Book review: The Physics of Christianity, by Frank J. Tipler

WARNING: THIS REVIEW WILL BE SCATHING.

And now that that is out of the way…

There is only one issue central to the experience of reading The Physics of Christianity that I consider worthwhile covering as part of this review. Let me put it in the form of a science quiz question: “If a person starts reading the book at 9:00 am, and reads at an average rate of 100 words per minute, at what point will he or she realise that the book is complete nonsense?”

In my case, the answer was 9:01 and 20 seconds. Only I read a bit faster than 100 words per minute (and so do most of you), so in reality it probably took well under 60 seconds.

On an intellectual level, The Physics of Christianity can only be described as the sad offspring of a union between pseudo-science and pseudo-philosophy. Within the very first paragraph, after citing Stephen Hawking and St. Thomas Aquinas as authorities, he goes on to misrepresent their core insights and then, after a painful misuse of logic, proudly announces his conclusion: “The Cosmological Singularity is God”.

What-EVER!

Let’s pick that apart, just for fun. I have’t done a good fisk in a while.

The latest observations of the cosmic background radiation show that the universe began 13.7 billion years ago at the Singularity. Stephen Hawking proved mathematically that the singularity is not in time or in space, but outside both. In other words, the Singularity is transcendent to space and time.

First, a note regarding grammar. If the universe “began” at “the Singularity”, it implies that the Singularity is either a place, or a time + place (i.e. an event). We typically define it as the latter, commonly called “the Big Bang”. The problem here is that Tipler quickly begins describing this “singularity” as an actual thing, rather than an event or even a mere state of being.

Next, Tipler cites Stephen Hawking to state that this “singularity” is outside space and time. Actually, Hawking never says anything of the sort. The commonly held position is that, prior to the Big Bang, there simply was no such thing as space and time as we know it. And this throws major cold water on Tiplers next claim that this Singularity is somehow transcendent to space and time. Not only does he properly define (or even properly use) the terms “space” and “time”, he also does not acknowledge that it is theoretically possible for a thing to be transcendent to *this* space and time without being transcendent to *all* space and time. Angels, for example, are said to exist in a “preternatural” state that implies a very difference experience of distance and change.

According to the theologian Thomas Aquinas, “God created the Universe” means simply that all causal chains begin in God. God is the Uncaused Cause.

Now things go from bad to worse, as Tipler reduces Aquinas’ thought to a catchy phrase. Yes, God is the Uncaused Cause. But the statement “God created the Universe” means MUCH MORE than simply that all causal chains begin in God, because God did not simply create the universe, he is creating it even as we speak. God creates the universe the way a dancer creates a dance: the moment he stops dancing, the dance itself vanishes. God’s creation of the universe is not simply something he began: he continues to create it, to give it existence, and every single moment of its existence owes itself to His providential action. To say God is an “uncaused cause” means far more than simply that God is the originator of the universe at some point in time: it implies that God is the very source of Being for everything else that exists.

Why is this important? Because of Tipler’s next line:

In physics, all causal chains begin in the Singularity. The Singularity itself has not cause.

You see where Tipler’s errors are headed? First, he confuses an *event* (the Big Bang) with a *thing* (the Singularity). Then, he reduces creation from a continuous process to an event. All he needs to do next is equate God as uncaused cause with this “thing-ified” Big Bang and he’ll wind up with one of the silliest conclusions ever written in a science book: that the Cosmological Singularity is God.

Oh wait, I already let that cat out of that particular bag. For that is exactly where he goes.

I will confess I did try to read further, just to see if things might get better. They did not. Did he lose me when he firmly asserted that we actually live in a multiverse composed of a virtual infinity if parallel universes, or was it his theory that Jesus walked on water by projecting a neutrino beam from the bottom of his feet? No, wait, maybe it was his idea that moral evil began with the evolution of metozoans…ahhhh, who cares!

Sadly, though, this book does matter in some small way, in that it shows what happens when two sciences are combined without respecting their proper boundaries. We have enough problems with scientists who engage in pseudo-philosophy to attack the notion of God. A book like Tipler’s would actually help *nourish* their notion that Christian theology is actually some foolish fantasy completely incompatible with modern science, which is why I have decided to be rather cross and annoyed with Mr. Tipler — to demonstrate that there are actually believing Christians who recognize pseudo-science for what it is, and to warn all else to keep a safe distance.

Sorry, Mr. Tipler. You may very well be a well-meaning and sincere person, but your book should never have seen print. My rating: F