ISSR is pleased to announce that we will be hosting an online event next week for the 2021 ISSR Book Prize for Science and Religion's 2021 prize winners. To raise the profile of the Prize we are hosting a one-hour online event in which each of the three prize-winning authors will have a chance to talk about their book, and to discuss it with one of the judges from the Prize Committee. There will be an opportunity for questions from the online audience afterwards. The event will be chaired by Michael J Reiss, President of ISSR. The winners of this year's prize are: Ariel Glucklich will discuss his book, The Joy of Religion: Exploring the Nature of Pleasure in the Spiritual Life, with Ed Larson. James W Jones will discuss

The International Society for Science and Religion records with deep regret the death of our Founding President, John C Polkinghorne, on Tuesday 9th March 2021. He was a distinguished theoretical physicist who in 1979 resigned his position as Professor of Mathematical Physics in the University of Cambridge to pursue theological studies, and was ordained in the Church of England in 1981. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974, elected President of Queens’ College in Cambridge in 1989, was Knighted in 1997, and received the Templeton Prize in 2002. He became one of the most significant figures working on science and religion, and the author of many widely read and influential books.   Fraser Watts Executive Secretary

  ISSR is pleased to announce that the 2021 Boyle Lecture will be given by Professor Tom McLeish, Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of York, on the subject of: Rediscovering Science as Contemplation The response this year will be given by The Rt Revd & Rt Hon The Lord Rowan Williams of Oystermouth.   The lecture will be given at 6.00 pm on Wednesday 3rd February 2021. However, due to the ongoing global pandemic, this year's lecture will be available only online and will be followed by a live online panel discussion of the lecture from 7.15 pm to 8.00 pm. Links will be made available at a later date closer to the event.   Enquiries can be made to admin@issr.org.uk.

by Brian Heap   It is with great sadness that we report the death of cosmologist, mathematician and physicist, John Barrow who died at his home in Cambridge on 26 September 2020 at the age of 67. He was the Professor of Mathematical Sciences and Director of the Millennium Mathematics Project (MMP) at the University of Cambridge, and at the time of his death, Dean of Clare Hall. He was a member of the Faraday International Advisory Board and a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion.   John received his DPhil in astrophysics from the University of Oxford in 1977, and first caught wide attention with his 1986 book, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, co-authored with Frank J. Tipler.  He authored or co-authored more than 25 books

Books on the interface between science and religion remain very popular. However, recent years have seen a significant change in the kind of books that are being published. The older books usually argued that Christian beleif was (or wasn’t) compatible with science. More recently, books on science and religion have become more diverse, and taken a broader view of religion and spirituality.   Some of that diversity is celebrated in a new book prize, launched this year by the International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR). Books on science and religion are written for different audiences. Starting this year, ISSR is awarding three prizes, one for a book intended for the general public, one for a book intended for professionals engaged in communication, and one for a book

ISSR is pleased to announce that after a committee was formed to judge books nominated by our membership in the field of science and religion, with funding gratefully received from the Templeton World Charity Foundation, the inaugural year's prizes have now been announced with three prize winners, one for each category.   In the ‘academic’ category, the prize goes to Silke Gülker for her Transzendenz in der Wissenschaft: Studien in der Stammzellforschung in Deutschland und in den USA (Transcendence in Science: Studies in Stem Cell Research in Germany and the USA) (Ergon Verlag, https://www.ergon-verlag.de/programm/religionswissenschaft/). In this ground-breaking book, Silke Gülker examines how transcendence is understood in religion and in two laboratories where work on stem cells is undertaken. Detailed observations and interviews reveal how researchers in science see

Dear ISSR Member,   I do hope you are keeping well.   As you already know the 2020 ISSR Annual General Meeting is fast approaching. Taking place this year on Wednesday, 05 August at 16:00 British Summer Time.   This email serves four purposes. First, this is a reminder of the AGM, and to please mark the date in your calendar to attend. Second, if you are planning to attend, I ask that you email me directly (admin@issr.org.uk) so that I may have an estimated total for administrative purposes. Third, I attach here the Agenda for the upcoming meeting, the Annual Report of the Society, and the minutes from the previous AGM.   Lastly, and critically, I attach here the Zoom Meeting details which will be how you

 The AGM of the International Society for Science and Religion will be held this year by Zoom, because of the current pandemic and travel restrictions. The AGM will be held at 16:00 (British Summer Time) on Wednesday, 5th August 2020. The AGM is, of course, open to all members of the ISSR, and we warmly encourage as many members as possible to take advantage of the Zoom arrangements to join us this year. If you are able to do so, it would be really helpful if you would let Anthony Nairn (admin@issr.org.uk) know in advance. The formal business includes approving the Annual Accounts and electing new members to the Executive Committee. Nominations for the Committee need to be proposed and seconded in writing and sent to the administrator, Anthony Nairn, seven

The authors, Sir Brian Heap and Revd. Dr Ronald Cole-Turner, were invited by the Executive Committee of the International Society for Science and Religion to prepare this statement. Through a process involving consultation with all members of the Society, the statement has now been accepted by the Executive Committee for publication as a statement made on behalf of the Society. The Society retains the copyright of the statement, but gives general permission to reproduce it, in whole or in part, provided that the statement in the paragraph immediately preceding this is reproduced. Summary 1. A major obstacle to embryonic stem cell research is the shortage of human eggs. A recent proposal within a multifaceted programme of research in developmental biology seeks to address the problem through the use