The latest book on science and religion by Dr Nick Spencer and Dr Hannah Waite aims to get to the root of what the terms ‘science’ and ‘religion’ actually mean through interviews from over 100 leading thinkers. 28/02/2025

The relationship between science and religion has long been a heated debate and is becoming an ever more popular topic. The scientific capacity to manipulate and change humans and their environment through genetic engineering, life extension, and AI is going to take a huge leap forward in the twenty–first century, provoking endless debates around humans “playing God”.

But what do we mean by this? Asking this question is surprisingly hard work. Attempts to ‘essentialise’ science, let alone religion, quickly run into trouble. Where are the boundaries? Whose definition of science is definitive? Which concept of religious is the authoritative one?

Ultimately, neither “science” nor “religion” can be pinned down to one single meaning or definition. Rather, they encompass a family of definitions that relate to one another in a complex web of shifting ways. Drawing on extensive research with over a hundred leading thinkers in the UK ― including Martin Rees, Brian Cox, Susan Greenfield, A.C. Grayling, Ray Tallis, Linda Woodhead, Steve Bruce, Adam Rutherford, Robin Dunbar, Francesca Stavrakopoulou, and Iain McGilchrist ― The Landscapes of Science and Religion takes the much–needed step of asking what science and religion actually are, before turning to the familiar question of how they relate to one another.

Building on this, by paying particular attention to those who sense some form of conflict here, Spencer and Waite explore where the perceived conflict really lies. What exactly are people disagreeing about when they disagree about science and religion, and what, if anything, can we do to improve that disagreement and bring about a fruitful dialogue between these two important human endeavours.

You can find out more and purchase a copy here.

About the authors

Dr Nick Spencer: Nick is Senior Fellow at Theos. He is the author of a number of books and reports, including Magisteria: the entangled histories of science and religion (Oneworld, 2023), The Political Samaritan: how power hijacked a parable (Bloomsbury, 2017), The Evolution of the West (SPCK, 2016) and Atheists: The Origin of the Species (Bloomsbury, 2014). He is host of the podcast Reading Our Times. Outside of Theos, Nick is Visiting Research Fellow at the Faiths and Civil Society Unit, Goldsmiths, University of London and a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion.  

Dr Hannah Waite: Hannah joined Theos in 2019. She has an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Counselling and a PhD in Practical Theology both from the University of Aberdeen. She is particularly interested in mental health, disability and theology and was a founding member and community developer of Friendship House Aberdeen, a movement towards creating an inclusive community for adults with and without disability. She is working on Theos’ Religion and Science project.

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Fortress Britain? Ethical approaches to immigration policy for a post–Brexit Britain, from a Christian perspective. (2018)

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Whatever your thoughts on Brexit, one thing is certain; it gives us a once in a lifetime opportunity to completely reassess our immigration policy. Let’s make sure we do it soundly and ethically. 

A 2016 survey found that British people think that EU migrants make up 15% of the UK’s population, when in reality it is just 5%. This overestimation is reflective of continued media focus on the ‘issue’ of immigration and its prominence in the Brexit debate.

Although clearly a key concern in British society, the ethical implications of immigration are often over–looked. Edited by Theos’ Ben Ryan, this collection of short essays explores the ethical issues surrounding immigration and provokes intelligent discussion on how to establish a new immigration policy that is grounded in Christian theology. 

But why draw from Christian ethics? 

41% of the British–born population call themselves Christian. Significantly, just under 50% of the non–UK–born population also identify as Christian. Migrants in the UK are also three times more likely than natives to pray daily or attend religious services. Editor Ben Ryan argues that an ethical model taken from this shared faith would connect the identities of both migrant communities and British natives, and provide ‘an excellent source on which to build.’ 

With contributions from across the Christian and political spectrums, including Anna Rowlands, Girma Mohammed, Adrian Pabst and Susanna Snyder, Fortress Britain? challenges thinking around one of the UK’s most complex issues, and invites policy–makers and politicians to consider Christian theology as a basis for a new and effective immigration policy. 

Fortress Britain? Ethical Approaches to Immigration Policy for a Post–Brexit Britain (19th April 2018) is published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 

Order your copy here, £16.99.

For press copies or author interviews, please contact lily.bowden@jkp.com / 020 7833 2307.

How the perennially popular story of the Good Samaritan is deployed in supposedly secular politics. (2017)

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The decline of biblical literacy, among politicians and public, has not been as straightforward or complete as is sometimes imagined. There is evidence for decline way back into the nineteenth century and even today politicians not are wholly ignorant of, indifferent to or scared of using biblical stories, phrases and images. A good example of this is the story of the Good Samaritan.

The parable of the Good Samaritan has been used by almost every major British politician over recent years – from Theresa May and Tony Blair to Margaret Thatcher and Jeremy Corbyn. But they don’t all use it to say the same thing.

In this book, Nick Spencer explains why and how Jesus’ famous parable got mixed up in politics. From abolitionists to warmongers, prime ministers to activists such as Dr Martin Luther King, Spencer uncovers the reasons for the parable’s popularity – and then asks the killer question: who gets it right?

If the Good Samaritan has been dragged on to the political stage, whose side is he on?

The Political Samaritan: How Power Hijacked a Parable (2017) is published by Bloomsbury. Paperback £12.99, ebook £10.99. Order your copy now.

A book exploring how different Christian politicians have used (and abused) religion in their politics. (2017)

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Alastair Campbell’s ‘We don’t do God’ is one of the most (mis)quoted sound bites of the age but, however much it might have been right concerning his political master (and therein lies a debate), it is certainly not true of all contemporary political leaders. Indeed, it is striking how many global political leaders are Christian believers and how far their faith shapes and is shaped by their politics – for better or for worse.

This collection examines how a range of recent and contemporary leaders have ‘done God’: their Christian background and formation; how it has informed their political values and agenda, their priorities and their rhetoric; and what all this says about Christianity and contemporary political power.

The collection covers major political figures of the past thirty years including Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Goodluck Jonathan, Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, Theresa May, Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin, Ronald Reagan, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Margaret Thatcher and Donald Trump.

Download the introduction

Order your copy

The Mighty and the Almighty: How Political Leaders Do God (2017). Hardback £18.99, with a free ebook version (ebook available separately for £15.99)

Nick Spencer’s chapter in Religion and Atheism (edited by Carroll and Norman) asks how the religious and non–religious can speak the same language. (2017)

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Arguments between those who hold religious beliefs and those who do not have been at fever pitch. They have also reached an impasse, with equally entrenched views held by believer and atheist – and even agnostic – alike. This collection, edited by Anthony Carroll and Richard Norman, is one of the first books to move beyond this deadlock. Specially commissioned chapters address major areas that cut across the debate between the two sides: the origin of knowledge, objectivity and meaning; moral values and the nature of the human person and the good life; and the challenge of how to promote honest and fruitful dialogue in the light of the wide diversity of beliefs, religious and otherwise.

Nick Spencer has contributed a chapter entitled ‘Signifying nothing: how the religious and non–religious can speak the same language’.

Religion and Atheism: Beyond the Divide will interest anyone who is concerned about the clash between the religious and the secular and how to move beyond it, as well as students of ethics, philosophy of religion and religious studies.

Religion and Atheism: Beyond the Divide (2017) published by Routledge (£26.99 paperback)

Nick Spencer explains that the deepest values of contemporary, liberal secular society have their roots in Christianity. (2016)

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What are our values? What had made the West the West? Indeed, what has made Britain Britain? And why?

The shockwaves caused by the Brexit referendum have led to some soul–searching – for religious and non–religious people alike. Clarifying what we stand for, as a society, involves thinking about some core values– Nationhood, Democracy, Dignity, Rule of Law, Welfare, Capitalism, Science, Human Rights, Ethics – and we need to start by understanding where they come from. As Nick Spencer shows in his book, The Evolution of the West: How Christianity Has Shaped our Values, the deepest values of contemporary, liberal secular society have their roots in Christianity. 

A timely reposte to the New Atheists

Why might this seem a radical idea? Because for last decade the New Atheists have argued that the values that many of us hold dear developed despite religion.  These arose once we threw off Christianity’s malign influence, they claim: the story of Western Thought is one of slow but steady secular emancipation.

But that’s not the whole story. Our cherished values were not simply born in the Enlightenment, Spencer argues. Drawing upon a wealth of historical, literary and philosophical sources he demonstrates that Christianity has had a key role in the development in all of them. What’s more, it’s created Humanism, Secularism and, (irony of ironies?) even Atheism.

For instance, our understanding that everyone should enjoy equal status under the law, and have freedom of conscience has its roots not in the writings of Voltaire, nor in Roman law, but in the radical early Christian idea of an individual ennobled in the sight of God. While the Church’s actions over the last twenty centuries certainly haven’t always honoured that view, its basis is certainly Christian.

Equally, the book shows how Christian ideas impacted the development of the welfare state, offer insights into equality that Piketty’s analysis overlooks, provide an important underpinning to our commitment to human rights, and underlie our ideas of nationhood.  And what of science?  Spencer argues that while it’s fashionable to write Christianity out of the equation altogether, the relationship is the relationship is far more symbiotic than we might assume.

We need to shake off our collective amnesia

These questions aren’t just of academic interest: if we lose sight of the basis for our deepest values it’ll become harder to defend them.

When it comes to the development of the values we cherish, it’s a fascinating and complex story: Spencer is clear that the Church has not always been on the side of the angels.  But as we reexamine our values at this crucial time, we need to shake off our collective amnesia and understand the pivotal role Christianity has had in the evolution of the west.

Download the introduction.

Order the UK edition or the US edition.

The Evolution of the West: How Christianity Has Shaped our Values (2016), published by SPCK (£9.99).

“All readers, whatever their religious, non–religious, or political persuasions, should read this.” Sughra Ahmed, Chair, Islamic Society of Britain

“This is a much needed book. Spencer shows persuasively that we cannot understand our political, economic or social culture without taking into account the key role Christianity has played in shaping Western values. Balanced and never claiming too much, it offers an essential corrective to contemporary narratives that try to write Christianity out of the script.” Bishop Richard Harries, House of Lords

“Surrounded by complex issues, it is hard to understand what’s going on, what the important thinkers are saying, and what a thinking Christian might make of it all. Nick Spencer carves out a clear path through this jungle, helping us to see how we got here in the first place and how we might move forward in faith and wisdom.” N. T. Wright, Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, University of St Andrews

A book recounting the historical development of atheism, showing that atheism has always been a cluster of different social and political phenomena. (2014)

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Atheism has become increasingly visible in recent years, but despite high profile books both promoting and attacking it, little has been written on its origins or history.

Atheists: The Origin of the Species tells that story – from Machiavelli and Marlowe to Dennett and and Dawkins – but goes beyond the usual godless suspects. It also tells the story of Thomas Aitkenhead hung for blasphemous atheism, Percy Shelley expelled for adolescent atheism, and the Marquis de Sade imprisoned for libertine atheism. It is the story of the French revolutionary Terror and the Soviet League of the Militant Godless; of working class British secularists and upper–class French Positivists; the religious fundamentalists and their Darwinian opponents. The Nazis even make a brief appearance.

This is not a single story. Atheists: The Origin of the Species argues that, rather than being a straightforward philosophical or scientific position about the non–existence of God, atheism was, and remains, a cluster of different social and political phenomena. Because modern atheism developed in reaction to the Christianity that dominated Europe’s intellectual, social and political life, it adopted and adapted its ideas and institutions, changing according to the authorities against which it was rebelling.

As the number of Western atheists increase, New Atheism dies with whimper and atheist churches spring up (again) in cities around the world, the stories of atheism, Nick Spencer argues, will continue to morph but, interlocked with the story of God, will remain the tales that define – and even perhaps dominate – the 21^st century.

Atheists: The Origin of the Species (2014) is published by Bloomsbury Publishing (£15.29).

“In this scintillating new analysis, Nick Spencer shows that atheism is much more diverse and interesting than the New Atheists would have us believe. There have been many atheisms, continually mutating as authority in society is repeatedly challenged, and in different and changing forms atheism will always be with us—just as religion will be. Ranging across the ancient world, non–western traditions and twentieth century assaults on religion, this brilliantly illuminating account of the history and meanings of atheism will be indispensable to anyone who really wants to understand what is at stake in contemporary debates.” John Gray, author of The Silence of Animals: On Progress and other Modern Myths (2013)

Nick Spencer traces the influence of the Bible on British political life and thought. (2011)

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The influence of the Bible – particularly the King James Bible – on English literature and culture is widely celebrated. By contrast, its impact on British politics is unknown, underplayed or altogether ignored.

Nick Spencer challenges this conventional wisdom, arguing that the Bible is perhaps the single most influential document in British political history.

Building on the idea that it contains two powerful but apparently contradictory political themes – the right to be free, and the need for political order – Spencer traces the Bible’s immense influence on national politics: from its role in the formation of national identity and in setting limits on kingship in Anglo–Saxon times, through its impact on ideas of tolerance, democracy and equality, to its subtle influence on the Welfare State, and within the rhetoric of modern Prime Ministers.

Freedom and Order shows how, without the Bible, British political history would have been incomparably different, and suggests that only by continuing to hold its twin themes of freedom and order in creative tension can we hope to maintain a healthy political culture.

Freedom and Order: History, Politics and the English Bible (2011) is published by Hodder & Stoughton.

“Nick Spencer ranges stylishly over English history from Saint Augustine’s landing in Kent to Saint Tony Blair and beyond, richly documenting how this realm of England was a biblically based culture even before the realm of England was invented. Clarity and learning lightly worn make this book stand out from the herd in this year celebrating King James’s contribution to biblical translation.” Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church, University of Oxford

“For anyone freshly curious to understand that jagged and sometimes bloodstained terrain between religion and politics, Church and State in these islands, this is the book for you. Nick Spencer is an ace historical cartographer of that landscape; a guide of fluency and judgement for those who wish to cross it from the seventh century to the present day.” Lord Peter Hennessy, Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History, Queen Mary, University of London

“In a book that somehow manages to be both sweeping and concise, Nick Spencer demonstrates just how much the political culture of Britain owes to that massive seedbed of ideas, the Bible.” Tom Holland, historian and author of Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic (2003)

This volume of essays, edited by Nick Spencer and Jonathan Chaplin, considers what the proper function of government is according to Christian thought. (2009)

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What, according to Christian thought, is the proper function of government?

That is the key question this volume of essays, edited by Nick Spencer and Jonathan Chaplin, aims to address. It does not tell readers what to do, still less who to vote for. Rather, it seeks to equip us to think through what we in our roles as political Christians (that is, Christians employed, engaged or simply interested in politics) should be attempting to achieve.

God and Government (2009) is published by SPCK.

“God and Government offers invaluable resources for what is now a sharply urgent task thinking through the ethical and spiritual foundations of our democracy.” Lord Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, in the foreword.

Nick Spencer explores the religious beliefs of Charles Darwin. (2009)

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On 27 December 1831 Charles Darwin left Plymouth on the Beagle, on a voyage would last nearly five years and, in other ways, a lifetime.

Before the trip Darwin had been “a sort of Chistian”: “orthodox” in a conventional, rational, Anglican kind of way. The Beagle voyage changed that, sending him on a journey from Christianity, through theism, to the “muddled” agnosticism of his old age. Darwin and God traces that journey.

It begins by exploring the nature of Darwin’s pre–Beagle beliefs and the religious significance of the voyage, before following him through the tumultuous years of intellectual speculation that followed and the dreadful loss of his favourite child.

Drawing on his autobiography, manuscripts, notebooks, and letters, as well as his world–famous publications, it explores Darwin’s view of design, purpose, morality, the universe and the human mind, arguing that, although his theory of evolution by natural selection did to undermine his Christian faith, it was the age–old problem of suffering – first in theory and then in a terribly real way – that broke his faith.

Darwin and God (2009) is published by SPCK. (£9.99)

“Darwin and God is the first full–length account of Darwin’s religious beliefs to be published in the UK. Meticulously–researched but highly readable, it presents a tumultuous, moving and compelling story of one of the world’s greatest scientists. When misconceptions abound concerning Darwin’s religious views, it is good to read such a sensitive, reliable and absorbing account.” John Hedley Brooke, Emeritus Professor of Science and Religion, Oxford University

“This fascinating and readable book fills a big gap in the Darwin literature and provides a well–researched overview of Darwin’s religious struggles”. Denis Alexander, Director, The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion

“A very helpful helpful discussion of a neglected and important subject.” Mary Midgley, moral philosopher

Nick Spencer and Robert White offer a detailed perspective on Christianity and sustainable consumption and production.

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Levels and patterns of consumption and production in the West have reached a level that cannot be maintained. The way we live, and in particular the way we produce and use energy, is no longer environmentally sustainable: it is already threatening the health and well–being of both planet and people. An estimated 150,000 people per year die as a direct result of anthropogenic climate change, and they are disproportionately in the low–income countries. Our activities and the policies that shape them need to change.

This book, which is the first serious Christian engagement with the emerging issue of Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP), analyses the scientific, sociological, economic and theological thinking that makes a Christian response to these trends imperative, before moving on to a practical conclusion that explores what Christians, church fellowships and the Church can do and campaign about. 

Christianity, Climate Change and Sustainable Living (2007) is published by SPCK.