Mary-Jane Rubenstein: Worlds Without End.

The strange concept of the multiverse is currently being touted by some physicists as the answer to several sticky cosmological quandaries like the “fine-tuning” problem. But, amazingly, these contemporary theories have some very old precedents. On this episode of Inquiry, we welcome back MARY-JANE RUBENSTEIN. She is a professor of religion; feminist, gender, and sexuality studies; and science in society at Wesleyan University. Her new book’s title explains what we will be talking about on this episode: WORLDS WITHOUT END/THE MANY LIVES OF THE MULTIVERSE: …IN WHICH ARE DISCUSSED PRE-, EARLY-, AND POST-MODERN MULTIPLE WORLDS COSMOLOGIES; THE SUNDRY ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST THEM; THE STRIKING PECULIARITIES OF THEIR ADHERENTS AND DETRACTORS; THE SHIFTING BOUNDARIES OF SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY, AND RELIGION; AND THE STUBBORNLY PERSISTENT QUESTION OF WHETHER CREATION HAS BEEN “DESIGNED