John Polkinghorne (1930–2021)

"One World: The Interaction of Science and Theology" è un libro scritto dal biologo evoluzionista John Polkinghorne, in cui esplora il rapporto tra scienza e teologia. Polkinghorne è un fisico teorico che ha lavorato anche come sacerdote anglicano, ed è noto per aver cercato di integrare le conoscenze scientifiche e religiose.

Nel libro, Polkinghorne sostiene che scienza e teologia possano coesistere e collaborare, poiché entrambe cercano di capire il mondo in cui viviamo. Egli afferma che la scienza fornisce una descrizione dettagliata della natura dell'universo, mentre la teologia offre una comprensione del significato e del valore della vita umana.

Polkinghorne sottolinea anche l'importanza di una conversazione aperta tra scienziati e teologi, che possono imparare l'uno dall'altro e arricchirsi reciprocamente. Egli sostiene che sia la scienza che la teologia hanno bisogno di un atteggiamento di umiltà e di una forte motivazione alla ricerca della verità.

Il libro di Polkinghorne ha ricevuto ampi consensi per la sua capacità di creare un ponte tra la scienza e la teologia, contribuendo a un dialogo costruttivo tra questi due campi. Ha anche sollevato importanti questioni sul rapporto tra scienza e fede, e ha incoraggiato una maggiore comprensione reciproca tra scienziati e teologi.
Il libro di Polkinghorne "One World: The Interaction of Science and Theology" è stato pubblicato nel 1986 ed è diventato rapidamente un punto di riferimento per il dibattito sul rapporto tra scienza e teologia. Il libro presenta un approccio interdisciplinare che cerca di superare le divisioni tra questi due campi, evidenziando le loro complementarità e la loro capacità di arricchirsi reciprocamente.

Polkinghorne sostiene che la scienza e la teologia non sono campi completamente separati, ma piuttosto due modi diversi di esplorare il mondo e di fornire una comprensione della realtà. Egli afferma che la scienza fornisce una descrizione dettagliata della natura dell'universo, mentre la teologia offre una comprensione del significato e del valore della vita umana. Polkinghorne riconosce che la scienza e la teologia possono avere punti di vista divergenti, ma sostiene che queste divergenze possono essere superate attraverso un dialogo aperto e un atteggiamento di umiltà.

Il libro di Polkinghorne ha ricevuto ampi consensi per la sua capacità di creare un ponte tra la scienza e la teologia, contribuendo a un dialogo costruttivo tra questi due campi. Ha sollevato importanti questioni sul rapporto tra scienza e fede, e ha incoraggiato una maggiore comprensione reciproca tra scienziati e teologi. Il libro ha avuto un impatto significativo sulla discussione pubblica sul rapporto tra scienza e teologia, e ha ispirato molti altri studiosi ad affrontare questa questione in modo interdisciplinare.… (meer)

John Polkinghorne is a Cambridge physicist who decided, mid-career, to become an Anglican priest. Like a good scientist working out a theory, he worked out how his orthodox Christian beliefs were essentially compatible with modern physics. He has won international acclaim and awards for his insights about religion and science. Especially central to his contributions is the idea that both disciplines require a certain amount of belief and faith. This book, compiled with his collaborator Beale, explains in short form his approach to religion and science.

This book is organized around 51 questions about seven topics, including God, the universe, evolution, and religion. The writing is quite dense and carefully considered. Along with Polkinghorne’s other works, this book provides a concise introduction to how modern science and religion can be viewed as essentially compatible. It reads almost like a catechism about the integration of science and religion.

Central to Polkinghorne’s insights is the idea of the “anthropic principle” where the universe requires some degree of fine-tuning to support human life. He sees an opening for a divine agent. He also moves the conversation on from the framework of a purely mechanistic universe. Through quantum science – referred to consistently in this work – science has moved on past a mechanical/deterministic philosophy. He invites religion to do the same by finding God in the details of quantum atomic arrangements.

Polkinghorne’s writings are not for the faint of heart. They require a certain knowledge of physics as a prerequisite, and many religiously inclined individuals will simply not possess this. That said, it does describe the scientific theories behind Polkinghorne’s beliefs, and the motivated reader can slow down to gather knowledge. The integration of science and religion is an important topic that, due to a high degree of requisite education, few can speak knowledgeably about. This book is an significant contribution to that discussion. If faith is to have a place in the minds of the modern intelligentsia, works like this must be a key part of that discussion.… (meer)

John Polkinghorne is a respected professor of physics at Cambridge University who became an Anglican priest. The President Emeritus of Queen’s College, he is well-known for his understanding of common terrain between science and religion. This book contains the text of the 1993-94 Gifford Lectures and describes his theological belief system. This belief system roughly aligns with Christian orthodoxy. This text explains how he studiously came to these beliefs as he explains why he eschewed other beliefs.

This book is more of a Credo (Latin for “I believe”) and less of an exploration of science. He does discuss a few points of science in detail, but the main logical thread proceeds as an examination of his confessional faith, in line with Christianity’s Nicene Creed. True to his scientific demeanor, his is not a blind faith; rather, he rigorously explains, in a bottom-up fashion, how he came to embrace this viewpoint.

Many theological expositions are top-down and explain the universe from a series of principles or from a specific narrative. Of course, such pre-packaged (and pompous) propositions are automatically suspect for those of us rigorously educated in the sciences, which reflexively doubt authority. Instead, Polkinghorne examines how and why orthodox beliefs came to be historically and how and why he came to embrace them personally. He is primarily concerned with matters of truth and knowledge, not with evangelization or popular appeal.

As one with a bottom-up view of the world, I appreciate his words. I almost became a pastor, too, but shied away from the broad, all-encompassing systems of faith that I found in seminaries. I do not embrace doubt as a formal method; rather, I embrace it as a reflexive necessity, like breathing. Scientific views of Christianity resonate deeply with me, and like Polkinghorne, I appreciate knowledge-based approaches to religious faiths rather than experience-laden ones.

This book has obvious value to Christians who lean scientific and scientists who lean Christian. Because it takes a more confessional form, I’m not sure it has great value to religious people who aren’t Christian. Further, I’m not sure it can have much appeal for Christians who don’t appreciate good science – that is, most of the Christian fold. There’s not a lot here that’ll preach to the public more than a “See, scientists can be Christian, too!” Like the rest of Polkinghorne’s work, this writing represents a sensitive mind and a compassionate heart that seeks truth. It might not convince many on either side of the religion-science conversations, but it finds a meandering middle where Polkinghorne built his career.… (meer)