ABSTRACT
One issue of concern for philosophy of religion is the relationship between science and religion. In what way should we understand the relationship between two of the most infl uential achievements of human culture? Philosophers have for a long time been interested in this topic, but the broader academic scene within which this discussion has taken place has drastically changed within a few decades. What once was a specialized conversation between small numbers of scholars has now become a topic for scholars from a variety of academic disciplines. This discussion has also burst on to the public scene in ways which would have been almost unthinkablein the 1970s or 1980s. There has been a veritable explosion of books, papers and conferences on science and religion, new courses on science and religion added to the curriculum, and a number of centers (e.g., the Zygon Center for Religion and Science, the Ian Ramsey Centre) and societies (e.g., the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology and the International Society for Science and Religion) have also sprung up. New journals specifi cally focusing on the science and religion encounter have been released such as Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science and Theology and Science, and websites launched such as Metanexus and Counterbalance. Philosophers have, surprisingly enough, played a minor role in this new emergent interdisciplinary study of science and religion, which has instead been dominated by theologians and natural scientists. Nevertheless, the science-religion debate raises a host of interesting philosophical questions.
