Posthuman Imaginaries of Sustainability
In the face of escalating global sustainability challenges, ranging from extreme weather events to the sixth mass extinction and the increased exploitation of more-than-human beings, the limitations of anthropocentrism have become stark. Our planet shakes on the edge of ecological collapse, underscoring the need for innovative frameworks that extend beyond human interests to encompass the […]
Lived Experience of Daoist Practices: Mysticism, Science, and Embodied Spirituality
Job Chen The convergence of science and religion presents numerous pathways for exploration. One such avenue involves the application of scientific methodologies, such as observation and measurement, to delve into the individual experiences within religious traditions. Throughout history, mysticism in religions has primarily been examined through philosophical lenses, with a focus on textual analysis to […]
Commemorating Darwin: Global Perspectives on Evolutionary Science, Religion and Politics
By Joel Barnes and Ian Hesketh By the time Charles Darwin died on 19 April 1882, he had become a scientific celebrity, widely known for his studies of evolution that many believed transformed the way humans understood themselves in relation to the natural world. Since then his memory, and his celebrity, have been reshaped and […]
Translating Data, Visualizing the Nation: How Quantitative Data Helped Envision Modern India
By Sayori Ghoshal In 2022, I began working on an INSBS-funded grant project on the impact of race science and statistics on religious and caste identities in colonial India. Under colonial rule, Indian scientists had rejected the claim that Europeans were racially superior to Indians. However, they had not dismissed race as a scientific object. […]
Science, Spiritualism, Stereoscopy: The Spectacular Photographs of ‘Margery’ Crandon
By Dr. Emma Merkling In late 2022 I began working on an INSBS-funded grant project on the scientific testing of the spiritualist medium Mina ‘Margery’ Crandon in Boston, c. 1925. ‘Margery’ was arguably the best-known medium in America at the time, having been made famous by a series of investigations into her mediumship initially funded […]
The Cover That Wasn’t To Be
By Dr. Thoko Kamwendo I am busy putting together an edited collection of essays that take an STS approach to the study of science and religion, funded by the INSBS. As many of you know, there are several parts to creating an edited volume, including making tricky decisions about the cover. I recently received options […]
Making sense of Qur’anic school preference in West Africa
The challenges of secular bias and ontological injustice in scientific theories of educational decision-making Dr Anneke Newman, Université Libre de Bruxelles The remit of the INSBS is to study the relationships between ‘science’ and ‘belief’ in society. Yet what if the very conceptualization of these terms—and the tools social scientists have at their disposal to […]
Religious Belief and the Geohistory of the Planet: Between Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
By Richard Fallon In September 2021, Nature-affiliated journal Scientific Reports published a striking article arguing that the Bronze Age city of Tall el-Hammam was destroyed by a cosmic airburst. The authors, Ted E. Bunch et al, speculated that the Genesis story of the destruction of Sodom preserves memories of this impact – and received intense criticism in response. Just a few months […]
Science and Religion, A Very Short Re-Introduction
By Adam R. Shapiro When Thomas Dixon first asked me to work with him to revise and update his excellent 2008 book Science and Religion, A Very Short Introduction, my first thought was to ask why such a text might need a new edition. On the face of it, many of the issues we typically associate […]
Engineers communicating science, and the religion and science debates in fin-de-siècle Spain
By Jaume Navarro and Javier Sierra de la Torre In 1876, two Spanish versions of Draper’s History of the Conflict between Religion and Science appeared on the market. One, a translation from the French version, issued in weekly instalments, passed largely unnoticed. But the other, a direct translation from the original version, was highly publicized […]
