Faith, Science and Understanding Book

It used to be clever to consider theology and science to be natural enemies. But with new advances in quantum physics and molecular biology, scientific ways of thinking and speaking increasingly resemble religious language and method. John Polkinghorne, once professor of Mathematical Physics at Cambridge and now a priest in the Church of England, is well known as a bridge builder between science and theology. In his latest book Polkinghorne puts together various lectures, papers and articles which explore the similar ways scientists and theologians understand and discuss Truth.In the first section he outlines issues which unite science and theology. In the second he discusses the role of God in revelation, and in the third he explores the work of three important contemporary thinkers: Wolfhart Pannenberg, Thomas Torrance and Paul Davies. With a table of contents that includes titles like, "Quantum Cosmology and the Anthropic Principle" or "Kenotic Creation and Divine Action" the non-scientific reader could be excused for an immediate fight or flight reaction. But Polkinghorne is unusual among both his scientific and theological colleagues in his ability to express himself clearly. He deals with the vast concepts of creation, God and the cosmos with understandable language which is never condescending. Anyone interested in how we come to understand the Truth will be fascinated and challenged by his book. Polkinghorne writes with enormous respect for both disciplines, but he also writes with the humility and balance required to construct links between these two mutually suspicious branches of learning. --Dwight LongeneckerRead More