You Tube Theology

In the thirtieth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Peter Harrison, Professor of History and Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Queensland and Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Notre Dame Australia. Harrison opens by exploring the popular perception that the narrative concerning the relationship shared by science and religion is one defined by conflict. Harrison contends, however, such a narrative is predominantly constructed and perpetuated by individuals with little understanding of theology. Compounding the challenge is that the narratives to which those individuals gravitate are often ones taken out of context and/or ones from which only select details are recounted. A longer view of history recounted by individuals with deep appreciations for science and theology offers a narrative populated by scientists of deep faith whose theological commitments often animated their scientific investigations. Harrison then shifts to discussing his own formation as a scholar, the challenges scholars with interdisciplinary interests face, and the sources of optimism and hope those scholars can pursue. For Harrison, those sources of hope and optimism came while studying as a graduate student at Yale University with Hans Frei and George Lindbeck and then as a young scholar in the writings of Charles Taylor and Alasdair MacIntyre. Those sources of hope and optimism left their marks on Harrison’s own efforts—efforts which eventually led him to deliver the Gifford Lectures in 2010-2011 at the University of Edinburgh. Harrison concludes by reflecting upon the roles that virtues such as charity and gratitude play in the lives of scholars called to grapple with questions—often the largest of questions—defying the disciplinary strictures populating academe.