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Title: The Faith of a Physicist: Reflections of a Bottom-Up Thinker (Theology and the Sciences) by John C. Polkinghorne ISBN: 0-8006-2970-1 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: January, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Good but challenging to read
Comment: Be prepared for some serious challenges to your mind in reading this book. The author is both a physicist and an Anglican priest who explains his view of the relationship between science and religion and the role of faith. He does not argue that science proves that God is real but argues strongly that scientific understanding of the universe leaves ample room for a God who intercedes in the Universe, controls it and will bring a good end. Rigorously reasonable, it is sure to offend doctrinaire persons from atheists to fundamentalists but presents a good framework for people seeking to reconcile the claims of science and religion.
Rating: 5
Summary: Can I Give This Six Stars?
Comment: I agree that the materialist, the atheist and the strict fundamentalist will find much to dispute about this book. The latter being said, Polkinghorne is actually far more orthodox in his theology than many modern academic theologians. For believing Christians who are uncomfortable rejecting either orthodox science or orthodox Christianity, this book provides many fascinating insights. If you need to believe that God does not exist or that he created the world in six 24-hour days, you won't be happy with this book. A final caveat. The reading is challenging. However, Polkinghorne provides a short glossary of scientific and theological terms. This book is more accessible to the general reader than his most recent work "Belief in God in an Age of Science."
Rating: 5
Summary: Best argument I've seen for orthodox Christianity
Comment: I just finished reading John Polkinghorne's "The Faith of a Physicist." I really liked it. Maybe because I'm a fellow physicist, the book really resonated with me. It was by far the most intelligent argument for orthodox Christianity I've read so far.
Refreshingly for someone advocating orthodox Christianity, Polkinghorne is not a fundamentalist, a Biblical literalist or a creationist, for he does not believe the Bible is inerrant (that's good or I'd stop reading him) and he also believes in a kind of universalism (he thinks everyone can go to heaven but that some sort of spiritual purification takes place in some cases (Hitler, etc.) and no one is forced to go to heaven against their will). He also believes in all the well-established findings of science (while rejecting the reductionistic and materialistic metaphysics which some scientists advocate). For example, he believes in the 15 billion year old universe and evolution. He see God working behind cosmic and biological evolution, but he rightfully rejects any kind of "God of the Gaps". He also rejects the Deistic God of the Enlightenment. He argues for the personal God of Christianity, as opposed to the "lowest common denomenator" God of many philosophers and religious pluralists.
The format of the book is that he goes through the Nicene Creed line by line (one line per chapter) and defends it in light of our modern understanding of science, psychology and history. This guy is a brilliant and well-respected physicist and he said nothing in the whole book I would object to as a scientist. He is articulate, rational and coherent throughout. Obviously, all positions on God / ultimate reality involve metaphysical and theological speculations. Even if such speculations are coherent and rational, it does not mean they are right. But he argues that all such speculations are grounded in hard evidence and some speculations fit the evidence better than others. Partially for this reason, he calls himself an inclusivist as opposed to a religious pluralist. He thinks anyone sincerely searching for the truth will not be denied full benefits upon death, but he thinks the resurrection of Jesus really happened and refuses to deny that to accommodate a full religious pluralism like the one John Hick advocates. (Polkinghorne says: One can't deny what one regards as the truth even in an effort to be tolerant. Reality is what it is. For example, almost all scientists currently believe the earth is over 4 billion years old. To deny that for the sake of young-earth creationist would be wrong, even if it reduces conflict and tension. Both can't be right. One must use the evidence as it presents itself and infer to the best explanation.) So in his opinion Christianity (orthodox Christianity) is the best way, but not the only way.
Even if you don't agree with all of his conclusions, I think you'll find this book very thought provoking and intelligent. I plan to read more of his books in the future. I also recommend books by Ian Barbour and Arthur Peacocke on this subject, although they advocate a more process theology and panentheistic point-of-view which Polkinghorne disagrees with. In my opinion, anyone serious about the current dialog between science and religion needs to read these three authors at a minimum.
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Title: Science & Theology: An Introduction by John C. Polkinghorne ISBN: 0800631536 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: February, 1999 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Belief in God in an Age of Science by John C. Polkinghorne ISBN: 0300080034 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: October, 1999 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Quarks, Chaos & Christianity: Questions to Science and Religion by John C. Polkinghorne ISBN: 0824515218 Publisher: Crossroad/Herder & Herder Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: When Science Meets Religion : Enemies, Strangers, or Partners? by Ian G. Barbour ISBN: 006060381X Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 16 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Faith, Science and Understanding by John Polkinghorne, John C. Polkinghorne ISBN: 0300091281 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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