Lecture on Wednesday, 10th of May 2023, 19 Uhr
A personal – and therefore by definition limited – perspective on the relation between science and religion
I have been asked many times, „Do you believe in the Big Bang or do you believe in God?“, where „or“ was used in its exclusive form. As an astrophysicist I work at the forefront of knowledge about the physics that dictate the origin of the Universe, its stars, galaxies, and its inhabitants, including human beings. But our physical view is only one, and surely limited view, on life and the Universe. Science seeks to answer the question „how?“ while religion aims to address „why?“. In this talk, I will give my personal perspective on the (potential) relation between science and religion and begin by introducing you to the ideas expressed by Mgr. Georges Lemaître (1894-1966), father of the Big Bang theory, then discuss the interrelation of mathematics, physics, human understanding, and religion. Moving on, I will share how my involvement within a local Christian community helped me translate religion into faith. It involves going beyond the mere physical hypothesis of God and transcending the abstract metaphysical paradigm to anthropologically reconstruct the image of God. Finally, in the last part of my lecture, I will discuss some models of interaction between religion and science.
Prof. Leen Decin, Institut für Astronomie, Katholische Universität Löwen, Belgien