Into terra incognita: Charting beyond Peter Harrison's 'The Territories of Science and Religion'

Peter Harrison’s ‘The Territories of Science and Religion’ throws down a serious challenge to advocates of dialogue as the primary means of engagement between science and religion. This paper accepts the validity of this challenge and looks at four possible responses to it. The first – a return to the past – is rejected. The remaining three – exploring new epistemic frameworks for the encounter of science and religion, broadening out the engagement beyond the context of the physical sciences and Western culture, and looking at ways in which scientific and theological practitioners may collaborate on practical problems – are all offered as potential ways in which science and religion may engage with one another, in ways which move beyond Harrison’s critique.