Main   Terms   People   Interviews   Resources   Events

Polkinghorne’s View of Divine Action

The best way to compare theories of divine action in detail is to ask - what, for each theory, is ‘the causal joint’ at which God - as a transcendent, immaterial world cause - interacts particularly with causative factors in the material world?

John Polkinghorne is the scientist-theologian who has made the boldest attempt to characterise God’s interaction with the world science describes the causal joint at which God might interact with the world. In Science and Providence (1989)London: SPCK, 1989Polkinghorne seemed not only to locate the causal joint of particular divine action but also to suggest a means by which God might effect such action. His account of providential action included not only such classic instances in the Christian tradition as the virginal conception and empty-tomb-raising of Jesus, but even the validity of prayer for rain.

The key scientific observation for Polkinghorne is that non-linear systems of the sort that exhibit chaos are exquisitely sensitive to the conditions in which they develop, and hence their development very rapidly becomes unpredictable.See God, Humanity and the Cosmos, pp131-35. Real situations of human interest are full of such systems - it is not only the great red spot of Jupiter but the human heart itself which is thought to exhibit...That much is generally accepted. But Polkinghorne has gone further and proposed that these large-scale systems are ontologically indeterminate, not only unpredictable in terms of our knowledge but genuinely open to the future,He is famous, or notorious, for having had a t-shirt printed with the slogan ‘Epistemology models Ontology’. However, the ontological indeterminacy of chaotic systems is very much open to question,...and that God can therefore influence each one of them by an input of ‘active information’ (without energy input, which could be detectable). God respects the regularities of the physical laws God has created and holds in being, but nevertheless has freedom to work through these indeterminacies.

Polkinghorne also embraces dual-aspect monism - the same world being seen as having both physical and mental or spiritual attributes - and he has written of a ‘noetic world’Science and Creation (London: SPCK, 1988) Ch.5.- that aspect of existence to which complex mental organisation gives access. Though he derives the term ‘noetic’ from the Greek word for ‘mind’ he makes it clear that he thinks of this world in very broad terms - others would prefer the term ‘spiritual’. There may be non-material inhabitants of this world, not merely the truths of mathematics, but also ‘active intelligences ... which traditionally we would call angels.’Polkinghorne, 1988, 76

This thought-aspect of the cosmos might be the medium by which God’s information enters physical systems. This would be consonant with the notion that it is to human minds, the material structure with the greatest noetic aspect, that God is able to make his most sensitive and articulate self-communication.

Email link | Feedback | Contributed by: Dr. Christopher Southgate
Source: God, Humanity and the Cosmos  (T&T Clark, 1999)

Topic Sets Available

AAAS Report on Stem-Cells

AstroTheology: Religious Reflections on Extraterrestrial Life Forms

Agency: Human, Robotic and Divine
Becoming Human: Brain, Mind, Emergence
Big Bang Cosmology and Theology (GHC)
Cosmic Questions Interviews

Cosmos and Creator
Creativity, Spirituality and Computing Technologies
CTNS Content Home
Darwin: A Friend to Religion?
Demystifying Information Technology
Divine Action (GHC)
Dreams and Dreaming: Neuroscientific and Religious Visions'
E. Coli at the No Free Lunchroom
Engaging Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence: An Adventure in Astro-Ethics
Evangelical Atheism: a response to Richard Dawkins
Ecology and Christian Theology
Evolution: What Should We Teach Our Children in Our Schools?
Evolution and Providence
Evolution and Creation Survey
Evolution and Theology (GHC)
Evolution, Creation, and Semiotics

The Expelled Controversy
Faith and Reason: An Introduction
Faith in the Future: Religion, Aging, and Healthcare in the 21st Century

Francisco Ayala on Evolution

From Christian Passions to Scientific Emotions
Genetic Engineering and Food

Genetics and Ethics
Genetic Technologies - the Radical Revision of Human Existence and the Natural World

Genomics, Nanotechnology and Robotics
Getting Mind out of Meat
God and Creation: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives on Big Bang Cosmology
God, Humanity and the Cosmos: A Textbook in Science and Religion
God the Spirit - and Natural Science
Historical Examples of the Science and Religion Debate (GHC)
History of Creationism
Intelligent Design Coming Clean

Issues for the Millennium: Cloning and Genetic Technologies
Jean Vanier of L'Arche
Nano-Technology and Nano-ethics
Natural Science and Christian Theology - A Select Bibliography
Neuroscience and the Soul
Outlines of the Science and Religion Debate (GHC)

Perspectives on Evolution

Physics and Theology
Quantum Mechanics and Theology (GHC)
Questions that Shape Our Future
Reductionism (GHC)
Reintroducing Teleology Into Science
Science and Suffering

Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action (CTNS/Vatican Series)

Space Exploration and Positive Stewardship

Stem-Cell Debate: Ethical Questions
Stem-Cell Ethics: A Theological Brief

Stem-Cell Questions
Theistic Evolution: A Christian Alternative to Atheism, Creationism, and Intelligent Design...
Theology and Science: Current Issues and Future Directions
Unscientific America: How science illiteracy threatens our future
Will ET End Religion?

Current Stats: topics: >2600, links: >300,000, video: 200 hours.