Science and Religion Around the World - Book Launch (27 Jan 2011)

The past quarter-century has seen an explosion of interest in the history of science and religion. All too often, however, the scholars writing it have focused their attention almost exclusively on the Christian experience, with only passing reference to other traditions of both science and faith. At a time when religious ignorance and misunderstanding have lethal consequences, such provincialism must be avoided and, in this pioneering effort to explore the historical relations of what we now call 'science' and 'religion', this seminar looks beyond the Abrahamic traditions to examine the way nature has been understood and manipulated in regions as diverse as ancient China, India, and sub-Saharan Africa. The book that will be launched at this seminar, Science and Religion around the World, also provides authoritative discussions of science in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as well as an exploration of the relationship between science and the loss of religious beliefs. The narratives included in the book demonstrate the value of plural perspectives and of the importance of location for the construction and perception of science-religion relations