological Interpretations as Models

Hope in Spite of Predictions
Recognizing Reality

The Role of Metaphors
Time and Hope

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index