Lesson 28 –
Is There a Theory of Everything?

When physicists speak of a Theory of Everything, what they are hoping to find is a single underlying theoretical framework that applies to all physical phenomena in the universe. This is hugely ambitious and would by definition and, in a very real sense, be all encompassing, but that does not necessarily mean it would “explain everything.”

Course Reading

Commentary on the Metaphysics of Aristotle, bk. 4 | St. Thomas Aquinas

Fides et Ratio, nn. 16-17 | Pope St. John Paul II

Excerpt from the Fides et Ratio by Pope St. John Paul II:

What is distinctive in the biblical text is the conviction that there is a profound and indissoluble unity between the knowledge of reason and the knowledge of faith. The world and all that happens within it, including history and the fate of peoples, are realities to be observed, analysed and assessed with all the resources of reason, but without faith ever being foreign to the process. Faith intervenes not to abolish reason's autonomy nor to reduce its scope for action, but solely to bring the human being to understand that in these events it is the God of Israel who acts.

Course Listening

Can Science Explain Everything? | Prof. John Lennox

The Vocation of the Catholic Intellectual: Faith, Reason, and Service | Prof. Christopher Kaczor

This episode was made possible through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this project are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.