Science and Creation—The Search for Understanding

Written by John Polkinghorne Reviewed By Melvin Tinker

This is the third in a trilogy of books emanating from the pen of the former Professor of Mathematical Physics at Cambridge and Chaplain of Trinity Hall examining the relations between science and religion. The main purpose of this most recent volume is to focus on specific areas of theological thinking and ‘to explore those features of the physical world which arise from the behaviour of complex physical systems’. This he does in a splendid programmatical way by drawing upon examples from the very frontiers of modern scientific research at both the micro level (Quantum Field Theory) and the cosmic level (General Relativity Theory) and providing a fruitful interaction with both contemporary and traditional theology.

The ‘way in’ to such a dialogue for Polkinghorne is through natural theology. Having provided a concise and helpful survey of natural theology’s long and chequered history, he considers its value for today with specific reference to the works of Torrance and Lonergan. It is argued that physics requires a metaphysic for its intellectual completion and that it is theism which makes that provision. However, the world of physics, let alone the world of common experience, reveals that there is disorder as well as order, chance as well as necessity interlacing with each other. The implication this has for our view of God as Creator is, according to Polkinghorne, that God is no longer to be seen as the cosmic Craftsman but more as the ‘divine Juggler’. Lawful necessity can be understood as reflecting God’s faithfulness to his creation, whilst chance reflects God’s vulnerability in bestowing the gift of freedom.

As one who is committed to a unified view of truth, Polkinghorne makes very short, but effective, work of both reductionism and idealism, opting instead for a ‘complementary metaphysic of mind/matter’ in a manner not wholly dissimilar from that championed by Donald MacKay, whose work, perhaps surprisingly, the writer seems to be unaware of. It is maintained that what unites both theology and science is their common concern to explore the way things are, with both attempting to ‘behave in terms of the nature of the object’.

In a most stimulating final chapter, Polkinghorne draws together the main strands of his argument under the title ‘Theological Science’. He shows how the church’s christological understanding arose out of this desire to do justice to the data, no matter how ‘odd’ or complex that data might be. To be sure, it is not suggested that the church simply provided the interpretation to a given fact, but that in Christ the interpretation is part of its facticity. Accordingly for Polkinghorne, the incarnation is the perfect fusion of symbol and event.

Professor Polkinghorne has performed a remarkable and admirable task in so short a compass. In dealing with theoretical physics, he reveals his skills as a first-rate communicator, making accessible to the non-specialist the substance of such ideas and their relevance to the scientific-theological debate. His positive and productive approach to the mutual insights that science and theology can provide is most commendable. There is, however, an asymmetry in this relation in that it is theology which provides science with the deeper unifying principle.

There are, however, a number of question marks that we would wish to place against various points in his thesis. In the opening chapter Polkinghorne fails to make the important distinction between natural theologyand natural revelation. Indeed, he cites certain scriptural passages such as Romans 1:20 as encouraging the attempt to pursue a natural theology. At most, such passages may legitimate belief in natural revelation, but this is a far cry from the natural theology of Aquinas or Swinburne, the difference lying in their epistemologies.

In relation to developing a natural theology, Polkinghorne cites with approval Bernard Lonergan’s contention that the quest of the intellect is the quest for God such that ‘God is the unrestricted act of understanding’. But this seems to rest on a fundamental category mistake. To suggest that the scientist in his quest for knowledge is, although he may be unaware of the fact, in search of God, is like saying that the literary critic in his attempt to understand Hamlet is really trying to understand the man Shakespeare. C. S. Lewis (Fernseeds and Elephants) has pointed out what an incredibly speculative and misleading exercise it can be when one tries to move from one area of study (the writing) to the other (the mind of the author). One can see how a scientist qua scientist might become dissatisfied with the conceptual limitations of his discipline in being unable to provide a ‘metaphysical home’ for his work, and thus for this he turns, qua honest enquirer, to theology, but his pursuit in one field (science) is not to be confused by identification with his pursuit in the other (theology), although the two can be related.

One other serious question mark may also be placed alongside the writer’s treatment of ‘chance’ within the creative purposes of God. One suspects that the theological price being paid here is too high, namely the undermining of the doctrines of God’s sovereignty and providence. What may be ‘chance’ to us (epistemological uncertainty and/or ontological indeterminancy) need not be so to God who knows all things and upholds the universe according to the word of his power. Although Polkinghorne affirms the biblical belief that God will ultimately achieve his loving purpose for his creation, the ‘vulnerability’ model he proposes offers no guarantee of this and it is difficult to see how his position significantly differs in this regard from that of Process Theology which he criticizes.

These reservations notwithstanding, one would wish to welcome this excellent book and warmly commend it to all those who wish to engage effectively in this important area of study.


Melvin Tinker

The Reverend Melvin Tinker is senior minister of St John, Newland, Hull, UK. He has contributed a number of articles to Themelios over the years and is the author of several books, his latest being Intended for Good: The Providence of God (IVP, 2012).