9
(ii) his belief in the relationality of objects within reality, which is supported scientifically by his
use of (a) complementary theory, through the implied irreducible indeterminancy and probablistic
potentiality inherent in the theory and through the use of (b) chaos theory, which allows him to
accept the idea of an open universe in which God does not act in predetermined ways,
34
and which
he justifies (c) theologically by appeal to the interrelationality of the divine Trinity as three
relational Beings;
(iii) his widening of the limits of critical realism from a solely objectivist approach to include
subjective aspects of reality.
These points relate to his cosmology in the following ways. First, Polkinghorne reformulates the traditional
concept of creatio ex nihilo because, he contends, the universe is not made out of some stuff called nihil, but that
"the universe is at all times held in being, rescued from the abyss of nothingness, by the divine will alone."
35
Thus,
the concept of creatio ex nihilo refers to "the preservation of creation from ontological collapse, . . . the work of the
Creator in the mode of divine transcendence."
36
To the concept of creatio nihilo he adds the idea of creatio
continua, the continuing unfolding of the universe through the process of evolution. While God is present in the
evolutionary process, he is not its "sole determinant," allowing it, instead, to ",,make itself through the shuffling
explorations of contingency--but as the source and guide of its fruitfulness." Thus the natural processes "are
expressions of Gods will."
37
Therefore, the work of the Creator in creatio continua is one of divine immanence.
38
Thus the act of creation is one of continuing development.
Polkinghorne criticizes creationists for their too strict reading of the Gen 1 and 2 accounts:
Too great a concentration on the first two chapters of Genesis, or an inadequate interpretation of
them, has sometimes misled Christians into placing undue emphasis on a doctrine of creation
conceived as a doctrine of temporal origin. Hence the erroneous thought that big bang cosmology,
with its dateable point of departure for the universe as we know it, has a superior value for
34
For Polkinghorne, "chaos theory shows that most systems are not reliable mechanical ,,clocks, but rather
they are ,,clouds, so sensitive to circumstance that the slightest disturbance will totally change their future behavior.
Entities of this degree of delicacy can never be isolated from the effects of their environment" (Ibid., 46).
35
Science and Theology, 80.
36
Ibid., 81
37
Ibid., 80.
38
Ibid., 81.