I’ve always been fascinated about the roles that faith plays — or, as the case may be, does not play — in the lives of great scientists. And now there’s a book out that delves into this very topic. Entitled The Faith of Scientists: In Their Own Words (Ed. Nancy K. Frankenberry), this recent work spans the stated beliefs of luminaries past and present, including Galileo Galilei, J. Kepler, Isaac Newton, Carl Sagan, and Stephen Hawking. You can find more information on the Princeton University Press web site.
Sharing the same title, this series of videos on the interplay between science and religion is definitely worth looking at. In truth, the title should read ‘The Faith of Scientists and Other Thinkers’, but ah, I quibble.
Astrophysics professor and Hubble Fellow Adam Frank has recently published a book that promises to transcend the standard science vs. religion dialogue. Entitled The Constant Fire: Beyond the Science vs. Religion Debate, it seeks a rapprochement between the two camps. I, for one, look forward to reading it.
An article about the book may be found here. Here are a few more publication details, including a table of contents, on the University of California Press web site.
Lest I forget, 2009 has been designated the International Year of Astronomy by the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO.
The opening ceremonies will take place in Paris, France, on the 15th and 16th of January. For more details, please visit the IYA web site.
And there’s even a trailer.
Several days ago, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first astronomical observations using a telescope, Pope Benedict praised Galileo’s work, and asserted that such observations of the heavens can lead to a fuller appreciation of God’s creation. More details here.
Star Over Bethlehem, free clip art by Midolluin
Well, this article is certainly relevant. According to astronomer Dave Reneke, the star used by the three wise men to locate the infant Jesus appeared in June, and not December. For Reneke, even the status of the luminary as a star is in question. Definitely worth a read.
Here is another article on the very same topic from several different perspectives. Supernova? Jupiter? You decide.
It’s been a busy, busy month, what with the grading of tests and final exams, but I do look forward to doing some more frequent blogging over the holidays or in the new year.
Wishing you all a joyous holiday season!
Ah, so this was Fred Hoyle Day at Cambridge. I would have very much liked to have been there. (However, I’m on a different continent with teaching commitments at the moment.)
Although the event has already taken place, there is some interesting information about the history of astronomy holdings of the St. John’s College library on this site.
It’s with sadness that I must post about the recent passing of Professor John David North on October 31st.
Professor North was an eminent historian of astronomy, with interdisciplinary expertise spanning fields as diverse as the history of science and English literature. This year saw the release of a revised edition of his book entitled ‘Cosmos: An Illustrated History of Astronomy and Cosmology’, published by the University of Chicago Press. His passing is a great loss, and he will be missed.
This article, in the Vancouver Sun, is the first of a series on the topic of science and religion. Of particular interest is the reference to “the striking similarity between 16th-century Polish astronomer Nicolas Copernicus’s arguments for the Earth’s rotation and those of 13th-century Muslim polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi”, noted by science historian and Islamicist Dr. F. Jamil Ragep of McGill University.
Just a quick announcement that one of my articles, entitled ‘Cultural Astronomy and Interfaith Dialogue: Finding Common Ground in the Skies’, will appear in the forthcoming four-volume set, The World’s Religions After September 11, being the proceedings of a conference of the same name. A complete table of contents may be found here. The collection will almost certainly be available through academic libraries.
I’ve just come across this site, which describes the Jewish ritual of blessing the sun every 28 years — at which point, it is traditionally believed, the sun occupies the same point at which it was present at its own creation in Genesis 1:14-15. The next date for this blessing, called Birkat Ha-Hammah, will be April 8, 2009.
There are some fascinating rabbinic and other resources located on the site I’ve embedded above. One of the main textual sources for the blessing tradition is to be found in the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Berakhot 59b, which refers to blessing the sun when it returns to “its turning point”. Another source is found in one of the primary Jewish legal codes, the Shulkhan Arukh, Orach Chayim 229:2.
This ritual, which last took place in 1981, prior to the internet age, will almost certainly be well-publicized, serving as a reminder that astronomy is alive and well in contemporary religious life. That it happens to coincide with the International Year of Astronomy is sweeter yet.
