Teachings of the Catholic Church - Questions     

William Carroll, “Thomas Aquinas and Big Bang Cosmology”:

*NB: Pp. 1-11 of Professor Carroll’s article is an overview of the development of modern Big Bang theory.  It will be useful for understanding some of the questions on the U.S. News & World Report article.  As a result, these questions begin with material on p. 11 of Professor Carroll’s article.

1. According to Prof. Carroll, current variations in Big Bang cosmology which purport either to account for the initial singularity in terms of quantum tunneling or to deny the existence of an initial boundary to the universe seem to suggest what about the role of a Creator?

2. Despite some contemporary theorists claim that, properly speaking, we can get something from nothing, what, according to Prof. Carroll, must we understand about the “vacuum” of modern particle physics, whose “fluctuation” supposedly brings our universe into existence?

3. According to Carroll, the key to Thomas Aquinas’s analysis is the distinction he draws between creation and change.  What does change require?  What, on the other hand, is creation?

4. According to the article, is it possible to have an eternal, created universe?  In other words, if the universe had no temporal beginning (a beginning in time), would it still need a creator?

5. Why, according to Carroll, is there “no necessary conflict between the doctrine of creation and any physical theory”?

6. According to Carroll, can the Big Bang described by modern cosmologists properly be called creation?

7. Does Thomas Aquinas think that, on the basis of how we understand the universe in its current state, we can extrapolate to an initial state or temporal beginning of the universe?
 

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