1st Edition
God and the Multiverse Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Perspectives
In recent decades, scientific theories have postulated the existence of many universes beyond our own. The details and implications of these theories are hotly contested. Some philosophers argue that these scientific models count against the existence of God. Others, however, argue that if God exists, a multiverse is precisely what we should expect to find. Moreover, these philosophers claim that the idea of a divinely created multiverse can help believers in God respond to certain arguments for atheism. These proposals are, of course, also extremely controversial. This volume collects together twelve newly published essays – two by physicists, and ten by philosophers – that discuss various aspects of this issue. Some of the essays support the idea of a divinely created multiverse; others oppose it. Scientific, philosophical, and theological issues are considered.
Introduction Klaas Kraay Part 1: Physicists on God and the Multiverse 1. Puzzled by Particularity Robert B. Mann 2. The Everett Multiverse and God Don N. Page Part 2: Theistic Multiverses: Details and Applications 3. The Multiverse: Separate Worlds, Branching, or Hyperspace? And What Implications are there for Theism? Peter Forrest 4. An Argument for Modal Realism Jason Megill 5. Revisiting the Many-Universes Solution to the Problem of Evil Donald A. Turner Part 3: Criticisms of Theistic Multiverses 6. Kraay's Theistic Multiverse Michael Schrynemakers 7. Best Worlds and Multiverses Michael Almeida 8. On Multiverses and Infinite Numbers Jeremy Gwiazda Part 4: Pantheistic Multiverses 9. Multiverse Pantheism Yujin Nagasawa 10. God and Many Universes John Leslie Part 5: Multiverses and the Incarnation 11. Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Incarnation Robin Collins 12. IIncarnation and the Multiverse Timothy O'Connor and Philip Woodward
Biography
Klaas J. Kraay is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. He has published articles in such journals as Philosophical Studies, Erkenntnis, American Philosophical Quarterly, the Canadian Journal of Philosophy, the International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Religious Studies, and Faith and Philosophy.
"This is a valuable collection of state-of-the-art essays on a timely topic. Each essay has material worth considering and each bibliography is a useful resource. I look forward to those working on the topics addressing some of the issues that newcomers may find to be barriers to entry to the philosophical and theological reflections contained in the book."--Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
"The overall quality of the essays in this volume is excellent. They all make interesting and unique contributions to the multiverse literature ... This volume is important to any philosopher interested in the multiverse. I also predict that it will become required reading for any philosopher of religion wanting to research the connection(s) between God and the multiverse. I highly recommend it."--Faith and Philosophy
