Lesson 25 –
The Catholic Priest Who Discovered the Big Bang

People today seem surprised that a scientist could be a believing Catholic, let alone a priest. Some have even suggested that believing scientists only pretend to believe, to fit in. But did you know that the father of the Big Bang model of how the universe began was a Catholic priest? In fact, Fr. Georges Lemaître’s faith may have instilled in him a deep sense of wonder and inspired his groundbreaking research into the origin of the universe.

Course Reading

Summa Contra Gentiles bk. II, c. 16 | St. Thomas Aquinas

The Presence of God, 27-29 | Anselm Moynihan

Excerpt from The Presence of God by Anselm Moynihan:

Almighty God does not govern the world just by a sort of external shepherding of men and things. He acts in them from within, and moves them from within to the fulfilment of his purposes. The activity of any created thing depends on the impulse of God’s activity within it. Not only that, but the very continuance in existence of any created thing depends moment by moment on the activity within it of God’s sustaining power. Now such is God’s nature that, wherever he exercises his power, wherever he acts, there he himself is really and substantially present, in the fullness of his being. Therefore, wherever anything exists, there must God himself be, giving it its existence. The very fact that a thing is means that God himself is there at the roots of its being. All things are rooted in God. “He is not far from any one of us; it is in him that we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

Course Listening

Creation and the Big Bang | Prof. Stephen Barr

How Is Genesis Compatible With Science? Insights From Augustine | Prof. Sarah Byers

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.