Physico-theology

Beginning around 1650, the emergence of a number of new scientific concepts, methods, and instruments'including Copernicanism, the mechanical philosophy, and the microscope'challenged existing syntheses of science and religion. Physico-theology, which embraced the values of personal, empirical observation, was an international movement of the early Enlightenment that focused on the new science to make arguments about divine creation and providence. By reconciling the new science with Christianity across many denominations, physico-theology played a crucial role in diffusing new scientific ideas, assumptions, and interest in the study of nature to a broad public.

This book examines physico-theology as a distinctive strand within the long and versatile tradition of natural theology. Sixteen leading scholars in the field of science and religion contribute a rich array of analyses of the terms and scope of the movement, its scientific and religious arguments, and its aesthetic sensibilities. Surveying multiple national and linguistic contexts of early modern Europe, the book examines how the movement grew out of decisive works by British authors, including Walter Charleton, Robert Boyle, John Ray, William Derham, and William Whiston. It traces physico-theology to the Netherlands, Germanic lands, France, and Italy by considering the works of Bernard Nieuwentijt, Willem Goeree, J. A. Fabricius, J. J. Scheuchzer, Noël-Antoine Pluche, Antonio Vallisneri, and others.

This first major study of physico-theology focuses on books which reached a wide audience in their time through multiple editions and translations, even if they are not well known today. It should appeal to anyone interested in the histories of science, religion, and their interactions, or seeking a new perspective on naturalism and the origins of the European Enlightenment.

Contributors: Ann Blair, Simona Boscani Leoni, John Hedley Brooke, Nicolas Brucker, Katherine Calloway, Kathleen Crowther, Brendan Dooley, Peter Harrison, Barbara Hunfeld, Eric Jorink, Scott Mandelbrote, Brian W. Ogilvie, Martine P+¬charman, Jonathan Sheehan, Anne-Charlott Trepp, Rienk Vermij, Kaspar von Greyerz