*Note: From a secular viewpoint, the MA-model is the first known scientific "Theory of Everything." This theory has now been refined and many new starling results obtained. It is called the GGU-model. The D-world and the GGU-model can both be interpreted using the language of "intelligent design" as well as theologically. The GGU-model can also be interpreted using purely physical-like processes. Added by Professor Robert A. Herrmann, Mathematics Department, U. S. Naval Academy, 572C Holloway Rd., Annapolis, MD 21402-5002.The 1996 Templeton Prize Nomination for Dr. Robert A. Herrmann Dr. Herrmann has answered the most fundamental question associated with the relationship between theology and science. Can certain theological concepts be investigated by means of the scientific method? For hundreds of years, such philosophers as Feuerbach, Marx, Engels as well as many present day philosophers and scientists have claimed that theological concepts were scientifically irrational and thus could not be investigated by scientific means. Like most questions in science a simply stated question is often the most difficult to answer. Indeed, this question could not be answered explicitly until after Abraham Robinson, in the 1960s, had discovered and developed the new mathematical techniques called Nonstandard Analysis. These are the techniques, coupled with exceptional creativity and innovation, that Dr. Herrmann has used to answer this question affirmatively and, hence, he has shown that this claim is false. Moreover, as described below, his methods, at the least, have extraordinary and startling application to three major and fundamental theological concepts.
Although Dr. Herrmann's techniques can be applied to all major theological doctrine, he chose to apply them to the doctrine displayed within the Judeo-Christian Bible. In 1978, without using any theological hypotheses and using only scientific logic, Dr. Herrmann constructed a mathematical structure that predicts mathematically and, hence, models scientifically all of the Godhead attributes described within the Bible as they are compared with attributes of His created. This yields the Grundlegend-model (G-model) and thus answers the above question affirmatively relative to Godhead attributes as Biblically described. The existence of a Divine being exhibiting such attributes can be argued for by means of scientific logic and these attributes can be comprehended and studied in the same manner as is done within theoretical science.
The Bible contains numerously many statements that compare the Divine mind or mental attributes with those of His created. During 1979, Dr. Herrmann refined that portion of the G-model that gives the general approach to modeling Divine attributes and, without using any theological hypotheses and using only scientific logic, he constructed the deductive-world (D-world) model. This mathematical structure predicts and, hence, models scientifically all of the Biblically described Divine mental and communication attributes as they are compared with those of His created. Again this means that the Biblically described "mind of God" can be investigated by means of scientific logic and such behavior can be comprehended and studied by using the basic methods of theoretical science.
In 1979, using a new interpretation for the D-world model and the same methods utilized for the G-model, Dr. Herrmann began constructing, without using any theological hypotheses and using only scientific logic, the metamorphic-anamorphosis mathematical model (MA-model). This model can be used to answer both secular and theological questions. When interpreted from a secular viewpoint, it yields a solution to the General Grand Unification Problem* among others. When the MA-model is interpreted theologically, it gives a scientific model for the various Divine creation scenarios described within the Bible. The existence of this mathematical model shows that various Biblically based creation scenarios can be investigated by means of the theoretical aspects of the scientific method. This is exceptional significant to the work of all of those scientists who are attempting to verify that one of the many possible MA-model creation scenarios is the specific Divine creation scenario that has produced the universe in which we dwell.
This nomination is being made since many individuals believe that scientific investigations of theological concepts, investigations that are being undertaken by hundreds of scientists, would not be justified unless the above question could be answered affirmatively and answered by means of an exceptionally strong scientific argument. This Dr. Herrmann has done with his very significant research findings that certain theological concepts can be investigated by means of scientific logic and the requisite methods of theoretical science. His application of these mathematical methods to three basic theological concepts and his mathematically derived conclusions should greatly aid our comprehension of God's attributes, in general, and increase our understanding of God's created visible and invisible kingdoms.