The Beginning of All Things: Science and Religion [Paperback]

Hans Küng (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 2008

Translated by John Bowden / In an age when faith and science seem constantly to clash, can theologians and scientists come to a meeting of minds? Yes, maintains the intrepid Hans K�ng, as he brilliantly argues here that religion and science are not mutually exclusive but complementary. / Focusing on beginnings — beginnings of time, of the world, of man, of human will — K�ng deals with an array of scientific precepts and teachings. From a unified field theory to quantum physics to the Big Bang to the theory of relativity — even superstring and chaos theories — he examines all of the theories regarding the beginning of the universe and life (of all kinds) in that universe. / K�ng seeks to reconcile theology with the latest scientific insights, holding that "a confrontational model for the relationship between science and theology is out of date, whether put forward by fundamentalist believers and theologians or by rationalistic scientists and philosophers." While accepting evolution as scientists generally describe it, he still maintains a role for God in founding the laws of nature by which life evolved and in facilitating the adventure of creation. / Exhibiting little patience for scientists who do not see beyond the limits of their discipline or for believers who try to tell experts how things must have been, K�ng challenges readers to think more deeply about the beginnings in order to facilitate a new beginning in dialogue and understanding.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Many will find it fascinating to see how a distinguished theologian offers his personal contribution to the dialogue between science and theology, writing in a bold and challenging manner and making good use of his wide reading and personal encounters."
-- John Polkinghorne, Canon Theologian of Liverpool Cathedral

"The prolific and inquisitive Hans Küng guides us through the conundrums of Big Bang cosmology, evolution, and brain science, showing how science raises questions it cannot answer. God is the answer. God is a rational answer, based on a faith that trusts. Küng's is a grippingly lucid and insightfully thoughtful addition to the field of science and religion."
--Ted Peters, coeditor of Theology and Science --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Hans Kung is president of the Global Ethic Foundation (Germany/Switzerland) after retiring in 1996 as professor of ecumenical theology and director of the Institute for Ecumenical Research at the University of T�bingen. He is the author of more than fifty books, including The Catholic Church and On Being a Christian.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (June 6, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802863590
• ISBN-13: 978-0802863591
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #138,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kung's Summation, January 26, 2008

By 

John ODonnell "jono" (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Beginning of All Things: Science and Religion (Hardcover)

Hans Kung has been a formidable intellect in theology for many years having written over 50 books. His writing is characterized by breadth of learning. His book Infallible? An Enquiry (1978) led to loss of his license to teach theology in Roman Catholic schools but did not discourage him from pushing the theological envelope. For those who regard it as important, Kung's views were never found to be heretical. Now retired from his professorship at Tubingen University, Kung turns his attention in this volume to the question whether science and religion can coexist. His answer is that they do more than coexist; they are complimentary. Kung defines complementarity as a state "between science and religion in which the distinctive spheres are preserved, all illegitimate transitions are avoided and all absolutizations are rejected, but in which in mutual questioning and enrichment people attempt to do justice to reality in all its dimensions."

Kung immediately engages the skeptic's question whether he argues for an unenlightened biblical belief in a being that created the world in six days. Kung replies: "Certainly not! I want to take the Bible seriously, but that doesn't mean I want to take it literally."

Kung begins with an engaging and clear tour through cosmology. He leaves nothing out from Copernicus to Newton, Einstein, Big Bang theory, Heisenberg's indeterminacy and Godel's incompleteness. Kung's point is, not surprisingly, that science cannot account for everything. Kung draws us back to the fundamental questions about the origin of the first structures in the universe. Science may be able to explain the fine tuning of the first structures but the question remains: where did the minimal structure that already existed at the Big Bang come from? Why isn't there nothing? Kung offers God as a reasonable hypothesis that can provide intellectual answers to the questions of the beginning.

In succeeding chapters Kung takes up the debate between creationism and evolution, life in the universe and the development of human beings. He includes discussion of the brain and the mind, the limits of brain research and the beginning of human ethics. Having started with the beginning of all things, his epilogue deals with the end of all things - hypotheses of the end of the universe and apocalyptic visions of the end.

Kung does not set out new theories of science or religion and does not insist on one or the other as the final arbiter of reality (his term). Discussion today, like so much else, tends to polarize between those who view God as irrelevant versus the creationists and the left-behinders. Kung proposes to raise the level of discussion by invoking serious scientists and philosophers. The Beginning of All Things is a good starting point for clear and dispassionate descriptions of the interplay between serious science and serious philosophy/theology about the most intriguing and still unsolved mysteries of the universe and humanity.

35 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars major theologian on science controversy, December 26, 2007

By 

R. Heiderer (boulder) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Beginning of All Things: Science and Religion (Hardcover)

Kung is one of the clearest theologians thinkers writing today. There are a glut of books out there promising to weigh in on some pressing issue that concerns the science/ religion controversy. I personally believe that it is a bogus issue largely fed by the publishing industry. That said, I think Kung's book is one of the few on the subject worth reading. I have read Dawkins and Hitchens and am generally sympathetic with their views. But Kung points out that while science (and history) may have much to say about human beings and perhaps what drives religious movements, it has absolutely nothing to say about God. Kung reminds us of the often forgotten distinction between religious experience and religious organizations. This book lays out the fundamental issue more clearly than any I have encountered.

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Conflicts of Science and Religion?, November 30, 2007

By 

Gene C. Bammel (Tucson, Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Beginning of All Things: Science and Religion (Hardcover)

Hans Kung happens to be my favorite theologian. He writes very readable books, epitomizes a huge amount of scholarship, and offers brief and perceptive summaries of points of view hostile to his own. I think this is one of his best books. For all who labor in the vinyards of the conflicts between science and religion, this will be not only a very helpful book, but a very enjoyable one to read.