ABSTRACT

The viability of scientific endeavour places special conditions on the kind of universe in which we live and do natural science. Such a universe must be governed by laws or symmetries of some kind. Inquiry into the reasons for the existence of a lawful universe, based on the ideas of inflationary cosmology and the possible existence of a multiverse (multiple universes), leads to several theological questions and challenges. Addressing those challenges establishes some conditions for a viable doctrine of God. A thick description of scientific endeavour, therefore, leads to a thicker view of God’s relationship to the natural world.