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science possible? and ,,Why is the universe so special?

Polkinghorne is careful to discern between classical interpretations of cosmology and his own scientifically

based understanding. In the classical sense, the very existence of the world was explained by the presence of "a God

who possessed being itself (and therefore stood in no need himself of a further explanation)."

Further, there was no

clear explanation as to why this being should not be attributed to the cosmos.

In Polkinghornes scientifically based sense, however, the cosmological argument has become

cosmological insight and "focuses on the intelligibility of the world, the way in which its patterns interlock with the

patterns of our thinking, so that we can understand the world in which we live."

Thus Polkinghorne justifies his

position on cosmology by an appeal to the "beautiful" and "striking" nature of science. Science would only appeal to

an explanation in which the cause of the cosmos was "itself essentially rational. This would be provided by the

Reason of the Creator, which establishes the common ground for the observed rationality of the world and the

experienced rationality of our minds, guaranteeing their mutual coherence. This insight gains cumulative force if we

widen our view beyond that of science to recognize that we know the world also to contain beauty, moral obligation

and religious experience. These also find their ground in the Creator--in his joy, his will and his presence."

From Science to Theology: Polkinghorne's Hermeneutic

for Understanding Cosmology

Polkinghorne suggests that, from the perspective of a modest natural theology, it is, then, possible to make

an examination of "the laws of nature, the ground rules of the cosmic game," and to consider the suggestions that

they raise--metaquestions, he notes, that go beyond the scientific but which it is possible for theism to answer. Thus

natural theology does not claim that these answers are "logically inevitable," but that they are "insightful and

intellectually satisfying--a response that "corresponds to the insights of a modest natural theology, an argument

Science and Theology, 71-72.

One World: The Interaction of Science and Theology, 79.

Ibid.