John Polkinghorne

[[File:Johnpolkinghorne.jpg|right|thumb|165px|John Polkinghorne in 2007.]]{{Physics|1}}
{{cquote|The question of the existence of [[God]] is the single most important question we face about the nature of reality.|||John Polkinghorne<ref>''The Faith of a Physicist''. pp. 52</ref>}}

'''John Charlton Polkinghorne''' {{lived|16 October 1930|9 March 2021}} was an [[England|English]] theoretical [[physics|physicist]] and [[Church of England|Anglican]] [[priest]] known for his views regarding the relationship between [[science]] and [[religion]]. He was also a [[Author|writer]], [[theology|theologian]], KBE, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was awarded the £1-million 2002 [[Templeton Prize]].<ref name="templeton" />

==Career==
Polkinghorne received his Master's degree in [[mathematics]] in 1956 and his PhD in physics in 1955 from the University of Cambridge under the direction of Paul Dirac.<ref>[https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=18524 Paul Dirac at the Mathematical Genealogy Project]</ref><ref>Socrates In the City: [http://www.socratesinthecity.com/speakers/sir-john-polkinghorne Sir John Polkinghorne]</ref> He taught at his ''alma mater'', where he helped develop theories about particle physics and helped discover the quark.<ref name="templeton">John Templeton Foundation: [http://web.archive.org/web/20070927010200/http://www.templeton.org/humble_approach_initiative/Pneumatology/participants/polking.html Participants]</ref> After figuring that his best scientific contributions were behind him, he decided to train for a position in the other important aspect of his life: [[Christianity]]. He became an ordained deacon in 1981.<ref>The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive: [http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Polkinghorne.html John Charlton Polkinghorne]</ref>

==On science and religion==
Polkinghorne saw science and religion as two methods of viewing the same reality,<ref>''Times Higher Education'': [http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=405402 On the side of angels]. 19 February 2009</ref> including believing that the body, mind, and soul are different parts of this same reality.<ref>''Science and Christian Belief''. pp. 21</ref> He believed [[God]] was why there was "something" rather than "nothing."<ref>Closer to Truth: [http://www.closertotruth.com/participant/John-Polkinghorne/78 Polkinghorne, John]</ref> Three of the most important reasons he cited for why he believed "[[theism]] better makes more sense of the world, and of [[human]] experience, than...[[atheism]]"<ref name=polk98>John Polkinghorne, ''Science and Theology: An Introduction''. Fortress Press, 1998.</ref>{{rp|71–83}} are the "intelligibility" of the universe,<ref name=polk98 />{{rp|76}} where organisms [[evolution|evolved]] to survive every day can understand very advanced and unrelated-to-survival topics such as [[relativity]]; [[morality|moral]] knowledge,<ref name=polk98 />{{rp|81–82}} where humans have developed strong morals; and the [[anthropic principle|anthropic]] fine-tuning of the universe.<ref name=polk98 />{{rp|75}} 

Despite his theism, Polkinghorne believed in evolution and rejected [[young-Earth creationism]],<ref>''The Times'': [http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/faith/article2099652.ece Shining a light where science and theology meet]. 19 September 2008</ref> saying that:
{{quotebox|As a Christian believer I am, of course, a creationist in the proper sense of the term, for I believe that the mind and purpose of a divine Creator lie behind the fruitful history and remarkable order of the universe which science explores. But I am certainly not a creationist in that curious North American sense, which implies interpreting Genesis 1 in a flat-footed literal way and supposing that evolution is wrong.<ref>The Byzantine Anglo-Catholic: [http://thebyzantineanglocatholic.blogspot.com/2008/09/polkinghorne-on-creationism.html Polkinghorne on Creationism]</ref>}}

==In the scientific community==
Polkinghorne was one of the most well-known, respected, and accomplished scientists who professed a belief in God that went beyond basic [[deism]] — a status that elicited interesting opinions between himself and atheistic scientists. Evolutionary [[biology|biologist]] [[Richard Dawkins]] considered him a more sophisticated and respectable theologian who understood and respected science but still didn't "understand what it is that is being added, either to their lives or to the storehouse of human wisdom, by bringing in this additional dimension [religion] of explanation" nor "why [he wastes his] time going into this other stuff [religion] which never has added anything to the storehouse of human wisdom, and I don't see that it ever will."<ref>PBS Faith and Reason: [http://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/transcript/dawk-frame.html Richard Dawkins] (interview)</ref> Polkinghorne, however, wasn't quite as big on Dawkins as Dawkins was on him, saying in a [[CBC]] interview that Dawkins' "very militant form of atheism" saddens him "because it seems to me it is so polemical, it is so argumentative. Its concern is not with truth but somehow to browbeat you into unbelief. And...so Dawkins for example continually puts up straw men to demolish."<ref>Digital Journal: [http://digitaljournal.com/article/263342 From physicist to priest — John Polkinghorne talks about science and religion]. Op-Ed</ref>

==Books on science and religion==
After becoming part of the Anglican clergy, Polkinghorne kept hmself busy writing books on the relationship between science and religion.

*''The Way the World is: The Christian Persepective of a Scientist'' (1984)
*''One World'' (1987)
*''Science and Creation'' (1989)
*''Science and Providence'' (1989)
*''Reason and Reality: Relationship Between Science and Theology'' (1991)
*''Quarks, Chaos and Christianity'' (1994)
*''Science and Christian Belief'' (1994)
*''Serious Talk: Science and Religion in Dialogue'' (1996)
*''Scientists as Theologians'' (1996)
*''Beyond Science: The wider human context'' (1996)
*''Searching for Truth'' (1996)
*''Belief in God in an Age of Science'' (1998)
*''Science and Theology'' (1998)
*''The End of the World and the Ends of God'' (2000)
*''Traffic in Truth: Exchanges Between Sciences and Theology'' (2000)
*''Faith, Science and Understanding'' (2000)
*''The Work of Love: Creation as Kenosis'' (2001)
*''The God of Hope and the End of the World'' (2002)
*''The Archbishop's School of Christianity and Science'' (2003)
*''Living with Hope'' (2003)
*''Science and the Trinity: The Christian Encounter With Reality'' (2004)
*''Exploring Reality: The Intertwining of Science & Religion'' (2005)
*''Quantum Physics & Theology: An Unexpected Kinship'' (2007)
*''From Physicist to Priest, an Autobiography'' (2007)
*''Theology in the Context of Science'' (2008)
*''Questions of Truth: Fiftyone Responses to Questions about God, Science and Belief'' (2009)
*''The Polkinghorne Reader: Science Faith and the Search for Meaning'' (2010)
*''Reason and Reality: The Relationship Between Science and Theology'' (2011)
*''Science and Religion in Quest of Truth'' (2011)

==References==
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Categories: Mathematicians, Christians, Authors, Theistic evolution