ISSR 2024 Book Prize Announcement

The International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR) was pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 ISSR Book Prize for Science and Religion, held on Saturday, 31 August 2024, at the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology (ESSSAT) conference in Split, Croatia. 
https://www.esssat.net/next-conference 

Funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation, the ISSR Book Prize is intended to understand ‘religion’ broadly and seek excellence in content and communication. We seek to reward books that make a significant contribution to the field, especially if they have the potential to take the field in new directions. We expect three books to be selected each year, one suitable for a general audience, one for an academic audience, and one for a professional audience. 

For more information about the Book Prize and to find out how to nominate books, please visit this link: https://www.issr.org.uk/projects/issr-annual-book-prize/ 

Each year, we have awarded three prizes in distinct categories.

ISSR is pleased to have awarded the following authors the 2023 ISSR Book Prize on Science and Religion:   

In the academic category – Peter N. Jordan for Naturalism in the Christian Imagination: Providence and Causality in Early Modern England. Cambridge University Press, 2022.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/naturalism-in-the-christian-imagination/5FA401FC6204EE99BE236155A17CE8F4 

It is intriguing that the expansion of naturalism in 17th-century England arose within the Christian doctrine of providence, not in opposition to it. In this highly informative book, Peter Jordan shows how theologians and natural philosophers of this period wove naturalistic explanations into their Christian understanding of God’s activity in the world. The 17th-century discussion of providential naturalism is highly relevant to debates about religious naturalism in our own time.


In the category for a general readership – Philip Goff for Why? The Purpose of the Universe. Oxford University Press, 2023.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/why-the-purpose-of-the-universe-9780198883760?cc=gb&lang=en& 

In this highly readable book, Philip Goff explores the purpose of the universe, starting from its remarkable fine-tuning. He argues for a close association between purpose and consciousness, and is dissatisfied with regarding fine-tuning as a brute fact. He argues against both traditional theism and various other non-traditional designers, and espouses a teleological cosmopsychism. Regardless of whether readers agree with that conclusion, this is a rigorous and brilliant examination of what can and can’t be concluded from the fine-tuning of the universe.


In the category for professionals and educators – Nicholas Spencer for Magisteria: The Entangled Histories of Science & Religion. OneWorld, 2023.

https://oneworld-publications.com/contributor/nicholas-spencer/ 

Spencer provides us with an impressive and sweeping overview of the complex historical relationship between science and religion in four parts: their early relationship up to 1600; how science developed within the framework of religion in the 17th century; how it broke away from its religious parent in the 19th century; and how science and religion have continued to be endlessly and fascinatingly entangled ever since This book has been widely praised as one of the best overviews of the history of science and religion to be published for many years.


ISSR was established as an elite academic society to foster global and multi-faith perspectives on the intersection of science and religion. We invite you to learn more about us and consider becoming an Associate member by visiting our website: https://www.issr.org.uk.

Anthony K