Chance doesn't mean meaningless randomness, but historical contingency. This happens rather than that, and that's the way that novelty, new things, come about.
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After all, the universe required ten billion years of evolution before life was even possible.. view
By: John Polkinghorne
The physical fabric of the world had to be such as to enable that ten billion year preliminary evolution to produce the raw materials of life. Without it there would not have been the chemical materials to allow life to evolve here on earth... view
By: John Polkinghorne
Quantum theory also tells us that the world is not simply objective.. view
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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... view
By: John Polkinghorne
Yes, I was a parish priest for five years. I was a curate in a large working class parish in Bristol and the Vicar of a village in Kent... view
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By: John Polkinghorne
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... view
By: John Polkinghorne
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... view
By: John Polkinghorne
Well, it's because I gladly acknowledge some ideas that are part of process theology, but which I think are not tied to all the details of process thought, and are very illuminating and helpful... view
By: John Polkinghorne
However, as the Eastern churches have always maintained, through Christ creation is intended eventually to share in the life of God, the life of divine nature... view
By: John Polkinghorne
So Whitehead's metaphysics doesn't fit very well on to physics as we understand the process of the world... view
By: John Polkinghorne
Theologians have a great problem because they're seeking to speak about God. Since God is the ground of everything that is, there's a sense in which every human inquiry is grist to the theological mill. Obviously, no theologian can know everything... view
By: John Polkinghorne