Christianity and information: Contributions of Stephen Hawking to physics, philosophical ethics, and theology

Abstract

Following the recent death of the famous physicist S. Hawking, the question of his contribution to science has appeared with new urgency. Despite his known handicap, he was immensely active in the field of physics but also in the areas of philosophy and theology. The aim of the present paper is to analyze his contributions related to the nature of the Universe, its beginning and possible end, as well as the consequences stemming from this knowledge for philosophy and theology. We start with Hawking´s discoveries in the fields of physics and cosmology and apply them to informatics. Subsequently, we extrapolate the acquired results to theology and philosophy, taking a closer look at issues of eschatology.