Exploring Reality: The Intertwining of Science and Religion (Paperback)

~ John Polkinghorne F.R.S. K.B.E. (Author) "FOR some the title of this book will be a red rag to a bull..." (more)
Key Phrases: New Testament, Oxford University Press, Jesus Christ (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. According to the physicist-priest Polkinghorne, "If the physicists seem to achieve their ends more successfully than the theologians, that is simply a reflection of how much easier science is than theology." Without abandoning his general standpoint as both a scientist and a theologian, Polkinghorne's essays pursue a wider set of interests, acknowledging terrain where theology becomes difficult and uncertain work. Reflections on issues of space-time, quantum mechanics and chaos theory—familiar from Polkinghorne's previous books—are joined by essays on human nature, the problem of evil, the historical Jesus and the relationship between Christianity and other faiths. Polkinghorne's basic approach remains consistent: he is a friend of science, but a foe of scientific reductionism, arguing that "nothing [science] can tell us requires us to deny our directly experienced human capacity" to act responsibly and seek meaning in the universe. Surveying human aptitudes for self-consciousness, language, rationality, creativity, moral awareness and the "slantedness" of human life that theologians call sin, Polkinghorne concludes, "how strange it is that many biologists... claim not to be able so see anything really distinctive about Homo sapiens." Balancing intellectual modesty with openness about his own Christian faith, Polkinghorne's reflections will engage both thoughtful believers and inquirers into issues of faith and reason. (Nov. 29)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

In the latest of his ongoing reflections on the connections between faith and science, Polkinghorne ponders the limits of an empirical approach to reality, persuasively arguing that human experience comes fully into focus only in religious belief. Thus, readers contemplate distinctively human attributes--language, self-consciousness, morality, spirituality--that resist neo-Darwinian explanations yet harmonize with scriptural doctrines about the divine image impressed upon our species. Probing further, Polkinghorne illuminates the human need for hope that transcends the grim cosmic predictions of astrophysics. He finds that hope in the resurrection of Jesus, but he concedes that neither science nor religion can yet resolve the doctrinal disagreements separating Christianity from other world faiths. But the shared metaphysics that already leads Moslems, Jews, and Christians toward similar scientific perspectives emboldens him to believe that patient interfaith dialogue will in time unite now-divided religionists as they confront the challenges of twenty-first-century bioethics. A book to stimulate the thinking of skeptics and believers alike. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (April 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300122675
• ISBN-13: 978-0300122671
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #137,008 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rich reality, June 25, 2006

By	J. D. Walters "koshte" (Princeton, NJ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Exploring Reality: The Intertwining of Science and Religion (Hardcover)

John Polkinghorne is one of the most gifted and eloquent writers in the science-and-theology field, and this is by far the best introduction to his thought in general. Though much of it is familiar from previous works, here he weaves together a consistent, spiritually and intellectually satisfying approach to reality as a whole. It touches on all the bases, including the challenge of evolution, the historicity of Jesus' life and resurrection, theology, the problem of evil, God's action, etc. Polkinghorne carefully balances his commitment to orthodox Christian belief (esp. the literal resurrection of Jesus) with the need to revisit articles of faith in light of new knowledge (such as belief in an immortal soul). The chapter on human nature is especially illuminating, while the 'concluding unscientific postscript' is a delightful romp in metaphysical speculation. The second chapter is perhaps the weakest, in which Polkinghorne tries once more to flesh out his approach to divine action through quantum mechanics and chaos theory, which I find less than convincing. It is best, I think to let divine action be divine action, the one blazing, invisible mystery like the sun through which we see and understand everything else. In any case, the book as a whole is a delight, combining rigorous scholarship with earnest faith seeking understanding. A must read.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Polkinghorne exploring reality., June 26, 2007

By	Wesley L. Janssen (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I've read several of Polkinghorne's books and I don't think that this one is particularly outstanding. But he doesn't avoid the topic's toughest problems, in fact he has sought them out and proceeds to make most of his points cleanly; so it's not a bad book either.

Polkinghorne should be no stranger to those interested in the interface of science and religion. [For the reader who is unfamiliar with him] he is a Cambridge quantum physicist turned Anglican cleric and has published extensively on issues of interest in both theoretical physics and theology. These are his topics again, with a chapter on ethics as well. . .

"It has turned out that it is our mathematical abilities that have furnished the key to unlock deep secrets of the physical universe. Once more one encounters a mystery impenetrable to conventional evolutionary thinking. Survival needs would seem to require no more than a little arithmetic, some elementary Euclidean geometry, and the ability to make certain kinds of simple logical association. Whence then comes the human ability to explore non-commutative algebras, prove Format's Last Theorem, and discover the Mandelbrot set? These rational feats go far beyond anything susceptible to Darwinian explanation. p52

"Sociobiology seeks to explain human ethical intuitions in terms of inherited patterns of behaviour favouring the propagation of at least some of an individual's genes. Once again, one may acknowledge a source of partial insight. No doubt ideas of kin altruism (the mutual support extended between those who share in the family gene pool) and reciprocal altruism (favours done in the expectation of favours later to be received) shed some Darwinian light on aspects of human behaviour. Games theoretic models of behavioural strategies that optimise probable returns in given circumstances--such as 'tit for tat': respond in the same manner that your opponent has displayed to you--give some insight into the nature of prudent decision making. But sociobiology tells too banal a story to be able to account for radical altruism, the ethical imperative that leads a person to risk their own life in the attempt to save an unknown and unrelated stranger from the danger of death. Love of that incalculable kind eludes Darwinian explanation. Equally elusive to evolutionary explanation are many human aesthetic experiences. What survival value has Mozart's music given us, however profoundly it enriches our lives in other ways?

"The proper response to all this is not to adopt a Procrustean technique of chopping down the range of human experience until it fits into a narrow Darwinian bed, nor is it to abandon evolutionary thinking altogether. Rather, it is to release that thinking from the poverty of its neo-Darwinian captivity."

This may not be Polkinghorne's finest volume, but it has its moments of great saliency and discernment and I do recommend it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Polkinghorne: Simple yet profound, May 12, 2007

By	Patricia L. Marks (Morristown, N.J. United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

John Polkinghorne does it again. We benefit from his scientific knowledge and see that coupled to Christian faith in a unique manner. THis book is something you ought to read, whether you are a believer or not.