Professor Peter Harrison

FAHA

Director

Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities

+61 7 3346 9494

iash.ea@uq.edu.au

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.

Publications

Books (4)

Book Chapters (52)

Journal Articles (56)

Creative Work (1)

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). The conflict narrative, group identity, and the uses of history. Identity in a Secular Age. (pp. 129-140) Pittsburgh, PA United States: University of Pittsburgh Press. doi: 10.2307/j.ctv1595n98.13

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, United States: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Harrison, Peter (2019). Conflict, complexity, and secularization in the history of science and religion. Rethinking History, Science, and Religion. (pp. 221-234) Pittsburgh, PA United States: University of Pittsburgh Press. doi: 10.2307/j.ctvqc6h4s.17

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 (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: Eerdmans.

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 (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). 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). 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 (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). 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 (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 (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 (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). 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 (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 (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). ‘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 (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). 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 (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 (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). "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). 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). 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). 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 (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). 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 (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.

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). 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). Science. The encyclopedia of Protestantism. (pp. 1669-1675) edited by Hans J. Hillerbrand. New York, United States: Routledge.

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). 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). 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). "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). 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 (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). Normativity and the Critical Functions of Genealogy: The Case of Modern Science ¹. Modern Theology. doi: 10.1111/moth.12857

Harrison, Peter (2023). NATURALISM AND THE CATEGORIES “SCIENCE” AND “RELIGION”: A RESPONSE TO JOSH REEVES : with Josh A. Reeves, “A Defense of Science and Religion : Reflections on Peter Harrison's ‘After Science and Religion’ Project” and Peter Harrison, “Naturalism and the Categories ‘Science’ and ‘Religion’: A Response to Josh Reeves.”. Zygon®. 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). Narratives of secularization. Intellectual History Review, 27 (1), 1-6. doi: 10.1080/17496977.2016.1255463

Harrison, Peter (2017). Science and secularization. Intellectual History Review, 27 (1), 47-70. doi: 10.1080/17496977.2016.1255460

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). Adam Smith and the history of the invisible hand. Journal of the History of Ideas, 72 (1), 29-49.

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 (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). Fixing the meaning of scripture: The renaissance bible and the origins of modernity. Concilium, 294, 102-110.

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 (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 (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 (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.