The God of Hope and the End of the World

by JohnPolkinghorne (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $3.42

  Science states that the universe will end in cosmic collapse. If so, can there be credible hope of a personal existence after death? In answering this, this work draws on science, culture, scripture and theology to consider what might be the grounds for hope in a destiny beyond death.

• Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $20.36

  Do we live in a world that makes sense, not just now, but totally and forever? If, as scientists now predict, the universe is going to end in collapse or decay, can it really be a divine creation? Is there a credible hope of a destiny beyond death? In this engaging and intellectually scrupulous book, a leading scientist-theologian draws on ideas from science, scripture, and theology to address these important questions. John Polkinghorne carefully builds a structure of the hope of the life to come that involves both continuity and discontinuity with life in this world-enough continuity so that it is we ourselves who shall live again in that future world and enough discontinuity to ensure that the second story is not just a repetition of the first.
  
  Polkinghorne develops his argument in three sections. In the first, he considers the role of contemporary scientific insights and cultural expectations. In the second, he gives a careful account of the various testimonies of hope to be found in the Bible and assesses the credibility of belief in Jesus' resurrection. In the final section he critically analyzes and defends the Christian hope of the life of the new creation.