Chosen by god Quote by John Polkinghorne
““The doctrine of creation of the kind that the Abrahamic faiths profess is such that it encourages the expectation that there will be a deep order in the world, expressive of the Mind and Purpose of that world’s Creator. It also asserts that the character of this order has been freely chosen by God, since it was not determined beforehand by some kind of pre-existing blueprint (as, for example, Platonic thinking had supposed to be the case). As a consequence, the nature of cosmic order cannot be discovered just by taking thought, as if humans could themselves explore a noetic realm of rational constraint to whichthe Creator had had to submit, but the pattern of the world has to be discerned through the observations and experiments that are necessary in order to determine what form the divine choice has actually taken. What is needed, therefore, for successful science is the union of the mathematical expression of order with the empirical investigation of the actual properties of nature, a methodological synthesis of a kind that was pioneered with great skill and fruitfulness by Galileo.””
About This Quote
Source Book: Science and Religion: A New Introduction, 2000
Science must blend mathematical theory with empirical testing, as Galileo showed, to uncover a creator‑chosen order not pre‑written.
In simple terms: Science needs both math and experiment to find divine order.
Key Takeaway
Combine theory and observation.
Themes
science
theology
methodology
Mood
inquisitive
reflective
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- research labs
- academic curricula
- interdisciplinary conferences
Key Concepts
mathematical modeling
empirical inquiry
divine choice
Questions to Reflect On
- How can we test for purpose in nature?
- What if order is emergent, not chosen?
A Different Perspective
Relies on assuming a purposeful creator, which may not be universally accepted.
