29 October 2010

'A Matter of Gravity: God, the Universe and Stephen Hawking' - the 2010 Margaret Harris Lecture on Religion

'The Grand Design', the controversial recent bestseller by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinov, has led supporters to claim that science has finally buried God, but that view is to be challenged at a public lecture in Dundee next month.

The University of Dundee’s annual Margaret Harris Lecture on Religion will see John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, respond to Hawking’s latest text with a talk entitled ‘A Matter of Gravity: God, the Universe and Stephen Hawking’.

The Grand Design argues that invoking God is not necessary to explain the origins of the universe, and that the Big Bang is a consequence of the laws of physics alone, with Hawking saying, 'One can't prove that God doesn't exist, but science makes God unnecessary.'

Professor Lennox, a Christian, has written a number of books on the relations of science with religion and ethics, and has participated in public debates with some of the UK’s best known and most fervent atheists, including Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.

His new book, to be released next year, is a direct response to Hawking's and carries the title, ‘God and Stephen Hawking: Whose Design is it Anyway?’

The 2010 Margaret Harris Lecture, A Matter of Gravity: God, the Universe and Stephen Hawking, takes place at the University’s Dalhousie Building from 6pm on Monday, November 22nd.

Admission is free, and tickets are available from www.dundee.ac.uk/tickets or 01382 385564. A drinks reception follows this event, for which there may be overflow theatres in operation.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
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