Boyle Lectures

The Boyle Lectures are a series of public lectures named after 17th century Anglo-Irish scientist and philosopher Robert Boyle (1627 – 1691), a prominent natural philosopher of early modern Britain and Ireland.

Under the terms of his will, Robert Boyle, a wealthy inheritor as the son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, supplied £50 GBP (from 1691, the year of Robert's death, roughly equivalent in purchasing power to £10,000 – £13,500 in 2026) per annum to endow a series of lectures or sermons—originally with the intention that eight lectures be given each year—which were to consider the relationship between Christianity and the then-fledgling discipline of natural philosophy. A field of inquiry comparable to, and the precursor of, modern-day science—and of the sciences and scientific inquiry broadly—the development and study of natural philosophy was a key element of the processes leading to the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution, and on its own a subject of intense intellectual exploration emergent in 17th-century European society, namely among the learned and scholarly classes of the time; European civilization being predominantly Christian—Europe itself considered a cornerstone of wider Christendom—alongside these academic pursuits appeared Christian apologetics aimed at countering the disputations of theology arising from religious engagement with that subject, with a particular focus placed upon doctrinal and dogmatic claims regarding supernatural phenomena scrutinized in the light of scientific skepticism.

Since 2004, this prestigious Lectures series has been organized, with the assistance of Board of the Boyle Lectures, by the International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR), and has again been held at one of its original locations, the Wren church of St Mary-le-Bow on Cheapside in the City of London.

History

Early lectures

The first such lecture was given in 1692 by Richard Bentley, to whom Isaac Newton had written:

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.

The early lecturers were specifically charged to prove the truth of the Christian religion against Jews, Muslims and non-believers, without considering any controversies or differences that might exist between different Christian groups.

"To preach eight sermons in the year, for proving the Christian religion against notorious infidels, viz. Atheists, Deists, Pagans, Jews, Mahometans, not descending to any controversies that are among Christians themselves."

A clergyman was to be appointed to the lectureship for a term of no more than three years by Thomas Tenison (later Archbishop of Canterbury) and three other nominated trustees. Boyle had assigned the rent from his house in Crooked Lane to support the lectures but the income from that source soon disappeared. Archbishop Tenison then arranged that the rental income from a farm in the parish of Brill in Buckinghamshire was to be paid at the rate of £12.10.00 per quarter to the lecturer.