Abstract: Dr James Hannam’s first degree was in Physics from the University of Oxford. After working as a tax accountant in the City of London for ten years, he took a career break to complete a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. His first book, God’s Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science (Icon, 2009) was shortlisted for the Royal Society’s Science Book Prize. Although James has returned to his previous job as a tax accountant, he is a regular speaker at the Faraday Institute. His latest book is What Everyone Needs to Know about Tax (Wiley, 2017). ; There is a common belief that science and religion have been in conflict throughout history, and that science has been the unequivocal victor in this war. High profile examples of this conflict include the trial of Galileo and the Monkey Trial over Darwin’s theory of evolution. However, the true relationship has very often been one of concord and cooperation. This talk will look at why we imagine that conflict has been the dominant mode of interaction between science and religion, and how the truth contains a good deal more nuance. We’ll also look at how the conflict myth was invented in the nineteenth century by authors like Andrew Dickson White and why it remains so prevalent today. To see how the conflict myth is based on a misunderstanding of history, we’ll briefly examine five key topics: science and religion in ancient Greece; how the church supported science in the Middle Ages; the controversies over the work of Copernicus and Galileo; why Enlightenment rationalists attacked religion; and the reception of Darwin’s work on evolution. ; N/A
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