John Polkinghorne is one of my favourite authors. His writing is intellectually challenging, spiritually stimulating, constantly engrossing, and surprisingly humble for someone so obviously brilliant. He is completely unafraid of tackling the most difficult issues or stating his conclusions even if they risk alienting his target constituency. I find that most of his works must be reread two or three times to be fully appreciated, but I consider this a bonus as I learn something new each time; it is like getting 2 or 3 books for the price of one.
Along with Arthur Peacocke and Ian Barbour, Polkinghorne is acknowledged as one of the giants in the science-faith dialogue. He also approaches this dialogue from an evangelical perspective. Given the relative dearth of insightful evangelical thought on the interface between science and faith, we should be thankful that one of the few evangelical voices is so incredibly good. Polkinghorne has earned accolades in both of his careers, his first as a physicist and his second as an Anglican priest and theologian.
Given his impact on my own thought, I will from time-to-time be posting selected quotes from Polkinghorne on the science / faith dialogue. For some I will add a short comment of my own. For others I’ll simply let the quote speak for itself.
Published Polkinghorne Quotes:
- #10: The Cosmic Drama (August 31, 2008)
- #9: Timid Theologians (March 30, 2008)
- #8: Persistence and Humility - Necessary Qualities for both Science and Theology (March 23, 2008)
- #7: Rejecting Process Theology (Jan. 31, 2008)
- #6: The Mutually Enriching Relationship between Faith and Science (Jan. 16, 2008)
- #5: Does the Math for Evolutionary Time even Work? (Dec. 19, 2007)
- #4: The Christian God: Not Limited to nor Restricted by Edges (Dec. 6, 2007)
- #3: Why is the Tea Kettle Boiling? (Nov. 28, 2007)
- #2: The Dangers of a Designer God (Nov. 20, 2007)
- #1: God the Fellow-Sufferer (Nov. 14, 2007)
1 comment:
I have a review of his Serious Talk
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