Science Without God?: Rethinking the History of Scientific Naturalism

Peter Harrison · Jon H. Roberts

Mar 2019 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Sean Runnette

About this audiobook

Can scientific explanation ever make reference to God or the supernatural? The present consensus is no; indeed, a naturalistic stance is usually taken to be a distinguishing feature of modern science. Some would go further still, maintaining that the success of scientific explanation actually provides compelling evidence that there are no supernatural entities, and that true science, from the very beginning, was opposed to religious thinking. Science without God?: Rethinking the History of Scientific Naturalism shows that the history of Western science presents us with a more nuanced picture. Beginning with the naturalists of ancient Greece, and proceeding through the middle ages, the scientific revolution, and into the nineteenth century, the contributors examine past ideas about "nature" and "the supernatural." Ranging over different scientific disciplines and historical periods, they show how past thinkers often relied upon theological ideas and presuppositions in their systematic investigations of the world. In addition to providing material that contributes to a history of "nature" and naturalism, this collection challenges a number of widely held misconceptions about the history of scientific naturalism.

About the author

Sean Runnette, a multiple AudioFile Earphones Award winner, has also produced several Audie Award-winning audiobooks. His film and television appearances include Two If by Sea, Copland, Sex and the City, Law & Order, Third Watch, and lots and lots of commercials.

Peter Harrison is an Australian Laureate Fellow and Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland. He is the former Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford.

Jon H. Roberts is the Tomorrow Foundation Professor of History at Boston University. His published works include Darwinism and the Divine in America, which received the Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize from the American Society of Church History.