|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Science, Theology, and the Unity of Reality
| Article
# : |
14439 |
|
|
Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
|
| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1988 |
3,151 Words |
| Author
: |
J.W.P. Traphagan
J.W.P. Traphagan is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and is
currently studying at Andover Newton Theological School. |
Visitors to England from most parts of the world face the same confusion when forced to drive (against their habit) on the left. In an English traffic circle, a keen intellect will override the intuitive tendency to go right. But if natural reflexes take control, one can easily wind up precariously traveling counterclockwise against clockwise-moving traffic.
In a sense, this predicament is not entirely unlike the conflict between metaphysical and physical thought. Those of us who think metaphysically tend to start with broad claims about universal reality and work our way down to particular situations as they relate to our general ideas. Thinking physically, it is more common to begin with particular experiences and work up to general claims about the nature of the world. As with driving, we often react to intellectual challenges with an intuitive sense that reflect the direction in which we have been trained to think.
It is a rare individual who can transcend his training with relative ease and locate connections between the objectives and content in different modes of human thought. John Polkinghorne is such a man.
His enthusiasm seems unbounded. Each word spoken makes it clear that the ideas and questions that occupy his mind go beyond mere intellectual curiosity, reflecting his passionate desire to understand and integrate different pictures of reality.
Polkinghorne's scholarly career is impressive. In the 1950s he attended Trinity College, Cambridge, where he received the degrees B.A., M.A., Ph.D., and later Sc.D. There he studied under Paul Dirac, the eminent scientist who resolved the wave/particle paradox concerning the nature of light, and who, with Erwin Schrödinger, won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1933 for their pioneering work in developing quantum theory. Polkinghorne's research focused on field theory and elementary particle physics. Examples of Polkinghorne's academic achievements include appointment as Commonwealth Fund Fellow at the California Institute of Technology, and teaching positions at the University of Edinburgh and Cambridge University, where he was professor of mathematical physics until 1979. He is a fellow of Trinity College, a fellow of the Royal Society, and an honorary professor of theoretical physics at the University of Kent.
In 1979, much to the surprise of his colleagues, he decided to resign his professorship at Cambridge to become an Anglican priest. He continued his connection with
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
