资源描述：
《In the Beginning---God and Science》由会员上传分享，免费在线阅读，更多相关内容在教育资源-天天文库。
1、IntheBeginning:GodandScienceByHP-Time.com;LANCEMORROWMonday,Feb.05,1979SometimeaftertheEnlightenment,scienceandreligioncametoagentleman'sagreement.Sciencewasfortherealworld:machines,manufacturedthings,medicines,guns,moonrockets.Religionwasforeverythingelse,theimmeasurable:morals,sacram
2、ents,poetry,insanity,deathandsomeresidualformsofpoliticsandstatesmanship.Religionbecame,inbothsensesoftheword,immaterial.Scienceandreligionwereapplesandoranges.Sothepactsaid:renderuntoapplesthethingsthatareCaesar's,anduntoorangesthethingsthatareGod's.JustastheMayakepttwocalendars,onepr
3、ofaneandonepriestly,soWesternscienceandreligionfellintotwodifferentconceptionsoftheuniverse,twodifferentvocabularies.Thishostiledistinctionbetweenreligionandsciencehassoftenedinthelastthirdofthe20thcentury.Bothreligionandsciencehavebecomeself-consciouslyawareoftheirexcesses,evenoftheir
4、capacityforevil.Nowtheyfindthemselvesjostledintoastrangemetaphysicalintimacy.Perhapsthemostextraordinarysignofthatintimacyiswhatappearstobeanagreementbetweenreligionandscienceaboutcertainfactsconcerningthecreationoftheuniverse.ItistheequivalentoftheMontaguesandCapuletscollaboratingonab
5、abyshower.AccordingtotheBookofGenesis,theuniversebeganinasingle,flashingactofcreation;thedivineintellectwilledallintobeing,exnihilo.Itisnotsurprisingthatscientistshavegenerallystayedclearofthequestionofultimateauthorship,ofthefinal"uncausedcause."Inyearspast,infact,theyheldtotheAristot
6、elianideaofauniversethatwas"ungeneratedandindestructible,"7withaninfinitepastandaninfinitefuture.ThiswasknownastheSteadyStatetheory.Thatabsoluteexpansemightbedifficult,evenunbearable,tocontemplate,likeaninfinitesnowfieldoftime,buttheconceptionatleastcarriedwithittheserenityoftheeternal
7、.Inrecentdecades,however,theSteadyStatemodeloftheuniversehasyieldedinthescientificmindtoanevenmoredifficultidea,fullofcosmicviolence.Mostastronomersnowacceptthetheorythattheuniversehadaninstantofcreation,thatitcametobeinavastfireballexplosion15or20billionyearsago.Theshrapnelcreatedby
