Bringing the Real World to Genesis: The Friendship of Science and Religion
Perhaps no other hard science is so closely linked to theology than is physics, for it has a lot to say about the formation of the universe as we know it, as well as significant data about how the solar system formed. It is interesting to retrospectively consider the evolution of scientific thinking over the past century, with the old view being that the universe had always been here, However, with the discovery of physical data strongly suggesting that the universe, as we know it, had a beginning, a revolution of thinking occurred. For many scientists, this was a difficult paradigm shift to embrace. Yet in science, data is king—perhaps not completely dissimilar from the old Adventist idea that human understanding has an arc to it that is connected to evidence.
The article linked below is authored by John Polkinghorne, who has the unique qualifications of starting his career at Cambridge University as a physicist, but later studied theology and is now an Anglican priest. This article is actually a lecture that was delivered at Andrews University a little over ten years ago. In it, Polkinghorne covered a lot of ground, with the underlying theme being that science and theology need to be viewed as friends. His presentation included many ideas that likely sounded quite alien to a theologically conservative audience. Yet in the end he may have found common ground, for he is of the personal belief that the array of data points to intelligence at work in the universe.
– Jan M. Long
To conclude our “Bringing the Real World to Genesis” series, curated by Jan M. Long, we are republishing 10 articles from the Spectrum journal. This is the ninth article. Previous “Bringing the Real World to Genesis” articles can be found here.
