Worthwhile and intelligent: Polkinghorne has the courage and the ambition to stroll onto a field where most would fear to...
A gentle discourse, very thoughtful and very English, on the relationship between physics and theology.
Physicist Polkinghorne (Belief in God in an Age of Science, 1998, etc.) attempts here to lay the groundwork for a theology that engages 21st-century science. In his view, the advent of quantum physics and chaos theory has provided theologians with an opportunity to develop a “bottom up” theology that takes into account scientific descriptions of the natural world while remaining true to Christian beliefs and intuitions. Taking modern (or post-modern) physics as a given, he argues that it does not necessarily lead to a reductionist, atheist, or deist world view, but could instead support metascientific and metaphysical choices that are sympathetic to Christian theology. Most compellingly, he suggests that the organizational principles evident in chaotic and complex systems may be evidence of a kind of “active information,” perhaps operative at the quantum level, that could be used to solve intractable theological dilemmas such as the possibility of special providence and the nature of God’s omnipotence and omniscience. Central to his thought in this regard is the idea of kenosis, the voluntary giving up of control by God, both at the Creation and through the death and resurrection of Christ. Kenosis, Polkinghorne avers, allows one to make sense of a world that is “free” to develop on its own according to scientific principles, yet is controlled by an omnipresent and all-powerful creator. These theses derive from the author’s work in not just one but two obscure fields (theoretical physics and Christian theology), and it is unclear that all of his arguments will prove immediately intelligible to the uninitiated. But he writes in the soothing tones of a Christmastime special on the BBC World Service, and one rarely gets the impression that one has to do too much theoretical heavy lifting, whatever the reality of the matter.
Worthwhile and intelligent: Polkinghorne has the courage and the ambition to stroll onto a field where most would fear to tread.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-300-08372-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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