Has the universe always existed or was it created from nothing?  Is it finite or infinite in extent?  Until the 1920's, scientists by and large left these questions to religion and philosophy.  Then Hubble found that the universe is expanding, as predicted by Einstein's theory of General Relativity.  Now we have plenty of evidence that, as far in the sky as our instruments can see, it all started about 13.8 billion years ago with a Big Bang. But was there something before the Bang, and how did it come about?  We will discuss what is known, what is still uncertain or speculative, and what appear to be the ultimate limits of human ability to know, with readings from Hawking's "Brief History of Time" and "The Grand Design", web sites, and current articles in this rapidly evolving field.