James Frederick Ivey. The Physics and Philosophy of the Bible. Amazon Digital, 2013. E-book.

Thornton Wilder’s Our Town has the famous line in which Rebecca Gibbs marvels at the address written on an envelope delivered to a friend of hers:

Jane Crofut; The Crofut Farm, Grover’s Corners; Sutton County; New Hampshire; United States of America; Continent of North America; Western Hemisphere; the Earth; the Solar System; the Universe; the Mind of God—that’s what it said on the envelope.(36)

Dr. Ivey in The Physics and Philosophy of the Bible tries to show there is indeed a connection suggested in this tender and humorous reflection. He shows that the universe is part of the mind of God, or, at the very least, a product of the mind of God. To paraphrase Yogi Berra, the universe is 99.99% mental.

To sum up Ivey’s thesis, because of quantum physics and even more so if string or loop theories are substantiated, most of what we perceive as matter and energy is empty space. However, we can describe it mathematically—often not as an actual position or size but as a probability. The fact that this all holds together in an orderly manner in spite of the Euclidean vagueness of it proves that the universe has a mathematically sophisticated designer. It is virtually the same argument that Newton used at the end of his Principia except that the math is more complicated and the discoveries of subatomic particles, atoms, gravitational fields, relativity, and quanta make the hypothesis even more realistic.

As Ivey would put it, to think “It just happened to happen” is downright blind. (1276)

The Physics and Philosophy of the Bible quotes many scientists and philosophers. It occasionally quotes the Bible—infrequently enough that some readers might expect more from the Bible because of what the title implies. The language is a bit wordy and repetitive, but author wants to make his point. Wide ranging and quotable, it certainly makes an interesting case.

It sounds indeed that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14); or as Emily Gibbs says in Our Town: “Oh earth, you’re too wonderful for anyone to realize you!” (83)

Note
The page reference for the book being reviewed is a Kindle location. The other book quoted is Thornton Wilder, Our Town, Acting Edition (New York: Samuel French, 2007) Print.