John Polkinghorne

In this book John Polkinghorne and Michael Welker explain how they understand faith in the living God. Between them, they offer a ""binocular vision from their] twin perspectives to yield helpful insight in relation to the important issues."" Part of the fascination of this book is how two people with such different backgrounds approach central theological questions relating to the faith they both share. Their concerns are truth rather than polemics, reliability rather than simple certainty. They seek to anchor their thought in concrete particulars rather than abstract generalizations. They ask the questions that trouble the inquiring mind, and meet head-on the challenge as well as the reassurances of belief. This second edition provides a new Preface and updated bibliographies. ""Two leading Christian thinkers, a physicist and a theologian, engage here in a truth-seeking conversation about their common faith in the living God. The book is short but its content is profound: a compelling witness to both the reasonableness and substantive richness of the Christian faith written for its troubled friends and its educated despisers alike."" --Miroslav Volf, director of Yale Center for Faith and Culture ""Here is a stimulating dialogue on the articles of faith from two of the most gifted theologians of our time. Polkinghorne speaks in conversation with science and Welker with philosophical and cultural challenges. Though different in some ways, they are both convinced that a biblically informed faith invites us to speak of God in the midst of life as it actually exists in all of its complex possibilities and dangers. This is much more of an invitation to join a conversation than it is a system of thought. I found it compelling."" --Frank D. Macchia, Vanguard University ""This book's genre makes it unique and exceptional--a conversation between friends, although from diverse backgrounds, both of them informed and inspiring. There are many other books on these themes, even these two have published on many of these topics, but there is nothing like this book. Readers are privileged almost to overhear while two major public intellectuals of our time engage--personally, respectfully, honestly--in serious dialogue on questions of truth and understanding."" --Dirk J. Smit, Princeton Theological Seminary John Polkinghorne, KBE FRS (born in 1930) is an English theoretical physicist, theologian, and Anglican priest. A prominent and leading voice explaining the relationship between science and religion, he was professor of mathematical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1968 to 1979, became an ordained Anglican priest in 1982 and served as the president of Queens' College, Cambridge, from 1988 to 1996. Michael Welker, (born in 1947) was a professor of theology at the German universities of Tubingen, Munster, and Heidelberg and frequently a guest professor in the Anglo-American world (McMaster, Princeton, Harvard, Emory, and Cambridge). He is an honorary professor at Seoul Theological University, senior professor at the University of Heidelberg, and director of its Research Center International and Interdisciplinary Theology (FIIT). He has organized many international and interdisciplinary research projects that related theology and science, theology and law, theology and economy.

[This book] covers what I believe to be the critical issues in the contemporary vigorous debate between science and theology, concentrating on what I judge to be the essential insights that are relevant to the issues raised. References are given to my earlier writings where chapters can be found that afford a more detailed engagement with particular issues, but I believe that on its own the present book lays out the core concepts that are fundamental in what is surely one of the most significant interdisciplinary interactions of our time, pursued in a wide quest for truthful understanding. The book concentrates on my own work, not at all because I think that I have said all that need be said, but simply because, after more than thirty years of reflection, this is what I have to offer.' From the Introduction.

Written by perhaps the world's foremost authority on the relationship between science and theology, Reason and Reality brings together essays in which John Polkinghorne pursues more deeply themes touched on in his earlier works. The result is a deeply satisfying interpretation of the nature and scope of human knowledge, the extent and limits of science, and the proper place of theology as what Polkinghorne calls science's "cousin under the skin"

John Polkinghorne is a world authority in the field of science and religion. He has written numerous books in this area, and his thinking is hugely influential. This book brings together his thoughts on several core issues in the debate: God, science and technology, and Christianity. This book will appeal to readers who are new to Polkinghorne's thought and who are just beginning to investigate the interplay between science and religion. It will also appeal to those who have read his smaller books, but would like one handy resource which brings his thought together, and to students studying science and religion.

A fresh look at the Bible from the analytical and rational perspective of a scientist. The nuanced, rational and honest approach will be appreciated by any reader with an open and enquiring mind.

Serious Talk begins with the search for an acceptable meeting point for science and religion. Following this are examinations of specific theological issues approached in the spirit of such a meeting point: creation, the role of chance, God's engagement with time, the anticipation of a destiny awaiting humanity beyond death, and the end of the universe.

How did the universe begin? Can God's existence be proven? Do humans matter more than animals? For many years people have sent the scientist-turned-priest John Polkinghorne these and other questions about science and belief. In question-and-answer format, Polkinghorne and his collaborator Nicholas Beale offer their highly informed opinions about some of the most frequently asked of these questions. Readers can follow their own paths through the book, selecting questions that interest them and looking at the additional material if they choose. This unique book will help Christians clarify their beliefs regarding difficult issues and better face challenges--from within and from others--to their faith.

In this brief and highly accessible book for general readers, distinguished physicist-turned-theologian John Polkinghorne presents a reasoned account of the Christian view of the world as seen by the one of the world's leading interpreters of the interface between science and religion. Drawing from his experiences as a scientist and a theologian, Polkinghorne argues that Christianity presents a credible and compelling worldview that can be taken seriously even while fully understanding the importance of science.

This is an autobiography of this well known author with a unique perspective arising from his roles as both a theologian and a physicist. It tells the story of his journeys into both disciplines from a human angle, including the formative experiences and key relationships he experienced as a child, an undergraduate, graduate and beyond into university teaching, priesthood and writing. He describes his developing thoughts and understanding of the value and interdependence of each of the major disciplines and, by so doing, brings a human touch to the big questions that each approach raises.

A short and remarkably accessible book, which draws striking parallels between quantum mechanics and the search for an understanding of the nature of Jesus, in order to make the similarities discernible. Professor Polkinghorne's profound understanding of, and respect for, both theology and physics make this an engrossing and humane book: a real contribution to a constructive dialogue between the theological and the scientific in their common pursuit of truth.

Templeton Award winner and theoretical physicist John Polkinghorne explores the gap between science and religion. "Do we have to choose between the scientific and religious views of the world, or are they complementary understandings that give us a fuller picture than either on their own would provide?" Quarks, Chaos, & Christianity shows the ways that both science and religion point to something greater than ourselves. Topics include: chaos theory; evolution; miracles; cosmology; guest for God; how God answers prayer; our human nature; religious fact and opinion; scientists and prayer.

This book continues the exploration of Christian theology through the prism of scientific enquiry, examining in particular the human reality of god in Jesus Christ, the diversity of human perspectives and the moral challenges of human life, including the difficulties of applying ethical principles in the novel and unprecedented situations presented by current scientific advances. The book covers a brad spectrum of current scientific thinking, including the nature of time and reality, and quantum theory, chaos theory and the relationship between them, but the author undertakes not to use ideas without offering a non-technical explanation of them!

Is science fact and religion just opinion? Is there the mind of a Creator behind the universe? Can a scientist pray? John Polkinghorne has spent many years considering and writing about such questions, and now distils that insight and experience into a clear, lively and frank set of answers to these fundamental issues. This new edition has been fully revised in the light of recent developments in scientific research, and provides a valuable entry point into this fascinating area and to the thought of this key thinker and theologian.

In these refreshingly unconventional meditations, scientist John Polkinghorne connects the perspectives of science and religion in honest and thoughtful reflections for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Giving new meaning to the penitence of Advent and the hope of the Christian faith, he considers God's ultimate purposes along with scientific knowledge of the fate of the universe. Complete with Scriptural references and prayers, Living With Hope encourages Christians to think about the beginning and end of the world and to come to discover what it means to truly affirm God's purpose in creation.

John Polkinghorne's scientific and theological backgrounds make for a unique perspective on the themes of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. This book explores themes such as the end of the world, individual destiny, unseen realities, Heaven, Hell and suffering; this is not a book that hides behind platitudes or easy solutions yet the author offers profound insight into his deep reflections on the nature, meaning and purpose of Creation. The material is structured on a weekly basis, with challenging questions on each section. This is suitable for use in Advent groups or other small group sessions.

John Polkinghorne is a major figure in today’s debates over the compatibility of science and religion. Internationally known as both a theoretical physicist and a theologian—the only ordained member of the Royal Society—Polkinghorne brings unique qualifications to his inquiry into the possibilities of believing in God in an age of science. In this thought-provoking book, the author focuses on the collegiality between science and theology, contending that these "intellectual cousins" are both concerned with interpreted experience and with the quest for truth about reality. He argues eloquently that scientific and theological inquiries are parallel. The book begins with a discussion of what belief in God can mean in our times. Polkinghorne explores a new natural theology and emphasizes the importance of moral and aesthetic experience and the human intuition of value and hope. In other chapters, he compares science’s struggle to understand the nature of light with Christian theology’s struggle to understand the nature of Christ. He addresses the question, Does God act in the physical world? And he extends his ideas about the role of chaos theory, surveys the prospects for future dialogue between scientific and theological thinkers, and defends a critical realist understanding of the activities of both disciplines. Polkinghorne concludes with a consideration of the nature of mathematical truths and the links between the complementary realities of physical and mental experience. Published with assistance from the Louis Stern Memorial Fund

Quantum Theory is the most revolutionary discovery in physics since Newton. This book gives a lucid, exciting, and accessible account of the surprising and counterintuitive ideas that shape our understanding of the sub-atomic world. It does not disguise the problems of interpretation that still remain unsettled 75 years after the initial discoveries. The main text makes no use of equations, but there is a Mathematical Appendix for those desiring stronger fare. Uncertainty, probabilistic physics, complementarity, the problematic character of measurement, and decoherence are among the many topics discussed. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

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.