The issue of cosmology involves the study of the universe and how it came into existence, as well as in what direction it may be evolving now. Our ideas of the cosmology of the universe have changed greatly in recent years, but the essential question remains whether the universe will expand forever or will eventually fall back upon itself. This issue has to do with the question of whether or not there is sufficient matter in the universe to cause it to fall back on itself, and to date not enough matter has been found. Cosmology is not just an issue for science, for it has long been a central question in philosophy and religion as well. All these disciplines are trying to answer certain basic questions about why the universe exists, from what it is made, and what force brought it into being. This can lead to associated questions, such as what existed before the creation of the universe, and what will be the fate of the universe at some distant point in time. In one sense, these disciplines are depicted as competing, with science offering one answer, philosophy another, and theology still a third. In a different sense, though, they are complementary. For instance, science traces the beginning of the universe back to an event called the Big Bang, and scientists believe they can find empirical evidence for this event and for the processes involved in the first moments of creation. However, they have no way of determining what existed just before the Big Bang or exactly what set the whole thing in motion. That may be the purview of theology alone.
The Greeks developed over time a massive and complex mythology that explained in animistic, anthropomorphic terms many of the natural phenomena seen in the world around them and at the same time propounded a direct relationship between themselves and the gods as part of that explanation. Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality and the relationships...