God and the History of the Universe

The popular belief that a scientific understanding of reality is incompatible with a Christian one is simply wrong. Some Christian understandings of reality do conflict with some scientific understandings. But a thoroughly rational Christian understanding of the origin and history of the universe will be informed by the best scientific theories and the ""facts"" founded on them. This book weaves a narrative of the origin and history of the universe from the perspective of contemporary science with a Christian understanding of God and of God's role in the origin and history of the universe. At the center of this integrated narrative is the view that God, who is pure, unbounded Love, is Creator: the zest for life in the universe comes from God, and God is the source of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness in the universe. God is amazed and delighted at what God-and-the-world has created; God is saddened by ways creatures have fallen short of pure, unbounded Love, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness; and God's pure, unbounded Love keeps on trying to persuade all creatures toward Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. ""Jarvis Streeter's posthumous book is unbelievably good. Describing the history of the universe from a theistic perspective, this book discusses, with accuracy, everything that one would need to know to take on such an enormous task. Equally well informed and, in my view, sound are Streeter's judgments about theism and its relation to science. As a bonus, the book is beautifully written."" --David Ray Griffin, author of God Exists, Although Gawd Does Not: From Evil to Fine-Tuning (2016) ""Postmodernity denies any possibility of a grand narrative. That judgment is premised on the cognitive and spiritual experience of fracture, including the purported fracture between scientific and religious understandings of reality. Jarvis Streeter's God and the History of the Universe is a grand narrative. It enters into both nature and fracture to discover a deeper invitation to peace. Streeter's gift hereby is a scientifically factual and deeply felt testimony to Love's liveliness--and unity!--throughout the universe."" --Duane H. Larson, coauthor of Moral Injury: Caring for the Suffering Soul (forthcoming, Wipf and Stock); Past President and Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Wartburg Theological Seminary Jarvis Streeter, Professor of Religion at California Lutheran University from 1988 to 2013, received awards for his teaching in 1991 and 2004 and a posthumous Honorary Alumnus of the Year award. He is the author of Human Nature, Human Evil, and Religion (2009). Streeter completed his work on this book by mid-2013, six months before his death from pancreatic cancer. David J. Lull (editor), Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Wartburg Theological Seminary, is the author of The Spirit in Galatia (Wipf & Stock, 2006), and coauthor of Biblical Preaching on the Death of Jesus (Wipf & Stock, 2007). He has also written 1 Corinthians (2007) and Romans (2005).