Cosmos, Bios, Theos: Scientists Reflect on Science, God, and the Origins of the Universe, Life, and Homo Sapiens [Paperback]

Henry Margenau (Editor), Roy A. Varghese (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 19, 1991

How does modern science bear upon such ultimate questions as the origin of the universe and the existence of God? "Cosmos, Bios, Theos" is a portfolio of opinions and arguments from 60 scientists, including 24 Nobel Prize winners, on the relationshiip between the scientific enterprise and the religious view of reality. "Cosmos, Bios, Theos" makes no claim to being a representative survey - the scientists were chosen because they were believed to be at least open to the possibility of a religious view of reality. But their specific views turned out to be surprisingly diverse, and often both original and persuasive. All but a few of the contributions take the form of the scientist's sometimes detailed - replies to the following six questions - what do you think should be the relationship between religion and science?; what is your view on the origin of the universe - both on a scientific and - if you see the need - on a metaphysical level?; what is your view on the origin of life - both on the scientific level and - if you see the need - on a metaphysicla level? what is your views on the origin of "Homo sapiens?" ; how should science - and the scientist - approach origin questions, specifically the origin of the Universe and the origin of life? Many prominent scientists - including Darwin, Einstein and Planck - have considered the concept of God very seriously. What are your thoughts on the concept of God and on the existence of God? The contributors are astronomers, mathematicians, physicists, biologists, chemists, and philosophers. They include - Sir John Eccles, Antony Flew (in a debate with H.D.Lewis and Hugo Meynell), Robert Jastrow, b.D.Josephson, Henry Margenau, Sir Neville Mott, Arno Penzias, Ilya Prigogine, Abdus Salam, Arthur Schawlow, George Snell, Victor Weisskopf, and Eugene Wigner.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Open Court Publishing Company (December 19, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812691865
• ISBN-13: 978-0812691863
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #508,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Roy Abraham Varghese, author of The Wonder of the World, is the editor and author of various books on the interface between science and religion. Of these, Cosmos, Bios, Theos, included contributions from 24 Nobel Prize winners and was described as "the year's most intriguing book about God" by Time magazine. This was the best-selling book from the publishing house Open Court. Cosmic Beginnings and Human Ends won a Templeton Book Prize in 1995. Great Thinkers on Great Questions was published by OneWorld of Oxford, England, and distributed worldwide by Penguin. God-Sent and the best selling God-Fleshed were two works of popular theology published by Crossworld Herder, the US division of the German publishing house Herder and Herder. Varghese was a panelist at the science and religion forum in the Parliament of World Religions held in Chicago in 1993. He was also an invited participant in the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders held at the United Nations in August 2000. He has organized several conferences with dialogues between noted atheists and theists including a conference at Yale University on Artificial Intelligence. He has worked on conferences and publications with some of the best-known atheists in the English-speaking world, ranging from Antony Flew and Sir Alfred Ayer of Oxford to Marvin Minsky of MIT as well as with prominent scientists (including a number of Nobel Prize winners).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one (sort of) agnostic's take on this book, November 17, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Cosmos, Bios, Theos: Scientists Reflect on Science, God, and the Origins of the Universe, Life, and Homo Sapiens (Paperback)

This book is a thought-provoking collection of essays exploring issues relating to science and theology. Or, in other words, life, the universe, and ... never mind. This book is probably not going to appeal to those with set, rigid, doctrinaire views on either science or religion. Nor is there an effort to convert you to anything, really. The essays are varied, interesting, and you can probably take a lot of different thoughts away from this book. I didn't take it as an attempt to prove that science can or should point to a god. Certainly, a number of the writers recognize that science does not (and cannot) rule out a god. That, in my opinion, is true agnosticism (as applied to both religion and science!). Just as some religions have properly abandoned views inconsistent with provable scientific facts (darn that Galileo!), scientists ought to be willing to discuss and acknowledge the limits of science. Perhaps some scientists critical of this book don't like the same skepticism and desire for proof that they would place on religion being applied to their own domain. Oh well. For those intimidated by any critic's intimations regarding their degrees, for the most part, the essays, while sophisticated, don't require a Ph.D. in physics. I enjoyed this book, it made me think, and that's not bad.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book about the opinions of scientists, June 14, 2000

By 

Joseph M. Dolan (Lyndhurst, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cosmos, Bios, Theos: Scientists Reflect on Science, God, and the Origins of the Universe, Life, and Homo Sapiens (Paperback)

Unlike the other reviewer who missed the point of the book, the authors were only reflecting the views of the scientists questioned. There is no attempt to prove the existence of God. The book is well written, with high ranking scientists from several fields providing valuable insight into their beliefs.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Scientific Debate on: Comology, Biology, and Theology, November 26, 2004

By 

Didaskalex "Eusebius Alexandrinus" (Kellia on Calvary, Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Cosmos, Bios, Theos: Scientists Reflect on Science, God, and the Origins of the Universe, Life, and Homo Sapiens (Paperback)

"The idea of a universal mind or Logos would be, I think, a fairly plausible inference from the present state of scientific theory." Sir Arthur Eddington

"Then we shall be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason - for then we would know the mind of God." Stephen Hawking



The Questionnaire:
Although the idea of the book is not new and may have been motivated by the initiator faith, yet it presented scientists' unedited responses, which are uniquely stated, thoughtful, and revealing. It is said that the questions that deserve be asked are those which could not be answered.
Those metaphysical inquiries were about theological/natural sciences, the cosmological question on origins of the universe, life, and Homo sapiens, and their approach to these quizzes, and thought on the concept of God.

The Responses:
In his introduction which summarizes the spectrum of responses, Roy Varghese quotes Einstein, Plank, Heisenberg, and Hawking.
"Stranger than the strangest concepts and theories of science is the appearance of God on the intellectual horizon of twentieth century science,' deducts Varghese with reference to their statements. In 'A brief history of Time' Hawking declared, "We ought to know the mind of God', while Paul Davies is quoted to argue that, "the very fact that the universe is creative, and that the laws have permitted complex structures to emerge and develop to the point of consciousness- in other words, that the universe has organized its own self-awareness, is for me powerful evidence that there is 'something going on' behind it all."

Universe, Life and Deity:
In Paul Davis terminology, this is an inquiry in the mind of some very prominent scientists. It is a matter of great relevance to inquire how contemporary scientists visualize the relation between religion and science; the origin of the universe, life, and the existence of God. the 'Time Magazine' nominated the book as; "the year's most intriguing book about God was produced not by theologians but by 60 world-class scientists, 24 Nobel Prize-winners among them."

Eccles' conclusion:
according to sir John Eccles the origin of consciousness is relevant to the origin of Homo sapiens: "The only certainty we have is that we exist as unique self-conscious beings, each unique, never to be repeated. This I regard as outside the evolutionary process. the evolutionary process gives rise to my body and brain but, dualistically speaking, that is one side of the transaction...So that brain and body are in the evolutionary process but yet not fully explained in this way. But the conscious self is not in the Darwinian evolutionary process at all."

The Beginning of All Things: Science and Religion