"The search for intelligibility that characterizes science and the search for meaning that characterizes religion are two necessary intertwined strands of the human enterprise . . . essential to each other, complementary yet distinct and strongly interacting—indeed, just like the two helical strands of DNA itself."

Arthur Peacocke, a dean of the science and religion dialogue who spent over half a century bridging biology, chemistry, and Christian theology, died on Saturday, October 21. He was 81.

Dr. Arthur Peacocke was born in 1924 in Watford near London. After gaining a Ph.D. in physical biochemistry from the University of Oxford in 1948, he became a lecturer in chemistry and then senior lecturer in biophysical chemistry at the University of Birmingham. Although a self-described ‘mild agnostic’ in his earlier years, Peacocke began to search for answers he was not able to find in natural science alone. He began to study theology and in 1960 received a diploma in theology and a bachelor’s degree in divinity from Birmingham University in 1973.

Taking interest in the relation between his scientific and theological pursuits, Peacocke published Science and the Christian Experiment in 1971, a book for which he was awarded the prestigious Lecomte du Noüy Prize. In the same year, he was ordained as a priest in the Church of England and served on its Doctrine Commission. In 1973 Peacocke became Dean of Clare College, Cambridge, a position he held for eleven years and which allowed him to teach both biochemistry and theology. He gave the Bampton Lectures in 1978 in Oxford, published as Creation and the World of Science. Seven years later, he became founding director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Religious Beliefs in Relation to the Sciences, a position he held until 1988. In addition he founded the Society of Ordained Scientists, the UK Science and Religion Forum, and the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology.

From 1989 until 1996 Peacocke was honorary chaplain of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and was later an honorary canon. He was made a member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 1993. He gave the 1992-93 Gifford Lectures, entitled “Theology for a Scientific Age.” Peacocke was also the winner of the 2001 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.

Published widely in biochemistry, Peacocke was also prolific in the area of religion and science. His theological and philosophical publications consist of sixty-three articles and nine books. Among his major publications in this area are Creation and the World of Science (1979), which established further his international reputation, Intimations of Reality: Critical Realism in Science and Religion (1984), Theology for a Scientific Age (1990, 2nd edition 1993, including his 1993 Gifford Lectures), God and the New Biology (1994), From DNA to DEAN: Reflections and Explorations of a Priest-Scientist (1996), God and Science: A Quest for Christianity Credibility (1996), and Paths from Science Towards God: The End of All Our Exploring (2001). (Biography courtesy of GiffordLectures.org and TempletonPrize.org)

Remembrances

John M. Templeton, Jr., M.D. President John Templeton Foundation

The John Templeton Foundation mourns the passing of the Reverend Canon Dr. Arthur Peacocke, physical biochemist, Anglican priest, and the 2001 Templeton Prize Laureate. Peacocke died on Saturday, October 21 at age 81.

Because of Dr. Peacocke's extraordinary impact, he was selected as the winner of the 2001 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. At the Templeton Prize public ceremony at Guildhall, London, on May 9, 2001, Peacocke advised the scientific community to give religion its due. "The public image of the relation between science and religion has tended to be dominated by scientists who are not only gifted communicators of their respective sciences but who also, deeming science alone to be the source of knowledge and wisdom, seek to reduce human experience to purely scientific terms. This renders them antipathetic to the spiritual and religious experience of humanity and the name of the sport becomes science versus religion."

Sir John and the entire staff of the John Templeton Foundation mourn the passing of our esteemed friend Arthur Peacocke. However, we give thanks for the lifetime of service of Arthur and his wife Rosemary and for Arthur's leadership in expanding all of our horizons in regard to not only Science and Religion but also many of the fundamental questions of life.

Charles L. Harper, Jr., D. Phil. Senior Vice President John Templeton Foundation

Arthur Peacocke had a tremendously positive impact on the development of the field of serious scholarship engaging the interactions of scientific ideas with philosophical theology. He was one of the most significant “scientist-theologians” of the 20th century. In 2001, he was deservingly recognized with the Templeton Prize. Arthur’s writing demonstrated that the interdisciplinary field, now sometimes known as “science and religion,” can be impressive, sophisticated, and valuable intellectually. If the contemporary field of public debate at the present time remains shrill, ignorant and politicized (indeed especially in Oxford!), then it is precisely due to ignorance of Arthur’s weighty writings. Arthur was a humble, hard-working irenical scholar seeking understanding. His legacy will last the test of time.

I had the good fortune to come to Oxford as a graduate student only three years after the publication of Arthur’s 1978 Bampton Lectures delivered there. My vision and career were substantially shaped by interaction with him. I well recall his opening of the Ian Ramsey Centre at St. Cross College in 1985 featuring a speech by the scientist-theologian-Archbishop John Habgood. I was a young scientist then just beginning research on an experimental project focused on the nature of time in cosmology. I had chosen this theme precisely for the purpose of doing scientific research that engaged a deep issue in philosophical theology. The impact of Arthur’s leadership in founding and directing the Ian Ramsey Centre therefore was quite important for me. It validated my unusual and risky research direction. It also demonstrated the seriousness and the richness of being engaged in bridging interdisciplinary scholarship. Arthur himself demonstrated that scientists could make substantial contributions by seeking formal training in academic theology, engaging in research on specific topics relating to their field of scientific expertise. As a biochemist, he had been closely connected with the hugely consequential DNA revolution begun in Cambridge University in the 1950s. He remarkably had taught both biochemistry and theology there in the 1970s until moving to Oxford to found the Ian Ramsey Centre. In hindsight we can see how important it has been that his scholarship brought a clear and cutting-edge voice from the side of biology into a field traditionally more widely dominated by physics. No more “nothing buttery”!

Many will miss Arthur’s insightful contributions and his luminous spirit. He was a model of a scholar-leader pursuing a valuable vision against the stream of the conventional and ordinary and safe. His influence will long outlive him. Arthur Peacocke planted a vital institutional seed within the fertile soil of a great research university. Happily, that seed is now grown into a sturdy sapling. It has been strengthened by connection with the Idreos Chair, yet another of Arthur’s signal accomplishments. Long may it flourish and grow in his memory!

Varadaraja V. Raman, Ph.D. Rochester Institute of Technology Senior Fellow, Metanexus Institute

Scholars, thinkers, scientists, philosophers, and theologians, and many more who are engaged in constructive dialogues between science and religion will receive the news of the demise of Arthur Peacocke with great sadness. Peacocke was a good Christian, a great scholar, and a trained scientist who brought all his strengths to the cause of fostering healthy and mutually respectful exchanges between the knowledge-seeking world of science and the meaning-seeking world of religion. He was convinced that both science and religion are based on critical realism, and he argued for the position that the concepts and models on which theology rests should, like those of science, also be ‘partial, adequate, and necessary’; that is to say, open to periodic revision and modification. It was my privilege to have interacted with him on a couple of occasions: once in Oxford, and once in Porto, Portugal. Being the enlightened theologian that he was, when he presented me with his book on Theology for a Scientific Age, he dedicated it with the statement, “Best wishes for you in your own quest.” I am among the thousands of people today who feel a sense of loss.

Published   2006.10.28