Professor Peter Harrison
FAHA
Director
Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities
+61 7 3346 9494
Researcher biography
Peter Harrison is an Australian Laureate Fellow and Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. He was educated at the University of Queensland and Yale University. Before coming to UQ he was the Idreos Professor of Science and Religion and Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre at the University of Oxford. He has published extensively in the area of intellectual history with a focus on the philosophical, scientific and religious thought of the early modern period. He has been a Visiting Fellow at Yale and Princeton, is a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. In 2011 he delivered the Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh.
He has published over 70 articles and book chapters, and his six books include, most recently, The Territories of Science and Religion (Chicago, 2015).
PhD and MPhil Supervision
- View current and completed supervisions on UQ Researchers.
Books
Harrison, Peter (2015). The territories of science and religion. Chicago, IL, United States: University of Chicago Press. doi: 10.7208/chicago/9780226184517.001.0001
Harrison, Peter (2007). The Fall of man and the foundations of science. paper back edition 2009 ed. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/cbo9780511487750
Harrison, Peter (1998). The Bible, Protestantism, and the Rise of Natural Science. 1st ed. Cambridge , UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/cbo9780511585524
Harrison, Peter (1990). 'Religion' and the Religions in the English Enlightenment. 1st ed. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/cbo9780511627972
Book Chapters
Harrison, Peter (2022). The history of science and theology. St Andrews encyclopaedia of theology. (pp. N/A-N/A) edited by Brendan N. Wolfe. St Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom: University of St Andrews.
Harrison, Peter (2022). Science and religion as historical traditions. After Science and Religion: Fresh Perspectives from Philosophy and Theology. (pp. 15-34) edited by Peter Harrison and John Milbank. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Harrison, Peter (2020). What’s in a name? "Physico-theology" in seventeenth-century England. Physico-theology: religion and science in Europe, 1650-1750. (pp. 39-51) edited by Ann Blair and Kaspar von Greyerz. Baltimore, Maryland, United States: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Harrison, Peter (2020). The conflict narrative, group identity, and the uses of history. Identity in a secular age: science, religion, and public perceptions. (pp. 129-140) edited by Fern Elsdon-Baker and Bernard Lightman. Pittsburgh, PA United States: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Harrison, Peter (2019). Laws of God or Laws of Nature? : Natural Order in the Early Modern Period. Science Without God?. (pp. 58-76) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198834588.003.0004
Harrison, Peter (2019). Conflict, complexity, and secularization in the history of science and religion. Rethinking History, Science, and Religion: an exploration of conflict and the complexity principle. (pp. 221-234) edited by Bernard Lightman. Pittsburgh, PA United States: University of Pittsburgh Press. doi: 10.2307/j.ctvqc6h4s.17
Harrison, Peter (2017). Is science-religion conflict always a bad thing? Augustinian reflections on Christianity and evolution. Evolution and the fall. (pp. 204-226) edited by William T. Cavanaugh and James K. A. Smith. Grand Rapids, MI, United States: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Harrison, Peter (2016). Religion, scientific naturalism and historical progress. Religion and Innovation: Antagonists or Partners?. (pp. 87-99) edited by Donald A. Yerxa. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic.
Harrison, Peter (2016). Religion, innovation and secular modernity. Religion and Innovation: Antagonists or Partners?. (pp. 74-86) edited by Donald A. Yerxa. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
Harrison, Peter (2016). Evolution, providence, and the problem of chance. Abraham's dice: chance and providence in the monotheistic traditions. (pp. 260-290) edited by Karl W. Giberson. New York, United States: Oxford University Press.
Harrison, Peter (2016). Protestantism and the making of modern science. Protestantism after 500 years. (pp. 98-120) edited by Thomas Albert Howard and Mark A. Noll. New York, United States: Oxford University Press.
Harrison, Peter (2016). The Bible and the emerging scientific world view. The New Cambridge history of the Bible. (pp. 620-640) edited by Euan Cameron. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CHO9781139048781.029
Harrison, Peter (2015). That religion has typically impeded the progress of science. Newton's apple and other myths about science. (pp. 195-201) edited by Ronald L. Numbers and Kostas Kampourakis. London, England: Harvard University Press. doi: 10.4159/9780674089167-026
Harrison, Peter (2014). "Wissenschaft" und "Religion": Das Konstuieren der Grenzen. Theology and the Natural Sciences. (pp. 39-68) edited by Christian Tapp and Christof Breitsameter. Berlin, Germany: Walter De Gruyter. doi: 10.1515/9783110318036.39
Harrison, Peter (2013). Laws of nature in seventeenth-century England: from Cambridge Platonism to Newtonianism. The Divine Order, the Human Order, and the Order of Nature: Historical Perspectives. (pp. 127-148) edited by Eric Watkins. New York, NY, United States: Oxford University Press.
Harrison, Peter (2012). The conflict thesis. The Lion Handbook of Science and Christianity. (pp. xx-xx) edited by Robert James Berry. Oxford, United Kingdom: Lion Hudson.
Harrison, Peter (2012). The 'Two Books'. The Lion Handbook of Science and Christianity. (pp. 57-58) edited by R. J. Berry. Oxford, United Kingdom: Lion Hudson.
Harrison, Peter (2012). Laws of nature, moral order and the intelligibility of the cosmos. The astronomy revolution: 400 years of exploring the cosmos. (pp. 375-386) edited by Donald York, Owen Gingerich and Shuang-Nan Zhang. Boca Raton, FL, United States: CRC Press.
Harrison, Peter (2012). Early modern science and the idea of moral progress. British abolitionism and the question of moral progress in history. (pp. 139-153) edited by Donald A. Yerxa. Columbia, SC, United States: University of South Carolina Press.
Harrison, Peter (2011). Natural history. Wrestling with nature: From omens to science. (pp. 117-148) edited by Peter Harrison, Ronald L. Numbers and Michael H. Shank. Chicago, IL, United States: University of Chicago Press.
Harrison, Peter (2011). Adam Smith, natural theology, and the natural sciences. Adam Smith as theologian. (pp. 77-91) edited by Paul Oslington. New York, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203816417
Harrison, Peter (2011). Introduction. Wrestling with nature: From omens to science. (pp. 1-7) edited by Peter Harrison, Ronald L. Numbers and Michael H. Shank. Chicago, IL, United States: University of Chicago Press.
Harrison, Peter and Lindberg, David C. (2011). Early Christianity. Science and religion around the world. (pp. 67-91) edited by John Hedley Brooke and Ronald L. Numbers. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Harrison, Peter (2010). ‘Science’ and ‘religion’: Constructing the boundaries. Science and Religion: New Historical Perspectives. (pp. 23-49) Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511676345.003
Harrison, Peter (2010). The cultural authority of natural history in early modern Europe. Biology and ideology: From Descartes to Dawkins. (pp. 11-35) edited by Denis R. Alexander and Ronald L. Numbers. Chicago, ILL, U.S.A.; London, U.K.: University of Chicago Press.
Harrison, Peter (2010). Theology and matter theory in the early modern period. Matter and meaning: Is matter sacred or profane?. (pp. 39-56) edited by Michael Fuller. Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.: Cambridge Scholars.
Harrison, Peter (2009). Hermeneutics and natural knowledge in the reformers. Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic religions: Up to 1700. (pp. 341-362) edited by Jitse M. van der Meer, Scott Mandelbrote and Wim Janse. Leiden, Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill. doi: 10.1163/ej.9789004171916.i-782.74
Harrison, Peter (2009). Herbert Butterfield and the scientific revolution : Reassessing the Butterfield thesis. Recent Themes in the History of Science and Religion. (pp. 65-72) edited by Donald A. Yerxa. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press.
Harrison, Peter (2009). That Rene Descartes originated mind-body distinction. Galileo goes to jail : And other myths about science and religion. (pp. 107-114) edited by Ronald L. Numbers. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Harrison, Peter (2008). Hermeneutics and natural knowledge in the reformers. (pp. 341-362) Brill Academic Publishers.
Harrison. Peter (2008). The development of the concept of the laws of nature. Creation: Law and probability. (pp. 13-36) edited by Fraser Watts. Aldershot, England: Ashgate. doi: 10.4324/9780429463525-2
Harrison, Peter (2007). Philosophy and the crisis of religion. The Cambridge companion to Renaissance philosophy. (pp. 234-249) edited by James Hankins. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CCOL052184648X.012
Harrison, Peter (2007). "The fashioned image of poetry or the regular instruction of philosophy?": Truth, utility, and the natural sciences in early modern England. Science, literature, and rhetoric in early modern England. (pp. 15-36) edited by Juliet Cummins and David Burchell. Aldershot, England: Ashgate.
Harrison, Peter (2007). Reinterpreting nature in early modern Europe : Natural philosophy, biblical exegesis, and the contemplative life. The word and the world : Biblical exegesis and early modern science. (pp. 25-44) edited by Kevin Killeen and Peter J. Forshaw. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Harrison, Peter (2007). Natural theology, deism, and early modern science. Science, religion, and society : An encyclopedia of history, culture, and controversy. (pp. 426-440) edited by Arri Eisen and Gary Laderman. New York , NY, U.S.A.: M E Sharpe.
Harrison, Peter (2006). Disjoining wisdom and knowledge : Science, theology, and the making of western modernity. Wisdom or knowledge? : Science, theology and cultural dynamics. (pp. 51-72) edited by Hubert Meisinger, Willem B. Drees and Zbigniew Liana. London: T & T Clark International.
Harrison, Peter (2006). The 'Book of nature' and early modern science. The book of nature in early modern and modern history. (pp. 1-26) edited by Klaas van Berkel and Arie Johan Vanderjagt. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters.
Harrison, Peter (2006). The natural philosopher and the virtues. The philosopher in early modern Europe : The nature of a contested identity. (pp. 202-228) edited by Conal Condren, Stephen Gaukroger and Ian Hunter.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harrison, Peter (2006). Having dominion : Genesis and the mastery of nature. Environmental stewardship : Critical perspectives, past and present. (pp. 17-31) edited by R. J. Berry. London: T & T Clark International.
Harrison, Peter (2005). Physico-theology and the mixed sciences : The role of theology in early modern natural philosophy. The science of nature in the seventeenth century. (pp. 165-183) edited by Peter R. Anstey and John A. Schuster. Dordrecht The Netherlands: Springer. doi: 10.1007/1-4020-3703-1_7
Harrison, Peter (2004). Was Newton a voluntarist?. Newton and Newtonianism: New studies. (pp. 39-64) edited by J. E. Force and S. Hutton. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Harrison, Peter (2004). Reading vital signs: Animals and the experimental philosophy. Renaissance beasts: Of animals, humans, and other wonderful creatures. (pp. 186-207) Urbana, Ill, United States: University of Illinois Press.
Harrison, Peter (2004). "Priests of the Most High God, with respect to the book of nature": The vocational identity of the early modern naturalist. Reading God's world: The scientific vocation. (pp. 55-80) edited by Angus Menuge. St Louis, MO, United States: Concordia Publishing.
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.
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.
Harrison, Peter (2004). Enthusiasm. Europe 1450-1789: Encyclopedia of the early modern world. (pp. 308-310) edited by Jonathan Dewald. New York, NY, United States: Scribners.
Harrison, Peter (2004). Morgan, Thomas (d 1743). Oxford dictionary of national biography. (pp. 147-149) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/19239
Harrison, Peter (2004). Science. The encyclopedia of Protestantism. (pp. 1669-1675) edited by Hans J. Hillerbrand. New York, United States: Routledge.
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.
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.
Harrison, P. D. (2000). The influence of Cartesian cosmology in England. Descartes' Natural Philosophy. (pp. 168-192) London: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203463017-14
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.
Journal Articles
Harrison, Peter (2023). Review of Paul Tyson, A Christian Theology of Science. Modern Theology. doi: 10.1111/moth.12910
Harrison, Peter (2023). Normativity and the critical functions of genealogy: the case of modern science. Modern Theology, 39 (4), 682-707. doi: 10.1111/moth.12857
Harrison, Peter (2023). Naturalism and the categories “science” and “religion”: a response to Josh Reeves. Zygon®, 58 (1), 98-108. doi: 10.1111/zygo.12865
Harrison, Peter (2022). What is natural theology? (And should we dispense with it?). Zygon®, 57 (1), 114-140. doi: 10.1111/zygo.12767
Harrison, Peter (2021). Defining and defending the humanities: with Peter Harrison, “Defining and Defending the Humanities”; Michael Ruse, “Willem Drees on the Humanities”; Douglas F. Ottati, “Theology among the Human Humanities”; Lisa L. Stenmark, “Who are the Humanities For? Decolonizing the Humanities”; Donald L. Drakeman, “Some Second Thoughts about the Humanities”; and Willem B. Drees, “The Coherence and Character of the Humanities: A Reply to Critics.”. Zygon, 56 (3), 678-690. doi: 10.1111/zygo.12729
Harrison, Peter (2021). A historian’s perspective on science‐engaged theology. Modern Theology, 37 (2), 476-482. doi: 10.1111/moth.12693
Harrison, Peter (2018). Naturalism and the success of science. Religious Studies, 56 (2), 1-18. doi: 10.1017/S0034412518000574
Harrison, Peter (2017). Credo quia impossibile: who said it and when?. Notes and Queries, 64 (4), 540-542. doi: 10.1093/notesj/gjx134
Harrison, Peter (2017). "I Believe because it is absurd": the enlightenment invention of Tertullian's Credo. Church History, 86 (2), 339-364. doi: 10.1017/S0009640717000531
Harrison, Peter (2017). Science and secularization. Intellectual History Review, 27 (1), 47-70. doi: 10.1080/17496977.2016.1255460
Harrison, Peter (2017). Narratives of secularization. Intellectual History Review, 27 (1), 1-6. doi: 10.1080/17496977.2016.1255463
Harrison, Peter (2016). Beliefs, Lebensformen, and conceptual history. Metascience, 25 (3), 363-370. doi: 10.1007/s11016-016-0104-7
Harrison, Peter (2016). The modern invention of "science-and-religion": What follows?. Zygon, 51 (3), 742-757. doi: 10.1111/zygo.12284
Harrison, Peter (2016). Science, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. Isis, 107 (3), 587-591. doi: 10.1086/688414
Harrison, Peter and Hesketh, Ian (2016). Introduction: evolution and historical explanation. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 58, 1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.12.010
Harrison, Peter (2016). Angels on pinheads and needles' points. Notes and Queries, 63 (1), 45-47. doi: 10.1093/notesj/gjv232
Harrison, Peter (2016). What was historical about natural history? Contingency and explanation in the science of living things. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C :Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 58, 8-16. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.12.012
Harrison, Peter. and Wolyniak, Joseph. (2015). The History of 'Transhumanism'. Notes and Queries, 62 (3), 465-467. doi: 10.1093/notesj/gjv080
Harrison, Peter (2015). Can science and religion be friends?. Australasian Science, 36 (1), 39-39.
Harrison, Peter (2014). Sentiments of devotion and experimental philosophy in seventeenth-century England. Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 44 (1), 113-133. doi: 10.1215/10829636-2389515
Harrison, Peter (2013). Stephen Gaukroger. The Collapse of Mechanism and the Rise of Sensibility: Science and the Shaping of Modernity, 1680–1760. Isis, 104 (4), 843-845. doi: 10.1086/676361
Harrison, Peter (2012). Francis Bacon, natural philosophy and the cultivation of the mind. Perspectives on Science, 20 (2), 139-158. doi: 10.1162/POSC_a_00060
Harrison, Peter (2011). Experimental religion and experimental science in early modern England. Intellectual History Review, 21 (4 Article No.623882) 623882, 413-433. doi: 10.1080/17496977.2011.623882
Harrison, Peter (2011). Adam Smith and the history of the invisible hand. Journal of the History of Ideas, 72 (1), 29-49.
Harrison, Peter (2010). A scientific Buddhism?. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, 45 (4), 861-869. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2010.01137.x
Harrison, Peter (2010). Religion and the early Royal Society. Science and Christian Belief, 22 (1), 3-22.
Harrison, Peter (2010). Introduction. The Cambridge Companion to Science and Religion, 1-18. doi: 10.1017/CCOL9780521885386.001
Harrison, Peter (2009). Linnaeus as a second Adam? Taxonomy and the religious vocation. Zygon, 44 (4), 879-893. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.01039.x
Harrison, Peter (2009). The Bible and the rise of science: A rejoinder. Science and Christain Belief, 21 (2), 155-162.
Harrison, Peter (2009). Voluntarism and the origins of modern science: A reply to John Henry. History of Science, 47 (2), 223-231.
Harrison, Peter (2008). Religion, the Royal Society, and the rise of science. Theology and Science, 6 (3), 255-271. doi: 10.1080/14746700802206925
Harrison, Peter (2007). Was there a scientific revolution?. European Review, 15 (4), 445-457. doi: 10.1017/S1062798707000440
Harrison, Peter (2007). Moral progress and early modern science. Historically Speaking, 9 (1), 13-14. doi: 10.1353/hsp.2007.0000
Harrison, Peter (2006). The Bible and the emergence of modern science. Science and Christian Belief, 18 (2), 115-132.
Harrison, Peter (2006). Miracles, early modern science, and rational religion. Church History, 75 (3), 493-510. doi: 10.1017/S0009640700098607
Harrison, Peter (2006). Science and dissent. Minerva, 44 (2), 223-227. doi: 10.1007/s11024-006-0011-y
Harrison, Peter (2006). Science and “Religion”: Constructing the boundaries. The Journal of Religion, 86 (1), 81-106. doi: 10.1086/497085
Harrison, Peter (2005). “Fill the earth and subdue it”: Biblical warrants for colonization in seventeenth century England. Journal of Religious History, 29 (1), 3-24. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9809.2005.00258.x
Harrison, Peter (2002). Voluntarism and early modern science. History of Science, 40 (1), 63-89. doi: 10.1177/007327530204000103
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
Harrison, Peter (2002). Fixing the meaning of scripture: The renaissance bible and the origins of modernity. Concilium, 294, 102-110.
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
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
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
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
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
Harrison, Peter (1996). God and Animal Minds. Sophia, 35 (2), 67-78.
Harrison, Peter (1995). Newtonian Science, Miracles, and the Laws of Nature. Journal of the History of Ideas, 56 (4), 531-553.
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
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
Harrison, Peter (1993). Animal souls, metempsychosis, and theodicy in seventeenth-century English thought. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 31 (4), 519-544.
Harrison, Peter (1993). The Neo-Cartesian revival: A response. Between the Species, 9 (2), 71-76.
Harrison, Peter (1992). Descartes on animals. Philosophical Quarterly, 42 (167), 219-227. doi: 10.2307/2220217
Harrison, Peter (1991). Do animals feel pain?. Philosophy, 66 (255), 25-40. doi: 10.1017/s0031819100052827
Harrison, Peter (1989). Theodicy and Animal Pain. Philosophy, 64 (247), 79-92. doi: 10.1017/s0031819100044053
Harrison, Peter (1986). Karl Barth and the non-Christian religions. Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 23, 207-224.
Harrison, Peter (1986). Correlation and Theology: Barth and Tillich Re-examined. Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, 15 (1), 65-76. doi: 10.1177/000842988601500106
Creative Work
Harrison, Peter (2016). Der Mythos eines bestandingen Kampf zwischen Wissenschaft und Religion. Theologie & Naturwissenschaften.