2007 Winter Lectures:
Cosmology, Evolution and Resurrection Hope: Session 3

In his last lecture, “Christian eschatology and the future of the universe: The greatest challenge to Christian theology today,” Russell noted that theology and science diverge dramatically on the future of the universe. For secular cosmologists, he said, the extinction of the solar system will be followed by a cosmic “freeze or fry.”

But if this actually happens, then Christian hope is vain, he noted, adding that hopeful Christians must boldly deny this nihilistic vision of the end and proclaim the New Creation. Heaven, he said, is not a second ex nihilo creation; it is a transformed version of the old creation, and the resurrection of Jesus is a foretaste of this marvelous transformation. If we take this seriously, he added, matter as we know it must be transformable into the matter of the New Creation.

(Unfortunately, this year, the recording quality of these CDs is poor.)