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Verisimilitudinous Polkinghorne

A premiere scholar of science and theology, John Polkinghorne, turns eighty years old next October. More than almost anyone, Polkinghorne has sought truth in both science and theology.

I am in the midst of compiling a lengthy Polkinghorne Reader in honor of his eightieth birthday. The book brings together the best excerpts from his more than thirty books.

While preparing selections for the Reader – most of which John personally chose as representing his best work – I have thought often about the subject of truth.

Some today reject the idea that we can have any inkling whatsoever of truth. Others act as if they have truth in their back pockets. Polkinghorne steers a middle way between absolute ignorance and feigning omniscience.

One of John’s favorite words is “verisimilitude.” It means, “to have the appearance of being true.” In other words, something is verisimilitudinous if plausibly true or real.

John says that both theology and science provides avenues for attaining verisimilitude.

As both a professional physicist at Cambridge University and an ordained Anglican priest, Polkinghorne lives in both truth worlds. In an excerpt included in the Reader, Polkinghorne explains himself:

“People sometimes think that it is odd, or even disingenuous, for a person to be both a physicist and a priest. It induces in them the same sort of quizzical surprise that would greet the claim to be a vegetarian butcher.”

“Yet to someone like myself who is both a scientist and a Christian, it seems to be a natural and harmonious combination. The basic reason is simply that science and theology are both concerned with the search for truth. In consequence, they complement each other rather than contrast one another.”

“Of course, the two disciplines focus on different dimensions of truth, but they share a common conviction that there is truth to be sought. Although in both kinds of enquiry this truth will never be grasped totally and exhaustively, it can be approximated to in an intellectually satisfying manner that deserves the adjective ‘verisimilitudinous,’ even if it does not qualify to be described in an absolute sense as ‘complete.’”

I don’t think we all need to become both professional scientists and professional clergy people to seek truth. But we all should acknowledge that truth emerges in both scientific and theological domains.

Admittedly, there are times the two domains do not fit hand in glove. When we encounter conflict, our immediate response should not be to dismiss one or the other. If possible, we should work to find synthesis and/or consonance between the two.

Occasionally, however, disagreement requires change. Sometimes, pet theories or hypotheses of science must yield to truth in theology. Other times, long-held doctrines of theology must yield to science. Most often, however, the two can live harmoniously. Instead of change, each can accommodate the other by remembering that neither science nor theology provides complete truth.

Harmony requires humility. I encourage theologians, scientists, and all who seek truth to pursue humility as a virtuous path to understanding something of the greater truth to which both science and theology contribute.

Posted in 2009 under Theology and Science

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