'Finding the genuine light of nature': religion and science in the early modern period

This chapter explores four significant figures: Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, Henry More and Anne Conway, each of whom represents an important and distinct aspect of the relationship between religion and science in the early modern period. It examines not only competing modes of thought, but also the interconnections between different groups, showing how theories about the relationship between religion and science arose out of a self-conscious response to other voices and were informed by dialogue and exchange of ideas. Such discussions were articulated in a wide range of genres and contexts and to a variety of audiences, from public manifestos, like Bacon's The Great Instauration to private letters, such as the correspondence between Conway and More. And yet, through their fundamentally dialogic quality, what all of the texts under discussion hold in common and exemplify more generally is a sense of work in progress and open-ended debate.