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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

41 - 60 of 128 works

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

2014

Journal Article

Sentiments of devotion and experimental philosophy in seventeenth-century England

Harrison, Peter (2014). Sentiments of devotion and experimental philosophy in seventeenth-century England. Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 44 (1), 113-133. doi: 10.1215/10829636-2389515

Sentiments of devotion and experimental philosophy in seventeenth-century England

2014

Book Chapter

"Wissenschaft" und "Religion": Das Konstuieren der Grenzen

Harrison, Peter (2014). "Wissenschaft" und "Religion": Das Konstuieren der Grenzen. Theology and the Natural Sciences. (pp. 39-68) edited by Christian Tapp and Christof Breitsameter. Berlin, Germany: Walter De Gruyter. doi: 10.1515/9783110318036.39

"Wissenschaft" und "Religion": Das Konstuieren der Grenzen

2014

Book

Science and Religion

Peter Harrison ed. (2014). Science and Religion. São Paulo, Brasil: Editora Santuário / Idéias & Letras.

Science and Religion

2013

Journal Article

Stephen Gaukroger. The Collapse of Mechanism and the Rise of Sensibility: Science and the Shaping of Modernity, 1680–1760

Harrison, Peter (2013). Stephen Gaukroger. The Collapse of Mechanism and the Rise of Sensibility: Science and the Shaping of Modernity, 1680–1760. Isis, 104 (4), 843-845. doi: 10.1086/676361

Stephen Gaukroger. The Collapse of Mechanism and the Rise of Sensibility: Science and the Shaping of Modernity, 1680–1760

2013

Book Chapter

Laws of nature in seventeenth-century England: from Cambridge Platonism to Newtonianism

Harrison, Peter (2013). Laws of nature in seventeenth-century England: from Cambridge Platonism to Newtonianism. The Divine Order, the Human Order, and the Order of Nature: Historical Perspectives. (pp. 127-148) edited by Eric Watkins. New York, NY, United States: Oxford University Press.

Laws of nature in seventeenth-century England: from Cambridge Platonism to Newtonianism

2012

Journal Article

Francis Bacon, natural philosophy and the cultivation of the mind

Harrison, Peter (2012). Francis Bacon, natural philosophy and the cultivation of the mind. Perspectives on Science, 20 (2), 139-158. doi: 10.1162/POSC_a_00060

Francis Bacon, natural philosophy and the cultivation of the mind

2012

Book Chapter

Laws of nature, moral order and the intelligibility of the cosmos

Harrison, Peter (2012). Laws of nature, moral order and the intelligibility of the cosmos. The astronomy revolution: 400 years of exploring the cosmos. (pp. 375-386) edited by Donald York, Owen Gingerich and Shuang-Nan Zhang. Boca Raton, FL, United States: CRC Press.

Laws of nature, moral order and the intelligibility of the cosmos

2012

Book Chapter

The conflict thesis

Harrison, Peter (2012). The conflict thesis. The Lion Handbook of Science and Christianity. (pp. xx-xx) edited by Robert James Berry. Oxford, United Kingdom: Lion Hudson.

The conflict thesis

2012

Book Chapter

Early modern science and the idea of moral progress

Harrison, Peter (2012). Early modern science and the idea of moral progress. British abolitionism and the question of moral progress in history. (pp. 139-153) edited by Donald A. Yerxa. Columbia, SC, United States: University of South Carolina Press.

Early modern science and the idea of moral progress

2012

Book Chapter

The 'Two Books'

Harrison, Peter (2012). The 'Two Books'. The Lion Handbook of Science and Christianity. (pp. 57-58) edited by R. J. Berry. Oxford, United Kingdom: Lion Hudson.

The 'Two Books'

2011

Book Chapter

Adam Smith, natural theology, and the natural sciences

Harrison, Peter (2011). Adam Smith, natural theology, and the natural sciences. Adam Smith as theologian. (pp. 77-91) edited by Paul Oslington. New York, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203816417

Adam Smith, natural theology, and the natural sciences

2011

Book

Wrestling with nature : from omens to science

Harrison, Peter, Numbers, Ronald L. and Shank, Michael H. eds. (2011). Wrestling with nature : from omens to science. Chicago, United States of America: University of Chicago Press. doi: 10.7208/chicago/9780226318035.001.0001

Wrestling with nature : from omens to science

2011

Book Chapter

Early Christianity

Harrison, Peter and Lindberg, David C. (2011). Early Christianity. Science and religion around the world. (pp. 67-91) edited by John Hedley Brooke and Ronald L. Numbers. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

Early Christianity

2011

Journal Article

Adam Smith and the history of the invisible hand

Harrison, Peter (2011). Adam Smith and the history of the invisible hand. Journal of the History of Ideas, 72 (1), 29-49. doi: 10.1353/jhi.2011.a413473

Adam Smith and the history of the invisible hand

2011

Book Chapter

Natural history

Harrison, Peter (2011). Natural history. Wrestling with nature: From omens to science. (pp. 117-148) edited by Peter Harrison, Ronald L. Numbers and Michael H. Shank. Chicago, IL, United States: University of Chicago Press.

Natural history

2011

Book Chapter

Introduction

Harrison, Peter (2011). Introduction. Wrestling with nature: From omens to science. (pp. 1-7) edited by Peter Harrison, Ronald L. Numbers and Michael H. Shank. Chicago, IL, United States: University of Chicago Press.

Introduction

2011

Journal Article

Experimental religion and experimental science in early modern England

Harrison, Peter (2011). Experimental religion and experimental science in early modern England. Intellectual History Review, 21 (4 Article No.623882) 623882, 413-433. doi: 10.1080/17496977.2011.623882

Experimental religion and experimental science in early modern England

2011

Book

Wrestling with nature: From omens to science

Peter Harrison, Ronald L. Numbers and Michael H. Shank eds. (2011). Wrestling with nature: From omens to science. Chicago, Ill., U.S.A.: University of Chicago Press.

Wrestling with nature: From omens to science

2010

Journal Article

A scientific Buddhism?

Harrison, Peter (2010). A scientific Buddhism?. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, 45 (4), 861-869. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2010.01137.x

A scientific Buddhism?

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

Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.

Supervision history

Current supervision

  • 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

  • Doctor Philosophy

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

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Philip Almond

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