Quantum Physics and Theology: An Unexpected Kinship
John Polkinghorne. Yale University Press, 2008. 128 pages.
Reviewed by Jacob Douylliez
When I was younger, my understanding of quantum physics came less from textbooks than from television—particularly the improbable, irreverent, and slapdash wonders of my favorite show, Stargate: SG-1. The idea that unseen forces governed vast cosmic systems, that matter and consciousness could slip through thresholds of reality, felt both exhilarating and, in later years, oddly theological. Like many viewers, I was captivated not by the accuracy of the science but by the promise that the universe might be more porous, more relational, than it appeared. Reading John Polkinghorne’s Quantum Physics and Theology: An Unexpected Kinship decades later rekindles that same fascination, but with the gravity of a scholar who has lived inside both laboratories and pulpits. His project invites readers to consider whether the Christian confession of creation, incarnation, and resurrection can share a conceptual home with the probabilistic world of quantum mechanics—and whether the synthesis he proposes can do justice to both the coherence of faith and the mystery of nature.
