On March 14th, 2018, a bright light in the intellectual world went out. Stephen Hawking, famed theoretical physicist, passed away at the age of 76.

Hawking was a genius with a passion for understanding how physics can inform our understanding of the universe. He was on the cutting edge of blending various theories of relativity and quantum physics. His inquisitive mind led to many paradigm-breaking insights, though his often intuitive approach to science also resulted in him losing several wagers with fellow scientists when he was proven wrong.

He will long be revered, rightly, in the world of physics as a torch-bearing luminary of scientific knowledge. More than that, our culture will revere him as a priest of truth in the temple of science, a role Hawking himself would approve of.

In The Grand Design, a popular science book by Hawking and Mlodinow, we read in the opening paragraphs:

“We each exist for but a short time, and in that time explore but a small part of the whole universe. But humans are a curious species. We wonder, we seek answers. Living in this vast world that is by turns kind and cruel, and gazing at the immense heavens above, people have always asked a multitude of questions: How can we understand the world in which we find ourselves? How does the universe behave? What is the nature of reality? Where did all this come from? Did the universe need a creator? Most of us do not spend most of our time worrying about these questions, but almost all of us worry about them some of the time.

Traditionally these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead.

Philosophy has not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics.

Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.”

(The Grand Design, p. 5.)

For Hawking, the path to truth lay exclusively, or at least primarily, in the direction of science. And what a wonderful tool science is as an empirical instrument for studying the world. But science is just that – a tool. It is not a method capable of solving all riddles. Our perspective is too limited, our time too brief, our presuppositions too determinative. Furthermore, many fundamental questions are categorically beyond empirical observation. Science can inquire into the immanent, but it cannot peer into the transcendent.

Hawking was undeterred.

“My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”

(Stephen Hawking's Universe, p. 77)

Despite his brilliance, Hawking died with these questions unanswered in his mind. But that is not because there is no answer. It is because that answer does not come through speculations on black holes and entropy, but through revelation. It is the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of knowledge, and the answers to life’s big questions begin with that phrase we saw Moses use with Pharaoh – “Thus says the Lord.” This is the missing piece in Hawking’s worldview. As science increasingly seeks the prestige and place of religion in our world, we must see through the hubris to the familiar underlying spirit of unbelief.

As Christians we must never tire in reminding this world that the goal of life is not primarily to answer all the questions, but to have a right relationship with the One who knows all the answers.