Beyond Secularization:
Religion, Science and Technology in Public Life
Our research model:
This project is oriented around a collaborative lab (Co-Lab, for short), which includes three principal investigators, invited faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. The work of the Co-Lab is distinctly interdisciplinary, crossing boundaries between history, science and technology studies, religious studies, sociology and anthropology.
Our basic conviction is that to understand the interplay between religion, science and technology, we need to pose new questions and engage new methods. The artificial dichotomy between “science” and “religion” is no longer valid and even talking about a “dialogue” between religion and science is insufficient. We need to develop deeper ways to understand how these domains operate in public life.
Animating Questions:
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In arenas of scientific and technological innovation that bear upon widely shared imaginations of progress, how are lines drawn between science, secularity and public reason on the one hand, and religion, spirituality and private belief on the other, and with what consequences for the public sphere?
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How are these lines currently being redrawn in visions of innovation that hybridize notions of technoscientific and spiritual progress, and with what social effects?
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How do these phenomena relate to one another and to social possibilities for, and constraints upon, new and alternative imaginations of progress?