View source for Biography:John Polkinghorne

{{Short description|Physicist and priest (1930–2021)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = [[Religion:The Reverend|The Reverend]] [[Religion:Canon (priest)|Canon]]
| name                = John Polkinghorne
| honorific_suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KBE|FRS|size=100%}}
| image               = johnpolkinghorne.jpg
| image_size          = 
| alt                 = 
| caption             = Polkinghorne in 2007
| office              = President of Queens' College, Cambridge
| term_start          = 1988
| term_end            = 1996
| predecessor         = Ronald Oxburgh
| successor           = [[Biography:John Eatwell, Baron Eatwell|Lord Eatwell]]
<!-- Personal -->
| birth_name          = John Charlton Polkinghorne
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1930|10|16|df=yes}}
| birth_place         = Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England
| death_date          = {{Death date and age |2021|03|09 |1930|10|16 |df=yes}}
| death_place         = Cambridge, England
| citizenship         = United Kingdom
| nationality         = 
| party               = 
| spouse              = {{marriage|Ruth Polkinghorne|1955}}
| children            = 
| parents             = 
| awards              = {{plain list|
* Fellow of the Royal Society (1974)
* KBE (1997)
* Templeton Prize (2002) }}
<!-- Ecclesiastical career -->| module              = {{Infobox clergy |child=yes
| religion           = Christianity (Anglican)
| church             = Church of England
| ordained           = {{hlist | 1981 (deacon) | 1982 (priest)}}
| congregations      = 
| offices_held       = {{plain list|
* [[Religion:Vicar (Anglicanism)|Vicar]] of Blean (1984–1986) 
* Dean of Chapel at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (1986–1989)
* Canon Theologian of Liverpool Cathedral (1994–2005) }}
}}
<!-- Academic work -->| module2             = {{Infobox academic |child=yes
| alma_mater         = Trinity College, Cambridge
| thesis_title       = Contributions to Quantum Field Theory
| thesis_year        = 1955
| school_tradition   = {{hlist | Evangelical Anglicanism{{sfn|Hefner|2001|p=234}} | [[Religion:Theological critical realism|theological critical realism]]}}
| doctoral_advisor   = {{flatlist|
* [[Biography:Nicholas Kemmer|Nicholas Kemmer]]<ref name="Polkinghorne 1986">{{cite magazine |last=Polkinghorne |first=John |date=15 December 1986 |title=Gell-Mann Opened My Eyes |url=https://www.the-scientist.com/news/gell-mann-opened-my-eyes-64150 |magazine=The Scientist |access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref>
* [[Biography:Abdus Salam|Abdus Salam]]<ref name="Polkinghorne 1986"/>
}}
| academic_advisors  = 
| influences         = {{flatlist|
* [[Biography:Ian Barbour|Ian Barbour]]{{sfn|Losch|2009|p=91}}
* [[Biography:Paul Dirac|Paul Dirac]]{{sfn|Losch|2018|p=98}}
* [[Biography:Murray Gell-Mann|Murray Gell-Mann]]<ref name="Polkinghorne 1986"/>
* [[Biography:Bernard Lonergan|Bernard Lonergan]]{{sfn|Losch|2009|p=103}}
* [[Biography:Jürgen Moltmann|Jürgen Moltmann]]<ref name="Williams 2018">{{cite web |last=Williams |first=Stephen |year=2018 |title=John Polkinghorne on the Doctrine of Creation |url=https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/resource/john-polkinghorne-on-the-doctrine-of-creation/ |website=Carl F.&nbsp;H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding |location=Deerfield, Illinois |publisher=Trinity Evangelical Divinity School |access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref>
* [[Biography:Michael Polanyi|Michael Polanyi]]{{sfnm |1a1=Losch |1y=2009 |1p=92 |2a1=Polkinghorne |2y=1994 |2p=47}}
* W.&nbsp;H. Vanstone<ref name="Williams 2018"/>{{sfn|Watkins|2012|p=217}}
}}
| era                = 
| discipline         = {{hlist | [[Physics:Physics|Physics]] | [[Religion:Theology|theology]]}}
| sub_discipline     = {{hlist | [[Physics:Mathematical physics|Mathematical physics]] | [[Physics:Particle physics|particle physics]]}}
| workplaces         = {{ubl | [[Organization:University of Edinburgh|University of Edinburgh]] | Trinity Hall, Cambridge | [[Organization:Queens' College, Cambridge|Queens' College, Cambridge]]}}
| doctoral_students  = {{flatlist|
* [[Biography:David Fairlie|David Fairlie]]
* [[Biography:Peter Goddard (physicist)|Peter Goddard]]<ref name="DAMTP Theses">{{cite web |title=DAMTP Theses |url=http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/internal/infooffice/damtp_theses.htm |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=University of Cambridge |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104133320/http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/internal/infooffice/damtp_theses.htm |archive-date=4 January 2013 |access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref>
* {{ill|Peter Landshoff|de}}<ref name="DAMTP Theses"/>
* Sir Tom Kibble
* James Stirling<ref name="DAMTP Theses"/>
}}
| notable_students   = <!--only those with WP articles-->
| main_interests     = {{hlist | [[Physics:Quantum field theory|Quantum field theory]] | relationship between science and religion}}
| notable_works      = {{ubl | ''[[Religion:The Way the World Is|The Way the World Is]]'' (1983) | ''[[Religion:Faith, Science and Understanding|Faith, Science and Understanding]]'' (2000)}}
}}
| signature           = 
| signature_alt       = 
}}

'''John Charlton Polkinghorne''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KBE|FRS}} (16 October 1930 – 9 March 2021) was an English [[Physics:Theoretical physics|theoretical physicist]], [[Religion:Theology|theologian]], and Anglican priest.<ref>''Daily Telegraph'', Issue no 51,581 dated Friday 19 March 2021 p. 29 (Obituaries) "The Reverend Canon John Polkinghorne- Theoretical physicist who advanced the understanding of quantum theory before becoming a clergyman".</ref> A prominent and leading voice explaining the relationship between science and religion, he was [[Social:Professor|professor]] of [[Physics:Mathematical physics|mathematical physics]] at the [[Organization:University of Cambridge|University of Cambridge]] from 1968 to 1979, when he resigned his chair to study for the priesthood, becoming an ordained Anglican priest in 1982. He served as the president of [[Organization:Queens' College, Cambridge|Queens' College, Cambridge]], from 1988 until 1996.

Polkinghorne was the author of five books on physics and twenty-six on the relationship between science and religion;{{sfn|Metaxas|2011|p=361}} his publications include ''The Quantum World'' (1989), ''Quantum Physics and Theology: An Unexpected Kinship'' (2005), ''[[Religion:Exploring Reality|Exploring Reality: The Intertwining of Science and Religion]]'' (2007), and ''[[Religion:Questions of Truth|Questions of Truth]]'' (2009). ''The Polkinghorne Reader'' (edited by Thomas Jay Oord) provides key excerpts from Polkinghorne's most influential books. He was knighted in 1997 and in 2002 received the £1-million Templeton Prize, awarded for exceptional contributions to affirming life's spiritual dimension.<ref name=Templeton/>

==Early life and education==
Polkinghorne was born in Weston-super-Mare on 16 October 1930 to Dorothy Charlton, the daughter of a groom and George Polkinghorne, who worked for the post office. John was the couple's third child. He had a brother, Peter, and a sister, Ann, who died when she was six, one month before John's birth. Peter died in 1942 while flying for the {{wipe|Royal Air Force}} during the Second World War.<ref name=Oconnor>{{cite web |last1=O'Connor |first1=John J. |last2=Robertson |first2=Edmund F. |year=2008 |title=John Charlton Polkinghorne |url=http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Polkinghorne.html |website=MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive |location=St Andrews, Scotland |publisher=University of St Andrews |access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref>

He was educated at the local primary school in Street, Somerset, then was taught by a friend of the family at home, and later at a Quaker school. When he was 11 he went to Elmhurst Grammar School in Street, and when his father was promoted to head postmaster in Ely in 1945, Polkinghorne was transferred to The Perse School, Cambridge.<ref name=Oconnor/> Following National Service in the Royal Army Educational Corps from 1948 to 1949, he read mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1952 as Senior Wrangler, then earned his PhD in physics in 1955, supervised by the Nobel laureate [[Biography:Abdus Salam|Abdus Salam]] in the group led by [[Biography:Paul Dirac|Paul Dirac]].{{sfn|Polkinghorne|2007a|pp=9–11, 23–29, 34}}

==Career==
===Physics===
Polkinghorne joined the Christian Union of UCCF while at Cambridge and met his future wife, Ruth Martin, another member of the union and also a mathematics student.<ref name=Oconnor/> They married on 26 March 1955, and at the end of that year sailed from Liverpool to New York.<ref name=Oconnor/> Polkinghorne accepted a postdoctoral Harkness Fellowship with the [[Organization:California Institute of Technology|California Institute of Technology]], where he worked with [[Biography:Murray Gell-Mann|Murray Gell-Mann]].<ref name=Oconnor/> Toward the end of the fellowship he was offered a position as lecturer at the [[Organization:University of Edinburgh|University of Edinburgh]], which he took up in 1956.<ref name=Oconnor/>

After two years in Scotland, he returned to teach at Cambridge in 1958.<ref name=Oconnor/> He was promoted to [[Social:Reader (academic rank)|reader]] in 1965,{{sfn|Knight|2012|p=622}} and in 1968 was offered a professorship in mathematical physics, a position he held until 1979,<ref name=Oconnor/> his students including [[Biography:Brian Josephson|Brian Josephson]] and [[Biography:Martin Rees|Martin Rees]].{{sfn|Polkinghorne|2007a|pp=40–50}} For 25 years, he worked on theories about elementary particles, played a role in the discovery of the [[Physics:Quark|quark]],<ref name=Templeton>{{cite web |year= 2005 |title=Participants: John Charlton Polkinghorne |url= http://www.templeton.org/humble_approach_initiative/Pneumatology/participants/polking.html |website=The Humble Approach Initiative |location=West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania |publisher= John Templeton Foundation |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070927010200/http://www.templeton.org/humble_approach_initiative/Pneumatology/participants/polking.html |archive-date=27 September 2007 |access-date=17 June 2010}}</ref> and researched the analytic and high-energy properties of [[Physics:Path integral formulation|Feynman integrals]] and the foundations of [[Physics:S-matrix|S-matrix theory]].{{sfn|Margenau|Varghese|1992|p=86}} While employed by Cambridge, he also spent time at [[Organization:Princeton University|Princeton]], [[Organization:University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]], [[Organization:Stanford University|Stanford]], and at [[Organization:CERN|CERN]] in Geneva. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974.<ref name=Oconnor/><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=J. C. |last2=Wilkinson |first2=D. A. |date=2022 |title=John Charlton Polkinghorne KBE. 16 October 1930—9 March 2021 |journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society |volume=72|pages=293–309 |doi=10.1098/rsbm.2021.0044 |s2cid=247599441 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Priesthood and Queens' College===
Polkinghorne decided to train for the priesthood in 1977.{{sfn|Polkinghorne|2007a|p=9}} He said in an interview that he felt he had done his bit for science after 25 years, and that his best mathematical work was probably behind him; Christianity had always been central to his life, so ordination offered an attractive second career.<ref name=Oconnor/> He resigned his chair in 1979 to study at Westcott House, Cambridge, an Anglican theological college, becoming an ordained priest on 6 June 1982 (Trinity Sunday).{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}  The ceremony was held at Trinity College, Cambridge, and presided over by Bishop John A.&nbsp;T. Robinson.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}  He worked for five years as a curate in south Bristol, then as vicar in Blean, Kent, before returning to Cambridge in 1986 as dean of chapel at Trinity Hall.<ref name=Templeton/><ref name=Reisz/> He became the president of Queens' College that year, a position he held until his retirement in 1996.<ref name=Reisz>{{cite news |last=Reisz |first=Matthew |date=19 February 2009 |title=On the Side of the Angels |url= http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=405402 |work=Times Higher Education |location=London |access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref> He served as canon theologian of Liverpool Cathedral from 1994 to 2005.<ref>''Third Way''. December 2005. p.&nbsp;34.</ref> Polkinghorne died on 9 March 2021 at the age of 90.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://queens.shorthandstories.com/college-announcement-john-polkinghorne/ |title=College Announcement |date=10 March 2021 |publisher=[[Organization:Queens' College, Cambridge|Queens' College, Cambridge]] |access-date=10 March 2021}}</ref>

===Awards===
In 1997 Polkinghorne was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), although as an ordained priest in the Church of England, he was not styled as "Sir John Polkinghorne".{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}  He was an honorary fellow of St Chad's College, Durham, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Durham in 1998; and in 2002 was awarded the Templeton Prize for his contributions to research at the interface between science and religion.<ref>For basic biodata see ''Who's Who 2006''.</ref> He spoke on "The Universe as Creation" at the Trotter Prize ceremony in 2003.

He has been a member of the BMA Medical Ethics Committee, the General Synod of the Church of England, the Doctrine Commission, and the [[Organization:Human Genetics Commission|Human Genetics Commission]]. He served as chairman of the governors of The Perse School from 1972 to 1981. He was a fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge, and was for 10 years a canon theologian of Liverpool Cathedral.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}} He was a founding member of the Society of Ordained Scientists and also of the [[Religion:International Society for Science and Religion|International Society for Science and Religion]], of which he was the first president.<ref>{{cite web |title=Presidents |url= http://www.issr.org.uk/presidents.asp |location=Cambridge, England |publisher= International Society for Science & Religion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828211048/http://www.issr.org.uk/presidents.asp |archive-date=28 August 2008 |access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref> He was selected to give the prestigious Gifford Lectures in 1993–1994, which he later published as ''The Faith of a Physicist''.

In 2006 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Hong Kong Baptist University as part of their 50-year celebrations. This included giving a public lecture on "The Dialogue between Science and Religion and Its Significance for the Academy" and an "[[Social:Eastern culture|East]]–[[Social:Western culture|West]] Dialogue" with Yang Chen-ning, a nobel laureate in physics.<ref>{{cite web|url=  http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~cpro/event/06Act.11-e.pdf|publisher=Hong Kong Baptist University|title=Diary of Events|date=November 2006|access-date=2 April 2007|url-status= dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930210949/http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~cpro/event/06Act.11-e.pdf |archive-date=30 September 2007}}</ref> He was a member of staff of the Psychology and Religion Research Group at Cambridge University.<ref>{{cite web |title= Staff |url= http://www.prrg.org/p/prrg-staff.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111226064633/http://www.prrg.org/p/prrg-staff.html |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=Psychology and Religion Research Group |archive-date=26 December 2011 |access-date=25 March 2010}}</ref> He was an honorary fellow of St Edmund's College, Cambridge.<ref>{{cite web |title=Revd Dr John Polkinghorne KBE FRS |url= http://www.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/people/revd-dr-john-polkinghorne-kbe-frs |website=St Edmund's College |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=University of Cambridge |access-date=10 September 2018}}</ref>

==Ideas==
Polkinghorne said in an interview that he believes his move from science to religion has given him binocular vision, though he understands that it has aroused the kind of suspicion "that might follow the claim to be a vegetarian butcher."<ref name=Reisz/> He describes his position as [[Religion:Theological critical realism|critical realism]] and believes that science and religion address aspects of the same reality. It is a consistent theme of his work that when he "turned his collar around" he did not stop seeking truth.<ref>For example, {{cite book | first =John | last = Polkinhorne|title= Exploring Reality: the Intertwining of Science and Religion|page=ix|title-link=Exploring Reality}}</ref>  He argues there are five points of comparison between the ways in which science and theology pursue truth: moments of enforced radical revision, a period of unresolved confusion, new synthesis and understanding, continued wrestling with unresolved problems, deeper implications.{{sfn |Polkinghorne|2007b|pp=15–22}}

He suggests that the mechanistic explanations of the world that have continued from Laplace to [[Biography:Richard Dawkins|Richard Dawkins]] should be replaced by an understanding that most of nature is cloud-like rather than clock-like. He regards the mind, soul and body as different aspects of the same underlying reality — "dual aspect monism" — writing that "there is only one stuff in the world (not two — the material and the mental), but it can occur in two contrasting states (material and mental phases, a physicist might say) which explain our perception of the difference between mind and matter."{{sfn|Polkinghorne|1994|p=21}} He believes that standard physical causation cannot adequately describe the manifold ways in which things and people interact, and uses the phrase "active information" to describe how, when several outcomes are possible, there may be higher levels of causation that choose which one occurs.{{sfn|Sharpe|2003}}

Sometimes Christianity seems to him to be just too good to be true, but when this sort of doubt arises he says to himself, "All right then, deny it", and writes that he knows this is something he could never do.{{sfn|Polkinghorne|2007a|p=107}}

===On the existence of God===
Polkinghorne considers that "the question of the existence of God is the single most important question we face about the nature of reality"<ref>This and (unless noted otherwise) all subsequent quotations are from {{harvnb|Polkinghorne|1994|loc=ch.&nbsp;3}}</ref> and quotes, with approval, Sir [[Biography:Anthony Kenny|Anthony Kenny]]: "After all, if there is no God, then God is incalculably the greatest single creation of the human imagination." He addresses the questions of "Does the concept of God make sense? If so, do we have reason for believing in such a thing?" He is "cautious about our powers to assess coherence", pointing out that in 1900 a "competent… undergraduate could have demonstrated the 'incoherence'" of quantum ideas. He suggests that "the nearest analogy in the physical world [to God] would be… the Quantum Vacuum."{{sfn|Sharpe|2003}}

He suggests that God is the ultimate answer to [[Biography:Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz|Leibniz]]'s great question "why is there something rather than nothing?" The atheist's "plain assertion of the world's existence" is a "grossly impoverished view of reality… [arguing that] theism explains more than a reductionist atheism can ever address.".{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}   

He is very doubtful of St Anselm's Ontological Argument. Referring to Gödel's incompleteness theory, he said: "If we cannot prove the consistency of arithmetic it seems a bit much to hope that God's existence is easier to deal with," concluding that God is "ontologically necessary, but not logically necessary." He "does not assert that God's existence can be demonstrated in a logically coercive way (any more than God's non-existence can) but that theism makes more sense of the world, and of human experience, than does atheism."{{sfn |Polkinghorne|1998|pp= 71–83}} He cites in particular:

* '''The intelligibility of the universe:''' One would anticipate that evolutionary selection would produce hominid minds apt for coping with everyday experience, but that these minds should also be able to understand the subatomic world and general relativity goes far beyond anything of relevance to survival fitness. The mystery deepens when one recognises the proven fruitfulness of mathematical beauty as a guide to successful theory choice.{{sfn|Polkinghorne|1998|p=72}}
* '''The anthropic [[Astronomy:Fine-tuned universe|fine tuning of the universe]]:''' He quotes with approval [[Biography:Freeman Dyson|Freeman Dyson]], who said "the more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming"{{sfn|Polkinghorne|1994|p= 76}} and suggests there is a wide consensus amongst physicists that either there are a very large number of other universes in the [[Physics:Multiverse|Multiverse]] or that "there is just one universe which is the way it is in its anthropic fruitfulness because it is the expression of the purposive design of a Creator, who has endowed it with the finely tuned potentialty for life."{{sfn|Polkinghorne|1998|p=75}}
* '''A wider humane reality:''' He considers that theism offers a more persuasive account of ethical and aesthetic perceptions. He argues that it is difficult to accommodate the idea that "we have real moral knowledge" and that statements such as 'torturing children is wrong' are more than "simply social conventions of the societies within which they are uttered" within an atheistic or naturalistic world view.  He also believes such a world view finds it hard to explain how "Something of lasting significance is glimpsed in the beauty of the natural world and the beauty of the fruits of human creativity."{{sfn |Polkinghorne|1998|pp= 81–82}}

===On free will===
Polkinghorne believes that 
{{quote|The well-known [[Philosophy:Theodicy#The free will theodicy|free will defence]] in relation to moral evil asserts that a world with a possibility of sinful people is better than one with perfectly programmed machines. The tale of human evil is such that one cannot make that assertion without a quiver, but I believe that it is true nevertheless. I have added to it the [[Philosophy:Theodicy#The free process theodicy|free-process defence]], that a world allowed to make itself is better than a puppet theatre with a Cosmic Tyrant.  I think that these two defences are opposite sides of the same coin, that our nature is inextricably linked with that of the physical world which has given us birth.{{sfn|Polkinghorne|2003|p=14}}}}

===On creationism===
Following the resignation of [[Biography:Michael Reiss|Michael Reiss]], the director of education at the Royal Society—who had controversially argued that school pupils who believed in creationism should be used by science teachers to start discussions, rather than be rejected ''per se''<ref>{{cite news |date=16 September 2008 |title='Creationism' Biologist Quits Job |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7619670.stm |website=BBC News |access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref> — Polkinghorne argued in ''The Times'' that "As a Christian believer I am, of course, a creationist in the proper sense of the term, for I believe that the mind and the 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>{{cite news |last=Polkinghorne |first=John |date=19 September 2008 |title= Shining a Light Where Science and Theology Meet |url= http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4790446.ece |work= The Times |location= London |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110901144152/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4790446.ece |archive-date=1 September 2011 |access-date= 5 January 2020}}</ref>

===Critical reception===
[[Biography:Nancy Frankenberry|Nancy Frankenberry]], Professor of Religion at [[Organization:Dartmouth College|Dartmouth College]], has described Polkinghorne as the finest British theologian/scientist of our time, citing his work on the possible relationship between [[Chaos theory|chaos theory]] and [[Philosophy:Natural theology|natural theology]].{{sfn|Frankenberry|2008|p= 340}} [[Biography:Owen Gingerich|Owen Gingerich]], an astronomer and former Harvard professor, has called him a leading voice on the relationship between science and religion.<ref>{{cite web |title=Science and the Trinity: Reviews |url= http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/reviews.asp?isbn=9780300115307 |location=New Haven, CT |publisher=Yale University Press |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121010200512/http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/reviews.asp?isbn=9780300115307 |archive-date=10 October 2012 |access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref>

The British philosopher [[Biography:Simon Blackburn|Simon Blackburn]] has criticized Polkinghorne for using primitive thinking and rhetorical devices instead of engaging in philosophy. When Polkinghorne argues that the minute adjustments of cosmological constants for life points towards an explanation beyond the scientific realm, Blackburn argues that this relies on a natural preference for explanation in terms of agency.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}  Blackburn writes that he finished Polkinghorne's books in "despair at humanity's capacity for self-deception."<ref>{{cite magazine |last= Blackburn |first=Simon |date=1 August 2002 |title=An Unbeautiful Mind |url= http://www.powells.com/review/2002_08_01.html |magazine=The New Republic |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070929123714/http://www.powells.com/review/2002_08_01.html |archive-date=29 September 2007 |access-date= 5 January 2020}}</ref> Against this, [[Biography:Freeman Dyson|Freeman Dyson]] called Polkinghorne's arguments on theology and natural science "polished and logically coherent."<ref>{{cite magazine |last= Dyson |first=Freeman |author-link= Freeman Dyson |year=1998 |title=Is God in the Lab? |url= http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1998/may/28/is-god-in-the-lab/ |url-access= subscription |magazine=The New York Review of Books |volume=45 |issue=9 |access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref> The novelist Simon Ings, writing in the ''New Scientist'', said Polkinghorne's argument for the proposition that God is real is cogent and his evidence elegant.<ref>{{cite magazine |last= Ings |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Ings |year= 1998 |title=God Only Knows |url= http://www.polkinghorne.net/godonlyknows.html |magazine=New Scientist |volume=159 |issue= 2141 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080312133510/http://www.polkinghorne.net/godonlyknows.html |archive-date=12 March 2008 |access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref>

[[Biography:Richard Dawkins|Richard Dawkins]], formerly Professor for Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, writes that the same three names of British scientists who are also sincerely religious crop up with the "likable familiarity of senior partners in a firm of Dickensian lawyers": Arthur Peacocke, Russell Stannard, and John Polkinghorne, all of whom have either won the Templeton Prize or are on its board of trustees.  Dawkins writes that he is not so much bewildered by their belief in a cosmic lawgiver, but by their beliefs in the minutiae of Christianity, such as the resurrection and forgiveness of sins, and that such scientists, in Britain and in the US, are the subject of bemused bafflement among their peers.{{sfn|Dawkins|2006|p=99}} Polkinghorne responded that "debating with Dawkins is hopeless, because there's no give and take. He doesn't give you an inch. He just says no when you say yes."<ref name=Reisz/> Nicholas Beale writes in ''[[Religion:Questions of Truth|Questions of Truth]]'', which he co-authored with Polkinghorne, that he hopes Dawkins will be a bit less baffled once he reads it.{{sfn|Polkinghorne|Beale|2009|p=29}}

A.&nbsp;C. Grayling criticized the Royal Society for allowing its premises to be used in connection with the launch of ''Questions of Truth'', describing it as a scandal, and suggesting that Polkinghorne had exploited his fellowship there to publicize a "weak, casuistical and tendentious pamphlet." After implying that the book's publisher, Westminster John Knox, was a self-publisher, Grayling went on to write that Polkinghorne and others were eager to see the credibility accorded to scientific research extended to religious perspectives through association.<ref>{{cite magazine |last= Grayling |first=A.&nbsp;C. |year=2009 |title=Review of ''Questions of Truth: God, Science and Belief'', by John Polkinghorne and Nicholas Beale |url= http://newhumanist.org.uk/1998 |magazine=New Humanist |volume=124 |issue=2 |location=London |publisher=Rationalist Association |access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref>

In contrast to Grayling, science historian Edward B. Davis praises ''Questions of Truth'', saying the book provides "the kind of technical information… that scientifically trained readers will appreciate—yet they can be read profitably by anyone interested in science and Christianity." Davis concludes, "It hasn't been easy to steer a middle course between fundamentalism and modernism, particularly on issues involving science. Polkinghorne has done that very successfully for a generation, and for this he ought to be both appreciated and emulated."<ref>{{cite web |last=Davis |first=Edward B. |date=17 July 2009 |title=The Motivated Belief of John Polkinghorne |url= http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2009/07/the-motivated-belief-of-john-polkinghorne |work=First Things |location=New York |publisher=Institute on Religion and Public Life |access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref>

==Published works==
{{refbegin|2}}
Polkinghorne has written 34 books, translated into 18 languages; 26 concern science and religion, often for a popular audience.

;Science and religion
* ''[http://templetonpress.org/content/polkinghorne-reader-0 ''The Polkinghorne Reader''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207031601/https://www.templetonpress.org/content/polkinghorne-reader-0 |date=7 February 2017 }} : Science, Faith, and the Search for Meaning'' (Edited by Thomas Jay Oord) (SPCK and Templeton Foundation Press, 2010) {{ISBN|1-59947-315-1}} and {{ISBN|978-0-281-06053-5}}
* ''[[Religion:The Way the World Is|The Way the World Is]]: The Christian Perspective of a Scientist'' (1984&nbsp;– revised 1992) {{ISBN|0-281-04597-6}}
* ''One World'' (SPCK/Princeton University Press 1987; Templeton Foundation Press, 2007) {{ISBN|978-1-59947-111-2}}
* ''Science and Creation'' (SPCK/New Science Library, 1989; Templeton Foundation Press, 2006) {{ISBN|978-1-59947-100-6}}
*  ''Science and Providence'' (SPCK/New Science Library, 1989; Templeton Foundation Press, 2006) {{ISBN|978-1-932031-92-8}}
* ''Reason and Reality: Relationship Between Science and Theology '' (SPCK/Trinity Press International 1991) {{ISBN|978-0-281-04487-0}}
* ''Quarks, Chaos and Christianity'' (1994; Second edition SPCK/Crossroad 2005) {{ISBN|0-281-04779-0}}
* ''The Faith of a Physicist''&nbsp;– published in the UK as ''Science and Christian Belief'' (1994)  {{ISBN|0-691-03620-9}}
* ''Serious Talk: Science and Religion in Dialogue'' (Trinity Press International/SCM Press, 1996) {{ISBN|978-1-56338-109-6}}
* ''Scientists as Theologians'' (1996) {{ISBN|0-281-04945-9}}
* ''Beyond Science: The wider human context'' (CUP 1996) {{ISBN|978-0-521-57212-5}}
* ''Searching for Truth'' (Bible Reading Fellowship/Crossroad, 1996)
* ''Belief in God in an Age of Science'' (Yale University Press, 1998) {{ISBN|0-300-08003-4}}
* ''[[Religion:Science and Theology|Science and Theology]]'' (SPCK/Fortress 1998) {{ISBN|0-8006-3153-6}}
* ''The End of the World and the Ends of God'' (Trinity Press International, 2000) with [[Biography:Michael Welker|Michael Welker]]
* ''Traffic in Truth: Exchanges Between Sciences and Theology'' (Canterbury Press/Fortress, 2000) {{ISBN|978-0-8006-3579-4}}
* ''[[Religion:Faith, Science and Understanding|Faith, Science and Understanding]]'' (2000) SPCK/Yale University Press {{ISBN|0-300-08372-6}}
* ''The Work of Love: Creation as Kenosis'' editor, with contributors including [[Biography:Ian Barbour|Ian Barbour]], [[Biography:Sarah Coakley|Sarah Coakley]], George Ellis, Jurgen Moltmann and [[Biography:Keith Ward|Keith Ward]] (SPCK/Eerdmans 2001) {{ISBN|0-281-05372-3}} / {{ISBN|0-8028-4885-0}}
*  ''The God of Hope and the End of the World'' (Yale University Press, 2002) {{ISBN|0-300-09211-3}}
* ''The Archbishop's School of Christianity and Science'' (York Courses, 2003) {{ISBN|0954054385}}
* 'Science and Christian Faith' (Conversation on CD with Canon John Young. York Courses)
* ''Living with Hope'' (SPCK/Westminster John Knox Press, 2003)
* ''Science and the Trinity: The Christian Encounter With Reality'' (2004) {{ISBN|0-300-10445-6}} (a particularly accessible summary of his thought)
* ''[[Religion:Exploring Reality|Exploring Reality]]: The Intertwining of Science & Religion'' (SPCK 2005) {{ISBN|0-300-11014-6}}
* ''Quantum Physics & Theology: An Unexpected Kinship'' (SPCK 2007) {{ISBN|978-0-281-05767-2}}
*  ''From Physicist to Priest, an Autobiography'' SPCK 2007 {{ISBN|978-0-281-05915-7}}
* ''Theology in the Context of Science'' SPCK 2008 {{ISBN|978-0-281-05916-4}}
* ''[[Religion:Questions of Truth|Questions of Truth]]: Fiftyone Responses to Questions about God, Science and Belief'', with Nicholas Beale; foreword by [[Biography:Antony Hewish|Antony Hewish]] (Westminster John Knox 2009) {{ISBN|978-0-664-23351-8}}
* ''Reason and Reality: The Relationship Between Science and Theology'' (2011) SPCK {{ISBN|978-0-281-06400-7}}
* ''Science and Religion in Quest of Truth'' (2011) SPCK {{ISBN|978-0-281-06412-0}}
* 'Hawking, Dawkins and GOD' (2012) (Conversation on CD with Canon John Young. York Courses)
* ''What Can We Hope For?'' (Sam&Sam, 2019) with Patrick Miles {{ISBN|978-1-9999676-1-1}}

;Science
* ''The Analytic S-Matrix'' (CUP 1966, jointly with RJ Eden, PV Landshoff and DI Olive)
* ''The Particle Play'' (W.H. Freeman, 1979)
* ''Models of High Energy Processes'' (CUP 1980)
* ''The Quantum World'' (Longmans/Princeton University Press, 1985; Penguin 1986; Templeton Foundation Press 2007) {{ISBN|978-0-691-02388-5}}
* ''Rochester Roundabout: The Story of High Energy Physics'' (New York, Longman, 1989) {{ISBN|978-0-582-05011-2}}
* ''Quantum Theory: A Very Short Introduction'' (2002) OUP {{ISBN|0-19-280252-6}}
* ''Meaning in Mathematics'' (2011) OUP (edited, with contributions from [[Biography:Timothy Gowers|Timothy Gowers]], [[Biography:Roger Penrose|Roger Penrose]], [[Biography:Marcus du Sautoy|Marcus du Sautoy]] and others) {{ISBN|978-0-19-960505-7}}

;Chapters
* "The Trinity and Scientific Theology" in ''The Blackwell Companion to Science and Christianity'', J.B. Stump and Alan G. Padgett (eds.), (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012)
* ''On Space and Time'' (CUP 2008) along with Andrew Taylor, Shahn Majid, [[Biography:Roger Penrose|Roger Penrose]], [[Biography:Alain Connes|Alain Connes]] and [[Biography:Michał Heller|Michael Heller]] {{ISBN|978-0-521-88926-1}}
* ''Spiritual Information: 100 Perspectives on Science and Religion'' (Templeton Foundation Press, 2005) ed Charles Harper {{ISBN|1-932031-73-1}}
* ''Creation, Law and Probability'' (Fortress Press 2008) ed Fraser Watts with [[Biography:Peter Harrison (historian)|Peter Harrison]], George Ellis, Philip Clayton, [[Biography:Michael Ruse|Michael Ruse]], [[Biography:Nancey Murphy|Nancey Murphy]], John Bowker & others {{ISBN|978-0-8006-6278-3}}
* "Physical Processes, Quantum Events, and Divine Agency," in Quantum Mechanics: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action, Russell, R.J., Clayton, P., Wegter-McNelly, K., Polkinghorne, J. (eds.), (VATICAN: Vatican Observatory, 2001)
{{refend}}

==See also==
* [[Philosophy:Double-aspect theory|Double-aspect theory]]
* [[Religion:List of Christians in science and technology|List of Christians in science and technology]]
* List of scholars on the relationship between religion and science

==References==
===Footnotes===
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin|35em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book
|last=Dawkins
|first=Richard
|year=2006
|title=The God Delusion
|location=Boston
|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company
|title-link=The God Delusion
}}
* {{cite book
|year=2008
|editor-last=Frankenberry
|editor-first=Nancy K.
|title=The Faith of Scientists in Their Own Words
|location=Princeton, New Jersey
|publisher=Princeton University Press
}}
* {{cite encyclopedia
|last=Hefner
|first=Philip
|year=2001
|title=Evolution
|editor1-last=Fahlbusch
|editor1-first=Erwin
|editor2-last=Lochman
|editor2-first=Jan Milič
|editor3-last=Mbiti
|editor3-first=John
|editor4-last=Pelikan
|editor4-first=Jaroslav
|editor5-last=Vischer
|editor5-first=Lukas
|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Christianity
|volume=2
|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan
|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
|pages=228–236
|isbn=978-0-8028-2414-1
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Knight
|first=Christopher C.
|year=2012
|chapter=John Polkinghorne
|editor1-last=Stump
|editor1-first=J.&nbsp;B.
|editor2-last=Padgett
|editor2-first=Alan G.
|title=The Blackwell Companion to Science and Christianity
|location=Chichester, England
|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell
|pages=622–631
|isbn=978-1-4443-3571-2
|title-link=The Blackwell Companion to Science and Christianity
}}
* {{cite journal
|last=Losch
|first=Andreas
|year=2009
|title=On the Origins of Critical Realism
|journal=Theology and Science
|volume=7
|issue=1
|pages=85–106
|doi=10.1080/14746700802617105
|s2cid=145334914
|issn=1474-6719
}}
* {{cite journal
|last=Losch
|first=Andreas
|author-mask={{long dash}}
|year=2018
|title=A Physicist's Belief: John Polkinghorne's Consonance of Theology and Science
|journal=The Ignatianum Philosophical Yearbook
|volume=24
|issue=1
|pages=97–116
|doi=10.5281/zenodo.1321790
|doi-access=free
|issn=2300-1402
}}
* {{cite book
|year=1992
|editor1-last=Margenau
|editor1-first=Henry
|editor2-last=Varghese
|editor2-first=Roy Abraham
|title=Cosmos, Bios, Theos: Scientists Reflect on Science, God, and the Origins of the Universe, Life, and Homo Sapiens
|location=Chicago
|publisher=Open Court Publishing Company
|isbn=978-0-8126-9186-3
}}
* {{cite book
|year=2011
|editor-last=Metaxas
|editor-first=Eric
|title=Life, God, and Other Small Topics: Conversations from Socrates in the City
|location=New York
|publisher=Plume
|publication-date=2012
|isbn=978-0-452-29865-1
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Polkinghorne
|first=John
|year=1994
|title=The Faith of a Physicist: Reflections of a Bottom-Up Thinker
|location=Princeton, New Jersey
|publisher=Princeton University Press
|isbn=978-0-691-03620-5
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Polkinghorne
|first=John
|author-mask={{long dash}}
|year=1998
|title=Science and Theology: An Introduction
|location=London
|publisher=SPCK
|isbn=978-0-8006-3153-6
|title-link=Science and Theology
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Polkinghorne
|first=John
|author-mask={{long dash}}
|year=2003
|title=Belief in God in an Age of Science
|location=New Haven, Connecticut
|publisher=Yale Nota Bene
|isbn=978-0-300-09949-2
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Polkinghorne
|first=John
|author-mask={{long dash}}
|year=2007a
|title=From Physicist to Priest: An Autobiography
|location=London
|publisher=SPCK
|isbn=978-0-281-05915-7
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Polkinghorne
|first=John
|author-mask={{long dash}}
|year=2007b
|title=Quantum Physics and Theology: An Unexpected Kinship
|location=London
|publisher=SPCK
|isbn=978-0-281-05767-2
}}
* {{cite book
|last1=Polkinghorne
|first1=John
|last2=Beale
|first2=Nicholas
|year=2009
|title=Questions of Truth
|location=Louisville, Kentucky
|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press
|isbn=978-0-664-23351-8
|title-link=Questions of Truth
}}
* {{cite journal
|last=Sharpe
|first=Kevin
|year=2003
|title=Nudging John Polkinghore
|url=http://quodlibet.net/sharpe-polkinghorne.shtml
|journal=Quodlibet
|volume=5
|issue=2–3
|issn=1526-6575
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050214042918/http://quodlibet.net/sharpe-polkinghorne.shtml
|archive-date=14 February 2005
|access-date=5 January 2020
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Watkins
|first=James M.
|year=2012
|chapter=John Polkinghorne's Kenotic Theology of Creation and Its Implications for a Theory of Human Creativity
|editor1-last=Watts
|editor1-first=Fraser
|editor2-last=Knight
|editor2-first=Christopher C.
|title=God and the Scientist: Exploring the Work of John Polkinghorne
|location=Abingdon, England
|publisher=Routledge
|publication-date=2016
|pages=217–242
|doi=10.4324/9781315585215
|isbn=978-1-315-58521-5
}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|colwidth=35em}}
* [https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=author:JC+author:Polkinghorne&hl=en&lr=&start=0&sa=N Google Scholar]&nbsp;– List of papers by John Polkinghorne
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120906055054/http://www.theologie-naturwissenschaften.de/startseite/leitartikelarchiv/quantumtheory.html John Polkinghorne on the "consequences of quantum theory" (for theology)], accessed 9 July 2012.
* [http://www.meta-library.net/transcript/sirjo-frame.html Video interview with Polkinghorne] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021213190842/http://www.meta-library.net/transcript/sirjo-frame.html |date=13 December 2002 }}, accessed 25 March 2010.
* [https://www.sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1128888 Interview by Alan Macfarlane 10 November 2008 (video)]
* {{cite journal |author=Pannenberg, Wolfhart |year=2001 |title=Response to John Polkinghorne |journal=Zygon |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=799–800 |doi=10.1111/0591-2385.00398 |}}
* Polkinghorne, John. [http://www.disf.org/en/Voci/104.asp "Reductionism"], ''Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science'', accessed 25 March 2010.
* Semple, Ian (2009). [https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2009/apr/09/john-polkinghorne From physicist to priest: A quantum leap of faith], ''The Guardian'', 9 April 2009; interview with Polkinghorne.
* Smedes, Taede A. ''Chaos, Complexity, and God: Divine Action and Scientism'' .Louvain: Peeters 2004, a theological investigation of Polkinghorne's (and Arthur Peacocke's) model of divine action.
*Runehov, Anne L.C. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110725014932/http://www.arsdisputandi.org/publish/articles/000223/article.pdf "''Chaos, Complexity, and God: Divine Action and Scientism'' by Taede A. Smedes"], ''Ars Disputandi'', Volume 6, 2006.
*Southgate, Christopher, ed. (1999) ''God, Humanity and the Cosmos: A Textbook in Science and Religion''  T&T Clark. [http://www.meta-library.net/ghc-div/peaco1-body.html Relevant extracts.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302155545/http://www.meta-library.net/ghc-div/peaco1-body.html |date=2 March 2020 }}
* Steinke, Johannes Maria (2006) ''John Polkinghorne&nbsp;– Konsonanz von Naturwissenschaft und Theologie'' Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Investigates Polkinghorne's theory of consonance, and analyses its philosophical background.
* [[Biography:Robert Wright (journalist)|Wright, Robert]]. [http://meaningoflife.tv/video.php?speaker=polkinghorne&topic=complete Video interview], ''Slate'', accessed 25 March 2010.
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://www.starcourse.org/jcp/ Website about Polkinghorne]
* {{MacTutor|id=Polkinghorne}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-aca}}
{{s-bef|before=Ronald Oxburgh}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of Queens' College, Cambridge|years=1988–1996}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Biography:John Eatwell, Baron Eatwell|Lord Eatwell]]}}
{{s-bef|before=Annemarie Schimmel}}
{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Gifford Lecturer at the [[Organization:University of Edinburgh|University of Edinburgh]]}}|years=1993–1994}}
{{s-aft|after=G.&nbsp;A. Cohen}}
{{s-bef|before= }}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Philosophy:Dwight H. Terry Lectureship|Terry Lecturer]]|years=1996–1997}}
{{s-aft|after=David Hartman}}
{{s-npo|pro}}
{{s-new|office}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the [[Religion:International Society for Science and Religion|International<br />Society for Science and Religion]]|years=2002–2004}}
{{s-aft|after=George F.&nbsp;R. Ellis}}
{{s-ach|aw}}
{{s-bef|before=Arthur Peacocke}}
{{s-ttl|title=Templeton Prize|years=2002}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Biography:Holmes Rolston III|Holmes Rolston III]]}}
{{s-end}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Polkinghorne, John}}
[[Category:Particle physicists]]

{{Sourceattribution|John Polkinghorne}}