Boyle-Lectures

Die Boyle Lectures sind nach Robert Boyle benannt, einem bedeutenden Naturphilosophen des 17. Jahrhunderts. Im Rahmen seines Testaments stiftete Robert Boyle eine Reihe von Vorlesungen oder Predigten (ursprünglich acht pro Jahr), die sich mit der Beziehung zwischen dem Christentum und der neuen Naturphilosophie befassen sollten, die zu dieser Zeit in der europäischen Gesellschaft aufkam. Seit 2004 wird diese prestigeträchtige Vortragsreihe mit Unterstützung des Board of the Boyle Lectures von der International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR) organisiert und an einem der ursprünglichen Veranstaltungsorte, der Wren-Kirche St. Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside in der Londoner City, abgehalten.

Geschichte

Frühe Vorlesungen

Die erste derartige Vorlesung wurde 1692 von Richard Bentley gehalten, an den Isaac Newton geschrieben hatte:

„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.“

Die frühen Prediger hatten den ausdrücklichen Auftrag, die Wahrheit der christlichen Religion gegenüber Juden, Muslimen und Ungläubigen zu beweisen, ohne dabei Kontroversen oder Unterschiede zwischen verschiedenen christlichen Gruppen zu berücksichtigen.

Ein Geistlicher sollte von Thomas Tenison (dem späteren Erzbischof von Canterbury) und drei weiteren ernannten Treuhändern für einen Zeitraum von höchstens drei Jahren zum Dozenten ernannt werden. Boyle hatte anfangs die Miete aus seinem Haus in der Londoner Crooked Lane zur Unterstützung der Vorlesungen abgetreten, doch die Einnahmen aus dieser Quelle versiegten bald. Erzbischof Tenison veranlasste daraufhin, dass die Pachteinnahmen aus einem Bauernhof in der Gemeinde Brill in Buckinghamshire in Höhe von 12,10 £ pro Quartal an den Dozenten gezahlt werden sollten.

Wiederauflage

Die Boyle-Vorlesungen wurden 2004 in der Wren-Kirche St. Mary-le-Bow in der Londoner City von Michael Byrne, einem Fellow des Birkbeck College der University of London, wiederbelebt. Finanziell unterstützt wurden die Vorlesungen von einer Reihe von Mäzenen, vor allem von der Worshipful Company of Grocers und der Worshipful Company of Mercers in der Stadt.

Nachdem Michael Byrne die ersten 15 Vorlesungen der neuen Reihe organisiert hatte, trat er 2018 als Einberufender zurück. Die Leitung der Vorlesung ging daraufhin an die International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR) in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Boyle Lectures Board of Trustees über.

Chronologische Liste

17. Jahrhundert

• 1692 – A Confutation of Atheism, by Richard Bentley
• 1693–94 – A Demonstration of the Messias, in which the Truth of the Christian Religion is proved, especially against the Jews, by Richard Kidder
• 1694 – Richard Bentley
• 1695 – The Possibility, Expediency and Necessity of Divine Revelation, by John Williams
• 1696 – The Perfection of the Evangelical Revelation, by John Williams
• 1697 – The Certainty of the Christian Revelation and the Necessity of believing it, established, by Francis Gastrell
• 1698 – The Atheistical Objections against the Being of God and His Attributes fairly considered and fully refuted, by John Harris
• 1699 – The Credibility of the Christian Revelation, from its intrinsick Evidence, by Samuel Bradford
• 1700 – The Sufficiency of a Standing Revelation, by Offspring Blackall

18. Jahrhundert

• 1701–02 – Truth and Excellency of the Christian Religion, by George Stanhope
• 1703 – Adams
• 1704 – A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, by Samuel Clarke
• 1705 – The Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion, by Samuel Clarke
• 1706 – Arguments to Prove the Being of a God, by John Hancock
• 1707 – The Accomplishment of Scripture Prophecies, by William Whiston
• 1708 – The Wisdom of God in the Redemption of Man, as delivered in the Holy Scriptures, vindicated from the chief Objections of Modern Infidels, by John Turner
• 1709 – Religion no Matter of Shame, by Lilly Butler
• 1710 – The Divine Original and Excellence of the Christian Religion, by Josiah Woodward
• 1711–12 – Physico-Theology, or a Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God from his Works of Creation, by William Derham
• 1713–14 – On the Exercise of Private Judgment, or Free-Thinking, by Benjamin Ibbot
• 1717–18 – Natural Obligations to Believe the Principles of Religion and Divine Revelation, by John Leng
• 1719 – An Enquiry into the Cause and Origin of Evil, by John Clarke
• 1720 – On the Origin of Evil, by John Clarke
• 1721 – The pretended Difficulties in Natural or Revealed Religion, no Excuse for Infidelity, by Robert Gurdon
• 1724–25 – A Demonstration of True Religion, in a Chain of Consequences from certain and undeniable Principles, by Thomas Burnett
• 1725–28 – John Denne
• 1730–32 – The Gradual Revelation of the Gospel from the time of Man's Apostacy, by William Berriman
• 1736–38 – The History of the Acts of the Holy Apostles, confirmed from other Authors, and considered as full Evidence for the Truth of Christianity, by Richard Biscoe
• 1739–41 – Leonard Twells
• 1747–49 – Christianity justified upon the Scripture Foundation; being a Summery View of the Controversy between Christians and Deists, by Henry Stebbing
• 1750–52 – John Jortin
• 1759–62 – Charles Moss
• 1763 – A Discourse upon the Being of God against Atheists, by Ralph Heathcote
• 1769–71 – The Intent and Propriety of the Scripture Miracles considered and explained, by Henry Owen
• 1778–80 – An Argument for the Christian Religion, drawn from a Comparison of Revelation with the Natural Operations of the Mind, by James Williamson

19. Jahrhundert

• 1802–05 – An Historical View of the Rise and Progress of Infidelity, with a Refutation of its Principles and Reasonings, by William Van Mildert
• 1812 – William Van Mildert
• 1814 – Frederick Nolan
• 1821 – The Connection of Christianity with Human Happiness, by William Harness
• 1845–46 – The Religions of the World; and Their Relations to Christianity Considered in Eight Lectures – Frederick Denison Maurice
• 1854 – Christopher Wordsworth
• 1861 – The Bible and its Critics: an Enquiry into the Objective Reality of Revealed Truths, by Edward Garbett
• 1862 – The Conflict between Science and Infidelity, by Edward Garbett
• 1864 – The Conversion of the Roman empire, by Charles Merivale
• 1865 – The Conversion of the Northern Nations, by Charles Merivale
• 1866–67 – Christ and Christendom, by Edward Hayes Plumptre
• 1868 – The Witness of the Old Testament to Christ, by Stanley Leathes
• 1869 – The Witness of St. Paul to Christ, by Stanley Leathes
• 1870 – The Witness of St. John to Christ, by Stanley Leathes
• 1871–72 – Moral Difficulties Connected with the Bible, by James Augustus Hessey
• 1874–75 – Christianity and Morality Or the Correspondence of the Gospel with the Moral Nature of Man, by Henry Wace
• 1876 – What is Natural Theology?, by Alfred Barry
• 1877–78 – The Manifold Witness for Christ, by Alfred Barry
• 1879–80 – The Evidential Value of the Holy Eucharist, by George Frederick Maclear
• 1884 – The Scientific Obstacles to Christian Belief, by George Herbert Curteis
• 1890 – Old Truths in Modern Lights (The Present Conflict of Science and Theology), by T. G. Bonney
• 1891 – Christian Doctrines and Modern Thought, by T. G. Bonney
• 1893 – Ascent of Faith or the Grounds of Certainty in Science and Religion, by Alexander James Harrison
• 1895 – The Gospel of Experience Or the Witness of Human Life to the Truth of Revelation, by W. C. E. Newbolt
• 1897 – William Benham

20. Jahrhundert

• 1903–05 – The Testimony of St. Paul to Christ Viewed in Some of its Aspects]], by Richard John Knowling
• 1935–36 – God, Creation and Revelation, by Allen John MacDonald
• 1965 – The Christian Universe, by Eric Mascall

21. Jahrhundert

• 2004 – Darwin, Design, and the Promise of Nature, by John F. Haught
• 2005 – Darwin's Compass: How Evolution Discovers the Song of Creation], by Simon Conway Morris, with a response by Keith Ward
• 2006 – The Emergence of Spirit: From Complexity to Anthropology to Theology, by Philip Clayton
• 2007 – Cosmology of Ultimate Concern, by John D Barrow, with a response by Martin Rees
• 2008 – Psychologising and Neurologising about Religion: Facts, Fallacies and the Future, by Malcolm Jeeves, with a response by Fraser Watts
• 2009 – Misusing Darwin: The Materialist Conspiracy in Evolutionary Biology, by Keith Ward, with a response by John Polkinghorne
• 2010 – The Legacy of Robert Boyle – Then and Now, by John Hedley Brooke, with a response by Geoffrey Cantor
• 2011 – Is the World Unfinished? On Interactions between Science and Theology, by Jürgen Moltmann, with a response by Alan Torrance
• 2012 – Christ and Evolution: A Drama of Wisdom, by Celia Deane-Drummond, with a response by Fount LeRon Shults
• 2013 – Science and Religion in Dialogue, by John Polkinghorne, with a response by Richard Chartres
• 2014 – New Atheism – New Apologetics: The Use of Science in Recent Christian Apologetic Writings, by Alister McGrath, with a response by Richard Harries
• 2015 – Natural Theology Revisited (Again), by Russell Re Manning, with a response by Louise Hickman
• 2016 – Natural Theology in a Changed Key? Evolution, Cooperation, and the God Question, by Sarah Coakley, with a response by Christopher Insole
• 2017 – Theological Influences in Scientific Research Programmes: Natural Theology 'in Reverse', by Robert J. Russell, with a response by Rowan Williams
• 2018 – Apocalypses Now: Modern Science and Biblical Miracles, by Mark Harris, with a response by John Hedley Brooke
• 2019 – Science, Religion and Ethics, by Michael Reiss
• 2020 – Mental Health and the Gospel, by Christopher Cook, with a response by Fraser Watts
• 2021 – The Rediscovery of Contemplation Through Science, by Tom McLeish, with a response by Rowan Williams
• 2022 – God and a World of Natural Evil: Theology and Science in Hard Conversation, by Prof Christopher Southgate, with a response by Andrew Davidson
• 2023 – Attending to Attention, by The Rt Revd and Rt Hon the Lord (Rowan) Williams of Oystermouth, with response from Dr John Teasdale
• 2024 – Is religion natural?, by David Fergusson, with response from Fiona Ellis.

Literatur

• Boyle, Robert, and the Boyle Lectures, in The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. II (CCEL)