Pope John Paul II has noted that:
 
“Faith in Christ who became incarnate in history does not only transform individuals outwardly, but also regenerates peoples and their cultures… Faith in Christ gives cultures a new dimension, that of hope in God’s kingdom. It is the vocation of Christians to instill in the heart of cultures this hope of a new earth and a new heaven. For when hope fades, cultures die. Far from threatening or impoverishing them, the Gospel increases their joy and beauty, freedom and meaning, truth and goodness.”
 
– Pope John Paul II March 14, 1997 address to the Pontifical Council for Culture.

This series will investigate the dynamic relationship that exists between faith and culture through reflection on the institutions that have been shaped by them (i.e. the university system, charitable organizations, the arts and sciences, and the political and moral framework of society) and the insights of some of the great scholars of culture in the 20th century, including Christopher Dawson, Josef Pieper, Hans Urs Von Balthasar and Pope John Paul II.

• October 10, 2003 – Dr. Damian P. Fedoryka on “Pope John Paul II as Prophet of Life in a Culture of Death” in Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of his Papacy
• November 14, 2003 – Father George Rutler on “Cultural Illiteracy and the Decline of the West”
• December 12, 2003 – Dr. Stephen Barr on “Modern Physics and Ancient Faith”

Modern Physics and Ancient Faith

DATE: December 12, 2003
Time: 7:30 p.m. followed by a reception
Speaker: Dr. Stephen Barr, Professor of Physics, Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware
Topic: Modern Physics and Ancient Faith
Cost: $15/person and $5 for students with ID

The modern period has seen much public debate and tension between faith and science. In his book Modern Physics and Ancient Faith, Stephen Barr demonstrates that what is really at war with religion is not science itself, but a philosophy called scientific materialism. He argues that the great discoveries of modern physics are more compatible with the central teachings of Christianity and Judaism about God, the cosmos, and the human soul than with the atheistic viewpoint of scientific materialism.

Scientific materialism grew out of scientific discoveries made from the time of Copernicus up to the beginning of the twentieth century. These discoveries led many thoughtful people to the conclusion that the universe has no cause or purpose, that the human race is an accidental by-product of blind material forces, and that the ultimate reality is matter itself. Barr contends that the revolutionary discoveries of the twentieth century run counter to this line of thought. He uses five of these discoveries­- the Big Bang theory, unified field theories, anthropic coincidences, Gödel’s Theorem in mathematics, and quantum theory-­ to cast serious doubt on the materialist’s view of the world and to give greater credence to Judeo-Christian claims about God and the universe.

Dr. Stephen Barr received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University and his graduate degrees from Princeton University. After post-doctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania, he became a research assistant professor at the University of Washington (1980-85) and associate physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory (1985-87). He joined the Bartol Research Institute in September 1987. His research has spanned many areas of theoretical particle physics, but with special emphasis on grand unified theories, theories of CP violation, the problem of the origin of quark and lepton masses, theories with extra space-time dimensions (such as Kaluza-Klein and superstring theories), and the interface between particle physics and cosmology.

His book, Modern Physics and Ancient Faith (University of Notre Dame Press, 2003), has received wide acclaim. “A brilliant and authoritative defense of Biblical faith in the light of contemporary science. . . . I know of no other book that makes the case against materialism so lucidly, honestly, and deftly.” — Owen Gingerich, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “A brilliant defense of the integrity of science in the teeth of its most powerful modern bias, by telling the exciting story of the rise, complacency and fall of scientific materialism.” — Michael Novak.

Read more about the Faith and Culture lecture series.