The Intelligent Design of the Big Bang: Biblical and Egyptian Perspectives on the Origin of the Universe

Seminary Commons

In the early 1900’s there was a significant rift between science and religion over the origins of the universe when Belgian priest and scientist, George Lemaitre, proposed in his “hypothesis of the primeval atom” that the universe began with the “explosion” of the “primeval atom”, later called the Big Bang. Through the misinterpretation of this theory and Edwin Hubble’s popularization of an expanding universe, science moved further away from the idea of a Creator’s intellectual design of order and arrangement. However, as science has always benefited from ancient Egypt’s sophisticated knowledge of astronomy and cosmogony, recent studies have provided valuable data for astrophysicists understanding of eclipses, variable stars and astronomy. The Egyptian creation accounts in Heliopolis, Hermopolis and Memphis acknowledge an “immense spark” and an intellectual design of the universe by a Creator, which to an extent correlates with the Hebrew creation thematically, philologically and lexically. Hence, if science agrees with Egyptian cosmogony which correlates with the Hebrew creation, is it possible that the Egyptian creation obtains the external Biblical evidence to properly interpret the theory of the “Big Bang” and demonstrate a solution for the reunification of science and religion? Therefore, this research will explore the Biblical creation in alignment with the Egyptian and scientific cosmogony which could provide substantial evidence and essential elements to give clarity on the origins of the universe.