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What if our world were considered a gift? Extending postmodern gift theory to ecological and ecotheological concerns, Mark Manolopoulos explores how "creation"—the what-is—can be seen as a gift. Creation, when viewed in a radically egalitarian way, is the matrix of all material things—human, otherwise-than-human, or humanly manufactured. Utilizing and critiquing the work of Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Marion, Manolopoulos argues that the gift is an irresolvable paradox marked by the contradictory elements of excess (gratuity, linearity) and exchange (gratitude, return). Philosophical and theological reflections on the gift become entangled in its paradoxical tension, but ultimately both aspects must be respected and reflected. When it comes to the creation-gift, we should vacillate between responses like letting-be, enjoyment, utility, and return. Elegantly written and thought-provoking, If Creation Is a Gift both contributes to the ongoing debate on the gift and provides a fresh philosophical and theological consideration of the environmental crisis.

Human ecology --- Gifts --- Creation. --- Biblical cosmogony --- Cosmogony --- Natural theology --- Teleology --- Beginning --- Biblical cosmology --- Creation windows --- Creationism --- Evolution --- Religious aspects --- Christianity.

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Cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole, has become a precise physical science, the foundation of which is our understanding of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) left from the big bang. The story of the discovery and exploration of the CMBR in the 1960s is recalled for the first time in this collection of 44 essays by eminent scientists who pioneered the work. Two introductory chapters put the essays in context, explaining the general ideas behind the expanding universe and fossil remnants from the early stages of the expanding universe. The last chapter describes how the confusion of ideas and measurements in the 1960s grew into the present tight network of tests that demonstrate the accuracy of the big bang theory. This book is valuable to anyone interested in how science is done, and what it has taught us about the large-scale nature of the physical universe.

Cosmology --- Galaxies --- Cosmic background radiation --- Big bang theory --- Big bang --- Cosmologie --- Cosmic background radiation. --- Big bang theory. --- Cosmology. --- Astronomy --- Deism --- Metaphysics --- Big bang cosmology --- Superdense theory --- Cosmogony --- Expanding universe --- Background radiation, Cosmic --- Cosmic microwave background --- Cosmic microwave radiation --- Microwave background --- Extraterrestrial radiation

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È dalla più remota antichità che l’uomo si interroga sulla struttura dell’Universo e sulle leggi che lo governano. Ma il progresso compiuto all’inizio del XX secolo non ha paragoni rispetto a quello di tutti i secoli precedenti: nel 1915 fu formulata la relatività generale, indispensabile per inquadrare tutti i fenomeni cosmici e astrofisici; tra il 1920 e il 1930 furono determinate le reali dimensioni dell’Universo visibile e fu scoperta la sua costante espansione. La cosmologia ha poi fatto un grande salto di qualità a cavallo tra la fine del XX secolo e l’inizio del XXI, quando una serie di osservazioni ha confermato che: L’Universo è spazialmente "piatto", in seguito all’inflazione cosmica che, una frazione di secondo dopo il Big Bang, ne ha gonfiato le dimensioni di decine o centinaia di miliardi di volte. L’Universo è costituito al 70% da energia oscura e al 24% da materia oscura: la materia visibile, cioè stelle e galassie, rappresenta solo il 6% del totale. Attualmente l’espansione dell’Universo è in una fase di nuova accelerazione. L’Universo inflazionario è una specula che forse rivela i misteri delle leggi fisiche a piccolissime distanze e altissime energie laddove dovrebbe trovarsi il regno delle superstringhe e della gravità quantistica. In questo libro viene ripercorsa la grande avventura del pensiero umano che dalla concezione aristotelica di un mondo statico eterno e in realtà piccolissimo è approdato alla contemporanea visione di un cosmo dinamico e immenso, germogliato però da una infinitesima fluttuazione quantistica.

Astrophysics. --- Collisions (Physics). --- Inflationary universe. --- Astronomy & Astrophysics --- Physical Sciences & Mathematics --- Astrophysics --- Astronomy - General --- Cosmology. --- Big bang theory. --- Expanding universe. --- Cosmological inflation --- Cosmology of the early universe --- Inflation, Cosmological --- Inflationary cosmology --- Inflationary universe cosmology --- Universe, Inflationary --- Universe, Expanding --- Big bang cosmology --- Superdense theory --- Popular works. --- History. --- Philosophy of nature. --- Gravitation. --- Astronomy. --- Elementary particles (Physics). --- Quantum field theory. --- Popular Science. --- Popular Science in Astronomy. --- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology. --- Classical and Quantum Gravitation, Relativity Theory. --- Elementary Particles, Quantum Field Theory. --- History of Science. --- Philosophy of Nature. --- Astronomy --- Deism --- Metaphysics --- Relativistic quantum field theory --- Field theory (Physics) --- Quantum theory --- Relativity (Physics) --- Elementary particles (Physics) --- High energy physics --- Nuclear particles --- Nucleons --- Nuclear physics --- Astronomical physics --- Cosmic physics --- Physics --- Physical sciences --- Space sciences --- Matter --- Antigravity --- Centrifugal force --- Nature --- Nature, Philosophy of --- Natural theology --- Annals --- Auxiliary sciences of history --- Properties --- Philosophy --- Big bang theory --- Cosmology --- Red shift --- Cosmogony --- Expanding universe --- Quantum theory. --- Quantum dynamics --- Quantum mechanics --- Quantum physics --- Mechanics --- Thermodynamics