So Whitehead's metaphysics doesn't fit very well on to physics as we understand the process of the world. John Polkinghorne More Quotes by John Polkinghorne More Quotes From John Polkinghorne However, as the Eastern churches have always maintained, through Christ creation is intended eventually to share in the life of God, the life of divine nature. John Polkinghorne creationchurchchrist Nevertheless, all of us who work in quantum physics believe in the reality of a quantum world, and the reality of quantum entities like protons and electrons. John Polkinghorne believerealityworld Those theologians who are beginning to take the doctrine of creation very seriously should pay some attention to science's story. John Polkinghorne doctrinestoriesattention At present, too much theological thinking is very human-centered. John Polkinghorne theologicaltoo-muchthinking I think it's very important to maintain the classical Christian distinction between the Creator and creation. John Polkinghorne importantchristianthinking Of course, nobody would deny the importance of human beings for theological thinking, but the time span of history that theologians think about is a few thousand years of human culture rather than the fifteen billion years of the history of the universe. John Polkinghorne cultureyearsthinking I very much enjoyed my career in science. I didn't leave science because I was disillusioned, but felt I'd done my bit for it after about twenty-five years. John Polkinghorne careerstwentiesyears Whitehead reacted strongly against the idea of God as a cosmic tyrant, one who brings about everything. John Polkinghorne cosmictyrantsideas I was very much on the mathematical side, where you probably do your best work before you're forty-five. Having passed that significant date, I thought I would do something else. John Polkinghorne significantbest-worksides Well, it's because I gladly acknowledge some ideas that are part of process theology, but which I think are not tied to all the details of process thought, and are very illuminating and helpful. John Polkinghorne detailsideasthinking Yes, I was a parish priest for five years. I was a curate in a large working class parish in Bristol and the Vicar of a village in Kent. John Polkinghorne villageclassyears People, and especially theologians, should try to familiarize themselves with scientific ideas. Of course, science is technical in many respects, but there are some very good books that try to set out some of the conceptual structure of science. John Polkinghorne bookpeopleideas The physical fabric of the world had to be such as to enable that ten billion year preliminary evolution to produce the raw materials of life. Without it there would not have been the chemical materials to allow life to evolve here on earth. John Polkinghorne fabricraw-materialsyears Chance doesn't mean meaningless randomness, but historical contingency. This happens rather than that, and that's the way that novelty, new things, come about. John Polkinghorne historicalmeanway Of course, Einstein was a very great scientist indeed, and I have enormous respect for him, and great admiration for the discoveries he made. But he was very committed to a view of the objectivity of the physical world. John Polkinghorne objectivityviewsdiscovery I'm a very passionate believer in the unity of knowledge. There is one world of reality - one world of our experience that we're seeking to describe. John Polkinghorne unitypassionatereality Quantum theory also tells us that the world is not simply objective; somehow it's something more subtle than that. In some sense it is veiled from us, but it has a structure that we can understand. John Polkinghorne somesomethingunderstandworld
