The New Cosmology: Editorial for the December 2025 issue
Posted by Arthur C. Petersen on 2026-01-30
In this Editorial for the December 2025 issue [click here to browse the issue online; click here to view and download a PDF of the entire issue; and to order a printed copy for $9.99 (no-profit-to-journal price) through Amazon, choose for instance one of the following market places: US, UK, DE, FR, ES, IT, NL, PL, SE, BE, IE, JP, CA or AU], you will find a brief overview of the articles included in this issue, both in the general section and in two thematic sections, including one book symposium, as well as an overview of books reviewed in the latest edition of Reviews in Science, Religion and Theology.
Article
This issue contains one general article. Ligita Ryliškytė examines the evolving relationship between theology and science, critically highlighting the risks of subsumption in both directions; she argues that genuine engagement requires a unity-in-distinction—preserving the relative autonomy of each discipline while fostering responsible dialogue.
Theology and Philosophy Engage the New Cosmology
(by Eric Priest, David Wilkinson, and Mary Ann Meyers)
This thematic section is based on a symposium on the interactions between Cosmology, Philosophy, and Theology held in Jerusalem in March 2019 (funded by the John Templeton Foundation, the 55th in the Humble Approach Initiative series held under the aegis of the John Templeton Foundation and organized by Mary Ann Meyers). The symposium brought together world leaders on the study of these three fields, who shared their research and insights on this intriguing topic of great current interest from very different disciplines and viewpoints. A majority of those present agreed to develop their presentations for publication in this thematic section of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, which has since been augmented by articles from other experts in astronomy and the philosophy of religion.
Advances in understanding our universe, its nature and how it might have come to be, including the monumental discovery in 2016 of space-time distortions, known as gravitational waves, and the amazing images released in April of 2019 of the edge of a black hole, are helping to shape and refine our cosmic view. Our comprehension of the cosmos has been shifting from the imagined to one that is observed, measured, and validated by science. What these new developments have brought into sharper view are more profound open questions that are most effectively illuminated with a cross-disciplinary lens. With this approach in mind, the present thematic section aims to capture that rich intellectual pan-disciplinary engagement.
The issue presents our current understanding of the origin and evolution of the universe and our place within it, through the critical insight rendered by philosophy and theology. Its purposes include increasing awareness of modern physical cosmology, encouraging dialogue and research across disciplinary boundaries, and, not least, bursting myths and stereotypes as it sets out what we know, what we could learn, and what we can’t ever know about where we have come from and where are headed in a cosmos swirling with dark matter and dark energy.
An introductory article by Eric Priest presents a background to the subject, reviewing what we are learning in key areas of astronomy and astrophysics, and reflecting on the philosophical and theological implications of new findings for traditional systems of inquiry and belief. It also summarizes the main aspects of the various contributions to this thematic section.
Cosmologist John Peacock reviews the standard model of cosmology, in which the universe is expanding and accelerating, driven by dark energy. Where small density enhancements are present, gravity causes them to collapse and form stars, galaxies and large-scale clustering. About 15% of this is normal matter, but 85% is dark matter which, unlike normal matter, does not scatter electromagnetic radiation. An overview is given of the development and the success of the model, together with the fundamental questions that remain open.
Mathematician and astronomer Bernard Carr describes the nature of black holes. They represent one of the most enigmatic classes of object in the Universe. Indeed, the term has entered popular parlance to mean “problematic and difficult escape from.” Yet, in fact, they are very simple in some respects having only three basic properties, namely, mass, rotation, and electric charge. They come in three generic categories, the first being miniscule back holes, which are thought to be formed by ultra-high energy collisions and can have incredibly short lifetimes. They have yet to be detected, even in our most powerful particle accelerators, whereas the other two categories have been observed and studied. Stellar-mass black holes result from the ultimate fate of stellar gravitational collapse. Finally, super massive black holes lying at the center of galaxies have masses that range from tens of thousands to millions and even billions of times the mass of the Sun.
Bernard Carr also stresses that the boundary between philosophy and physics may be blurred because many new ideas in astronomy are not easily testable, a property that has been traditionally demanded of science. Cosmology and black holes provide such examples when the nature of time and of singularities is under discussion. Physics and theology have also been linked historically in the development of our understanding of cosmology and black holes and, indeed important research on both has been conducted by priests. Some cosmological questions concerning the origin of the universe have religious undertones, and the science of cosmology is closely related to that of black holes.
Physicist Bernard Schutz describes the importance of gravity for the evolution of life and summarizes the properties and discovery of gravitational waves by LIGO (the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory). It is the emission of gravitational waves that occasionally allows pairs of neutron stars to merge and produce kilonova explosions that are now known to be the main source of heavy elements above iron in the periodic table. Notably, they produce radioactive isotopes 238U and 232Th of uranium and thorium. Decay of these isotopes produces heat which is essential in maintaining plate tectonics, and which in turn has been a major driver in human evolution and in particular of cognition.
Astrophysicist Jennifer Wiseman considers planets and the question as to whether there exists life beyond Earth. The year 1995 saw the first detection of a planet orbiting another star outside our solar system, which has led to the recent discoveries of 5,000 such exoplanets in our region of the Galaxy, many of them very different from our own solar system planets. This is fueling an interest in astrobiology, how such life could have evolved and how to detect it. No extraterrestrial life has yet been detected, but the generation of the chemical building blocks in other stars needed for life to form and thrive implies a universe connected to life. Pondering the possibility of life in many of the billions of planets in our universe enriches and deepens our sense of awe, as well as the faith of believers.
Astrophysicist Nidhal Guessoum discusses Islamic approaches to cosmology and how they have evolved over time. He begins by giving a brisk review of the main approaches of Muslim thinkers from a thousand years ago to today. Then the ways cosmology has evolved with modern science and astronomy is summarized, with a focus on and what new ideas need to be adopted by a “cultural cosmology” that includes philosophy, religion, and culture at large. Muslim thinkers are challenged to incorporate new ideas and reinterpret the old anthropocentrism and the classical argument from design. They need a “big history” approach to the cosmos, earth, and humanity. Some important notions that Islam brings to human culture are presented that may be of interest to theists in general as well as non-theists.
Physicist and astronomer Marcello Gleiser summarizes the arguments for a pathway to a biocentric worldview that have been recently presented in his book The Dawn of a Mindful Universe (2023). His conception arises from recent astronomical discoveries about the distributions of planets around other stars, as well as the realization that all life on Earth is interconnected and co-dependent. The biocentric worldview is a response to the amazing uniqueness of the Earth’s biosphere and its current fragile state due to centuries of human aggression. It puts forward an ethics of belonging that puts life center-stage as we struggle to chart a path toward a sustainable future.
Philosopher of science Brian Pitts suggests that the big bang singularity does not provide evidence for the existence of God in the sense that it does not help the modern Kalam cosmological argument for theism. The Kalam formulation of the cosmological argument has three parts: everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence; the universe began to exist; therefore the universe has a cause of its existence. However, the notion of a beginning requires a first moment, and at the big bang singularity there is no such first moment, or more generally the solution cannot be extended back right up to the singularity.
Theologian and astrophysicist Rodney Holder reflects on the startling fact that our universe has very special properties that have led to the evolution of intelligent life. Conditions near the big bang and the constants embedded in the laws of physics are tightly constrained. The universe is therefore shot through with meaning and value because it has produced creatures with rational powers to understand it and to appreciate its value. The fine tuning demands an explanation, one of which is simply that God designed the universe this way, intending that life would evolve and that rational creatures with a free will would arise who would explore God’s handiwork and would relate to God. Another explanation is that perhaps there is a better “theory of everything” in which the various constants would be determined by something else. However, the question would still arise: why is that particular theory selected? A third explanation is that a myriad of other universes exists, called a multiverse, each with different values for the fundamental constants, but then what determines which of the possible multiverses exists?
Theologian and cosmologist Adam Hincks discusses the apparent fine tuning of many physical parameters that make our universe hospitable to life, and whether this may be used as an argument for God from design. He critically reviews the concept of fine tuning and deduces that the claim that God is its most probable cause has several technical difficulties. Furthermore, talking about God as a probable explanation treats God at the same level as the empirical world and thereby ignores God’s transcendence, which is central to Abrahamic religions. In addition, God’s creation is not a physical process and so not accessible to empirical study. Finally, fine tuning gestures towards God not primarily because God is its explanation but because a sense of wonder is engendered by the concept. Either God chose to create a finely tuned universe bypassing any natural mechanism, or fine tuning can be explained with a natural theory. However, this does not sit well with the Judeo-Christian-Islamic doctrine of creation ex nihilo (“from nothing”). At issue are different ways of conceiving of causality: what modern scientists mean by “cause” when speaking of fine tuning is not necessarily the same as what ancient and mediaeval theologians meant. Can their premodern notions map onto the contemporary scientific situation? The answer may depend on the distinction between ordinary causality and the transcendent causality that accounts for why there is anything at all.
Philosopher of physics Christopher Smeenk brings a philosophical perspective, stressing that we need to consider the usefulness of fine-tuning arguments and what we need to know about a given theory for a fine-tuning argument to be successful. He compares features that are necessary as a consequence of underlying laws and those that are contingent on the existence of complex structures at a variety of scales (and possibly the development of life). But too often, he says, fine-tuning arguments have been naive about what is contingent, notably those applied to the universe’s initial state. It would be interesting to investigate whether what we already know imposes unexpected limitations on the space of possibilities?
Finally, theologian David Wilkinson compares scientific and Christian views on the future of the universe and of humanity. The long-term future predicted by science is a cold and lifeless cosmic state, which is unable to provide optimism and challenges views of progress in which creation continually gets better. But Christian theology emphasizes the bodily resurrection of Jesus and the focuses on a new creation, which can provide a fruitful conversation with the scientific picture. Furthermore, it regards science as a gift of God that can transform life and can be used to advance God’s purposes.
Book Symposium
(by Mladen Turk)
The Book Symposium in this issue features Critical Approaches to Science and Religion (2023), edited by Myrna Perez, Ahmed Ragab, and Terence Keel. It has four commentators: Megan Loumagne Ulishney, Elizabeth Pérez, Peter Harrison, and James Miller. Perez, Keel, and Ragab respond to the comments.
Books reviewed in Reviews in Science, Religion and Theology
Reviews in Science, Religion and Theology is a quarterly joint publication of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology (ESSSAT) and the International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR) and is distributed free to all members of ESSSAT and ISSR. In order to give readers of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science an overview of recent publications, we include the list of books reviewed in the latest Reviews issue (in this case, September 2025):
- Robin Attfield, The Ethics of the Climate Crisis, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2024
- Peter Harrison. Some New World: Myths of Supernatural Belief in a Secular Age, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024