Science, Religion, and the Human Future Conflict, Collusion, and Consequences

by Rees, Amanda; Kohlt, Franziska E.; McLeish, Tom; Sleigh, Charlotte; Wilkinson, David

• ISBN13: 9780198889007
• ISBN10: 0198889003
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780198889021
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2026-04-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

Science, Religion, and the Human Future: Conflict, Collusion, and Consequences demonstrates that the myth of an inevitable conflict between science and faith is based on a misunderstanding of history, with potentially adverse consequences for human futures.

The work focuses first upon ancient, medieval and Islamic scholars and the intimate connections they made between theology and the investigation of the natural world-and why we know so little about them. Moving into the modern era, it argues that one of the most concerning features of the science-faith relationship was their collusion in defining and validating the 'civilising mission' of Western imperialism. This collusion recontextualises the creation of the conflict thesis. Turning to the present day, the book investigates episodes of scientific controversy in which effective science communication was hindered not as a result of a clash between science and faith but because of a close and unexamined entanglement between the two.

In cases ranging from space colonisation to AI, climate change to Covid-19, the problem is not so much science's split from faith as the unexamined and problematic theologies that remain implicit within it. Learning from these examples, the book outlines some productive and non-conflict-based frameworks for talking about science and faith in the future.

Author Biography

Amanda Rees, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of York,Franziska E. Kohlt, Leverhulme Research Fellow, University of Leeds,Tom McLeish, University of York,Charlotte Sleigh, Professor of Science Humanities, University College London,David Wilkinson, Project Director, Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science, St Johns College, Durham University

Amanda Rees is a historian of science at the University of York. As well as working on the past and future of the relationship between science and religion, she has published widely on the history of the future, of human-animal relationships and of human prehistory - with particular attention to the art of doing science in the field.

Franziska E. Kohlt is a Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Leeds. Her research spans the history of science, forms of its communication, and the role of storytelling, narrative and metaphor in it. She holds a doctorate from the University at Oxford, during which she explored the twin history of Victorian Psychology and Fantastic Literature through their shared narratives and metaphors. She has since held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of York, studying science and religion narrative in past and present, and the Inaugural Carrollian Fellowship at the University of Southern California. She is a Broadcaster and Curator.

Tom McLeish† was an internationally known academic leader in interdisciplinary science and science-humanities research, with a successful record of building innovative communities in higher education. Committed to creative support of research, education, diversity and the connections between them, he was elected to the Royal Society in 2011, serving as chair of the Society's Education Committee from 2015-2020, and on Council from 2020.

Charlotte Sleigh is a researcher, writer and practitioner across the science humanities and science communication. After obtaining her PhD in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, she has held posts at UCLA, the University of Kent, and University College London. Charlotte is a former editor of the British Journal for the History of Science and former president of the British Society for the History of Science. She is research consultant for the international project Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science and a fellow of St Augustine's College of Theology.

David Wilkinson is Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University and Director of the project Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science. Before working in Durham as a theologian, he was a scientist and then a Methodist minister in inner city Liverpool. David's background is research in theoretical astrophysics. After this research he trained for the Methodist ministry and served Liverpool. He was Principal of St John's College from 2006 to 2023. His current work involves the relationship of the Christian theology to contemporary culture, from science to pop culture. He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day and takes part in a number of national and local media programs.

Table of Contents

IntroductionPART ONE: PASTS1. An ordered universe2. Enlightening imperialism3. Battling with historyPART TWO: PRESENTS4. Space5. Genetic modification6. Climate change7. Artificial intelligence8. PandemicPART THREE: FUTURES9. Secular saints10. New atheism, new faith11. New storiesConclusion