Overview

Cosmologists have reasons to believe that the vast universe in which we live is just one of an endless number of other universes within a multiverse-a mind-boggling array that may extend indefinitely in space and endlessly in both the past and the future. Victor Stenger reviews the key developments in the history of science that led to the current consensus view of astrophysicists, taking pains to explain essential concepts and discoveries in accessible terminology. The author shows that science's emerging understanding of the multiverse-consisting of trillions upon trillions of galaxies-is fully explicable in naturalistic terms with no need for supernatural forces to explain its origin or ongoing existence. How can conceptions of God, traditional or otherwise, be squared with this new worldview? The author shows how long-held beliefs will need to undergo major revision or otherwise face eventual extinction.

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9781616149703

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God and the Multiverse takes you on a cosmological trek through eternal inflation, multiple universes, quantum gravity, and God. This book will forever change the way you view reality. --Dr. Peter Boghossian, author of A Manual for Creating Atheists A masterful lesson on cutting-edge cosmology. It also presents a broad and penetrating rebuttal to claims that science offers anything approaching proof of the existence of supernatural gods. When people say that Earth was intelligently fine-tuned for life or that the universe reveals itself to be a magical creation, this is the perfect book to place in their hands. Light on speculations and heavy with evidence-based conclusions, God and the Multiverse is a remarkable tour through reality that is sure to deepen anyone's understanding of the cosmos. --Guy P. Harrison, author of Think: Why You Should Question Everything Victor J. Stenger provides a methodical, comprehensive review of the scientific developments necessary to grasp the fundamental problems and current ideas in cosmology, the origin of the universe, and the notions of god that emerge from these. An informative read, indispensable for audiences interested in these and similar issues. --Demos Kazanas, NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center The multiverse is one of the most exciting and controversial ideas in all of science today, with implications for both cosmology and theology, and there is no one writing on these topics better than Victor Stenger. His exposition of difficult topics in physics is brilliantly lucid; and his treatment of theologians and their religious beliefs, unfailingly fair. With this book you are in the hands of a masterful thinker and writer. If you are going to read just one book on science and religion, this is that work. --Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific American, and author of The Moral Arc, Why Darwin Matters, and The Believing Brain In this fascinating and provocative book, Stenger takes us on an eye-opening journey down the road of scientific progress from the earliest of creation myths and cosmologies to the frontiers of modern science--including the growing consensus that our universe is part of a much vaster, perhaps infinite, multiverse. Along the way we find the roadside littered with failed cosmologies, discarded creator gods, and antiquated ways of thinking about the cosmos and our place in it. This books is truly a must read for anyone interested in the development of scientific cosmology and the various ways it clashes with the religions of yesterday and today! --Gregg D. Caruso, author of Free Will and Consciousness, editor in chief of Science, Religion & Culture Although a prominent and outspoken atheist, Stenger has never opposed the existence of God, per se. What he passionately repudiates is the unwarranted acceptance and celebration of anything not found in the data. Equally egregious to this prolific writer is the plague of intellectual laziness and its profligate yield. Avoiding the miasma of bloviating bluster, Stenger skillfully articulates the reasons why science is uniquely qualified to enlighten curious minds and advance empirical understandings. God and the Multiverse is chock-full of compelling arguments why God is supererogatory and that any discussion of divine providence is an unproductive exercise. --Dr. Kim M. Clark, author of Escaping the Darkness of Religious Light With insight and sometimes with personal stories, Stenger takes us in eminently readable fashion through the history of the universe and of our understanding of it. He is a friendly guide, and both historically minded readers and those searching for the latest about the Higgs boson, dark matter, inflation, and gravity waves are accommodated. He evaluates the relevance of religion at many points, as a theme, but the book can be happily read with or without that interest. --Jay M. Pasachoff, Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy at Williams College and chair of the Historical Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society Stenger has recorded the entire history of multiverse theory from antiquity through the middle ages and all the way to the present. You won't find this story written anywhere else in such detail. Every important figure, from philosopher to scientist, is placed in the sequence of events, and the strongest evidence confirming the big bang theory is surveyed. And from there we learn why the multiverse is not a flight of fancy but a plausible scientific theory based on hundreds of years of empirical discoveries and observations, which Stenger rightly contrasts with the ridiculous speculations of theologians standing on no evidence whatsoever. --Richard Carrier, PhD, author of Proving History: Bayes's Theorem and the Quest for the Historical Jesus

I learned an enormous amount from this splendid book. -Richard Dawkins, on God: The Failed Hypothesis Clearly a must-read for anyone interested in the role of religion in society today, and it also provides an easy-to-understand explanation of quantum theory, showing that it lends no support to 'New Age' spiritualism. - Skeptic Magazine , on God and the Folly of Faith Stenger rapidly covers a lot of ground: a swift jog through modern physics, followed by brief considerations of dark matter, dark energy, and the origin of the universe, concludes with the assertion that there is no empirical evidence for the existence of a higher power. Stenger's argument is convincing. - Publishers Weekly , on God and the Atom People like Stenger do science right, and when science is done right, it leaves no grounding for the supernaturalist and creationist assertions about the universe.... Stenger's book is a welcome breath of sanity in a world badly in need of it. - American Rationalist , on God and the Folly of Faith Fascinating and thought-provoking...a feast for both the specialist and the dedicated general reader. - New Scientist , on The Comprehensible Cosmos

God and the Multiverse takes you on a cosmological trek through eternal inflation, multiple universes, quantum gravity, and God. This book will forever change the way you view reality. --Dr. Peter Boghossian, author of A Manual for Creating Atheists A masterful lesson on cutting-edge cosmology. It also presents a broad and penetrating rebuttal to claims that science offers anything approaching proof of the existence of supernatural gods. When people say that Earth was intelligently fine-tuned for life or that the universe reveals itself to be a magical creation, this is the perfect book to place in their hands. Light on speculations and heavy with evidence-based conclusions, God and the Multiverse is a remarkable tour through reality that is sure to deepen anyone's understanding of the cosmos. --Guy P. Harrison, author of Think: Why You Should Question Everything Victor J. Stenger provides a methodical, comprehensive review of the scientific developments necessary to grasp the fundamental problems and current ideas in cosmology, the origin of the universe, and the notions of god that emerge from these. An informative read, indispensable for audiences interested in these and similar issues. --Demos Kazanas, NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center The multiverse is one of the most exciting and controversial ideas in all of science today, with implications for both cosmology and theology, and there is no one writing on these topics better than Victor Stenger. His exposition of difficult topics in physics is brilliantly lucid; and his treatment of theologians and their religious beliefs, unfailingly fair. With this book you are in the hands of a masterful thinker and writer. If you are going to read just one book on science and religion, this is that work. --Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific American, and author of The Moral Arc, Why Darwin Matters, and The Bel

God and the Multiverse takes you on a cosmological trek through eternal inflation, multiple universes, quantum gravity, and God. This book will forever change the way you view reality. --Dr. Peter Boghossian, author of A Manual for Creating Atheists First and foremost, this book is a masterful lesson on cutting-edge cosmology. It also presents a broad and penetrating rebuttal to claims that science offers anything approaching proof of the existence of supernatural gods. When people say that Earth was intelligently fine-tuned for life or that the universe reveals itself to be a magical creation, this is the perfect book to place in their hands. Light on speculations and heavy with evidence-based conclusions, God and the Multiverse is a remarkable tour through reality that is sure to deepen anyone's understanding of the cosmos. --Guy P. Harrison, author of Think: Why You Should Question Everything The multiverse is one of the most exciting and controversial ideas in all of science today, with implications for both cosmology and theology, and there is no one writing on these topics better than Victor Stenger. His exposition of difficult topics in physics is brilliantly lucid; and his treatment of theologians and their religious beliefs, unfailingly fair. With this book you are in the hands of a masterful thinker and writer. If you are going to read just one book on science and religion, this is that work. --Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific American, and author of The Moral Arc, Why Darwin Matters, and The Believing Brain In this fascinating and provocative book, Stenger takes us on an eye-opening journey down the road of scientific progress from the earliest of creation myths and cosmologies to the frontiers of modern science--including the growing consensus that our universe is part of a much vaster, perhaps infinite, multiverse. Along the way we find t

Author Information

Victor J. Stenger is adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado and emeritus professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Hawaii. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller God- The Failed Hypothesis, God and the Atom, The Comprehensible Cosmos, and many other books.

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