One World: Interaction of Science and Theology

by John Polkinghorne

Publisher:

Templeton Press

, 2007

Overview

One World introduces issues in science and religion that John Polkinghorne subsequently continues in Science and Providence and Science and Creation.

Both science and religion explore aspects of reality, providing “a basis for their mutual interaction as they present their different perspectives onto the one world of existent reality,” Polkinghorne argues. In One World he develops his thesis through an examination of the nature of science, the nature of the physical world, the character of theology, and the modes of thought in science and theology. He identifies “points of interaction” and points of potential conflict between science and religion. Along the way, he discusses creation, determinism, prayer, miracles, and future life, and he explains his rejection of scientific reductionism and his defense of natural theology.

Science does not have an absolute superiority over other forms of knowledge, nor does religion have all the answers. Both are searching for “the truth.” Both explore the universe as it is and submit to the evidence before them. And both must be open to continual correction. We live in one world. Polkinghorne’s insights continue to illuminate it as a world in which science and religion can stimulate and benefit each other.

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Key Features

• Addresses issues in science and religion
• Explores natural theology along with several different points of interaction between religion and science
• Discusses how religion and science can in fact benefit each other

Contents

• The Post-Enlightenment World
• The Nature of Science
• The Nature of Theology
• The Nature of the Physical World
• Points of Interaction
• Levels of Description
• One World

Praise for the Print Edition

Why do I regard this book as so important? Primarily because it makes sense of the scientific enterprise and the pursuit of theology, and in doing so it makes sense of the universe. . . . For arguing this so persuasively and with clarity and caution we owe him grateful thanks.

—The Expository Times

Product Details

• Title: One World: Interaction of Science and Theology
• Author: John Polkinghorne
• Publisher: SPCK
• Publication Date: 1986
• Pages: 152

About John Polkinghorne

Rev Dr. John Polkinghorne (1930-2021) was a distinguished physicist who spent recent decades studying and writing about the relationship between science and faith. His physics career began at Cambridge where he studied under the legendary quantum pioneer P.A.M. Dirac and others, and he worked for 25 years in the field of theoretical elementary particle physics as a professor at Cambridge. He resigned his professorship in 1979 and became an Anglican priest, and since then has become a leading spokesman for the faith among serious scientists. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974, and was appointed KBE (Knight Commander of the order of the British Empire) in 1997.