Endorsements
“John Cressler’s
Gateway to the Divine is a thoroughly amazing book. Careful reading leads to a comprehensive knowledge of the science and technology of our time. Cressler is a genius at conveying the most complex ideas from the entire history of science using a crystal-clear prose we can understand. His enthusiasm and his love of puns will attract a very broad audience, stretching from readers with little science background all the way to professionals. By combining science and technology with spirituality, Cressler provides a true gateway to an exalted life, one rooted in wonder, play, curiosity, compassion, and joy.
Gateway to the Divine is a beautiful work of wisdom. Its publication is a major event of the year.”
—Brian Thomas Swimme, co-author of The Story of the Noosphere
“With the precision of a scientist and the heart of a mystic, John Cressler invites us to see our world anew—to find, in the quantum waves humming beneath our smartphones and in the ancient oaks of a Georgia forest, the unmistakable signature of the Divine.
Gateway to the Divine is a learned and luminous guide, generous with lucid explanations of the newest science, illuminating illustrations, and reflection questions that turn reading into contemplation. Cressler writes not to explain away mystery but to deepen it, showing how a genuine understanding of the cosmos, the atom, the Earth, and ourselves can open a doorway to wonder. For anyone who has longed to hold science and faith together without doing violence to either, this is a trustworthy and inspiring companion for discerning the divine milieu all around us.”
—Ilia Delio, OSF, Executive Director, World Institute for Science, Religion, and Culture
“Enter this gateway with Cressler, and you won’t escape his awesome narrative of—everything that matters. Everything: in its gorgeous material tapestry of interconnecting events, from every electron to our brains and back through Earth’s vast threatened communities of trees . . . to us now. Splendidly readable, Cressler’s conjunction of science and spirituality brings the energy of the universe to the aid of this perilous moment.”
—Dr. Catherine Keller, Professor of Constructive Theology, Drew University
“It is hard to imagine a more timely reminder that technology and science can be great blessings, but only if harnessed to the expansive vision of spirit that can point our research toward human thriving. In his magisterial guide, John Cressler takes us by the hand for a journey to the very heights of our cosmos, illumined by his mastery of the facts but inspired by his embracing vision. I can’t think of a better guide to welcome us back home!”
—Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson, Goldstine Distinguished Scholar, American Jewish University
“‘Finding God in all things’ is a core tenet of Ignatian spirituality. In his highly approachable new book, Cressler, both a scientist and believer, beautifully illuminates how science’s new understanding of the relationality and interconnectedness of the evolving physical universe naturally invites humanity into a deeper spirituality. Science and faith both belong in any conversation of ultimate meaning and purpose, and this book will show you why—and how.”
—James Martin, SJ, author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything
“John Cressler’s colorful new book is a treasurable contribution to the growing library of works on spirituality and the new scientific story of the universe. The author’s touch is light and learned, intellectually absorbing and spiritually bracing. Cressler, a renowned Georgia Tech scientist who has been teaching an elective course on science, engineering and religion, is a careful and gifted guide. Instead of taking us on too hasty a tour of cosmic history, he has us linger in wonder at the intricacy, beauty and revelatory depth of each emergent stage in the cosmic itinerary. This fascinating book shows well how scientific discovery, religious belief, contemplative silence, and spiritual discernment are mutually enriching. It will be of value to readers from many backgrounds and fields of interest.”
—John F. Haught, Georgetown University, author of The Cosmic Vision of Teilhard de Chardin
“John Cressler provides a dynamic vision of a re-enchanted universe in which the constantly expanding insights of physics, biology, and evolutionary science join with theological and spiritual reflection in a creative synthesis to transform our world. In a time of uncertainty, in which the world is on fire and the impact of artificial intelligence is expanding exponentially with few ethical guardrails, Cressler articulates a pathway toward personal and planetary wholeness in which science and spirituality are companions and not competitors, allies and not antagonists. The evolving story of the universe that Cressler charts invites us to go beyond individualistic self-interest and isolated nationalism to embrace world loyalty and planetary healing. This book is an inspirational guide for persons yearning to join spirit and science for personal transformation and social responsibility.”
—Bruce Epperly, author of Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet and Homegrown Mystics: Restoring the Soul of our Nation through the Vision of America’s Mystics
“If Cardinal Bellarmine and Pope Urban VIII could have read
Gateway to the Divine, Galileo might have been canonized as a saint instead of accused of heresy. The split between faith and science is one of the great tragedies of human history, but books like this are important contributions to healing that divide. John Cressler’s writing is accessible, visionary, and inviting — a poetic reflection that is equal parts mystical meditation and contemplation of the cosmos.”
—Carl McColman, author of The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism and Read the Bible Like a Mystic
“In
Gateway to the Divine John Cressler affirms that ‘Science and spirituality should exist in the same sentence!’ From the vastness of an expanding Universe to the orbitals of electrons around the nucleus of an atom, with stops in Precambrian Earth, the earliest forests of the Middle Devonian, Bell Labs, and the James Webb Space Telescope, Cressler weaves a tapestry of human development that places us squarely in the heart and mind of the Divine and brings the New Cosmic Story to life. Written in the vivid and evocative style of his historical novels and the refreshingly humorous style of his non-fiction works, Cressler takes you on a thoughtful and comprehensive journey, never losing the central thread that we inhabit a deeply meaningful Universe. Not since reading Karen Armstrong’s
A History of God have I experienced such a broadening of my own spiritual horizons that both challenge and reassure me.”
—Dr. Rob McDowell, Georgia State University–Perimeter College
“The universe is a wild and strange place. John Cressler explores that place in all of its novelty. In accessible and vibrant prose, Cressler points to the spiritual implications of contemporary science, even pointing to an alternative spiritual framework that aligns with existence as we know it. What a wonderful book!”
—Thomas Jay Oord, author of Open and Relational Theology
“
Gateway to the Divine is a very carefully considered and well-illustrated presentation of the case that there is no conflict between contemporary science and a mature approach to religion based in process theology. Professor Cressler is a highly cited solid-state physicist, with a very broad understanding of the whole range of causes that underlie our existence on a small planet in a vast evolving universe.
Gateway to the Divine presents that broad integrated view, from cosmology through physics and biology to consciousness and the brain. But there are limits to what science can say: for a full understanding of our existence, a mature world view must also relate to meaning and love and good and bad—the elements making life worth living, where science has nothing useful to say. I particularly appreciate the broad view of the nature of religion presented that makes this a viable viewpoint. Highly recommended.”
—George Ellis, Professor Emeritus, University of Cape Town
“Cressler’s remarkable book presents a dynamic view of the created order in which relationship and process are basic. People of diverse religious traditions will find much to ponder here. A Christian reader will find this an engaging invitation to contemplate the mystery of the God in whom ‘we live and move and have our being’ and who also mysteriously ‘dwells among us.’ Reading from the perspective of
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, I felt invited to a Contemplation to Attain Love, to ponder how God is present and active in all things, giving existence, life, sensation, intelligence—and drawing us into God’s own action. I heartily recommend this book to any reader who wants to engage the mystery of the very active God.”
—William A. Noe, SJ, Director of Formation, Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center
“In a world overrun with exponentially advancing technology, we, as a human species, are at a crossroads. Do we become more divorced from our human—and spiritual—nature, or does our increasingly technologized world help us to consummate a sacred marriage with our spiritual nature? In
Gateway to the Divine John Cressler has done a masterful job of reuniting the estranged twins of science and spirituality, revealing how these seeming opposites not only complement and illumine each other, but how their communion becomes a doorway to the wholeness of our true nature, a nature which interfaces with and is not separate from the Divine. This is an absolutely amazing—and much needed—book that I can’t recommend highly enough.”
—Paul Levy, author of The Quantum Revelation
Contents
Preface: Seeing with New Eyes
PART I — The Big Picture and Dramatis Personae
1. Our Technologically Bedazzling 21st-Century World
Our Amazing Tools and Toys · Where Science Is Lurking · Connections to the Material World
2. Our Confounding and Fraught 21st-Century World
The Trojan Horse That Destroyed Our Well-Being · The Gathering Storm · The Blessings and Perils of Exponential Growth · Inviting Spirituality to the Table · Connections to the Spiritual World
3. The Things That Keep Us Up at Night
The Power of Questions · Campfires, Moonrise, and the Secrets of the Milky Way · Practical BIG Questions · Philosophical BIG Questions
4. Rethinking Religion and Science
The Axial Age and the Cartesian Bargain · Organized Religion and Its Baggage · What Is Science and How Does It Work? · Frosted Windows: The Limitations of Mathematics · The Curse of Religious and Secular Fundamentalism · Ineffable Mystery: God, Spirituality, and Mysticism · Cracking the Door to Constructive Dialogue
5. The New Cosmic Story
The Universe as Story · The Bounds of Plenty: Space, Time, and Matter · The Cosmic Uroboros · Emergence: Novelty and Complexity in the Evolutionary Universe · The Chronological Sequence of Emergent Properties
PART II — Exploring Our Mysterious Universe Through the Eyes of Science
6. The Journey Outward: Our Cosmos
Seeing Is Believing · Telescopes as Time Machines · The View Beyond Earth · Stardust, Exoplanets, and Black Holes · Songs of Space and Time · The Invisible Universe: Dark Matter and Dark Energy · Cosmic Fine Tuning, the Anthropic Principle, and Multiverse · Connections and Questions to Ponder
7. The Journey Inward: The Quantum Realm
Searching for Magic Dust: A Smartphone Dissection · Transistors as Quantum Objects · Surfing the Quantum Waves · Consequences, Implications, and Interpretations · Connections and Questions to Ponder
8. The Journey into Nature: Our Magical Earth and Its Majestic Trees
Our Incredible Blue Marble · Land Ho! From Algae to Forests · Nature as Community: The Search for Intelligent Life Among Us · Climate Crisis as Spiritual Mandate · Connections and Questions to Ponder
9. The Journey into Us: The Human Mind and Heart
DNA, the Human Genome, and Gene Editing · The Human Family Tree and the Myth of Race · The Microbiome, Our Second Brain · The Unlikely Path to Consciousness · Hearts on Fire: Love and Relationship · Connections and Questions to Ponder
PART III — Making Sense of Our Journeys
10. The Process Perspective: Toward a Satisfying Worldview
Our Universe as Tapestry · Wish List for a Satisfying Worldview · Let God Be God: Rethinking Our Conceptions of the Divine · The Process Perspective · Pillars, Elements, and Implications of Process Theology · Some Parting Words
Acknowledgments
Selected Bibliography
For Further Reading
Index
About the Author