Can science say anything meaningful about God — or does it simply make God unnecessary? Ernan McMullin argues the opposite: that modern science has actually enriched theology, filling in what Augustine glimpsed in the fifth century and what Aquinas could only gesture toward. The universe science reveals — vast, ancient, self-unfolding from initial conditions — is arguably more worthy of a transcendent creator than the sequential, step-by-step creation of older theology. But does that argument assume what it needs to prove?
Ernan McMullin (1924–2011) was an Irish philosopher and the O’Hara Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. He was the only person ever to hold the presidency of four major US philosophical associations, and was an expert on the life of Galileo.
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Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.
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0:00 Can science say anything about God?
0:26 Different answers to science and theology
0:53 What theology can learn from science
1:09 Augustine’s radical fifth-century insight
2:25 Why Augustine’s view was ahead of its time
2:54 How modern science has vindicated Augustine
3:20 Evolution and the possibilities contained in the original creation
3:52 How science fills a hole in traditional theology
4:16 What Aquinas would have made of modern cosmology
4:53 The challenge of creating a self-unfolding universe
5:17 But doesn’t this assume God exists in the first place?
5:27 What science cannot answer — why there is a universe at all
5:55 The question physics cannot and should not attempt to answer
6:17 If you allow the creator question — the rest follows
7:03 What physics has done for the notion of a transcendent creator
7:34 The painting metaphor — science gradually filling the room
8:00 Why the metaphor is telling — you still need a room
8:25 Science has only illuminated 4% of the universe
8:49 Progress toward the corner — and then what?
9:03 Is the ultimate question legitimate or illegitimate?
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