He has been married to Ruth since 1955 and they have two sons and a daughter. John Polkinghorne is a respected scientist who is not afraid to ask difficult questions about God's action in His creation. These are the unacknowledged doubts which lurk in the minds of many believing Christians. These are the kinds of questions clergy need to be able to answer with educated assurance. But, in fact, his own faith has little to do with physics.
Theology is much more difficult.
Physics, at least at the undergraduate level, is a subject on which the dust has settled. In theology the dust never settles. John Polkinghorne was one of the founders of the Society of Ordained Scientists , a dispersed preaching Order of the Anglican Communion. The major mover in the foundation of the Society, however, was Arthur Peacocke from Oxford. For those acquainted with the history of Anglicanism, the differences between John and Arthur are illustrative of the roles Cambridge and Oxford have played over the centuries.