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 believerdescribeexperience Change image and share on social
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 beingbillionculture share on social
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 bitecareerdisillusion Change image and share on social
I think it's very important to maintain the classical Christian distinction between the Creator and creation. John Polkinghorne christianclassicalcreation Change image and share on social
Those theologians who are beginning to take the doctrine of creation very seriously should pay some attention to science's story. John Polkinghorne attentionbegincreation Change image and share on social
Bottom up thinkers try to start from experience and move from experience to understanding. They don't start with certain general principles they think beforehand are likely to be true; they just hope to find out what reality is like. John Polkinghorne bottomexperiencefind share on social
Evolution, of course, is not something that simply applies to life here on earth; it applies to the whole universe. John Polkinghorne applyearthevolution Change image and share on social
I also think we need to maintain distinctions - the doctrine of creation is different from a scientific cosmology, and we should resist the temptation, which sometimes scientists give in to, to try to assimilate the concepts of theology to the concepts of science. John Polkinghorne assimilateconceptcosmology share on social
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 bookconceptualfamiliarize share on social
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 datefortymathematical Change image and share on social
