Progress & Purpose: Science and Religion
- Friday 30 October from 12:30pm to 2pm
The relationship between these two great enterprises has sometimes been very close, sometimes very fraught. Both are, in the end, deeply interested in defining and describing the human condition. Join us for an informal conversation about the intertwined histories of science and religion.
Dr Nick Spencer is Senior Fellow at Theos Think Tank, London, host of the podcast Reading our Times. His books include Christianity and the Future of Welfare (CUP, 2026), The Landscapes of Science and Religion (OUP, 2025), Playing God: Science, Religion and the Future of Humanity (with Hannah Waite: SPCK, 2024), and Magisteria: The Entangled Histories of Science and Religion (Oneworld, 2023).
Progress and Purpose. The old progress narratives are looking ever more like magical thinking, especially to young people. Is there a straight and narrow way that leads onward and upward, if only we could find it? Or are we on a spiral into planetary crisis and global conflict? In this season of renewal and resurgent life, the St James’ Institute addresses the indicators of brokenness and approaching collapse and enquires into the dream of balance, the nature of human failure, and the stories we tell about where we are going, and what we are reaching for.