The Boyle Lectures
Established 1692 · Revived 2004 at St Mary-le-Bow · Digital series from 2021
The in-person Boyle Lecture at St Mary-le-Bow is invitation-only. The Digital Boyle Lecture and discussion are offered publicly online.
Next event
2027 Boyle Lecture
In person · invitation only
Science, Religion and the Tech Revolution: The Return of Christian Humanism
- When
- Monday 8 February 20276.00pm
- Where
- St Mary-le-Bow Church, London
- Lecturer
- Dr Nicholas D Spencer
- Response
- Dr Bethany SollerederUniversity of Oxford
Dr Nick Spencer is Senior Fellow at Theos. He is the author of a number of books, including Magisteria: The Entangled Histories of Science & Religion (Oneworld, 2023) and The Political Samaritan: How Power Hijacked a Parable (Bloomsbury, 2017). He is Visiting Research Fellow at the Faiths and Civil Society Unit, Goldsmiths, University of London, and a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion.
Latest lecture
God, the Brain, and the nature of Truth
Dr Iain McGilchrist Response: Revd Prof Michael J Reiss
Looking ahead
2028 Boyle Lecture
Prof David A. Wilkinson 28 February 2028 · 6.00pm
Science and religion in Global Context
Response: Prof Brandon Vaidyanathan
The series
About the series
The Boyle Lectures were established in 1692 as a series of sermons in London and Westminster. The original series ran until about 1730, with occasional lectures in the centuries that followed. In 2004 the series was revived at one of its original locations, the Wren church of St Mary-le-Bow on Cheapside in the City of London. ISSR partners with St Mary-le-Bow in organising and hosting the lectures. The in-person Boyle Lecture is invitation-only. Since 2021, ISSR has also hosted the Digital Boyle Lecture and live discussion so a wider public can follow the series online.
From the archive
Past lectures
Full archive of the revived series, newest first from 2004 to the present.
Science, Technology, Theology and Spirituality — A Necessary Partnership?
The Most Reverend Dr Antje Jackelén
Is it ‘natural’ to believe in God?
Very Revd Professor David Fergusson
Attending to Attention
Lord Rowan Williams
God and a World of Natural Evil: Theology and Science in Hard Conversation
Christopher Southgate
The Rediscovery of Contemplation Through Science
Tom McLeish
Lectures from 2021 onward are on the ISSR YouTube channel. Earlier lectures in the revived series (2004–2020) are on St Mary-le-Bow’s YouTube channel.
Mental Health and the Gospel
Christopher Cook
Science, Religion and Ethics
Michael Reiss
Apocalyses Now: Modern Science and Biblical Miracles
Mark Harris
Theological Influences in Scientific Research Programmes: Natural Theology ‘In Reverse’
Robert J Russell
Natural Theology in a Changed Key? Evolution, Cooperation, and the God Question
Sarah Coakley
Natural Theology Revisited (Again)
Russell Re Manning
New Atheism – New Apologetics: The Use of Science in Recent Christian Apologetic Writings
Alister McGrath
Science and Religion in Dialogue
John Polkinghorne
Christ and Evolution: A Drama of Wisdom?
Celia Deane-Drummond
Is the World Unfinished? On Interactions between Science and Theology in the concepts of Nature, Time and the Future
Jürgen Moltmann
The Legacy of Robert Boyle – Then and Now
John Hedley Brooke
Misusing Darwin: The Materialist Conspiracy in Evolutionary Biology
Keith Ward
Psychologising and Neurologising about Religion: Facts, Fallacies and the Future
Malcolm Jeeves
Cosmology of Ultimate Concern
John D Barrow
The Emergence of Spirit: From Complexity to Anthropology to Theology
Philip Clayton
Darwin’s Compass: How Evolution Discovers the Song of Creation
Simon Conway Morris
Darwin, Design and the Promise of Nature
John F Haught