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God & the Big Bang: Discovering Harmony Between Science & Spirituality

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I took Danny Matt's class in "God and the Big Bang" in Berkeley. Matt in person is witty, intelligent and educated. In print, he is even more so. His science is strong, his kabbalah is flawless. There are parallels between this book and Capra's Buddist/science books, but where Capra is trying to prove something, Matt is just pointing out interesting facts. Anyone interested in science or theology would enjoy this book.

I intended to buy this book from the Jewish perspective, so I wasn't dissapointed. As a naturalistic Pantheist, a progressive Jew and an avid fan of Carl Sagan, this book is a pretty great mix. It is humanely written, describing the natural beauty surrounding us and using mundane analogies that 'click' with all of us. The only problem with this book is a theological one: the author tries to reconcile a scientific pantheistic outlook (Spinoza's 'God' as another reviewer noted correctly) based on empiricism, with a (panen)theistic outlook of Kabbalah and the traditional theistic outlook of Torah. This is hard to swallow for those not interested in Jewish tradition, but can be considered a noble - albeit not perfect attempt - for those Jews (like me) who seek to reconcile a rational worldview with a spiritual approach.

Getting down the the Nitty Gritty of Pantheism and the history thereof, I recommend Paul Harrison's 'Elements of Pantheism'. Start there and if you're into Judaism, this book makes a good sequel.

In our times, it's important to enjoy ourselves, and feel that we are in a beautiful and neverending world. You can feel it, when you raise the point between science and God, and you can see that, day by day, we are integrate our technology and our souls in one, and now we can realize this, seeing that with science, we can find our mind, body and universe toghether. With this book, you will feel more unit with the Divine and with the whole universe. !Don't miss it!

What a beautifully written book combining mysticism and science! I loved, loved, loved it!
Laura WeakleyWhat the Torah Teaches us About SurvivalCompanion Workbook to What The Torah Teaches Us About SurvivalWhat The Torah Teaches Us About Spirituality/ Through Isaac's Own Spiritual Journey

This book is for anyone who wants to know how it could have all started. The war between science and religion is over. Daniel Matt shows how both exist as part of the whole scheme. You can have your religion, and your science too!

God & the Big Bang is a well written and very interesting synthesis of concepts from Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) and science (physics/cosmology). Matt describes the Big Bang in layman's terms from both the scientific and the Kabbalistic perspectives. There is a passage Matt quotes from Kabbalah that sounds exactly like a poetic description of the Big Bang. Kabbalah describes creation as involving "the shattering of glass vessels" which is a poetic way of describing the broken symmetry theory of physics. An important contribution of the book is that it ties Torah, the source of Jewish law (and underpinning for Christian and Moslem law), into his perspective of God. Kabbalah purports to answer one question currently plaguing scientists: Kabbalah seems to favor a closed universe.

The first part of this text is pretty interesting - a discussion integrating theoretical physics with kabbalah. Regrettably, the book loses focus in the middle, and finishes with a hefty dose of Kaplan-style "G-d is Process and no more" theology, presented not as a theory but as a fact.

I agree with the analogy presented by another reviewer - the story we seem to be told here is that the cosmic clock was set ticking, then G-d walked away. Or G-d did not walk away, but became, or turns out to be, an entity that is not really capable of independently deciding to set or interfere with the clock. There is no serious consideration of the soul. There is no serious consideration of the other two legs of Jewish existence, the Torah and Prayer - only of Gemilut Hasadim, which is presented as the only significant element. If the author had stuck to the consideration of the creation of the universe (as suggested in the title) this would not have been a problem; however the book wanders off of this topic and into a more comprehensive discussion of theology very early in the text.

At one point, the author reflects that Jews "seem to be programmed" to act in certain ways, but the later text in effect denies the existence of the kind of G-d who would or could "program" anyone. I don't see how one can have it both ways.

If you are either secular or a Jew who is profoundly uncomfortable with the prospect of a G-d who plays or has played an active external role in shaping the course of human history, you will probably find this text to be very satisfying and validating. If you're religious, mystical, or feel that when you pray you are addressing something other than the spark of the divine that resides within yourself, you might want to stop reading once the author diverges from the creation of everything. If you're Christian, you may be unhappy with the diversion into the theological question of Jesus that takes place in the middle of the text.

This book points out some interesting things about both science and religion, but it makes a few mistakes. For example, when the author says that Albert Einstein believed, he was mistaken. Einstein believed in what is called Spinoza's God, which is another way of saying the natural beauty of the universe. Einstein did not believe in a supernatural creator.

Also, in another attempt to appeal to authority, at the end of the book, he says something to the effect that some scientists believe in a supernatural creator. The problem here is that the overwhelming majority of scientists do not believe (only 7% did in a recent survey.)

Daniel Matt has written a book attempting to integrate modern physics and ancient theology. For his effort he comes up with a 20th century quantum version of deism -- the view that God started the universe and then walked away, leaving the clock (or the waves and particles) to fend for themselves. The trouble is that such a universe and such a God have nothing to say about ethics and even less to say about the practices we should engage in to enoble and sanctify our lives. What we are left with is a cold theology which sees God in energy and in matter, but not in the soul. Such a God is literally "no-thing." For a better attempt at a similar synthesis I would refer readers to Lawrence Kushner's "The River of Light."

While perpetuating a few scientific myths such as "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" and Dyson's speculative open universe/evolving God, Matt actually uses this book primarily to expound the philosophy and theology of his personal brand of Jewish mysticism. The book is probably 80% Matt's personal, self-contradictory Kaballah handbook with 20% poor science thrown in for advertising value