Archive of Author | Mark Harris

About Mark Harris

Mark Harris
As a physicist working in a theological environment, I'm interested in the complex ways that science and religion relate to each other. Originally trained as a geologist, I moved into physics in my postdoc years at Oxford, and then spend many years based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford, trying to understand 'frustrated' magnets, a major research area in physics. Midway through my scientific career I discovered theology, a moment of awakening not unlike that provided by my first chemistry set at the age of ten. After ordination as an Anglican priest, and spells in university chaplaincy at Oxford, and cathedral ministry in Edinburgh, I now combine my academic interests in physics and theology by running the Science and Religion programme at the University of Edinburgh.

As a physicist working in a theological environment, I’m interested in the complex ways that science and religion relate to each other.

Originally trained as a geologist, I moved into physics in my postdoc years at Oxford, and then spend many years based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford, trying to understand ‘frustrated’ magnets, a major research area in physics. Midway through my scientific career I discovered theology, a moment of awakening not unlike that provided by my first chemistry set at the age of ten. After ordination as an Anglican priest, and spells in university chaplaincy at Oxford, and cathedral ministry in Edinburgh, I now combine my academic interests in physics and theology by running the Science and Religion programme at the University of Edinburgh.

Articles with Mark Harris

On Science and Theology

“Our view of the natural world has changed out of all recognition from, say, 500 years ago. And insofar as theology has things to say about the natural world through its doctrine of creation, theology has had to take that change on board. On the other hand, science can say almost nothing of substance about the core issues in theology, because they concern a reality that is literally out of this world, by definition beyond the reach of science.”

As a physicist working in a theological environment, Mark Harris is interested in the complex ways that science and religion relate to each other. He runs the Science and Religion programme at the University of Edinburgh.