Serious Talk: Science and Religion in Dialogue Information

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Serious Talk: Science and Religion in Dialogue

Although now an Anglican priest and head of one of the prestigious colleges in Cambridge University, John Polkinghorne has spent most of his adult life working as a theoretical physicist. He is therefore uniquely qualified to set forth the relationship between science and religion in a way that takes the two disciplines seriously. Professor Polkinghorne argues that the habits of thought that are natural to the scientist are the same habits of thought that can be followed in the search for a wider and deeper kind of truth about the world. He calls this "bottom-up" thinking, that is, starting not with general principles but with the particularity of experience, and asking what is sufficient to explain the phenomena and give an understanding of what is going on. 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.

Author Bio

John Polkinghorne

John C. Polkinghorne spent much of his life--before and after his ordination as an Anglican priest--in Cambridge, England. First arriving as a student at Trinity College to study mathematics, the astute young man created a name for himself in the field of quantum theory, earning a Ph.D. at Trinity, and a D.Sc. at the University of Cambridge. He began lecturing in Mathematical Physics at Cambridge in 1968. His contributions to the field were rewarded with his selection as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974. By 1979, Polkinghorne began to question his willingness to continue with science and decided to enter the Anglican priesthood. Supported by his wife, Polkinghorne ministered in Blean and South Bristol, before returning to Cambridge to serve as the Dean of Trinity Hall. Because of Polkinghorne's mathematical background and association with academics, he has the unique ability to blend the needs of the spirit with the rigors of science. His many books regard this same issue, which has been the touchstone of heated debate. He was awarded the 2002 Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities.