John Polkinghorne is a respected professor of physics at Cambridge University who became an Anglican priest. The President Emeritus of Queen’s College, he is well-known for his understanding of common terrain between science and religion. This book contains the text of the 1993-94 Gifford Lectures and describes his theological belief system. This belief system roughly aligns with Christian orthodoxy. This text explains how he studiously came to these beliefs as he explains why he eschewed other beliefs.
This book is more of a Credo (Latin for “I believe”) and less of an exploration of science. He does discuss a few points of science in detail, but the main logical thread proceeds as an examination of his confessional faith, in line with Christianity’s Nicene Creed. True to his scientific demeanor, his is not a blind faith; rather, he rigorously explains, in a bottom-up fashion, how he came to embrace this viewpoint.
Many theological expositions are top-down and explain the universe from a series of principles or from a specific narrative. Of course, such pre-packaged (and pompous) propositions are automatically suspect for those of us rigorously educated in the sciences, which reflexively doubt authority. Instead, Polkinghorne examines how and why orthodox beliefs came to be historically and how and why he came to embrace them personally. He is primarily concerned with matters of truth and knowledge, not with evangelization or popular appeal.
As one with a bottom-up view of the world, I appreciate his words. I almost became a pastor, too, but shied away from the broad, all-encompassing systems of faith that I found in seminaries. I do not embrace doubt as a formal method; rather, I embrace it as a reflexive necessity, like breathing. Scientific views of Christianity resonate deeply with me, and like Polkinghorne, I appreciate knowledge-based approaches to religious faiths rather than experience-laden ones.
This book has obvious value to Christians who lean scientific and scientists who lean Christian. Because it takes a more confessional form, I’m not sure it has great value to religious people who aren’t Christian. Further, I’m not sure it can have much appeal for Christians who don’t appreciate good science – that is, most of the Christian fold. There’s not a lot here that’ll preach to the public more than a “See, scientists can be Christian, too!” Like the rest of Polkinghorne’s work, this writing represents a sensitive mind and a compassionate heart that seeks truth. It might not convince many on either side of the religion-science conversations, but it finds a meandering middle where Polkinghorne built his career.
The Faith of a Physicist: Reflections of a Bottom-Up Thinker
By John Polkinghorne
Copyright (c) 1996
Fortress Press
ISBN13 9780800629700
Page Count: 211
Genre: Theology, Christian Religion
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