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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

127 works between 1986 and 2024

121 - 127 of 127 works

1993

Journal Article

The Neo-Cartesian revival: A response

Harrison, Peter (1993). The Neo-Cartesian revival: A response. Between the Species, 9 (2), 71-76.

The Neo-Cartesian revival: A response

1992

Journal Article

Descartes on animals

Harrison, Peter (1992). Descartes on animals. Philosophical Quarterly, 42 (167), 219-227. doi: 10.2307/2220217

Descartes on animals

1991

Journal Article

Do animals feel pain?

Harrison, Peter (1991). Do animals feel pain?. Philosophy, 66 (255), 25-40. doi: 10.1017/s0031819100052827

Do animals feel pain?

1990

Book

'Religion' and the Religions in the English Enlightenment

Harrison, Peter (1990). 'Religion' and the Religions in the English Enlightenment. 1st ed. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/cbo9780511627972

'Religion' and the Religions in the English Enlightenment

1989

Journal Article

Theodicy and Animal Pain

Harrison, Peter (1989). Theodicy and Animal Pain. Philosophy, 64 (247), 79-92. doi: 10.1017/s0031819100044053

Theodicy and Animal Pain

1986

Journal Article

Correlation and Theology: Barth and Tillich Re-examined

Harrison, Peter (1986). Correlation and Theology: Barth and Tillich Re-examined. Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, 15 (1), 65-76. doi: 10.1177/000842988601500106

Correlation and Theology: Barth and Tillich Re-examined

1986

Journal Article

Karl Barth and the non-Christian religions

Harrison, Peter (1986). Karl Barth and the non-Christian religions. Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 23, 207-224.

Karl Barth and the non-Christian religions

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