Stephen Meyer was in Cambridge, England, with Cambridge University philosopher James Orr, who hosts the excellent podcast First Light. The conversation was ahead of the upcoming April 30 theatrical release of The Story of Everything, the film’s title being an ironic nod to atheist Stephen Hawking’s notion of a promised “theory of everything,” to account for all of nature in terms strictly of physical, mathematical phenomena.
In talking with Orr, Meyer argued (at 55:04) for the idea of British natural theology, “which is a little bit broader than the idea of intelligent design.”
How so? Meyer: “Intelligent design is a steppingstone along the way to a fully theistic argument, but it’s more limited in scope. Natural theology includes developments that are taking place in math, in physics, in biology, in philosophy of science.”
“In information theory,” adds Orr. “In fact, you might just as well call it non-natural theology in as much as part of your argument around mathematics and information is precisely that it’s not naturalistically explicable. It does seem to transcend the content of the natural sciences.”
“Perfect,” says Meyer. “It’s discoveries in nature that point beyond nature, beyond the natural world.” That’s another way of expressing the Story of Everything. Follow the film on its website and keep an eye out for information about when you can get your ticket!