Charles Coulson: Difference between revisions

Beside his scientific works, Coulson was a committed Christian, and served as a [[Methodist local preacher]] <ref>{{cite web | website = Wesleys Oxford | url=https://www.wesleysoxford.org.uk/people/lay-people/charles-and-eileen-coulson |title = Charles and Eileen Coulson | access-date = 9 May 2022}}</ref>. He wrote ''Science, Technology and the Christian'' (1953) and ''Science and Christian Belief'' (1955), integrating his scientific and religious views. Coulson apparently coined the phrase [[God of the gaps]].<ref>{{cite journal| author = Hough, Adrian| title = Not a Gap in Sight: Fifty Years of Charles Coulson's ''Science and Christian Belief'' | journal = Theology | year = 2006 | volume = 109 | issue = 847 | pages =21–27| doi = 10.1177/0040571X0610900104 | s2cid = 171166514 }}</ref> Coulson believed religious faith was essential for the responsible use of science. He was a [[pacifist]] and [[conscientious objector]], but championed the development of nuclear energy. He encouraged scientists to help improve Third World food production. He was chairman of [[Oxfam]] from 1965 to 1971.<ref name=CAC /><ref>{{cite journal|jstor=3615963|title=Obituary: Charles Alfred Coulson|first1=I. W.|last1=Busbridge|first2=D. P.|last2=Ambrose|first3=D. A.|last3=Quadling|date=1 January 1974|journal=The Mathematical Gazette|volume=58|issue=405|pages=205–207|doi=10.1017/s0025557200079821|doi-access=free}}</ref> Charles' widest religious impact on the general public was in his BBC broadcasts. In these, and in general interaction with people, he conveyed his religiosity in a gentle and sometimes humorous manner, for example, when he claimed in his inaugural lecture at King's College, that he had received mail addressed to him as Professor of Theological Physics.