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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

101 - 120 of 128 works

2004

Book Chapter

Design

Harrison, Peter (2004). Design. Europe 1450-1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. (pp. II, 132-134) edited by Jonathan Dewald. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Design

2004

Book Chapter

Noah’s flood and the Western imagination

Harrison, Peter (2004). Noah’s flood and the Western imagination. Flood: Essays across the current. (pp. 1-28) edited by Paul Thom. Lismore, NSW, Australia: Southern Cross University Press.

Noah’s flood and the Western imagination

2004

Book Chapter

Science

Harrison, Peter (2004). Science. The encyclopedia of Protestantism. (pp. 1669-1675) edited by Hans J. Hillerbrand. New York, United States: Routledge.

Science

2003

Book Chapter

Science, Origins of

Harrison, Peter (2003). Science, Origins of. Encyclopedia of science and religion. (pp. 779-782) edited by J. Wentzel van Huyssteen. New York, United States: Macmillan Reference.

Science, Origins of

2002

Journal Article

Voluntarism and early modern science

Harrison, Peter (2002). Voluntarism and early modern science. History of Science, 40 (1), 63-89. doi: 10.1177/007327530204000103

Voluntarism and early modern science

2002

Journal Article

Fixing the meaning of scripture: The renaissance bible and the origins of modernity

Harrison, Peter (2002). Fixing the meaning of scripture: The renaissance bible and the origins of modernity. Concilium, 294, 102-110.

Fixing the meaning of scripture: The renaissance bible and the origins of modernity

2002

Journal Article

Original sin and the problem of knowledge in early modern Europe

Harrison, Peter (2002). Original sin and the problem of knowledge in early modern Europe. Journal of the History of Ideas, 63 (2), 239-259. doi: 10.2307/3654196

Original sin and the problem of knowledge in early modern Europe

2001

Book Chapter

Scaling the Ladder of Being: Theology and Early Modern Theories of Evolution

Harrison, Peter (2001). Scaling the Ladder of Being: Theology and Early Modern Theories of Evolution. Religion, Reason, and Nature in Early Modern Europe. (pp. 199-224) edited by R. Crocker. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

Scaling the Ladder of Being: Theology and Early Modern Theories of Evolution

2001

Journal Article

Curiosity, Forbidden Knowledge, and the Reformation of Natural Philosophy in Early-Modern England

Harrison, Peter (2001). Curiosity, Forbidden Knowledge, and the Reformation of Natural Philosophy in Early-Modern England. Isis, 92 (2), 265-290. doi: 10.1086/385182

Curiosity, Forbidden Knowledge, and the Reformation of Natural Philosophy in Early-Modern England

2000

Book Chapter

The influence of Cartesian cosmology in England

Harrison, P. D. (2000). The influence of Cartesian cosmology in England. Descartes' Natural Philosophy. (pp. 168-192) London: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203463017-14

The influence of Cartesian cosmology in England

1999

Journal Article

Prophecy, early modern apologetics, and Hume's argument against miracles

Harrison, Peter D. (1999). Prophecy, early modern apologetics, and Hume's argument against miracles. Journal of the History of Ideas, 60 (2), 241-256. doi: 10.2307/3653854

Prophecy, early modern apologetics, and Hume's argument against miracles

1999

Journal Article

Prophecy, Early-Modern Apologetics, and Hume’s Argument against Miracles

Harrison, Peter (1999). Prophecy, Early-Modern Apologetics, and Hume’s Argument against Miracles. Journal of the History of Ideas, 60 (2), 241-256. doi: 10.2307/3653854

Prophecy, Early-Modern Apologetics, and Hume’s Argument against Miracles

1999

Journal Article

Subduing the earth: Genesis 1, early modern science, and the exploitation of nature

Harrison, Peter D. (1999). Subduing the earth: Genesis 1, early modern science, and the exploitation of nature. The Journal of Religion, 79 (1), 86-109. doi: 10.1086/490346

Subduing the earth: Genesis 1, early modern science, and the exploitation of nature

1998

Journal Article

The virtues of animals in seventeenth-century thought

Harrison, Peter (1998). The virtues of animals in seventeenth-century thought. Journal of the History of Ideas, 59 (3), 463-485. doi: 10.2307/3653897

The virtues of animals in seventeenth-century thought

1998

Book Chapter

Reading the passions: The fall, the passions, and dominion over nature

Harrison, Peter (1998). Reading the passions: The fall, the passions, and dominion over nature. The soft underbelly of reason: The passions in the seventeenth century. (pp. 49-78) edited by Stephen Gaukroger. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.

Reading the passions: The fall, the passions, and dominion over nature

1998

Book

The Bible, Protestantism, and the Rise of Natural Science

Harrison, Peter (1998). The Bible, Protestantism, and the Rise of Natural Science. 1st ed. Cambridge , UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/cbo9780511585524

The Bible, Protestantism, and the Rise of Natural Science

1996

Journal Article

God and Animal Minds

Harrison, Peter (1996). God and Animal Minds. Sophia, 35 (2), 67-78.

God and Animal Minds

1995

Journal Article

Newtonian Science, Miracles, and the Laws of Nature

Harrison, Peter (1995). Newtonian Science, Miracles, and the Laws of Nature. Journal of the History of Ideas, 56 (4), 531-553.

Newtonian Science, Miracles, and the Laws of Nature

1995

Journal Article

British Views on Religion and Religions in the Age of William and Mary: A Response to David A. Pailin

Harrison, Peter (1995). British Views on Religion and Religions in the Age of William and Mary: A Response to David A. Pailin. Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, 7 (2), 273-281. doi: 10.1163/157006895X00441

British Views on Religion and Religions in the Age of William and Mary: A Response to David A. Pailin

1994

Journal Article

Book Reviews

Wring, James F., Guzman, Gregory G., Goldschmidt, Arthur, Harris, Brice, Collins, Robert O., Mullins, William H., Glasco, Laurence A., Andrew, John A., Millard, Andre, Fairchild, Jack, Salmond, John A., Jonas, Manfred, Hauptman, Laurence M., Scherzer, Kenneth A., De Leon, David, Tillson, Albert H., Casdorph, Paul D., Klunder, Willard Carl, Armstrong, Thom M., Hartsfield, Larry, Story, Ronald, Konek, Carol Wolfe, Chesson, Michael B., Carlson, Paul H., Holloran, Peter C., Pfeffer, Paula F., Ballard, Michael B., Rutland, Robert Allen, Larson, John Lauritz ... Clark, Charles E. (1994). Book Reviews. Historian, 56 (3), 543-620. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6563.1994.tb01326.x

Book Reviews

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