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Exploring Reality: The Intertwining of Science and Religion
by John Polkinghorne
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Yale University Press (2006-01-01)
ISBN: 0300110146
EAN: 9780300110142
Dewy Decimal #: 261.55
Hardcover: 208 pages
SKU: 08030234
Condition: Like New Like New
Comments: Hardcover. Like new cover and text. Owners plate on flyleaf. Like new dust jacket with very minor shelfwear. Near Fine condition. Beautiful book.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Reality is multi-layered, asserts the Reverend John Polkinghorne, and in this insightful book he explores various dimensions of the human encounter with reality. Through a well-reasoned and logical process, Polkinghorne argues that reality consists not only of the scientific processes of the natural world but also the personal dimension of human nature and its significance. He offers an integrated view of reality, encompassing a range of insights deriving from physics’ account of causal structure, evolutionary understanding of human nature, the unique significance of Jesus of Nazareth, and the human encounter with God.
The author devotes further chapters to specific problems and questions raised by the Christian account of divine reality. He discusses, for example, the nature of time and God’s relation to it, the interrelationship of the world’s faiths, the problem of evil, and practical ethical issues relating to genetic advances, including stem cell research. Continuing in his pursuit of a dialogue between science and theology that accords equal weight to the insights of each, Polkinghorne expands our understanding of the nature of reality and our appreciation of its complexity.
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Customer Reviews
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Polkinghorne views both Scientific and Theological reality
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-02-02
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Reality: is anyone as well equipped to tackle such an all-encompassing subject as John Polkinghorne? Following a 25 year run as an accomplished particle physicist, Polkinghorne studied theology and became a priest in the Church of England. A result of this somewhat unique bi-vocational career is that Polkinghorne has become perhaps the most prolific writer on the intersection of faith and science. In Exploring Reality, Polkinghorne alternates between physical and metaphysical approaches to his subject matter. In this interweaving of hard science with the "softer" realms of theology, Polkinghorne has given us an engaging introduction to his view of reality. Regular readers of Polkinghorne will find familiar discussions of subjects like quantum mechanics, relativity, evolution, and how these speak to questions of ultimate reality. For me, however, the value of the book was in Polkinghorne's forays into such subjects as the Trinity, evil, the historical Jesus and the nature of time.
In the chapter titled "Evil", Polkinghorne summarizes his "free process theology" approach to the problem of evil (page 144): "A theologian would say that what is involved in the occurring costliness of creation is the divine permissive will, allowing creatures to behave in accordance with their natures. Bringing the world into being was a kenotic act of self-limitation on the Creator's part, so that not all that happens does so under tight divine control. The gift of Love in allowing the genuinely other to be is necessarily a precarious gift. I believe that God wills neither the act of a murderer nor the incidence of an earthquake, but both are allowed to happen in a creation given its creaturely freedom."
A central theme in Polkinghorne's thinking about evil and suffering is found in the concluding paragraph of the chapter: God himself enters into the suffering of this cosmos (page 146): "The Christian God is the crucified God, not a compassionate spectator from the outside, but truly a fellow sufferer who understands creatures' pain from the inside."
By far my favorite chapter, "The Nature of Time: Unfolding Story" outlines Polkinghorne's understanding of the dimension of time. He notes with apparent approval that openness is becoming increasingly accepted. Polkinghorne's makes clear his "openness" to openness (page 119): "It would be no defect in the divine perfection not to know the details of the future if that future is not yet in existence and available to be known."
Open Theism is a subject of interest to me, so I was very interested in Polkinghorne's stated position. Other topics under the general subject of time include progressive revelation (which Polkinghorne sees as continuing to the present), the relationship of entropy to the resurrected body of Christ, and time's continuance in the new creation. Polkinghorne departs from conventional evangelical theology when he declares on page 125, "The life of the new creation will be a temporal life, lived within the unfolding `time' of that world to come, whose everlasting nature is the true meaning of the fullness of times."
In short, Polkinghorne questions the common thinking that "eternity" is outside the bounds of time, and that God lives outside of time. Since I have long been asking the same questions, it was gratifying to read Polkinghorne's thoughtful comments about time.
An elementary understanding of science is helpful in reading Polkinghorne. However, this book is a collection of free-standing essays. And the chapters on theology can be read on their own. For those who are inclined to think outside the box, I recommend this selection.
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Challenging Concepts made Accesible.
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-11-30
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is one of Polkinghorne's more recent works (SPCK 2005) which presents his ideas in a relatively easy to understand fashion and is both clearly and elegantly written. He reprises here several ideas from his earlier books such as "The Faith of a Physicist" but the presentation here is less technical and thus more appropriate for the bulk of us who are neither particle physicists nor theologians.
Polkinghorne weaves together complex and difficult ideas in a way that makes them understandable and places them in a broader context. For example, in chapter 2 he discusses how a thoughtful metaphysical choice is necessary to most meaningfully interpret our experiences. His illustrations include Bohm's alternative (deterministic) version of quantum theory, chaos theory and the quantum mechanical property of non locality (EPR effect) that Einstein described as "spooky"
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Reality or fantasy?
Rating  (2)
Date: 2007-09-04
1 out of 29 customers found this reveiw helpful
It seems astonishing how meanings of words, like "reality", can be completely turned around, especially by a scientist, expected to truly explore reality.
The title of this book, "Exploring Reality", appears to me remarkably similar to the title of my website (begun about half a dozen years ago and accessible through my last name), "Exploring possible human knowledge". Could Dr. Polkinghorne have been influenced by it? Whether he was or not, exploring reality or possible knowledge both connote rigorous pursuit of truth (the last word another one appropriated by the author for his own interpretation), understood as seeking undisputable evidence in either the physical world or the world of reason guided by logical principles as exemplified in mathematics.
The author, however, applies the words "reality" and "truth" freely to his bountiful speculations about religious contents, as in his 5th chapter, "Divine Reality: The Trinity" (p.90; it appears for the author enough to call something Reality for the word to apply). There seems accordingly no point for me to go much farther with this review, although I, too, am a theist, but find my justifications in the mentioned forms of dependable evidence.
I may only cite one example of the troubling ingredients a dogma can contain despite efforts to describe them in best sounding terms. Dr. Polkinghorne speaks in the book at least twice (pp.65, 80) of Jesus' "cleansing" of the temple, the reference being to Jesus' "making a whip of cords" (John 2.15) and driving with it traders out of the temple. I cannot help being reminded of "ethnic cleansing" by that description.
Notwithstanding my criticism, I felt I should add at least a second star for rating because of the author's evident sincerity.
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Polkinghorne exploring reality.
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-06-26
8 out of 8 customers found this reveiw helpful
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.
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Polkinghorne: Simple yet profound
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-05-12
7 out of 8 customers found this reveiw helpful
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.
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