Questions of Truth
LC Class | BT77 .P65 |
Questions of Truth is a book by John Polkinghorne and Nicholas Beale which offers their responses to 51 questions about science and religion. The foreword is contributed by Antony Hewish.
The book was launched at a workshop at the 2009
Key themes and ideas
The book grew out of questions generated at a website organized to communicate Polkinghorne's ideas. It groups selected questions under seven topics:[3]
- Leading questions gives an overview of Polkinghorne's views on nine questions, including science and religion, the existence of god, and atheism.
- The concept and existence of god begins with "Can God's existence be proved?" and addresses the Trinity.
- The Universe considers the Big Bang, the anthropic principle and a theory of everything.
- Evolution starts with "Is evolution a fact or a theory?", discusses intelligent design, which is deemed an unfortunate use of language and a theological mistake, and explores whether the mind can be explained by evolution.
- Evil suggests that "The evil that is not the result of human sin seems to be the result of the workings out of the natural laws of physics and biology" and considers the Devil, cancer and original sin.
- Human being suggests that Adam and Eve refer to the first spiritually conscious human beings, that the soul is something logically distinct from the body but not a separate physical entity, and that conscience is "our deepest understanding of right and wrong".
- Religion begins with "Is atheism a form of faith?", suggests that "For each part of the Bible you have to ask what kind of writing it is and what God is trying to tell us through it", and considers the Resurrection and that "God will not force us to accept his love ... [but] will save everyone he can - no-one will be excluded because God did not want them."[4]
Each question is followed by the responses of Beale and Polkinghorne, sometimes as a single answer and sometimes by the two authors individually. Its three appendixes constitute a third of the book:[3]
- Anthropic fine-tuning draws on Martin Rees's book Just Six Numbers to illustrate the point that if the fundamental constants of physics were slightly different then no intelligent life could exist in the Universe. It then considers multiverse ideas and especially Lee Smolin's cosmological natural selection, which, it suggests, has problems from physics and evolutionary dynamics. It also discusses notions of complexity and improbability.
- Brain and consciousness suggests that "pretty much everything in the universe has a physical aspect and an informational aspect, neither of which is more foundational than the other", and that informational entities like the Mass in B Minorcannot be considered as material objects. It proposes that "your body and your mind are different aspects of you", and that the inherent uncertainties of neuron firing mean that the brain is not fully deterministic.
- Evolution begins by pointing out that, since genetic determinismis mistaken, and that there are evolutionary benefits to religion.
Reviews
Julian Baggini, writing in the Financial Times, said that Polkinghorne has no problems reconciling his faith with his science and suggests that "despite the complexity of some of the scientific issues discussed", the book "is a commendably clear read". He says "it is a pity that the people most likely to buy this book are those simply seeking intellectual reassurance that their faith is not irrational. Those who would most benefit from reading it are in fact fundamentalists who think that evolutionary science must be wrong, and overconfident atheists who believe that the religious are manifestly irrational.”[5][6]
Physics World commends the authors for handling the diverse readership, skeptics and believers, in a "remarkably even-handed way", but laments that concerns with specifics of Christian doctrine may limit the book's appeal; however, scientifically minded readers may find the extensive appendices a good starting point. The reviewer concludes that the book provides valuable insight for those interested in the science and religion debate.[3]
In addition, some periodicals have included brief reviews.
Notes and references
- ^ AAAS Annual Meeting 2009 Workshop Program Archived March 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- Today Programme2-Mar-09
- ^ a b c One Scientist's Faith Archived April 15, 2009, at the Wayback Machine review in Physics World April-2009
- ^ Sahgal, Gita. "Truth theory". Indian Times. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
- ^ Julian Baggini "A Twist of Faith: How to reconcile religious belief with science" Financial Times Life and Arts, p.16, 21 Feb.,'09.
- ^ see also Baggini's additional comments on his talkingphilosophy site and the subsequent discussion
- ^ A. C. Grayling: Book Review: Questions of Truth. New Humanist 124 (2), March/April 2009.
- ^ Publishers Weekly Review
- ^ Library Journal Review Archived March 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Episcopal Life 3-Mar-09 Archived March 12, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Sample, Ian (9 April 2009). "Can science be used to prove the existence of God?". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 January 2010.