A Comprehensible Universe. The Interplay of Science and Theology

The question « Why is our world comprehensible ? » seems so trivial that few people have dared to ask it. In this book we explore the deep roots of the mystery of rationality. The inquiry into the rationality of the world began over two-and-a-half-thousand years ago, when a few courageous people tried to understand the world with the help of reason alone, rejecting the comforting fabric of myth and legend. After many philosophical and theological adventures, the Greek concept of rationality laid the foundations of a revolutionary way of thinking : the scientific method, which transformed the world. But looking at the newest fruits of the world's rationality - relativity theory, quantum mechanics, the unification of physics, quantum gravity - the question arises : what are the limits of the scientific method ? The principal tenet of rationality is that you should never stop asking questions until everything has been answered. – Introduction. - Part One : The Drama of Rationality. - Discovery that the World is Rational. - Should the Astronomer Look into the Sky ? - Seven Fighters Against Thebes. - How to Count the Grains of Sand ?. - Is the World Rational ? - Part Two : The Input of Christianity. - Christianity on the Scene. - Theology and Science in the Epoch of the Church Fathers. - The Medieval Contribution. - Part Three : Discovery of the Method. - Achilles and the Arrow. - The Dynamics of Aristotle. - Three Generations : From Tartaglia to Galileo. - Birth of the Method. - Is the World Mathematical ? - Mathematics at Work. - Afterthoughts. M.-M. V.