A fresh look at the Bible from the analytical and rational perspective of a scientist. The nuanced, rational and honest approach will be appreciated by any reader with an open and enquiring mind.

Despite the differences of their subject matter, science and theology have a cousinly relationship, John Polkinghorne contends in his latest thought-provoking book. From his unique perspective as both theoretical physicist and Anglican priest, Polkinghorne considers aspects of quantum physics and theology and demonstrates that the two truth-seeking enterprises are engaged in analogous rational techniques of inquiry. His exploration of the deep connections between science and theology shows with new clarity a common kinship in the search for truth.
The author identifies and explores key similarities in quantum physics and Christology. Among the many parallels he identifies are patterns of historical development in quantum physics and in Christology; wrestling with perplexities such as quantum interpretation and the problem of evil; and the drive for an overarching view in the Grand Unified Theories of physics and in Trinitarian theology. Both theology and science are propelled by a desire to understand the world through experienced reality, and Polkinghorne explains that their viewpoints are by no means mutually exclusive.

John Polkinghorne, an international figure known both for his contributions to the field of theoretical elementary particle physics and for his work as a theologian, has over the years filled a bookshelf with writings devoted to specific topics in science and religion. In this new book, he undertakes for the first time a survey of all the major issues at the intersection of science and religion, concentrating on what he considers the essential insights for each. Clearly and without assuming prior knowledge, he addresses causality, cosmology, evolution, consciousness, natural theology, divine providence, revelation, and scripture. Each chapter also provides references to his other books in which more detailed treatments of specific issues can be found.
For those who are new to what Polkinghorne calls "one of the most significant interdisciplinary interactions of our time," this volume serves as an excellent introduction. For readers already familiar with John Polkinghorne's books, this latest is a welcome reminder of the breadth of his thought and the subtlety of his approach in the quest for truthful understanding.

Written by perhaps the world's foremost authority on the relationship between science and theology, Reason and Reality brings together essays in which John Polkinghorne pursues more deeply themes touched on in his earlier works. The result is a deeply satisfying interpretation of the nature and scope of human knowledge, the extent and limits of science, and the proper place of theology as what Polkinghorne calls science's "cousin under the skin"

Ian Barbour, Arthur Peackocke and John Polkinghorne are major contributors to the current interaction between science and religion. Although starting as scientists, all three have produced important work by crossing over to the field of theology. But, as their thinking has developed, differences between them have emerged. Questions such as the significance of Jesus, the Bible and the relationship between modern scientific knowledge and traditional theology have revealed a variety of approaches. One of the three now gives his survey of the debate. John Polkinghorne sets out clearly where they agree, why they differ and draws conclusions about possible future directions. His account provides both an accessible introduction to the field of science and religion and an assessment of what is at stake.

This book gets to the heart of science by asking a fundamental question about its essence: what is the true nature of space and time? Both defy modern physics, and scientists find themselves continually searching for answers. This unique volume brings together world leaders in cosmology, particle physics, quantum gravity, mathematics, philosophy and theology, to provide fresh insights into the deep structure of space and time. In an attempt to understand the question, subjects ranging from dark matter to the philosophical and theological implications of spacetime are covered, ensuring that the issue is thoroughly explored. Interesting and thought-provoking answers provide a well-rounded read.

John Polkinghorne has had a distinguished career as a particle physicist and as an author of books exploring themes in science and religion. In Beyond Science Polkinghorne examines the nature of scientific inquiry itself and the human context in which science operates. The book looks at issues of meaning and value, such as scientific competition and subjectivity, as well as more practical aspects of the discipline such as the conference circuit and the nurturing of new research.

Twentieth-century science discovered that the physical world is deeply relational. In fact, the phenomenon of quantum entanglement implies that even the subatomic world cannot simply be treated atomistically. With that in mind, thirteen distinguished scholars from physics and theology here explore the role of relationality in both science and religion.
Besides containing expert accounts both scientific and theological this volume provides careful assessment of the significance that these insights have for the interdisciplinary discussion of a consonant relationship between science and religion a topic of considerable importance. The Trinity and an Entangled World offers a uniquely authoritative and illuminating discussion and will prove to be an important contribution to the literature concerned with science and religion.

In this brief and highly accessible book for general readers, distinguished physicist-turned-theologian John Polkinghorne presents a reasoned account of the Christian view of the world as seen by the one of the world's leading interpreters of the interface between science and religion. Drawing from his experiences as a scientist and a theologian, Polkinghorne argues that Christianity presents a credible and compelling worldview that can be taken seriously even while fully understanding the importance of science.

John Polkinghorne brings unique qualifications to his exploration of the possibilities of believing in God in an age of science: he is internationally known as a theoretical physicist and as a theologian. In this thought-provoking book, Polkinghorne focuses on the collegiality between science and theology, contending that the inquiries of these "intellectual cousins" are parallel. "Polkinghorne [presents] a polished and logically coherent argument."-Freeman J. Dyson, New York Review of Books "Short, accessible, and authoritative."-Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer "This book should be widely read."-Colin Tudge, New Statesman and Society "If you read one book on science and religion, this should be it."-Kirkus Reviews

Scientist and theologian John Polkinghorne is one of the world's leading authorities on issues of science and faith. In this compelling work, he provides a fresh, honest look at key themes of the Bible from an analytical and rational perspective, offering a series of insights that have helped him in his own engagement with the Bible. Polkinghorne tackles the questions a modern Western thinker might bring to the Bible, including issues of Scripture and authority, contradiction and ambiguity, and the creation and fall. He also addresses theological challenges of the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the writings of Paul. "I have written this little book in the hope that it will be helpful to those who are seeking a careful and thoughtful engagement with the Bible in their quest for a truthful understanding of the ways of God and the nature of spiritual reality," writes Polkinghorne. His nuanced approach will be appreciated by any reader with an open and inquiring mind who is interested in the intersection between science and Scripture.

How did the universe begin? Can God's existence be proven? Do humans matter more than animals? For many years people have sent the scientist-turned-priest John Polkinghorne these and other questions about science and belief. In question-and-answer format, Polkinghorne and his collaborator Nicholas Beale offer their highly informed opinions about some of the most frequently asked of these questions. Readers can follow their own paths through the book, selecting questions that interest them and looking at the additional material if they choose. This unique book will help Christians clarify their beliefs regarding difficult issues and better face challenges--from within and from others--to their faith.

In these refreshingly unconventional meditations, scientist John Polkinghorne connects the perspectives of science and religion in honest and thoughtful reflections for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Giving new meaning to the penitence of Advent and the hope of the Christian faith, he considers God's ultimate purposes along with scientific knowledge of the fate of the universe. Complete with Scriptural references and prayers, "Living With Hope" encourages Christians to think about the beginning and end of the world and to come to discover what it means to truly affirm God's purpose in creation.

In this captivating book, one of the most highly regarded scientist-theologians of our time explores aspects of the interaction of science and theology. John Polkinghorne defends the place of theology in the university (it is part of the human search for truth) and discusses the role of revelation in religion (it is a record of experience and not the communication of unchallengeable propositions). Throughout his thought-provoking conversation, Polkinghorne speaks with an honesty and openness that derives from his many years of experience in scientific research. A central concern of Polkinghorne's collection of writings is to reconcile what science can say about the processes of the universe with theology's belief in a God active within creation. The author examines two related concepts in depth. The first is the divine self-limitation involved in creation that leads to an important reappraisal of the traditional claim that God does not act as a cause among causes. The other is the nature of time and God's involvement with it, an issue that Polkinghorne shows can link metascience and theological understandings. In the final section of the book, the author reviews three centuries of the science and theology debate and assesses the work of major contemporary contributors to the discussion: Wolfhart Pannenberg, Thomas Torrance, and Paul Davies. He also considers why the science-theology discussion has for several centuries been a particular preoccupation of the English.

In this short masterpiece, eminent scientist and theologian John Polkinghorne offers an accessible, yet authoritative, introduction to the stimulating field of science and theology. After surveying their volatile historical relationship, he leads the reader through the whole array of questions at the nexus of the scientific and religious quests. A lucid and lively writer, Polkinghorne provides a marvelously clear overview of the major elements of current science (including quantum theory, chaos theory, time, and cosmology). He then offers a concise outline of the character of religion and shows the joint potential of science of religion to illumine some of the thorniest issues in theology today: creation, the nature of knowledge, human and divine identity and agency. Polkinghorne aptly demonstrates that a sturdy faith has nothing to fear and much to gain from an intellectually honest appraisal of the new horizons of contemporary science.

"It has become fashionable to write books with titles such as Religion in an Age of Science (Barbour), Theology for a Scientific Age (Peacocke), or Theology in the Age of Scientific Reasoning (Murphy). They signify the recognition that the interaction between science and religious reflection is not limited to those topics (such as cosmic history) concerning which the two disciplines offer complementary insights. It involves also an engagement with habits of thought which are natural in a culture greatly influenced by the success of science. To take this stance is not to submit to slavery to the spirit of the age, but simply to acknowledge that we view things from where we stand, with all the opportunities and limitations inherent in that particular perspective. . . . My concern is to explore to what extent we can use the search for motivated understanding, so congenial to the scientific mind, as a route to being able to make the substance of Christian orthodoxy our own. Of course, there are some revisions called for in the process, but I do not find that a trinitarian and incarnational theology needs to be abandoned in favour of a toned-down theology of a Cosmic Mind and an inspired teacher, alleged to be more accessible to the modern mind. A scientist expects a fundamental theory to be tough, surprising and exciting. "Throughout, my aim will be to seek an understanding based on a careful assessment of phenomena as the guide to reality. Just as I cannot regard science as merely an instrumentally successful manner of speaking which serves to get things done, so I cannot regard theology as merely concerned with a collection of stories which motivate an attitude to life. It must have its anchorage in the way things actually are, and the way they happen. . . . A bottom-up thinker is bound to ask, What makes you think this story is a verisimilitudinous account of Reality? The anchorage of Christianity in history is to be welcomed, despite its hazards. For me, the Bible is neither an inerrant account of propositional truth nor a compendium of timeless symbols, but a historically conditioned account of certain significant encounters and experiences. Read in that way, I believe it can provide the basis for a Christian belief with is certainly revised in the light of our twentieth-century insights but which is recognizably contained within an envelope of understanding in continuity with the developing doctrine of the Church throughout the centuries." - from the introduction

Science is very successful in discovering the structure and history of the physical world, but its success is purchased by the modesty of its ambition. There is more to be told of the encounter with reality, including the nature of scientific inquiry itself, than can be gained from impersonal experience and experimental test. This book goes beyond science to consider the human context in which it operates and to pursue that wider understanding which we all seek. It looks to issues of meaning and value, intrinsic to scientific practice but excluded from science's consideration by its own self-denying ordinance. It raises the question of the significance of the deep mathematical intelligibility of the physical world and its anthropically fruitful history. It considers how we may find responsible ways to use the power that science places in human hands. Science is portrayed as an activity of human persons pursued within a convivial and truth-seeking community. This book neither over-values science (as if it were the only worthwhile source of knowledge) nor devalues it (as if it were to be treated with suspicion or not taken seriously). Beyond Science provides a considered and balanced account which firmly asserts science's place in human culture, maintained in mutually illuminating relationships with other aspects of that culture.