A NASA\/JPL-Caltech Hubble public domain photograph in infrared of the Sombrero Galaxy (Messier 104)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The resident atheist commenter on my blog sometimes likes to point out that many of my science-related entries fall into the \u201cgee whiz!\u201d mode. \u00a0I think he overstates his claim considerably, but some of my blog entries are definitely intended either to express wonder or to evoke or inspire it. \u00a0And I don\u2019t feel at all bad about that.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWonder,\u201d Socrates is quoted by Plato as saying at Theaetetus<\/em> 155d, \u201cis the only beginning of philosophy.\u201d \u00a0(And please recall that an ancient Greek would have heard the meaning \u201clove of wisdom\u201d in the word philosophia<\/em>.) \u00a0And, at Metaphysics<\/em> 882b, Aristotle remarks that \u201cit is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Anglican priest David Wilkinson, who also holds a doctorate in physics and cosmology, wouldn\u2019t disagree. \u00a0I quote from\u00a0David Wilkinson, God, Time and Stephen Hawking: An Exploration into Origins<\/em> (London and Grand Rapids: Monarch Books, 2001):<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The universe has been a source of fascination which has provoked art, religion and science. \u00a0For example, Halley\u2019s comet was observed by the Babylonians in 164 BC, was noted as an omen in the Bayeaux Tapestry, was painted by Giotto over the stable of Christ\u2019s birth, was used by Halley to demonstrate Newton\u2019s law of gravitation, has been examined by telescopes and satellites and has even been the subject of songs and novels! \u00a0And this is just one comet! (31)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
And, while I have Rev. Dr. Wilkinson\u2019s book open, please permit me to cite from it a couple of passages about how very differently people see the physical universe:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yuri Gagarin returned from space to proclaim that he had not found God, but millions watched television as the Apollo astronauts circled the Moon reading the first chapters of the Bible, \u2018In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.\u2019 \u00a0(31)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 1951, Pope Pius XII, responding to work on the Big Bang that had been done by, among others, several Catholic cosmologists, suggested that the still-new scientific model was consistent with Catholic theology:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thus, with the concreteness which is characteristic of physical proofs, it [science] has confirmed the contingency of the universe and also the well-founded deduction as to the epoch when the cosmos came forth from the hands of the Creator. \u00a0Hence, creation took place in time. \u00a0Therefore, there is a Creator. \u00a0(cited on 25)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Which brings me to a 2017 item in the Babylon Bee<\/em> to which someone \u2014 sadly, I no longer remember who it was \u2014 called my attention a few days ago:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEnlightened \u2018Minecraft\u2019 Character Denies Existence Of Game Designer\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 The resident atheist commenter on my blog sometimes likes to point out that many of my science-related entries fall into the \u201cgee whiz!\u201d mode. \u00a0I think he overstates his claim considerably, but some of my blog entries are definitely intended either to express wonder or to evoke or inspire it. \u00a0And I don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
The value of "wonder"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" The resident atheist commenter on my blog sometimes likes to point out that many of my science-related entries fall into the "gee whiz!"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/06\/the-value-of-wonder.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The value of "wonder"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" The resident atheist commenter on my blog sometimes likes to point out that many of my science-related entries fall into the "gee whiz!"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/06\/the-value-of-wonder.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta 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![\"Messier](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/12\/Sombrero_Galaxy_in_infrared_light_Hubble_Space_Telescope_and_Spitzer_Space_Telescope.jpg\")
<\/a>