Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
SCDI 4025-O · ☎ (408) 554-2394 · azecevic@scu.edu
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
SCDI 4025-O · ☎ (408) 554-2394 · azecevic@scu.edu
Over the past 20 years I devoted a great deal of attention to this topic, and it continues to be a key part of my scholarly activities. My interest in the dialogue between science and religion has resulted in the development of an interdisciplinary course entitled “Chaos Theory, Metamathematics and the Limits of Knowledge: A Scientific Perspective on Religion”, as well as the publication of three books (whose descriptions are shown below).
I have taught this course at five different universities on three continents (Santa Clara University, St. Xavier’s College Kolkata, Catholic University of Montevideo, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and St. Joseph University of Beirut). To get a sense for what this course is about, I would encourage you to take a look at my keynote presentation: “Unknowable Reality: Science, Mathematics and Mystery”, which was delivered on January 28, 2014 (as part of the Bannan Institute: What Good Is God).
Many people see the current ecological crisis as a manageable problem, which can be adequately addressed by combining scientific knowledge with appropriate policies and regulations. In his encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis challenged this outlook, and asserted that the present state of affairs cannot be improved unless we make some profound changes in the way we behave, both individually and collectively.
If we agree with the Pope’s assessment, it would be important to consider what might motivate people to make such a commitment. This book contends that our appreciation of natural beauty can help us accomplish this goal, especially when it is combined with our most deeply held beliefs. In order to substantiate this claim, the author examines how science and theology view nature, and how they interpret its aesthetic appeal. Although these interpretations tend to be very different, he argues that they needn’t be mutually exclusive, and that they can sometimes reinforce each other in subtle ways.
The book also aims to show that the Orthodox and Catholic traditions have remarkably similar views about nature and our responsibility toward it. Recognizing these similarities is very important, since it opens a range of possibilities for a constructive ecumenical dialogue. The author amplifies this point by demonstrating that interreligious collaboration is possible on an even broader scale, since Muslim and Jewish perspectives on environmental issues have significant overlaps with the Christian one.
Is it rational for scientifically trained individuals to believe in God, and accept controversial theological claims such as the existence of miracles? Are science and theology essentially incompatible, or can their positions be reconciled on some level? This book addresses such questions by recasting certain key religious teachings in a language that is familiar to scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. It does so with the help of various science-based metaphors and analogies, whose primary purpose is to interpret theological claims in a way that is attuned to the spirit of our age.
A crucial step in developing such “analogical bridges” between science and religion involves challenging the traditional Newtonian paradigm, which maintains that physical processes are generally deterministic and predictable (i.e., “well behaved”). A closer examination of recent scientific developments will show that this assumption is incorrect, and that certain aspects of nature will remain unknowable to us regardless of future technological advances. This realization opens the door to a meaningful conversation between science and theology, since both disciplines implicitly accept the premise that the true nature of “reality” can never be fully grasped by the human mind.
A distinguishing feature of this book is that it combines insights from chaos theory, metamathematics, quantum mechanics, and the theory of relativity, which are seldom (if ever) united under a single title. What binds these seemingly disparate disciplines together is the recognition that each of them reveals certain counterintuitive aspects of nature, and suggests that human knowledge is inherently limited. In that respect, this book represents a natural “technical companion” to Truth, Beauty, and the Limits of Knowledge: A Path from Science to Religion (University Readers, 2012), which examines the philosophical and theological implications of modern science.
