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This module is designed to analyse and question the recurring argument in modern society which claims that science and religion are and have always been in conflict with one another. The belief that there are fundamental and irreconcilable differences between these two systems and the ways they view the world actually has a much more recent history than is generally assumed, arising primarily out of the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries. This module explores the ways in which people in different cultures and different time periods have attempted to navigate between naturalistic and faith-based understandings of the world we inhabit. We will look at several cultures including the Christian, Islamic and Chinese traditions, as well as various themes such as cosmology, Darwinism and medicine.

Teaching delivery

Ten 2-hour weekly lectures and one PGTA-led weekly seminar

Indicative topics

• Science and Religion: Historiographic IssuesÌý
• The Christian Churches and the Copernican RevolutionÌýÌý
• The New Atheism
• Science, Religion and Free Will
• Catholicism, Protestantism and Science
• Science and Religion in Islam
• Science and Religion in China
• Medicine and Religion
• Darwinism and Religion
• Cosmogony and ReligionÌý

Module Aims and Objectives

Aims:Ìý

This module aims to familiarise the student with the central themes in the historical study of science and religion, particularly the controversial question of conflict between science and religion.ÌýÌý

Objectives:ÌýÌý

The objectives of this module are to train the student to think critically about the past and to contextualise historical understandings of science and religion.Ìý