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Emeritus Professor Peter Harrison
Emeritus Professor

Peter Harrison

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Overview

Background

Peter Harrison was educated at the University of Queensland and Yale University. In 2011 he moved to Queensland from the University of Oxford where he was the Idreos Professor of Science and Religion. At Oxford he was a member of the Faculties of Theology and History, a Fellow of Harris Manchester College, and Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre. He is a Professorial Research Fellow at the Universityof Notre Dame, Australia, and a Senior Research Fellow at Oxford's Ian Ramsey Centre. He has published extensively on the philosophical, scientific and religious thought of the early modern period, and is interested in secularization theory and historical and contemporary relations between science and religion. He has been a Visiting Fellow at Oxford, Yale, Princeton, and the University of Chicago, is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion, and a corresponding member of the International Academy for the History of Science. In 2003, he recieved a Centenary Medal for 'service to Australian Society and the Humanities in the Study of Philosophy and Religion’. In 2011 he delivered the Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh. He was awarded a DLitt by the University of Oxford in 2013, and delivered the Bampton Lectures at Oxford in 2019. From 2015-20 has was an Australian Laureate Fellow.

His twelve books include, most recently, Some New World: Myths of Supernatural Belief in a Secular Age (Cambridge, 2024), After Science and Religion (Cambridge, 2022), co-edited with John Milbank, and The Territories of Science and Religion (Chicago, 2015), winner of the Aldersgate Prize.

Availability

Emeritus Professor Peter Harrison is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Science, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Arts, The University of Queensland
  • Masters (Coursework), Yale University
  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
  • Doctoral Diploma, University of Oxford
  • Australian Academy of the Humanities, Australian Academy of the Humanities

Research interests

  • Intellectual History, Historical Relations between Science and Religion, History of Science, Religious History, History of Philosophy

Works

Search Professor Peter Harrison’s works on UQ eSpace

128 works between 1986 and 2024

21 - 40 of 128 works

2017

Journal Article

Credo quia impossibile: who said it and when?

Harrison, Peter (2017). Credo quia impossibile: who said it and when?. Notes and Queries, 64 (4), 540-542. doi: 10.1093/notesj/gjx134

Credo quia impossibile: who said it and when?

2017

Journal Article

"I Believe because it is absurd": the enlightenment invention of Tertullian's Credo

Harrison, Peter (2017). "I Believe because it is absurd": the enlightenment invention of Tertullian's Credo. Church History, 86 (2), 339-364. doi: 10.1017/S0009640717000531

"I Believe because it is absurd": the enlightenment invention of Tertullian's Credo

2017

Journal Article

Science and secularization

Harrison, Peter (2017). Science and secularization. Intellectual History Review, 27 (1), 47-70. doi: 10.1080/17496977.2016.1255460

Science and secularization

2017

Book Chapter

Is science-religion conflict always a bad thing? Augustinian reflections on Christianity and evolution

Harrison, Peter (2017). Is science-religion conflict always a bad thing? Augustinian reflections on Christianity and evolution. Evolution and the fall. (pp. 204-226) edited by William T. Cavanaugh and James K. A. Smith. Grand Rapids, MI, United States: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Is science-religion conflict always a bad thing? Augustinian reflections on Christianity and evolution

2017

Journal Article

Narratives of secularization

Harrison, Peter (2017). Narratives of secularization. Intellectual History Review, 27 (1), 1-6. doi: 10.1080/17496977.2016.1255463

Narratives of secularization

2016

Journal Article

Beliefs, Lebensformen, and conceptual history

Harrison, Peter (2016). Beliefs, Lebensformen, and conceptual history. Metascience, 25 (3), 363-370. doi: 10.1007/s11016-016-0104-7

Beliefs, Lebensformen, and conceptual history

2016

Journal Article

Science, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism

Harrison, Peter (2016). Science, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. Isis, 107 (3), 587-591. doi: 10.1086/688414

Science, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism

2016

Journal Article

The modern invention of "science-and-religion": What follows?

Harrison, Peter (2016). The modern invention of "science-and-religion": What follows?. Zygon, 51 (3), 742-757. doi: 10.1111/zygo.12284

The modern invention of "science-and-religion": What follows?

2016

Journal Article

Introduction: evolution and historical explanation

Harrison, Peter and Hesketh, Ian (2016). Introduction: evolution and historical explanation. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 58, 1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.12.010

Introduction: evolution and historical explanation

2016

Journal Article

Angels on pinheads and needles' points

Harrison, Peter (2016). Angels on pinheads and needles' points. Notes and Queries, 63 (1), 45-47. doi: 10.1093/notesj/gjv232

Angels on pinheads and needles' points

2016

Journal Article

What was historical about natural history? Contingency and explanation in the science of living things

Harrison, Peter (2016). What was historical about natural history? Contingency and explanation in the science of living things. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C :Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 58, 8-16. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.12.012

What was historical about natural history? Contingency and explanation in the science of living things

2016

Book Chapter

Religion, scientific naturalism and historical progress

Harrison, Peter (2016). Religion, scientific naturalism and historical progress. Religion and Innovation: Antagonists or Partners?. (pp. 87-99) edited by Donald A. Yerxa. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic.

Religion, scientific naturalism and historical progress

2016

Book Chapter

Protestantism and the making of modern science

Harrison, Peter (2016). Protestantism and the making of modern science. Protestantism after 500 years. (pp. 98-120) edited by Thomas Albert Howard and Mark A. Noll. New York, United States: Oxford University Press.

Protestantism and the making of modern science

2016

Book Chapter

The Bible and the emerging scientific world view

Harrison, Peter (2016). The Bible and the emerging scientific world view. The New Cambridge history of the Bible. (pp. 620-640) edited by Euan Cameron. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CHO9781139048781.029

The Bible and the emerging scientific world view

2016

Book Chapter

Religion, innovation and secular modernity

Harrison, Peter (2016). Religion, innovation and secular modernity. Religion and Innovation: Antagonists or Partners?. (pp. 74-86) edited by Donald A. Yerxa. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

Religion, innovation and secular modernity

2016

Book Chapter

Evolution, providence, and the problem of chance

Harrison, Peter (2016). Evolution, providence, and the problem of chance. Abraham's dice: chance and providence in the monotheistic traditions. (pp. 260-290) edited by Karl W. Giberson. New York, United States: Oxford University Press.

Evolution, providence, and the problem of chance

2016

Other Outputs

Der Mythos eines bestandingen Kampf zwischen Wissenschaft und Religion

Harrison, Peter (2016). Der Mythos eines bestandingen Kampf zwischen Wissenschaft und Religion. Theologie & Naturwissenschaften.

Der Mythos eines bestandingen Kampf zwischen Wissenschaft und Religion

2015

Journal Article

The History of 'Transhumanism'

Harrison, Peter. and Wolyniak, Joseph. (2015). The History of 'Transhumanism'. Notes and Queries, 62 (3), 465-467. doi: 10.1093/notesj/gjv080

The History of 'Transhumanism'

2015

Book Chapter

That religion has typically impeded the progress of science

Harrison, Peter (2015). That religion has typically impeded the progress of science. Newton's apple and other myths about science. (pp. 195-201) edited by Ronald L. Numbers and Kostas Kampourakis. London, England: Harvard University Press. doi: 10.4159/9780674089167-026

That religion has typically impeded the progress of science

2015

Book

The territories of science and religion

Harrison, Peter (2015). The territories of science and religion. Chicago, IL, United States: University of Chicago Press. doi: 10.7208/chicago/9780226184517.001.0001

The territories of science and religion

Funding

Past funding

  • 2020 - 2023
    Science and Religion Exploring the Spectrum: A Global Perspective (Templeton Religious Trust Grant led by the University of Birmingham)
    University of Birmingham
    Open grant
  • 2018 - 2021
    After Science and Religion: Rethinking the Foundations of Science-Religion Discourse
    Templeton World Charity Foundation
    Open grant
  • 2017 - 2019
    After Science and Religion: Involving Theology in Science-Religion Discussions
    The University of Queensland in America, Inc
    Open grant
  • 2016 - 2019
    Science and Orthodoxy around the World (Templeton Grant administered by the Institute of Historical Research Greece)
    National Hellenic Research Foundation
    Open grant
  • 2014 - 2021
    Science and Secularization
    ARC Australian Laureate Fellowships
    Open grant
  • 2012 - 2014
    Evolution, Atheism, and Mass Persuasion: The Uses and Abuses of Biology in New Atheist Propaganda
    The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion
    Open grant
  • 2012 - 2014
    Religion, History and the Secular
    The Historical Society's Religion and Innovation in Human Affairs (RIHA) Grants Program
    Open grant
  • 2012 - 2014
    Religion, Naturalism, and Scientific Progress
    The Historical Society's Religion and Innovation in Human Affairs (RIHA) Grants Program
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2014
    Science, Progress and History
    Templeton World Charity Foundation
    Open grant

Supervision

Availability

Emeritus Professor Peter Harrison is:
Available for supervision

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Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    The Eternality of the Soul. Philosophical and Religious debates 1500-1800

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Philip Almond

  • Doctor Philosophy

    An Investigation into the socio-cultural and/or religious influences on Young Earth Creationism in Queensland in the 1970s and early 1980s

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Ryan Williams, Associate Professor Tom Aechtner

Completed supervision

Media

Enquiries

Contact Emeritus Professor Peter Harrison directly for media enquiries about:

  • Early modern intellectual history
  • History of science
  • Philosophy and religion
  • Religion and philosophy
  • Religion and science
  • Science and religion

Need help?

For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team:

communications@uq.edu.au