Hawking´s Grand Design and Christianity

Not long ago, an anti-theist challenged me to refute a selection of text by Stephen Hawking from his 2010 book, The Grand Design. The text is as follows, "The Greeks´ successors rejected the idea that the Universe is governed by indifferent natural law. They also rejected the idea that humans do not hold a privileged place within that Universe. And though the medieval period had no single coherent philosophical system, a common theme was that the Universe is God´s dollhouse, an Religion a far worthier study than the phenomena of nature. "Indeed, in 1277 Bishop Tempier of Paris, acting on the instructions of Pope John XXI, published a list of 219 errors or heresies that were to be condemned. Among the heresies was the idea that nature follows laws, because this conflicts with God´s omnipotence....." It is also worth noting that Hawking stated that God is not necessary for the Universe, because gravity shows the Universe could have created itself. Frankly, Hawking should have learned from his own lessons when he had to revise his opinions of Black Hole radiation and the first known Black Hole Cygnus X-1. Here in terms of Christian historical sociology, Hawking is trying to argue from stereotypes based on Galileo´s and Darwin´s experiences with reactionary church authorities. However, a basic study shows that Galileo was not anti-theist, but an explicit Christian dissident, and that the same went for Newton and Enlightenment leaders like Rene DesCartes, Hugo Grotius, and John Locke.

In short, was a Greek intellect like Aristotle himself reducing physical reality to "indifferent" natural law? Apparently not, since his "metabasis" was an example of a non-universal orientation. Alexander the Great was able to put a statue of himself in temples, along with a lightning bolt representing the Greek head god Zeus. Alexander´s death at the "ripe old age" of 32 reflect domestic thirst for power with no apparent insights from philosophers. Meanwhile, the Christians hardly rose in Roman society as unprincipled, brainless, honeytongued sycophants. Paul the Apostle´s letters already employed classical education in validating the religious experience and message of Jesus Christ. Educated followers were not lacking as, for example, Justin Martyr, Origen, and Tertullian preceded St. Augustine. The latter already agreed with Plato in terms of the "world´s intelligibility."

If philosophical doctrine became overemphasized and abused over time and generations, the appearance of Christian monasticism provided a significant alternative institution around spiritual growth training in the form of St. Anthony of the Desert and later St. Benedict with his famous rules. The fall of the Western Roman Empire can be summed up as far from a crude crash, but better as a crucible in which powerful synergies developed as invading tribes were converted to Christianity. Brutal infighting reflected Roman and tribal traditions, but all in relation to the remaining papal church and monastic system and the Eastern Empire. Formal Science persisted in the Eastern Empire until at least the 500s in the likes of Isidore of Miletus and others. Cassiodorus invigorated the monastic systems at around the same time as St. Benedict, conceiving of classical literature as a supplement for monastic spiritual growth training and study.

By the time of the transformation of tribal power moves and infighting to Charlemagne´s establishment of a new Christian empire, there were still vicious power moves in papal succession. However, the fact of Jesus Christ´s New Testament core integrity and the synergy of Christian psychosocial complexity is reflected in the monastic graduate Pope Stephen III´s statement to Charlemagne and others about potential polygamy in marriage calculations, "You ought not to act thus, who profess to follow the law of God, and punish others to prevent men acting in this unlawful manner." This conscientious attention to God´s lawfulness is far from Hawking´s alleged "God´s Dollhouse" view of the world. In fact, on the contrary, it is related to actual historian´s assessments about the effects of the 1277 Condemnations that Hawking talks about. Bishop R Grosseteste led the network known as the Oxford Franciscan School in which R Grosseteste, R Bacon, and William of Ockham were incentivized to critique Aristotle BECAUSE OF the 1277 document. Historian DC Lindberg argues that notions of Divine Omnipotence and Freedom drove thinking against Aristotle´s non-universal "metabasis" version of laws, for example. Sorry, Hawking. To be fair, you were probably tempted to go too far by all the adulation you received. Better yet, your celebrity status can help illuminate how things need to be made clearer to balance stereotypes.