Modern Physics and Ancient Faith

Rating:
Summary: Well Done and Stimulating Book on an Essential Topic
Review: "Modern Physics and Ancient Faith" is a wonderfully readable, interesting, informative, and intellectually stimulating book on an essential topic. Mr. Barr does an unexpectedly good job of presenting some of the key principles and findings of modern physics and their implications on the battle between materialism and theism. One doesn't need to be a technical wiz to understand the issues and facts- they are presented in a way that is very easy to grasp. (This introduction into some of the principles of modern physics is one of the side benefits of reading this book!) And the arguements on both sides of the issue are presented well, with Mr. Barr clearly stating his position (i.e. that theism provides a much better explanation for the findings of modern physics than materialism) while acknowledging that there is not enough evidence to conclusively prove one side over the other. The presentation does make a strong case for theism, and it does so with solid facts and reasoning.

Overall, this is an interesting, informative, stimulating, and intellectually honest take on a topic that is important and likely to be more important as time goes on. It provides good intellectual fodder for anyone interested in these fields or this debate.

Rating:
Summary: Well Done and Stimulating Book on an Essential Topic
Review: "Modern Physics and Ancient Faith" is a wonderfully readable, interesting, informative, and intellectually stimulating book on an essential topic. Mr. Barr does an unexpectedly good job of presenting some of the key principles and findings of modern physics and their implications on the battle between materialism and theism. One doesn't need to be a technical wiz to understand the issues and facts- they are presented in a way that is very easy to grasp. (This introduction into some of the principles of modern physics is one of the side benefits of reading this book!) And the arguements on both sides of the issue are presented well, with Mr. Barr clearly stating his position (i.e. that theism provides a much better explanation for the findings of modern physics than materialism) while acknowledging that there is not enough evidence to conclusively prove one side over the other. The presentation does make a strong case for theism, and it does so with solid facts and reasoning.

Overall, this is an interesting, informative, stimulating, and intellectually honest take on a topic that is important and likely to be more important as time goes on. It provides good intellectual fodder for anyone interested in these fields or this debate.

Rating:
Summary: Well Done and Stimulating Book on an Essential Topic
Review: "Modern Physics and Ancient Faith" is a wonderfully readable, interesting, informative, and intellectually stimulating book on an essential topic. Mr. Barr does an unexpectedly good job of presenting some of the key principles and findings of modern physics and their implications on the battle between materialism and theism. One doesn't need to be a technical wiz to understand the issues and facts- they are presented in a way that is very easy to grasp. (This introduction into some of the principles of modern physics is one of the side benefits of reading this book!) And the arguements on both sides of the issue are presented well, with Mr. Barr clearly stating his position (i.e. that theism provides a much better explanation for the findings of modern physics than materialism) while acknowledging that there is not enough evidence to conclusively prove one side over the other. The presentation does make a strong case for theism, and it does so with solid facts and reasoning.

Overall, this is an interesting, informative, stimulating, and intellectually honest take on a topic that is important and likely to be more important as time goes on. It provides good intellectual fodder for anyone interested in these fields or this debate.

Rating:
Summary: Transcendentally Fine Book by Physicist Stephen Barr
Review: Barr is a theoretical particle physicist who does research on grand unified theories and Big Bang cosmology. MODERN PHYSICS AND ANCIENT FAITH is an incisive, balanced, and powerful critique of scientific materialism. Barr brings his impressive knowledge and scientific expertise to bear on such issues as the distinction between science and materialist philosophy, the findings of physics, the nature of the Big Bang, anthropic coincidences, divergent views on Man's place in the cosmos and an extensive consideration of what the human mind is and does.
Without dumbing down the data or the insights, he expounds a vigorous intellectual assault on the myth that science somehow renders religion null and void. Modest and nuanced, this book nonetheless possesses clarity and a scope which is literally and metaphorically cosmic. Barr's book is a "must-read" for everyone interested in the complex and creative interplay between physics and faith; it is even more essential for non-scientists (like myself) who want to be informed by a professional scientist and researcher like Stephen Barr about questions pertinent to all of us in our humanity.

Rating:
Summary: Materialist or Theist with no Room in-between
Review: Comments on Modern Physics and Ancient Faith by Stephen M. Barr

Dr. Barr presents the usual scientific evidence, which may go either for or against God's existence: the big bang, the anthropic arguments, and the nature of physical laws: these are not new. His presentation is well done, scientifically accurate, and provides interesting reading. It is, however, certainly not the best "in its class." Paul Davies' The Mind of God, Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time, or in fact any number of other books on this topic are more objective, scholarly, and with no axes to grind. Prof. Barr is clearly an apologist for the theist position. His assumption that theism and materialism are the only poles of belief is particularly disturbing. He leaves no room in-between for meaningful spiritualism, wherein many of his scientific colleagues reside. While his facts are straight, his arguments bend those facts to support his theist position. For example, in Chapter 18, How Big is the Universe, he invokes numerology arguments which have the appearance of just plain voodoo. It is unfortunate that Dr. Barr's book has not received more in-depth review by knowledgeable scientists and logicians.

Rating:
Summary: Essential Reading for Students of Science and Religion
Review: Dr. Barr's book lays the key points of traditional debates between theists and materialists' on how discoveries in physics relate to or actively disprove religious beliefs.

His greatest achievement is how he stays balanced and grounded. He shows how religion is compatible with science, but does not get bogged down trying to show how a given set of scientific discoveries *proves* a particular item of religious doctrine. Many Christians have gotten into trouble for this since if they rest their religious belief on a certain piece of scientific evidence, they will be grave trouble when further scientific progress may render that evidence they used obsolete.

While at least one reviewer has accused Barr of making straw men out of the materialist philosophers, I found him fair. At one point in the beginning of the book he wrote summarization of a materialistic case against religion. The wording was rather sweeping, and the footnote said that while this denunciation was written by Barr himself, it summarizes many anti-religion arguments. He does not directly cite any of the sources that he had in mind, which is unfortunate, especially in the light of his otherwise excellent documentation. However, when Barr goes into individual arguments, he documents everything well, and takes the materialists seriously.

The key value of the book is that it helps clarify what many of the science v. religion debates are really arguing about, and the hefty endnotes will help the reader continue on his own explorations. It makes a reliable starting point. Too frequently I have gotten into debates with people of differing religious beliefs (or lack thereof) where we wind up talking past each other.This book helps cure that. When asked what he would do to help his country, Confucius said that he would first have everyone agree on their definitions.

This book helps us agree on our definitions, or at the very least, know how they differ and understand what the other side is saying.

Rating:
Summary: extraordinary must read
Review: First, scan down the list of reviews to: A Superb Book That Fills a Great Need, May 30, 2003 Reviewer: John W. Keck from Washington, DC his review is chapter by chapter and sets the stage for my ideas about this book.

Second, the author is an atomic physicist who has thought deeply about these issues and for our benefit has organized and explained these ideas in a very sympathetic yet comprehensive way that deserves the widest possible audience. The writing is clear, interesting and of the highest possible caliber. I only wish more scientists wrote this well, not just their works for the laymen but for professional consumption as well, it would make the role of a student far more pleasurable.

So what is the book about? What are the big issues that this author wants us to remember and to use in our intellectual life?
First is the issue of materialism as a faith. This is chapter 1 and continues to be an explicit organizing principle throughout the book.

"The fact of the matter is that there is a bitter intellectual battle going on, and it is about real issues. However, the conflict is not betwen religion and science, it is between religion and materialism. Materialism is a philosophical opinion that is closely connected with science. It grew up alongside of science, and many people have a hard time distingusihing it from science. But it is not science. It is merely a philosophical opinion. And not all scientists share it by any means. In fact, there seem to be more scientists who are religious than who are materialists." pg 1

This is what i term the "like speaks to like issue". Materialism is the idea that all is matter in motion, sufficent to explain all phenomena in the universe. As he aptly points out this is philosophic opinion, or metaphysics. Christianity competes with a rival faith materialism not with science as technic of reading the book of nature.

The second big idea is the human mind. This is the issue that materialism is unable to explain the fact that we are conscious of ourselves as free, thinking, acting beings in a material world where consciousness appears to be limited to ourselves. These are the related topics of part 4, chapters 19-25. I word the issue a little bit differently than does he, i use the term methodological naturalism to explain how science investigates the things of this universe, and further believe that the MN breaks as it encounters the human consciousness. This is what stops MN from being philosophic materialism. It is not a sufficent principle to explain everything we experience. The introduction to chpt 19 contains one of the most concise explanations of the problem of the consciousness of man that i can remember reading. If you only have time to skim this book, read chpt 1 and 19.

It is truely an important and timely work, i deeply thank the author for the time, energy, sweat and tears that so evidently went into the writing of this excellent 5 star book. The clarity of thought, the organization and structure do justice to the loftiness and sophistication of the ideas he presents.

thanks for reading this review and if you encounter other books in the field of this importance i would be grateful for a quick email so that i can obtain and read them....books like this are gems to be treasured and shared with like minded readers.

Rating:
Summary: The problem with this book is it's truth--it hurts.
Review: I suggest you will seldom read such a tome as divides a painful cultural issue so rightly as Professor Barr's.

I was fascinated over and over at his precise placement of dividing lines, of filters for ideas, which illuminated a stale but still tender debate.

Because of the precision of his delivery, I take it none who are Materialists woud be left much else but accuse him of faulty syllogisms, or call him names. But his arguments are valid, formally and informally and so the conclusions must be met with more than ad hominem attacks.

The religious intellectual will be bolstered, while the Scientific Materialist is frustrated.

Very sound, very clear, very powerful.

Buy two and share one with a materialist friend. Watch him flail. Then love him anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Well intended, but philosophically amateur
Review: In this sprawling work, Stephen Barr examines the materialist case against religion. Barr writes with erudition, invoking intellectual figures from across history and across disciplines. To his credit, he maintains a sober, sceptical attitude towards materialism rather than the fervently hostile attitude characteristic of many authors that side with religion in the perennial religion vs. science debate. Also to his credit, Barr is well informed about the physics, logic and mathematics presented in his book. Unfortunatley, Barr's negligence of work in analytic philosophy, biology and chemistry undermines the case he wishes to establish.

Among other faults, Barr holds a lamentably simplistic notion of materialism that would not survive an undergraduate course on the philosophy of mind. He assumes, inexplicably, that materialists must reject free will (in fact, many--if not most materialists--are compatibilists). He cites the philosophical literature on the mind-body problem in a selective and haphazard fashion. He is also inexcusably dismissive of important work in chemical biology over the past fifty years on developing a plausible scientific account of the origin of life. In short, this is not a work that stands up to typical academic standards for rigor.

Rating:
Summary: A Superb Book That Fills a Great Need
Review: Let me begin by saying that as a physicist with some philosophical training I may not be the best judge for lay readers, but I loved this book and found it straight-forward to understand.

The first chapter is introductory. The author, Stephen M. Barr, describes himself as "someone who adheres to traditional religion and who has worked in some of the subfields of modern physics that are relevant to the materialism/religion debate." Barr sees clearly that "the conflict is not between religion and science, it is between religion and materialism....a philosophical opinion that is closely connected with science. But it is not science." His purpose is to show how "new discoveries made in the last century in various fields have changed our picture of the world in fundamental ways. As a result, the balance has shifted in the debate between scientific materialism and religion.... [20th century] discoveries coming from the study of the material world itself, have given fresh reasons to disbelieve that matter is the only ultimate reality." Barr is honest about the stakes involved: "None of this is a matter of proofs.... What the debate is about, as I shall explain later, is not proof but credibility." And indeed, such simple honesty is characteristic.

In the second chapter Barr begins by restating, then demolishing, the anti-religious mythology. His paraphrase of the anti-religious mythos sounds like it was cold-pressed straight from the pronouncements of Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and other spokesmen of materialism. This chapter alone is worth half the price of the hardcover. He makes his points so clearly that it is a wonder we could all be duped by "scientific" materialism for so long. I particularly admired the tactic that he gainfully employed throughout the book: demolishing the straw-men that the materialists have raised against believers, e.g. that the Bible is unscientific. "In fact", he observes, "the Bible shows almost no interest in natural phenomena.... [The] primary concern is with God's relationship to human beings, and with human beings' relationship to each other."

Barr beautifully explains the concepts of religious mystery and dogma: "Dogmas do not shut off thought, like a wall. Rather they open the mind to vistas that are too deep and broad for our vision. A mystery is what cannot be seen, not because there is a barrier across our field of vision, but because the horizon is so far away." Masterfully he turns the tables on the materialists by observing, "Anything that stands in the way of materialism is ignored or denied [by the materialists]. The materialist lives in a very small world, intellectually speaking." Appendix A on the types of causes brings wonderful clarity to concepts that are often difficult for non-philosophers (including most scientists). It was very satisfying to see such common-sense explanations of the real positions of traditional believers, instead of the limp impostors put forward by the faithless and the lukewarm.

In chapter 3, Barr outlines the five "plot twists" that form the subject of the book:

1. Part II: "In the Beginning": The Big Bang as "a vindication of the religious view of the universe and a blow to the materialist view."
2. Part III: "Is the Universe Designed?": on the evidence that the universe was designed by an intelligence.
3. Part IV: "Man's Place in the Cosmos": on anthropic "coincidences" that make human life possible in the universe.
4. Part V: "What is Man?": is the human mind reducible to material laws?
5. Part V: "What is Man?": is there free will?

Twist 1 (Part II), that the Big Bang points to creation is of course an argument pregnant to be made. What recommends Barr's treatment is its completeness (Bible, authorities of faith, and scientific development) and the clarity of his writing.

Part III, on design, is on the whole wonderfully made. He describes the different kinds of order and how order seems to appear spontaneously but is in reality "the unfolding of an order that was already implicit in the nature of things, although often in a secret or hidden way." His examples are well chosen and brilliantly explained. However, Barr's definition of "symmetric structure" and its relationship to order seemed to my mind vague, and a field ripe for future investigation.

Part IV, on anthropic coincidences, was very authoritative and very thorough. He not only describes many of them, but also replies to the common objections to the coincidences, and answers alternative explanations of the coincidences.

Part V, on the mind, is near-perfect genius. The argumentation is simply brilliant. On the brain/mind distinction, he writes, "the existence of our own brains is an inference [a complicated series of arguments about sense data].... We experience [our minds] directly in the process of using them. We do not infer the existence *of* our minds, rather we infer he existence of everything else *with* our minds." Barr's explanation of the Lucas-Penrose argument, the technicalities of Goedel's theorem, and their implications was relatively straight-forward. I did think that Barr was a bit out on a limb in his adoption of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics to explain the immateriality of the mind. Such a tactic sadly succumbs to the Cartesian dualism that has plagued science from the beginning. Nevertheless, the widespread acceptance of Copenhagen among physicists is enough to justify Barr's use of it to support traditional belief.

Before I go, let me reiterate how much I liked the book. Even with the minor shortcomings I mentioned, I think it is *well* worth the imposing hardback price-and for a cheap-skate like me, that's saying quite a lot! It is well written, systematic, and authoritative: three rare qualities for a book that advocates anything in the neighborhood of traditional faith with regard to science-and Barr isn't just in the neighborhood, but right on the bull's eye. The book will be a powerful tool in the answering the many baffling ideologies and mind-numbing prejudices that dominate what passes for intellectual discourse these days.