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 - 1
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 - 2
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 - 3
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 - 4
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 - 5
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 - 6
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 - 7
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 - 8
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 - 9
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 - 10
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 - 11
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 - 12
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 - 13
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, lawlike character of the universe.
Polkinghorne on science & theology - 14
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 - 15
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 - 16
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 - 17
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 - 18
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 - 19
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 - 20
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 - 21
John Polkinghorne on science & theology
 Polkinghorne’s metaphysics
• Reality is multi-layered
• Some higher layers cannot be
reduced to lower
Polkinghorne on science & theology - 22