Big Bang and God

Chandra Wickramasinghe is a world-renowned astronomer-astrobiologist. He is also a long-time research collaborator with Sir Fred Hoyle. They discovered organic molecules in interstellar space and advanced 'cometary panspermia' (the idea that water and organic matter are circulated by comets). Theodore Walker Jr. is a liberty-oriented process theologian who serves on the advisory board for the journal Process Studies and as a guest editor for the astro-theology volumes of the Journal of Cosmology.

• Acknowledgements Abstract Summary Preview PART I: ASTRO-THEOLOGY AND COSMOLOGY 1.1. Modern Astro-Theology - William Derham 1.4. Postmodern Revisions 1.7. Cosmology - Fred Hoyle 1.8. Big Bang Cosmology - Georges Edouard Lemaitre 1.11. Big Bang Cosmology - Edgar Allan Poe 1.20. Hoyle's Contributions to Big Bang, Steady State, Quasi-Steady-State, Inflationary, and Multiverse Cosmologies PART II: INTERDISCIPLINARY CONVERGENCES: FROM STARDUST TO DEITY 2.1. Astrochemistry 2.3. From Astrochemistry to Astrobiology 2.4. First Hoylean Argument Leading to Astrobiology 2.5. Anthropic Principle 2.10. Nuclear Astrophysics 2.11. Second Hoylean Argument Leading to Astrobiology 2.12. Astrobiology 2.16. Comets and Biology - Cometary Panspermia 2.19. Interstellar Bacteria 2.20. Astrobiology and Cosmology 2.21. From Astrobiology and Cosmology to Theology PART III: MICROBIOLOGY AND COMETARY PANSPERMIA 3.1. Origins of Microbial Life 3.14. Enter Fred Hoyle 3.22. From Elements to Organic Molecules and Life 3.24. Hoyle-Wickramasinghe Collaboration Begins 3.30. Cometary Panspermia verses Random Assembly 3.35. The Meteorite Microfossil Saga 3.39. Microorganisms in the Stratosphere 3.41. Cometary Panspermia Today 3.45. Concerning the Next Chapter PART IV: COSMOLOGY, REALITY, AND PANORAMIC THEOLOGY 4.1. Cosmic Variables 4.2. Variations in Reality-inclusiveness 4.4. Reality-inclusiveness and the Reality of God 4.6. Panentheism 4.11. Pantheism 4.12. Classical Theisms 4.14. Atheism 4.15. Reality-inclusiveness and Universe 4.16. Panentheism Affirms One God, One Universe PART V: COSMOLOGY, PANORAMIC BIOLOGY, AND PANORAMIC PSYCHOLOGY 5.1. Cosmology: Definitions and Scope 5.7. Cosmological Models 5.16. Cosmology: Where Biology and Psychology Meet Theology 5.20. Panspermia and Panpsychism: Dictionary Data 5.23. Panspermia 5.28. Panpsychism 5.30. Panpsychism and Brain Functions 5.36. Panpsychism as Neoclassical and Postmodern 5.39. Panpsychism / Universal Psychicalism 5.42. Universal Animism 5.43. Universal Creationism Entails Universal Evolution 5.47. Panpsychism and Obviously Inanimate Objects PART VI: ANALOGY, METAPHYSICS, FACT, MYTHICAL SYMBOLS, THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS, AND RELIGION IN POSTMODERN SCIENCE 6.1. Mind-Body Analogy and Person-to-Cell Analogy 6.6. From Psychology and Biology to Theology 6.8. Analogy and Metaphysics 6.10. From Astro-Biotic and Cosmo-Biotic Reasoning to Theology 6.19. Factual Requirements in Postmodern Science 6.28. Cometary Panspermia and Mythical Symbols 6.33. Cometary Panspermia and Theological Implications 6.38. Panspermia and Religion PART VII: FUTURE INTERDISCIPLINARY CONVERGENCES TOWARD THEOLOGY: A POSTMODERN TREND 7.1. Astronomy, Astrobiology, Cosmology, Theology 7.3. Sociology 7.5. Metaphysical Sociology 7.6. Metaphysics of Nature 7.7. Metaphysics of Morals 7.8. Liberty-Oriented Ethics, Theology, and Cosmology 7.9. Narration/Storytelling 7.11. Mythology 7.14. Graphic Images, Art, Dance, Music, Poetry, and Literature 7.16. Science and Science Fiction 7.19. Science and Spirituality 7.20. Multiverse Speculations and Avoiding the G-word 7.22. Multiverse and Implicit Generic Quasi-Steady-State Cosmology 7.27. Concluding Predictions PART VIII: FUTURE ASTROBIOLOGY 8.1. Rigidity of Paradigms 8.8. Clash with Religion: The Arkansas Trial 8.13. Emergence of Cometary Panspermia 8.18. Clash with Authority 8.20. Evolutionary Predictions 8.23. Horizontal Gene Transfer 8.28. Viral Sequences in Genomes 8.32. Astronomical Spectroscopy 8.35. Crucial Data from Meteorites 8.36. The Polonnaruwa Meteorite PART IX 9.0. From William Derham's Modern Demonstration of God to John Wesley's Precedent for Postmodern Exemplification of God

"Any book that builds bridges between the cosmologist Fred Hoyle and the process philosopher Charles Hartshorne is sure to prove valuable to the modern-day revival of natural theology. The authors of The Big Bang and God are authoritative, and they build their bridges in bite-sized pieces a novel approach akin to poetry.' - Larry Witham, journalist and author of Piero's Light and Where Darwin Meets the Bible