Polkinghorne on science & theology - 1 John Polkinghorne on science & theology FIntroduction GIan...

Polkinghorne on science & theology

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John Polkinghorne on science & theology

Introduction Ian Barbour’s 4 ways of relating

science & religion [Religion and Science (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997): chap. 4]• 1. Conflict• 2. Independence• 3. Dialogue• 4. Integration


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Chap. 1 - Fact or Opinion The popular view of scientific & theological

knowledge• Scientific knowledge / theological knowledge

• fact opinion• hard soft• rational faith• realm of data & reason realm of feeling• outer inner


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Problems with this picture• With respect to science

– The notion of facts All facts are theory-laden

– Polkinghorne defends critical realism with respect to scientific & theological knowledge


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• With respect to theology– Like science, theology searches

for truth• Commonalities between science

and theology – 1. Both search for truth; neither

can claim certainty (12)


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– 2. Both deal with interpreted facts (data) (12)

– 3. Both are part of the human endeavor to understand (12)


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• Another approach (not in Polkinghorne)– Testing theories in both science

& theology use the same standards 1. Agreement with data 2. Coherence 3. Scope 4. Fertility


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• Are differences of degree– Theory-ladenness of data– Importance of coherence– Element of trust (Polkinghorne

12)– Consequences


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• A complete picture of reality requires both science and theology

• Polkinghorne’s main point in the above discussion: Theology is a genuine cognitive enterprise.


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Science & theology can enrich each other (dialogue)• How?

– A case history: the emergence of science in the West affected by the theological notion of creation & of the God-world relationship


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– 1. Expect the world to be orderly

– 2. World created freely by God– 3. World is good and worthy of

study– 4. Creation is not divine


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Chap. 3 - What’s been Going on? Where does current cosmology, the

Big Bang theory and the evolution of the cosmos, leave God?• Exactly where he was before (37)• Distinction between “creation”

– as about beginnings– & about ordering & sustaining the

universe at all times


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Polkinghorne: The Jewish & Christian notions of creation are [or should be?] about the 2nd sense of creation.• God is the ordainer & sustainer of

all that is going on.


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But can’t all of this be explained by a combination of chance & necessity? (Jacques Monod, Chance and Necessity (NY: Vintage, 1972)).• Polkinghorne: Explanations by

chance & necessity (law) are entirely compatible with a providential God.


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• Beginning with God’s attributes of faithfulness & love, Polkinghorne reasons as follows:– Faithfulness -- from this follows

necessity, i.e., the regularity, law-like character of the universe.


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– Love -- from this follows chance; like children in relation to parents, God gives a degree of independence to persons. “Chance is a sign of

freedom, not blind purposelessness” (43).


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The universe makes itself to some degree within the limits of fine-tuned potentiality

Creation is a continuous process


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The problem of evil• Polkinghorne proposes a freedom

theodicy (but not a free-will theodicy)– Moral evil -- here Polkinghorne

appeals to the traditional free-will defense (44-45).


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– Physical evil [natural evil] - God gives the universe a degree of autonomy & this carries with it physical evil--the “free process defense.” Cf. Magical world. Where was God in the Lisbon

earthquake of 1755?


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The free-process of the physical world is closely tied to the free-will of humans.


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Chapter 4 - Reductionism Reductionism - the “nothing but”

position (& reductionists are “nothing butters”) (51)

Most common form: Reduction of all to physics and chemistry

Cf. Durkheim & Freud on religion


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Antireductionism - there are emergent properties• Consider consciousness & mind

– Argument against reducing mind to physics & chemistry Aesthetic & moral &

religious experience


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Polkinghorne’s metaphysics• Reality is multi-layered• Some higher layers cannot be

reduced to lower

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