Vern Barnet's Questions and
Dr Stephen Barr's Replies

Barnet conducted the interview by email and Dr Barr's responses appear below, and below them is a bio sketch.

The Oct 11 Monday 7:30 lecture at Mabee Theater, Sedgwick Hall, Rockhurst University, "Modern Physics and Ancient Faith," Stephen Barr, Ph.D., is followed by a panel discussion with
   Dr Brendan Sweetman, Professor of Philosophy, Rockhurst University
   Dr Mindy Walker, Assistant Professor of Biology, Rockhurst University
   Dr Wilburn T. Stancil, Professor of Theology & Religious Studies, Rockhurst University
   Dr Nancy Howell, Professor of Theology & Philosophy of Religion, Saint Paul School of Theology 

Rockhurst link: http://www.rockhurst.edu/services/aandl/lectureseries.asp
 

Q. Your book Modern Physics and Ancient Faith was written before he so-called "New Atheists" (Harris, Dennett, Dawkins, Hitchens, etc) became widely known. To what extent do you think they understand the nature of faith or religion?

A. Many atheists seem to fundamentally misconstrue what Christianity is all about. (I speak only of Christianity, because that is my faith.) They think of it either as an attempt to explain through primitive myth what science explains rationally (as, for example, Greek mythology explains lightening as the weapons of Zeus), or as a matter of manipulating deities through ritual and prayer (or, as they see it, magic and incantations) to obtain earthly benefits, such as success, health, or long life --- heaven being just the ultimate in long life. But Christianity has never been much concerned with explaining natural phenomena.  It is concerned with deeper questions, such as why there is a world at all, and what the meaning and proper goal of life is.  It is primarily about love and gratitude to the One who gave being to this universe, and about forgiveness and the reconciliation of people with each other and with God.  Many atheists also do not understand what faith is.  Science itself is based on faith that the phenomena it studies will ultimately turn out to make sense --- even if it might take an Einstein to find or to grasp that sense. The Jew or Christian takes that further and trusts that all of reality makes sense, even if that sense can be fully grasped only by that infinite mind and infinite Wisdom we call God. 

Q. What constitutes an explanation for physical (and chemical, biological, etc) phenomena and is the criterion or criteria for an explanation different for faith; if so, why?

A. The ultimate criteria are the same, but the questions asked are different.  To explain is to “make sense” of things, by showing how those things are related and fit together in some coherent way.  The natural sciences do this for the world of matter by showing how the physical world forms an internally coherent system based on certain fundamental, mathematical regularities that we call the laws of physics.   But why is there a physical world at all? Why does it have such beautiful and impressive laws?  What is thought and mind?  What is free will? What are beauty and goodness?  There are many deep questions that go beyond the regularities of matter that natural science studies.  Can we “make sense” of all those realities?  If so, it is certainly not by showing that they can be derived by solving certain equations. 

Q. Are relatively new scholarly fields such as information science, chaos theory, and brain research more likely to lead us toward or away from faith? 

Chaos theory, despite the hype, really has few if any philosophical implications.  Brain research and information science may lead some people to conclude (indeed already has) that the human mind is nothing more than a sophisticated biological computer.  In my judgment, however, nothing we could learn from these fields could justify such a conclusion.  No matter how well one understands what the material constituents of a brain are doing, it cannot be deduced either mathematically or logically from such facts that the brain has consciousness or subjective experiences.  There remains something missing from any purely physical description.  There is a widespread myth that the great discoveries in science have tended to make religion less credible. The main point of my book is that a whole series of fundamental discoveries of the twentieth century, from the Big Bang to quantum mechanics, have had just the opposite effect.  The more we learn, the more astonishingly beautiful, sophisticated, and subtle the physical world is found to be in its deepest structure.  That strengthens the case for believing in God.
 

Q.. Does "the scientific enterprise" offer any instruction or insights to interfaith conversations?

A. Not that I can see.

Q. What do you wish that I had asked, and if I had, how would you have responded?

There are many other interesting questions that could be asked.  Some of them I will answer in my talk. Others will doubtless be asked me in the Q&A session at the end of my talk at Rockhurst University. 

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BIO SKETCHES

Short version:

Stephen M. Barr is a professor of physics at the University of Delaware. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1978. He does research in theoretical particles physics, with emphasis primarily on “grand unified theories” and the cosmology of the early universe.  He also writes and lectures extensively on the relation of science and religion.  Many of his articles and reviews have appeared in First Things, on whose editorial advisory board he serves. He is the author of the book Modern Physics and Ancient Faith (Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 2003) and A Student’s Guide to Natural Science (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2006). 
 
 

Long version:

Stephen M. Barr is a theoretical particle physicist.  He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1978 and went on to do postdoctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania. After holding research faculty positions at the University of Washington and Brookhaven National Laboratory he joined the faculty of the University of Delaware in 1987, where he is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and a member of its Bartol Research Institute.  His physics research centers mainly on “grand unified theories” and the cosmology of the early universe.  He has written  140 research papers, as well as the article on Grand Unification for the Encyclopedia of Physics.  He writes and lectures extensively on the relation of science and religion. Many of his articles and reviews have appeared in First Things, on whose editorial advisory board he serves. He has also written for The Public Interest, The Weekly Standard, National Review, Commonweal, Modern Age, Academic Questions, and other national publications.  He is the author of Modern Physics and Ancient Faith (Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 2003) and A Student’s Guide to Natural Science (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2006).  He has served on the board of The Fellowship of Catholic Scholars.  He and his wife Kathleen have five children and live in Newark, Delaware.