THE PHYSICS OF IMMORTALITY - MODERN COSMOLOGY AND THE RESURRECTION OFTHE DEAD - TIPLER,FL

Frank L. Tipler's book The Physics of Immortality is a striking attemp t by a scientist to resolve the conflict between theology and science on the basis of a physicalist position that identifies theology as a b ranch of physics, and that calculates God ''in exactly the same way as physicists calculate the characteristics of electrons.'' Tipler's wor k may be seen as a scientistic myth, and its critique is organized aro und the three basic characteristics of such myths: (1) it is illogical in that it argues as if physics were in fact metaphysics; (2) it is g rim in that its glorification of technology is insensitive to ethical issues; (3) it is meaningless in that its espousal of a strong theory of artificial intelligence empties concrete personal histories by subs uming them under abstractions that distort our understandings both of God and of resurrection.