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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
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
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
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
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
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
• 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)
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
– 2. Both deal with interpreted facts (data) (12)
– 3. Both are part of the human endeavor to understand (12)
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
• 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
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
• Are differences of degree– Theory-ladenness of data– Importance of coherence– Element of trust (Polkinghorne
12)– Consequences
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
• A complete picture of reality requires both science and theology
• Polkinghorne’s main point in the above discussion: Theology is a genuine cognitive enterprise.
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
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
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
– 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
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
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
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
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.
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
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.
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
• 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.
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
– 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).
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
The universe makes itself to some degree within the limits of fine-tuned potentiality
Creation is a continuous process
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
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).
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
– 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?
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
The free-process of the physical world is closely tied to the free-will of humans.
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
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
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
Antireductionism - there are emergent properties• Consider consciousness & mind
– Argument against reducing mind to physics & chemistry Aesthetic & moral &
religious experience
Polkinghorne on science & theology
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John Polkinghorne on science & theology
Polkinghorne’s metaphysics• Reality is multi-layered• Some higher layers cannot be
reduced to lower