Dr. Benjamin Fain is extremely knowledgeable in science, as well
as liberals arts areas; such as, philosophy, sociology, logic and
theology. This work seeks to integrate the arts and sciences in a
multi-disciplinary fashion.

The author begins with some theological views. For instance,
the Torah describes the plan and design of our world. Matter is
our world; whereas, light derives from G-d. The Big Bang theory
describes a phenomena ; wherein, something devolves from nothing.
There is no scientific explanation per se so the only other
area comes from the spiritual. Later on, the book describes how the
source of scientific knowledge or laws of nature come from
Divine Revelation. The book concludes that humans have free will.
Without free will, the Torah would have little meaning. Maimonides
believes that the divine intellect is conjoined with humankind.
[ Guide of the Perplexed 1:1 ]

The discussion on free will is critical. G-d provided humankind with
free will because there could be no conduct of the process of life
without it. Humankind would be like aimless beings bumping into each
other because of the lack of direction. G-d provided humans with free
will so that humans would not have to go back and forth to Him
for permission to do every earthly thing.

As such, G-d is the ultimate delegator. With free will, humankind has a whole series of laws to govern the reasonable exercise of it. There is scriptural law, the halakah, Talmud, host country legal codes and even the contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls. So it is free will and law that act jointly to keep humankind in some sort of societal equilibrium devoid of normlessness and lack of direction or purpose.

The course of history is G-d contending with humans who have free
choice. In Judaism, G-d is the G-d of history. His commandments have
historical meaning although man has free choice. Law is the spigot
which regulates the free choice within a band of acceptability.
Einstein accepted religion when he stated:

" The scientist's religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous
amazement at the harmony of natural law."

There is a sort of harmony in how nature operates. There is a contrast
between life and death, heat and cold, dry or wet, the 4 seasons
and many other facets of life. This harmony is designed into the
universal structure. Even the hereditary material has all the instructions for developing an organism from semen. Therefore, the existence of humankind can be created anywhere in any time or any place.

The book discusses various aspects of the scientific method throughout.
It states that we cannot validate any theory logically because we would
need infinite experiments including future ones. If you traveled many
centuries into the future, the laws of chemistry and thermodynamics
might operate differently. Elasticity points might be different in an
Ice Age or dramatic shifting of weather at the Poles. Stresses and
strains might have more non-linearity thereby causing phenomena
unanticipated in the classic engineering applications.

Kant finds that our categories of data organization are not experimentally derived. Instead, these are functions and rules of human intellect allowing us to organize the findings of our own experience.. What happens when the data emulates conditions outside of our normal experience?

The contents of this book could be argued in dozens of dissertations.
It is not belles lettres reading per se. The arguments are at a high
level of understanding for scientists, engineers, mathematicians,
logicians, philosophers, theologists and a considerable constituency
educated at the collegiate level or beyond.
by Dr. Joseph S. Maresca

This interesting and thoughtful discussion of the role of science and Torah in understanding creation is a needed contribution to the debate of `intelligent design.' The author is well placed to discuss this subject, as a world renowned professor of chemistry and an expert in the field of laser physics. The book consists of five chapters divided into short essays, stories and observations on the subject of Science, belief and evolution. Interspersed with deep explanations of the foundations of life are short stories regarding Jewish philosophers such as Solomon Maimon. In addition there are also stories from the authors own life that illustrate such things as freedom of choice.

The book serves as both an introduction to modern philosophy as recounted through the views of David Hume, Karl Popper and Immanuel Kant, as well as an introduction to the development of science from Newton to the modern period. Great Jewish thinkers such as Maimonodies are quoted often and the finale is a brilliant synthesis of this information and a passionate defense of the necessity to see the hand of God in creation and the development of man.