The Physics of Christianity Frank-Tipler
The Physics of Christianity Frank-Tipler
The Physics of Christianity Frank-Tipler
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The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead by Frank J. Tipler Paperback $15.19
The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (Oxford Paperbacks) by John D. Barrow Paperback $21.76
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The relationship between science and religion has long been a tenuous one. Some have worked to put these disciplines in "dialogue" with each other, while others
have dismissed any possibility of a collegial relationship. To his credit, Tipler, professor of mathematical physics at Tulane University, attempts the former. He
proposes that Christianity can be studied as a science, and its claims, if true, can be empirically proven. "I believe that we have to accept the implications of
physical law, whatever these implications are. If they imply the existence of God, well then, God exists." After a cogent description of modern physics, Tipler
embarks on a crusade to prove that God exists, that miracles are physically possible and the virgin birth and the bodily resurrection of Jesus do not defy scientific
laws. The author's arguments are somewhat intriguinghis knowledge of science seems exhaustive and this may attract other scientists to consider the
importance of religion. Many of his theological insights, however, are problematic. Dubbing Christianity a "science" does not automatically make it so, and Tipler
seems to dismiss the centuries-old importance of the apophatic tradition in Christianity, that is, approaching the mystical nature of the Divine by positing what
cannot be said about God. Tipler's interest in integrating science and religion is noble, but his method is uneven. (May)
Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Praise for Frank Tiplers The Physics of Immortality:
A thrilling ride to the far edges of modern physics. --New York Times Book Review
A dazzling exercise in scientific speculation, as rigorously argued as it is boldly conceived. --Wall Street Journal
Tipler has written a masterpiece conferring much-craved scientific respectability on what we have always wanted to believe in. --Science
More readable than Roger Penroses The Emperors New Mind or Douglas Hofstadters Godel, Escher, Bach . . . an imaginative eschatological entertainment
appropriate to the approaching end of the millennium. --New Orleans Times-Picayune
Tiplers brash announcements are challengingand entertaining. Although written from the viewpoint of a Ph.D., anyone should be able to get a kick out of the
professors big-bang ideas. --Publishers Weekly
A book that proves the existence of the Almighty and inevitably of resurrection, without recourse to spiritual mumbo jumbo . . . Tipler does it all. --Mirabella
Customer Reviews
(48)
I believe in Jesus, but this is a Given the amount of Very much technical
2.8 out of 5 stars
. 2 5 11.10.2013 13:47
The Physics of Christianity: Frank J. Tipler: 9780385514255: Amazon... http://www.amazon.com/The-Physics-Christianity-Frank-Tipler/dp/038...
1) His main flaw, is the amount of certainty he gives to his sentences. When you research what he's
talking about, you see that the facts, as they are, are much more questionable than what he leads
you to believe.
For example, he says that the Shroud of Turin is consistent with XX males. IF the Shroud of Turin is Advertisement
the real burial shroud of Christ, and IF it is consistent with XX males (the only reference on the
internet to this fact comes from Tipler), then, maybe, it gives us evidence. But he doesn't use
correct qualifiers. (Qualifiers are words like "perhaps".) He states them as flat fact, which casts Product Images from Customers
doubts on his entire book. A good scientist will always qualifies his statements with words indicating
the degree of confidence he has in them.
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2) He tries to gain a patina of scientific-ness by using big, complicated words, and, perhaps
image
intentionally, explaining things in a confusing fashion. I took a quarter of quantum physics, and have
read some books on it since I graduated from college, so I have a moderate understanding in the
field, but even when Tipler is explaining things I already know, I find myself becoming confused by
his explanations. He really needs to take a class on how to put together better analogies. Most Recent Customer Reviews
3) He has a very cockeyed idea of what his reader needs to have defined for him. For example, A disservice to science and
after the following line, "More precisely, the uncertainty principle says that the product of the Christianity
uncertainty in the position of a particle multiplied by the uncertainty in its momentum must always be Since an ample number of the reviews already
greater than Planck's constant divided by 4pi." he could have chosen to define a lot of different written have furnished many of the details of why
things. Read more Frank Tipler's "The Physics of Christianity" is
pseudo-science masquerading as... Read more
29 Comments Was this review helpful to you?
Published 4 months ago by Doug Erlandson
. 3 5 11.10.2013 13:47
The Physics of Christianity: Frank J. Tipler: 9780385514255: Amazon... http://www.amazon.com/The-Physics-Christianity-Frank-Tipler/dp/038...
various aspects of modern physics, combined with his respectable research pedigree, give the muddled theologically
distinct illusion that he is honestly describing what the laws of physics imply. He is not. This book Overall this is a book that I am not sad to have
provides an object lesson in the dangers of pushing science beyond its domain of validity, and using bought and read, but not one I necessarily
various scientific approximations as if they are completely valid in all contexts. Indeed, while he recommend to others. Read more
complains several times early on in the book that other physicists let their philosophical prejudices Published 11 months ago by Michael Belote
influence their conclusions, Tipler has clearly let his desires get the better of him. Based on my
personal experience, I believe that Frank Tipler as an honorable man and I do not think that he Einstein States the Universe is
intended to pervert reality to serve his goals, but nevertheless he has. Curved, Not Linear!
Some reviewers of this book by Tipler argue that
Allow me to give several cases in point: Tipler claims that the standard model is complete and Tipler was incorrect in stating that the universe
exact. It isn't. Read more WILL/MUST eventually collapse in on itself in the far,
far future. Read more
16 Comments Was this review helpful to you? Published 15 months ago by John
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DEBATES: Sean Carroll against Frank Tipler
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/01/05/the-varieties-of-cra
ckpot-experience/#.UWQKNjc8DTo
Cosmic Variance
And Things for Them to Blog About The Best Jobs in the World
The Varieties of Crackpot Experience
By Sean Carroll | January 5, 2009 10:58 am
Frank Tipler is a crackpot. At one point in his life, he did very good technical
work in general relativity; he was the first to prove theorems that
closed timelike curves could not be constructed in local regions of spacetime
without either violating the weak energy condition or creating a
singularity. But alas, since then he has pretty much gone off the deep end, and
more recently has become known for arguments for Christianity based
the universe by the end of time. But the very act of guiding the universe to
eliminate event horizons an infinite number of nudges causes the
entropy and hence the complexity of the universe to increase without limit.
Therefore, if life is to continue guiding the universe which it must,
if the laws of physics are to remain consistent then the knowledge of the
universe possessed by life must also increase without limit, becoming
both perfect and infinite at the final singularity. Life must become OMNISCIENT
at the final singularity. The collapse of the universe will have
lifes control. The rate of use of this available energy power will diverge
to infinity as the final singularity is approached. In other words,
life at the final singularity will have become OMNIPOTENT. The final singularity
is not in time but outside of time. On the boundary of space and
time, as described in detail by Hawking and Ellis [6]. So we can say that the
final singularity the Omega Point is TRANSCENDANT to space, time
and matter.
All of the signs of classic crackpottery are present; the vague and misplaced
appeal to technical terminology, the spelling mistakes and capital
letters, the random use of must and therefore when no actual argument has
been given. Two paragraphs later, we get:
Science is not restricted merely to describing only what happens inside the
material universe, any more than science is restricted to describing
events below the orbit of the Moon, as claimed by the opponents of Galileo. Like
Galileo, I am convinced that the only scientific approach is to
assume that the laws of terrestrial physics hold everywhere and without
exception unless and until an experiment shows that these laws have a
papers.
Perhaps you will not be surprised to find that Tipler has now jumped into
global-warming denialism. In just a few short paragraphs, we are treated to
People say that anthropogenic global warming is now firmly established, but
thats what they said about Ptolemaic astronomy! Therefore, I am like
Copernicus.
Sure, you can see data published that makes it look like the globe actually
is warming. But that data is probably just fabricated. It snowed here
last week!
2001) that it was not theologians, but rather his fellow physicists (then called
natural philosophers), who manipulated the Inquisition into trying
and convicting Galileo. The out-of-the-mainsteam Galileo had the gall to prove
the consensus view, the Aristotlean theory, wrong by devising simple
experiments that anyone could do. Galileos fellow scientists first tried to
refute him by argument from authority. They failed. Then these
scientists tried calling Galileo names, but this made no impression on the
average person, who could see with his own eyes that Galileo was right.
One could go on, but whats the point? Well, perhaps there are two points worth
making.
genius. (Its not just being smart that is valorized, but a certain kind of
smart.) The truth is, such an ability is great, but tends to be
with arguments that support it. This is a technique that can be used by anybody,
for any purpose, and its why appeals to authority arent to be
have much reason to believe in either general relativity or the Standard Model
of particle physics, since the experimental tests relevant to those
theories are pretty much out of reach for the average person. But the average
person should be acquainted with the broad outlines of the scientific
method and empirical reasoning, at least enough so that they try to separate
crackpots from respectable scientists. Because nobody ever chooses to
describe themselves as a crackpot. If you ask them, theyll always explain that
they are on the side of Galileo; and if you dont agree, youre no
Its only with some reluctance that I even mention Frank Tiplers latest book,
The Physics of Christianity. But people keep telling me about it, so,
Now, Im all in favor of writing about the physics of imaginary things; it can
be a very enlightening exercise to compare the laws of the actual
world to ones that we make up for purposes of fiction. And The Physics of
Christianity is such an obvious title that you knew someone would write
such a book eventually. And Frank Tipler, in his youth, did some pioneering
research on closed timelike curves in general relativity, so he has
having actually read the book. Usually I like to defer judgment about
crazy-sounding books that I havent even looked at, but in this case Ill make
an exception. Reviews by Vic Stenger or Lawrence Krauss tell you everything you
need to know. From Lawrences review:
concept of nonsense
Tipler, for example, claims that the standard model of particle physics is
complete and exact. It isnt. He claims that we have a clear and
consistent theory of quantum gravity. We dont. He claims that the universe must
recollapse. It doesnt have to, and all evidence thus far suggests
that it wont. He argues that we understand the nature of dark energy. We dont.
He argues that we know why there is more matter than antimatter in
the universe. We dont. I could go on, but you get the point
[Tipler] argues that the resurrection of Jesus occurred when the atoms in
his body spontaneously decayed into neutrinos and antineutrinos, which
Not much motivation for reading further than that. Ive said many times (even if
people dont believe me) that I have a great deal of respect for
Neutrinos and antineutrinos! That kills me. Everyone knows that Jesus shifted
through the extra dimensions onto another brane, where he chilled for