John Polkinghorne spent much of his life exploring some of humanity’s deepest questions through both physics and Christian theology.
A distinguished mathematical physicist at the University of Cambridge, Polkinghorne worked in particle physics before resigning his professorship in 1979 to study theology. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1982 and later became one of the most prominent voices in conversations about science and faith. (Royal Society)
Polkinghorne rejected the idea that science and Christianity had to compete with one another.
“I see them as complementary to each other and not as rivals,” he said. (Templeton Prize)
He argued that science investigates the processes of the physical world, while religion asks deeper questions about meaning, purpose and whether there is a divine reality behind existence.
“Science [studies] the processes of the world, while religion is concerned with the deeper issue of whether there is a divine meaning and purpose behind what is going on,” he explained. (John Templeton Foundation)
That distinction also shaped the way Polkinghorne approached death and the ultimate future of creation.
He took seriously the scientific reality that stars have finite lifetimes and that the universe itself has a long-term physical future shaped by cosmological processes. But his Christian hope did not depend on the universe being physically everlasting.
A statement widely attributed to him captures that conviction:
“We shall die, and the cosmos will die, but the final word does not lie with death but with God.”
For Polkinghorne, Christian hope rested ultimately in God and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, not in the permanence of the present physical universe.
His life and writings reflected a conviction that taking science seriously did not require abandoning Christian faith.
Instead, he believed both could contribute to a fuller understanding of reality.
“He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” — Mark 12:27