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Daniel Matt: Cosmology and Judaism

The theory of the Big Bang serves as the scientific creation story of our culture. What does it have to do with God? Can it help us discover a spiritual dimension in our lives? In answering these questions, Dr Matt draws on the insights of Kabbalah (the Jewish mystical tradition) as well as contemporary cosmology. He suggest several parallels, e.g., between what physicists call "broken symmetry" and what Kabbalah calls "the breaking of the vessels." He emphasizes that his purpose is not to demonstrate that medieval kabbalists knew what cosmologists are now discovering. Rather, in juxtaposing these two distinct approaches - scientific and spiritual - he experiments with seeing each in light of the other.

Spirituality and science are two tools of understanding that should not be confused; each is valid in its domain. Occasionally, though, scientific and spiritual insights resonate. By sensing these resonances, our understanding deepens.

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Topic Sets Available

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