REMEMBERING ARTHUR PEACOCKE: A PERSONAL REFLECTION

Author: Barbour, Ian G.

Source: Zygon, Volume 43, Number 1, March 2008 , pp. 89-102(14)

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $48.00 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

I join others who have expressed profound gratitude for the life and thought of Arthur Peacocke. I recall some high points in my interaction with him during a period of forty years as an intellectual companion and personal friend. Some similarities in our thinking about evolution, emergence, top-down causality, and continuing creation are indicated. Four points of difference are then discussed: (1) Emergent monism or two-aspect process events? (2) Panentheism or process theism? (3) Creation ex nihilo and/or continuing creation? (4) Voluntary or necessary limitation of God's power? Even when we differed I have benefited immensely from our ongoing interaction.

Keywords: creation; emergence; evolution; Charles Hartshorne; kenosis; panentheism; Arthur Peacocke; John Polkinghorne; process philosophy; top-down causality; Alfred North Whitehead

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2008.00901.x

Affiliations: 1: Professor of Physics and Professor of Religion at Carleton College, 1 North College St., Northfield, MN 55057;, Email: ibarbour@carleton.edu.

Publication date: 2008-03-01