Faraday Institute for Science and Religion

Named after British scientist Michael Faraday, who worked in the fields of electromagnetics and electrochemistry, and who viewed faith as integral to his research, the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion was founded in Jan. 2006 with a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. Led by director Denis Alexander and associate director Bob White, Fellow of the Royal Society, it is an academic research enterprise based at St. Edmund’s College in Cambridge, England. The institute includes a large network of associates who write and lecture about science and religion and who assist with other institute activities. While the institute has a stated Christian ethos, it encourages broader, informed debate on science-and–religion topics. Like The BioLogos Foundation, the general stance of the Faraday Institute is one of harmony between scientific and faith-based worldviews.

The Faraday Institute promotes scholarly research and publication and runs short-term courses, seminars and lectures that are open to the public. In keeping with their goal of promoting informed discussion, the institute has published 15 Faraday Papers on topics in science and religion for lay people. These papers are free to the public and may be distributed and copied for educational and nonprofit purposes. The papers are written by a broad range of authors, including physicist and theologian John Polkinghorne and institute director Alexander, and are available in several different languages.

The Faraday Institute also provides a sizeable multimedia database on diverse topics, which includes transcripts, audio, and video of many of their lectures, courses and seminars. Their most recent project, Test of Faith, is an award-winning documentary series on the future of the science-religion dialogue along with accompanying books, teaching curriculum, and other accessible materials geared toward churches and laypeople. The Test of Faith Web site also provides free resources covering the ideas and issues presented in the documentary and materials.