John Polkinghorne on science

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• Chapter 5 - Prayer
• Does petitionary prayer make sense from a
  scientific perspective?
• If the universe is a giant clockwork, no. Why
  not?
• What does modern science say about a clockwork
  universe?
• Nature is subtle and supple

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• How does God act in the world?
• One possible explanation A combination of two
  kinds of Divine action
• 1. Analogy to human action top-down causality.
  Perhaps God acts like information input.

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• 2. But top-down causality requires that nature
  is subtle and supple, that it is sufficiently
  open for Gods action (71). Bottom-up causality.

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• The God-of-the-gaps objection
• Is this solution a God-of-the-gaps argument?
• Polkinghorne Are good and bad appeals to
  God-of-the-gaps.
• Bad if they appeal to ignorance. Such a gap
  could be filled by future scientific discoveries.

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• Good does not appeal to ignorance it appeals to
  what is known about universe (e.g., quantum
  mechanics). Future scientific discoveries
  cannot fill such a gap.

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• A consequence of these proposals for Divine
  providence, Gods action in the world
• Divine action will always be hidden because it is
  contained in the cloudiness of unpredictable
  processes (72).

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• Conclusion prayer makes sense (74).
• But why pray at all?
• Two values
• We, through prayer, play a role in the
  developments of the universe (75).
• Prayer helps us clarify what we want and need.

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• Chapter 6 - What about Miracles?
• The religious sense of miracles--astonishing,
  amazing events.
• Polkinghorne But these can occur within the
  bounds of scientific explanations
• E.g., the healing miracles of Jesus could be
  explained as happening through natural
  psychosomatic processes.

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• Same may be said about some of the nature
  miracles
• But they are still miracles because they provoked
  astonishment in their witnesses.

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• Nature, for the most part, operates in a
  consistent fashion--follows from Gods
  faithfulness.
• But this does not exclude the possibility that
  God occasionally acts in special ways.

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• Is this rational?
• Polkinghorne Yes - we would expect a
  providential God to occasionally reveal self in
  special ways.

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• And resurrection of Jesus is one of these special
  events
• But the norm is faithfulness, the regularity of
  nature.

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• Chapter 7 - The end of the universe
• Two scenarious
• Whimper
• Bang
• Steven Weinberg The more we understand the
  universe, the more it seems futile.

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• What does religion make of this?
• Christian Jewish Islamic hope
• Follows from attribute of God faithfulness
• Trust that Gods faithfulness will last forever
  (92)
• Connected to resurrection (Cf. Maurice Lamm)

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• Polkinghornes pattern theory of soul
• This is not connected to dualistic view of human
  nature
• Polkinghorne Modern science tells us that
  humans are unities (92).

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• It is the pattern which Christians hope will be
  restored by God at the resurrection
• Resurrection is in new world, not resuscitation
  of old It is this pattern which we hope will be
  restored by God at the resurrection (93).

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• Critique Isnt the notion of soul as pattern a
  rather thin notion of soul?

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• Chap. 8 - Can a Scientist Believe?
• Some closing observations
• Both science and theology pursue truth
• Neither discipline attains certain knowledge

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• The intellectual strategy of science is a
  tension between undue credulity skepticism
  (99).
• A similar strategy should be taken in theology.
• I Polkinghorne dont make a radical shift in
  gears when I move from science to religion.

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John Polkinghorne on science theology

• In their search for truth, science and religion
  are intellectual cousins under the skin (100).