Boyle Lectures

[Beatrix Gerke]

The Boyle Lectures are named after Robert Boyle, a prominent natural philosopher of the 17th century and son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork. Under the terms of his Will, Robert Boyle endowed a series of lectures or sermons (originally eight each year) which were to consider the relationship between Christianity and the new natural philosophy (today's 'science') then emerging in European society. Since 2004, this prestigious Lectures series has been organized, with the assistance of Board of the Boyle Lectures, by the International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR) and has been held at one of its original locations, the Wren church of St Mary-le-Bow on Cheapside in the City of London.

Sir, When I wrote my Treatise about our System, I had an Eye upon such Principles as might work with considering Men, for the Belief of a Deity; nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that Purpose.[1][2]

The early lecturers were specifically charged to prove the truth of the Christian religion against Jews, Muslims and non-believers, without considering any controversies or differences that might exist between different Christian groups.

"To preach eight sermons in the year, for proving the Christian religion against notorious infidels, viz. Atheists, Deists, Pagans, Jews, Mahometans, not descending to any controversies that are among Christians themselves."

A clergyman was to be appointed to the lectureship for a term of no more than three years by Thomas Tenison (later Archbishop of Canterbury) and three other nominated trustees.[3] Boyle had assigned the rent from his house in Crooked Lane to support the lectures but the income from that source soon disappeared. Archbishop Tenison then arranged that the rental income from a farm in the parish of Brill in Buckinghamshire was to be paid at the rate of 12.10.00 per quarter to the lecturer.[4]

The Boyle Lectures were revived in 2004 at the famous Wren church of St Mary-le-Bow in the City of London by Dr Michael Byrne, a Fellow of Birkbeck College London. Financial support for the lectures has been provided by a number of patrons, principally the Worshipful Company of Grocers and the Worshipful Company of Mercers in the city. A book to mark the 10th anniversary of the revived series was edited by Russell Re Manning and Michael Byrne and published by SCM Press in 2013 as 'Science and Religion in the Twenty-First Century: The Boyle Lectures 2004-2013'.

Having convened the first 15 lectures in the new series, Michael Byrne stepped down as Convenor in 2018. Management of the lecture then passed to the International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR) in cooperation with the Boyle Lectures Board of Trustees. Members of the board include John Boyle, 15th Earl of Cork; the Hon. Robert Boyle; Julian Tregoning, Past Master of the Grocers' Company; Xenia Dennan, Past Master of the Mercers Company; the Revd George R. Bush, Rector of St Mary-le-Bow; Emeritus Professor John Hedley Brooke; Dr Russell Re Manning; Professor Fraser Watts; and the Revd Michael Reiss, former President of the ISSR.

As in previous years, ISSR transmitted the Digital Premiere of the Boyle Lecture via YouTube, which was followed by a live panel discussion on Zoom.A tradition revived: 2004 to date
The new Boyle Lectures have been given annually at the parish church of St Mary-le-Bow in the City of London since 2004. These lectures are designed to address topics which explore the relationship between Christianity and our contemporary understanding of the natural world.

A collection of the first ten years of the revived Boyle Lectures at St Mary-le-Bow, Science and religion in the twenty-first century, (2013) edited by Russell Re Manning and Michael Byrne, is available here.

The lecture series has been greatly assisted by generous financial support provided by the Worshipful Company of Grocers, the Worshipful Company of Mercers, and Gresham College. The trustees record their deep gratitude to these institutions for their invaluable support.

Richard Bentley, an English classical scholar, was born Jan. 27, 1662. It is not clear why Bentley, then just 30 years old, was chosen in 1692 to deliver and publish the first of the Boyle lectures. These lectures had been established by the will of Robert Boyle, a...

The event, held at the beautiful Montecito Club, is a testament to all the hard work the Arts & Lectures (A&L) team, led by Miller McCune Executive Director Celesta Billeci, puts in every year to bring an incredible assortment of dancers, authors, musicians, and more to Santa Barbara.

Series subscription packages are currently on sale; single tickets will be on sale Friday, August 2. For more information on the upcoming season, visit the Arts & Lectures Ticket office or artsandlectures.ucsb.edu.

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Physico-theology; or, a demonstration of the being and attributes of God, from his works of creation. Being the substance of 16 sermons preached ... at ... Mr. Boyle's lectures in ... 1711 and 1712 / By the Rev. W. Derham... A New edition, with additional notes; a translation of the Latin and Greek quotations, and a life of the author. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

With this set of readings we begin to look at a controversy which is preliminary to that surrounding evolution, but important for it. Before Darwin, up to and past Linnaeus -- indeed, up to the middle of the 19th century -- the dominant paradigm -- or reigning theory -- of species was that of special creation. This theory held that:

1. Species were created by an omnipotent being, God, in their present form and with their current abilities. Neither form nor abilities change over time.
2. Species so created are perfectly adapted to their environment, and are able to live their lives in the surroundings chosen for them by their Creator.

It should be noted that almost all biologists (the term then used was "naturalists" or "natural historians") accepted this theory, for which the following evidence was brought to bear:

1. Nobody has observed a species appear.
2. Nobody has observed a species change.
3. Nobody has observed a species disappear.

The conclusion is that species are specially created.The situation was similar to that which earlier had led the ancient Greeks, and 2000 years of scientists, to believe that the sun revolves around the earth, which is stationary at the middle of the universe:

1. Everybody feels that the earth does not move, based on everyday experience of the ground upon which we walk.
2. Everybody sees that the sun rises and sets every day, implying that it revolves about the earth.
3. Everybody sees that the stars -- which are luminous bodies like the sun -- describe a semicircle each night around the earth in the visible part of the sky (implying that they do the same in the other hemisphere, forming a complete circle).

The conclusion is that the sun circles the earth.In both these cases (geocentric cosmology, and special creation), common sense and perceptual evidence support theories which are later replaced by ones which appeal to processes not visible to the senses and which are in some degree counter-intuitive. More on this later.The theory of special creation -- a specific biological theory about the origin and development of species -- was buttressed theoretically by the more general theory known as "natural theology". Natural theology -- which can be traced back to Augustine in later antiquity and Aquinas in the middle ages, holds the following: The existence of a natural world which is complex and harmonious is evidence for a divine being who has created the world.

In other words, in natural theology, we reason back from natural phenomena to a supernatural creator; or again, from natural effects (celestial bodies, biological organisms) to a supernatural cause (a divine being). Here I use the term "supernatural" in the logical sense of "above and beyond the natural", and not in any pejorative or demeaning sense. One can arrive at knowledge of God through sources other than natural theology -- revealed theology, for example, depends on faith and revelation, not observation and science.Natural theology, then, is logically a higher level theory than special creation: natural theology is a general approach to reasoning from the natural to the divine, while special creation is a particular act of divinity with respect to biological species in nature. One of the best expositions of this viewpoint was presented in William Paley's Natural Theology which appeared in 1802 and went through many editions. Paley was a minister with an interest in natural history, and in his work argued by analogy as follows:

1. We distinguish between a rock we find in our path, whose origin is by chance, and a watch, which upon examination is readily seen to be work of design.
2. Now, an organism or living being is more like a watch than a rock, for its complexity of organization and suiting of form to function cannot be by chance.
3. Therefore, we conclude that organisms are designed.
4. But a design presupposes a designer. In the case of the watch, the designer is the watchmaker. In the case of the world and all its species, the designer is a divine watchmaker -- God.

Click here to read Paley's argument.This fits very nicely with the Renaissance/Enlightenment view of God as divine "watchmaker", and the universe as a mechanism created by him. Natural theology can be considered as the dominant world view of scientists in both physics and biology in England from the 1690s to the time of Darwin.

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