Faith, Science And Understanding

F A I T H , S C I E N C E A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G Faith, Science and Understanding JOHN POLKINGHORNE Yale University Press New Haven and London Published 2000 in the United States by Yale University Press and in Great Britain by SPCK Publishing. Copyright © 2000 by Yale University. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Set in Janson type by Tseng Information Systems, Durham, North Carolina. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Polkinghorne, J. C., 1930– Faith, science and understanding / John Polkinghorne. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-300-08372-6 (alk. paper) 1. Religion and science. I. Title. bl241 .p563 2000 261.5'5—dc21 00-026934 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To the Clergy and People of the Parish of the Good Shepherd, Cambridge fides quaerens intellectum faith seeking understanding —St Anselm Contents Preface xi Acknowledgements xvi I ISSUES one. Theology in the University two. Motivations for Belief three. The Role of Revelation four. Design in Biology? five. Second Thoughts 1 Critical Realism 78; 2 Quantum Cosmology and the Anthropic Principle 85; 3 Panentheism 89; 4 Dual Aspect Monism 95; 5 Chaos Theory 99 II DIVINE AGENCY six. God in Relation to Nature: Kenotic Creation and Divine Action seven. Natural Science, Temporality and Divine Action 3 27 52 66 78 105 130 III SIGNIFICANT THINKERS eight. Contemporaries 1 Wolfhart Pannenberg’s Engagement with the Natural Sciences 156; 2 Thomas Torrance’s Engagement with the Natural Sciences 173; 3 Paul Davies’ Engagement with Theology 186 nine. Science and Theology in England 195 Index 207 x 155 Preface After I had written a trilogy of short books about science and theology, I permitted myself the liberty of writing a subsequent volume, Reason and Reality, that enabled me to return to some of the issues then raised in somewhat greater depth. Since then I have written four books that each, in their own particular way, seek to contribute to the presently burgeoning field of science and theology studies: my Gifford Lectures, Science and Christian Belief (in the United States, The Faith of a Physicist); a survey of the writings of scientist-theologians, Scientists as Theologians; my Terry Lectures, Belief in God in an Age of Science; and an introductory textbook, Science and Theology. I now wish to offer a second ‘further thoughts’ volume, looking again at some of the issues raised in these four books. The first section of the book is concerned with a number of key issues that arise in the interaction between science and theology. Its underlying basis is the conviction that both disciplines have things of value to say to each other because both, in their differing domains of experience, are concerned with xi P R E FA C E the search for truth attained by the formation and evaluation of motivated beliefs. The invitation to give the Firth Lectures at the University of Nottingham gave me the opportunity to reflect on the place of theology in the university. What I said then is the basis for the first two chapters of this book. In chapter 1, I defe