CHRISTAINITY AND SCIENCE: Polkinghorne Flashcards
Who is Polkinghorne?
English theoretical physicist and Anglican priest
Quote from ‘Science and Creation: The Search for Understanding’
The religious quest and physicists share a ‘similar desire’ to understand the world
Science and Creation: Intelligible world
The world can be understood by science
Science and Creation: Fine tuning
We need to enquire why the cosmological constants are so fine tuned
The fact that we are here suggests that there is an ‘Anthropic Principle’ behind the universe- universe fine tuned to produce humans
Multiverse theory seeks to suggest that some universes must be ordered by chance. But, if there are enough universes, they are unobservable so arguments on their existence can’t be made. but, God is also speculative and metaphysical
Rationality of the universe reflects the rationality of the creator
Science and Creation: Natural theology
Natural theology uses the insights of science to reach a clearer understanding of the world
It works alongside revelation and religious experience to give humans a unified world view that comprehends science AND religion
Scientific data and theological interpretation must go hand in hand
Polkinghorne and the God of Christianity
Polkinghorne can’t just assume that the creator is the God of Christianity
Science and Providence: Providence
Providence is the belief that God has chosen to provide for, create, nurture and sustain humankind
Without special providence, the idea of the personal God of Christianity has no content
God does this by influencing events undetectably at the quantum level: ‘God does not fussily intervene’
But, to say it would have been ‘fussy’ for God to intervene in the holocaust raises questions about the nature of God? No evidence of God working at the quantum level
One World: Religious experience
Polkinghorne refers to Whitehead’s claims that there is an analogy between theology and science, and that both are concerned with understanding and ordering of experience
One World: Jesus
The Christian scriptures are evidence for the claims that Christians make about Jesus, and this evidence needs to be examined by reason
‘This use of scripture is closely akin to the handling of evidence in observational science’
