Philosophical
and Religious Interpretations of the Big Bang TheoryThere
are a number of interpretations of the Big Bang theory that are entirely
speculative or extra-scientific. Some of these ideas purport to explain
the cause of the Big Bang itself (first cause), and have been criticized
by some naturalist philosophers as being modern creation myths. Some
people believe that the Big Bang theory lends support to traditional
views of creation, for example as given in Genesis, while others
believe that all Big Bang theories are inconsistent with such views.
The Big Bang
as a scientific theory is not associated with any religion. While
certain fundamentalist interpretations of religions conflict
with the Big Bang history of the universe, there are more liberal
interpretations that do not.
The following
is a list of various religious interpretations of the Big Bang
theory:
- A
number of Christian apologists, the Roman Catholic Church
in particular, have accepted the Big Bang as a description
of the origin of the universe, interpreting it to allow for
a philosophical first cause. Pope Pius XII was an enthusiastic
proponent of the Big Bang even before the theory was scientifically
well established.
- Some
students of Kabbalah, deism and other non-anthropomorphic
faiths concord with the Big Bang theory, for example connecting
it with the theory of "divine retraction" (tzimtzum)
as explained by the Jewish scholar Moses Maimonides.
- Some
modern Islamic scholars believe that the Qur'an parallels
the Big Bang in its account of creation, described as follows: "Do
not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were
joined together as one unit of creation, before We clove
them asunder? We have made every living thing out of the
water." (Ch:21,Ver:30). The Qur'an also appears to describe
an expanding universe: "The heaven, We have built it
with power. And verily, We are expanding it." (Ch:51,Ver:47).
- Certain
theistic branches of Hinduism, such as the Vaishnava-traditions,
conceive of a theory of creation with similarities to the
theory of the Big Bang. The Hindu mythos, narrated for example
in the third book of the Bhagavata Purana (primarily, chapters
10 and 26), describes a primordial state which bursts forth
as the Great Vishnu glances over it, transforming into the
active state of the sum-total of matter ("prakriti").
- Buddhism
has a concept of a universe that has no creation event. The
Big Bang, however, is not seen to be in conflict with this
since there are ways to get an eternal universe within the
paradigm. A number of popular Zen philosophers were intrigued,
in particular, by the concept of the oscillating universe.
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