Some might think faith and science are mutually exclusive, but Father Dave welcomes astrophysicist and Jesuit priest Father Adam Hincks to debunk that mindset. Father Adam is an assistant professor in Science, Christianity, and Cultures at the University of Toronto, as well as an associate scholar with the Vatican Observatory.
Father Adam explains how his scientific background also relates to faith. “Cosmology seems to naturally relate to religion because it’s asking really big questions about our origins and the universe on the largest scale,” he says. “There’s a really interesting question [among scientists] of where is that boundary between what science can tell us and what might move over into philosophy or metaphysics.”
He discusses a course he teaches called, “The Bible and the Big Bang.” Father Adam says, “A lot of the students take it because they have big questions about science and religion. Many themselves are personally religious, and they’re trying to understand their own faith in relation to what they might be studying. Others might not be people of faith, but are curious about metaphysical questions. Some will express skepticism, but I would say for the most part, they’re curious, open minded, and looking for an intellectual adventure.”
Father Adam notes how the Big Bang Theory was proposed by a priest, Father Georges Lemaître. “He’s often called the father of the Big Bang,” Father Adam says. “He called it the primeval atom theory, the idea being that the universe started small, like an atom.”
“[Father Lemaître] was a Catholic priest, and obviously he believed that God created the world from nothing, but also he was very good at not confusing science and religion in a facile way,” Father Adam continues. “He realized that you can’t start with science and necessarily arrive at all the truths of the faith that way. There’s compatibility, but you have to be careful about respecting the integrity of each discipline.”
LISTEN: Questions from the Astronomer’s Inbox With Brother Guy Consolmagno
Recently, Father Adam attended the Vatican Observatory’s Lemaître Conference, which explored the Big Bang, black holes, and other topics of the universe. “Black holes are a wonderful example of the frontiers of our knowledge,” he says. “We don’t really know exactly what happens inside a black hole or what goes on at the very center, the so-called singularity, and that’s kind of analogous to the Big Bang. We don’t really understand physically what happened in those very first few instances. So black holes and the Big Bang are conceptually related, because they take us to the frontiers of our physical understanding.”
“We can study the universe physically, but where does this physical universe come from? What’s its meaning? What’s its ultimate origin? Why is it here? Where’s it going?” Father Adam continues. “Even though science and religion ask these questions using different methodologies and from different angles, they are looking at the frontiers of human knowledge and of human wonder.”
