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, law-
like 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