Fr. Lamaitre and Big Bang Theory

[Madaglan]

Recently I was reading a book that discusses a little on the Big Bang theory. For much of my life I have recognized Big Bang as an idea that has been used to counter the literal understanding of creation, which evangelicals still believe to this day. However, I never realized that the theory of Big Bang was advanced, among all other scientists, by a Belgian Catholic priest: Fr. Lamaitre.

I find this very interesting, because I often wonder if the greatest scientific minds relegate their faith to science or if they reconcile the science to their faith in a reasonable manner. Does anyone know the “orthodoxy” of Fr. Lamaitre? Did he believe in the essential Christian truths at the time he advanced this concept? Did he believe that God has an ordered plan for everything? Thanks

 

[HagiaSophia]

Madaglan:

Recently I was reading a book that discusses a little on the Big Bang theory. For much of my life I have recognized Big Bang as an idea that has been used to counter the literal understanding of creation, which evangelicals still believe to this day. However, I never realized that the theory of Big Bang was advanced, among all other scientists, by a Belgian Catholic priest: Fr. Lamaitre.

I find this very interesting, because I often wonder if the greatest scientific minds relegate their faith to science or if they reconcile the science to their faith in a reasonable manner. Does anyone know the “orthodoxy” of Fr. Lamaitre? Did he believe in the essential Christian truths at the time he advanced this concept? Did he believe that God has an ordered plan for everything? Thanks

Fr Georges LeMaitre was an orthodox priest and brilliant scientist who gained an international audience; one of whom was Einstein who said he had never heard the concepts of the cosmos developed and explained so beautifully. Le Maitre was the originator of the big bang theory and published in '27. Hubble did not publish until '29.

 

[KBarn]

Father Lemaitre was a fantastic priest. Though the physics was based on Einstein’s Relativity, in fact, his whole basis for developing the Big Bang Theory was mediatating on Creation. In his notebook he wrote, “It all began with light,” recalling God’s creative Word, “Let there be light.”

Additionally, Lemaitre predicted an effect that was experimentally realized in the 1960s, for which the experimenters won the Nobel Prize, the red-shifted background radiation of the universe.

I’ve always been fascinated with Fr. Lemaitre. He was one of the most brilliant physicists of the 20th Century, but he gets no attention from contemporary treatments of 20th Century cosmology.

 

[antiaphrodite]

KBarn:

I’ve always been fascinated with Fr. Lemaitre. He was one of the most brilliant physicists of the 20th Century, but he gets no attention from contemporary treatments of 20th Century cosmology.

he’s a Catholic priest, so his not getting any attention is to be expected.

 

[Ghosty]

As has been hinted here, not only was he orthodox, but his proposal of the “Big Bang” was actually a marriage of theistic and scientific understanding that was pretty much unheard of at the time. Thing is, no one has been able to beat him at it. The theory is pretty rock solid, and has turned up time and time again to prove itself and enhance our understanding of the Universe even decades after it was first put on paper.

Does anyone know the “orthodoxy” of Fr. Lamaitre? Did he believe in the essential Christian truths at the time he advanced this concept? Did he believe that God has an ordered plan for everything? Thanks

Yes, and yes! I would even go so far as to say that if he didn’t believe these things, he never would have developed the Big Bang Theory. If you really study it, it’s amazingly orthodox. Honestly, science doesn’t get much more orthodox than the Big Bang Theory, once you accept that six days doesn’t have to mean six days as we understand them.

He was a scientist who seriously meditated on theology, and a theologian who seriously contemplated science, and he founded the theory that all but defines our understanding of space and time today. In my opinion he’s come the closest to proving God with science out of anyone before or since, and it’s unlikely that he’ll be bested any time soon. Even Einstein was in awe of his work.

EDIT: I think part of the reason he doesn’t get much recognition is that it’s hard to make the theory atheistic when you recognize that it was devised by a dedicated Catholic priest. The theory is already “dangerously” theistic, because it presupposes a First Cause; admitting that a Catholic priest turned our understanding of the cosmos on its ears, and advanced our knowledge by leaps and bounds is a bit hard to swallow. Honestly, I don’t believe a die-hard atheist could have developed the theory, and I think it stings a bit for them that it’s so solid. Just my opinion.

 

[Madaglan]

Wow, thanks for your posts!

I mispelled his name. It should be Lemaitre as others have corrected on this thread.

I did an amazon.com search of books on or by Fr. Le Maitre, but nothing came up. Does anyone know of a good book that covers Le Maitre’s religious convictions and how they interacted with his scientific pursuits?