Book: Belief in God in an Age of Science

Overview

John Polkinghorne draws on his dual identity as a theoretical physicist and an Anglican priest to explore how contemporary science and religious belief can mutually inform one another. He rejects the notion that science and faith are inherently in conflict, offering instead a vision in which scientific discoveries about the cosmos deepen, rather than diminish, the plausibility of belief in God. The tone is conversational but rigorous, blending clear explanations of physics with theological reflection.

Science and the God Question

Polkinghorne treats modern physics and cosmology not as enemies of religion but as partners in a shared search for explanation. He examines the intelligibility, order, and apparent fine-tuning of the universe as features that call for explanation beyond blind chance. Quantum theory and the insights of big-bang cosmology are presented as opening conceptual spaces where theism can be a legitimate metaphysical response to the data rather than an archaeological relic of pre-scientific thinking.

Natural Theology Reframed

Rather than reviving classical proofs in a naive form, Polkinghorne proposes a responsible natural theology: a set of cumulative and indirect arguments that together make belief in God reasonable. He emphasizes inference to the best explanation, situating God as the ultimate ground of intelligibility, the source of the laws that make science possible, and the sufficient reason for why there is something rather than nothing. Fine-tuning of physical constants is treated as evidence that invites deeper metaphysical interpretation without claiming decisive proof.

God, Creation, and Causation

Polkinghorne reimagines creation as an ongoing, sustaining relationship rather than a one-time manufacturing event. God is portrayed as the primary cause who works through the secondary causes of nature, preserving the autonomy and integrity of scientific explanations. Miracles and special divine action are not dismissed but are reframed: they are rare, context-sensitive interventions that do not require wholesale suspension of natural law, and divine action can be understood in ways compatible with lawful regularity.

Faith, Reason, and the Human Person

Belief for Polkinghorne is both intellectual and existential. He insists that faith must be intellectually responsible, coherent with evidence and reasoning, yet it also entails personal commitment, moral transformation, and engagement with human experience. Religious knowledge is thus a composite of argument, testimony, and encounter; theology and science together shape a worldview that takes seriously both the objective structures of reality and the subjective depth of human life.

Responses to Doubt and Suffering

Polkinghorne confronts the problem of evil and suffering without offering glib solutions. He acknowledges the difficulty of reconciling gratuitous suffering with a benevolent creator but suggests that the openness of creation and the risks inherent in a world capable of genuine newness and moral agency are part of the explanation. The cross and the resurrection are treated as theological centers that must be taken seriously by any theodicy, shaping how divine compassion and human freedom are understood alongside scientific knowledge.

Style and Impact

Written with intellectual modesty and pastoral sensitivity, the argument is accessible to scientists, theologians, and intellectually curious readers. Polkinghorne's synthesis encouraged ongoing dialogue between disciplines and challenged both scientific reductionism and religious fundamentalism. The book continues to be influential for those seeking a coherent, contemporary account of how belief in God can survive and even be strengthened by the discoveries of modern physics and cosmology.