Creation and the Big Bang | Prof. Stephen Barr
The Thomistic Institute
The Thomistic Institute
4.8 • 873 Ratings
🗓️ 21 February 2019
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This talk was offered on February 16th, 2019 at Princeton Theological Seminary. It was one of the talks offered at the "Faith, Science and Nature Conference" co-sponsored by the Thomistic Institute, the Scala Foundation and PTS.
For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1
Speaker Bio:
Professor Stephen Barr teaches at the University of Delaware in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. His research interests focus on elementary particle theory, supersymmetric grand unified theories, and cosmology.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | So in this talk, I'm going to discuss a very large subject, the universe. |
| 0:08.0 | Did it have a big... |
| 0:10.0 | It's a large subject, but it's not the most important subject. |
| 0:15.0 | A human person is more important than the whole astronomical universe than the whole galaxy, |
| 0:23.2 | unless, of course, there's a rational being, |
| 0:25.4 | living in that galaxy. |
| 0:28.3 | Did the universe have a beginning? |
| 0:30.5 | Will it have an end? |
| 0:34.0 | And does it have any discernible purpose, |
| 0:37.0 | as far as science can tell? |
| 0:39.3 | I'll discuss these questions both from the point of view of traditional Christian teaching |
| 0:44.3 | and from the point of view of modern physics and cosmology. |
| 0:49.3 | So naturally enough, I'll begin with the beginning. |
| 0:53.3 | That is, I'll begin with a question of whether the universe actually had a beginning. |
| 0:58.0 | We'll look first at what Christian doctrine says, and then at what philosophy and modern science have to say on the subject. |
| 1:06.0 | For Christian doctrine, the fundamental text about the beginning of the universe, |
| 1:11.6 | oops, is the first verse in the Bible, Genesis 1-1. |
| 1:17.6 | In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. |
| 1:22.6 | This verse affirms both that the universe is created by God and that it had a beginning. |
| 1:31.2 | It's quite important to recognize that these are two logically distinct ideas, |
| 1:36.4 | even though they are tied together by this scriptural verse. |
| 1:41.3 | Creation refers to the fact that the universe depends for its existence upon God, who is the source of its being. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Thomistic Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Thomistic Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.