Boyle Lectures

The Boyle Lectures were named after Robert Boyle, a prominent English/Irish natural philosopher of the 17th century. Boyle endowed a series of lectures in his will, which were designed as a forum where prominent academics could discuss the existence of God.

The very first such lecture was given in 1692 by Richard Bentley, who turned to and received four letters from Isaac Newton. The first letter from Newton to Bentley begins

"Sir, When I wrote my Treatise about our System, I had an Eye upon such Principles as might work with considering Men, for the Belief of a Deity; nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that Purpose."

Their design, as expressed by the institutor, is to prove the truth of the Christian religion against infidels, without descending to any controversies among Christians; and to answer new difficulties, scruples, etc. Some lecturers targeted Christian Deism. A learned theologian within the Bills of Mortality, was to be elected for a term, not exceeding three years, by Thomas Tenison (later Archbishop of Canterbury), and three others. To support the lectures, Boyle assigned the rent of his house in Crooked Lane. But the fund proving precarious, the salary was ill-paid. To remedy this, Archbishop Tenison procured a yearly stipend of 50 pounds, forever, to be paid quarterly, charged on a farm in the parish of Brill, Buckinghamshire.

The Boyle lectures were revived in 2004 at St Mary-le-Bow church in the City of London by Dr Michael Byrne and co-convened by him with Dr Russell Re Manning (Aberdeen). They take place annually. A book to mark the 10th anniversary of the revived series will be published by SCM Press in 2013 as Science and Religion in the Twenty-First Century. The Boyle Lectures 2004-2013.