Reviews for Quantum theology

The average rating for Quantum theology based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-02-08 00:00:00 Shane Flood I was looking for a clear overview of the links between a Creator and Science, that religious scientists have 'uncovered' in their lives and work; this is it. John Polkinghorne's book is infinitely accessible to those of us who like science explained in concise lay-man terms, with reachable examples and not too much condescension. This is completely readable and as it is barely 98 pages long, divided into chapters that fearlessly tackle both the old chestnut of 'a God of the gaps', to how it is that a scientist can pray or indeed, where a loving Creator God might intervene, (somewhere between letting the whole thing run on it's own, to interrupting at every turn,) the author sets out a clear and usable argument against the question on the book's jacket: 'Is science just fact and religion just opinion?' As he taught mathematical physics at Cambridge, before becoming an Anglican priest, this man should be heard. He explains the extraordinary balances of 'coincidence ' that must have happened at every turn: The ideal speed of The Big Bang; which was not so fast that all was diluted before anything important could happen, but not so slow as 'to recollapse before anything interesting happens.' It had to be smooth, but not so smooth that the lucky irregularities that formed the stars, in the heart of whom all the elements of which we are made, were forged either. If a 'resonance' is not present in just the right place, the three helium nuclei needed will not stick together, yet the strong nuclear force that holds nuclei together must not be changed even a little, as you lose the resonance and then you cannot progress on to forming the elements beyond iron, which can only form in an exploding supernovae.... These extraordinarily 'fine tunings', that are requirements for life, happen one after another, after another. Every time, there were so many other outcomes that could have meant no life as we know it. That is a bad precis of the type of journey he takes us on in every area, but with fabulous imagery so we can follow the train of his argument. I was uplifted, amazed and moved by this book; and I learned a lot.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-04-20 00:00:00 Jose S Gomez I've only given a handful of books 5 stars and this one got it right from the beginning. Absolutely stunning writing and argumentation from polkinghorne. The scientific information is given in such a way that you don't have to be knowledge of particle physics, quarks, electron spin, or binding energy to see his points. There's something to be said of a philosophical position that regulates the deity that created all things into a necessarily deistic position. That is, by avoiding the pothole naturalistic Darwinism (which we should), we run into the tree of naturalism itself. Or said theologically, literal six-day creationism still needs a seventh day of rest. If it's a materialistic rest, we are left with deism. If it's a spiritualistic rest, we are left with naturalism. Charting a course between these positions seems to me to be most diligent to the text of scripture and most cognisant of the scientific information we now possess.