Faith, Science and Understanding pdf

John Carlton Polkinghorn, British theoretical physicist, religious thinker, writer, and Anglican priest, born in 1930 As president of Queen's College Cambridge from 1988 to 1996, Polkinghorne authored five books on physics and twenty-six books on the relationship between science and religion. His books include Quantum World 1989, Quantum Physics and Theology: An Unexpected Connection 2005, Exploring Truth: The Intertwining of Science and Religion 2007 , Questions of Truth 2009, A Polkinghorn Reader (edited by Thomas J. Ord) and providing key summaries of Polkinghorn's most influential books, knighted in 1997 and awarded a £1m Templeton Prize in 2002 for his outstanding contributions to affirming the spiritual dimension of life.

Faith, Science and Understanding pdf by John Polkinghorne

In this captivating book, one of the most highly regarded scientist-theologians of our time explores aspects of the interaction of science and theology. John Polkinghorne defends the place of theology in the university (it is part of the human search for truth) and discusses the role of revelation in religion (it is a record of experience and not the communication of unchallengeable propositions). Throughout his thought-provoking conversation, Polkinghorne speaks with an honesty and openness that derives from his many years of experience in scientific research. A central concern of Polkinghorne’s collection of writings is to reconcile what science can say about the processes of the universe with theology’s belief in a God active within creation. The author examines two related concepts in depth. The first is the divine self-limitation involved in creation that leads to an important reappraisal of the traditional claim that God does not act as a cause among causes. The other is the nature of time and God’s involvement with it, an issue that Polkinghorne shows can link metascience and theological understandings. In the final section of the book, the author reviews three centuries of the science and theology debate and assesses the work of major contemporary contributors to the discussion: Wolfhart Pannenberg, Thomas Torrance, and Paul Davies. He also considers why the science-theology discussion has for several centuries been a particular preoccupation of the English.