The Boyle Lectures were named after Robert Boyle, son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, and a prominent natural philosopher of the 17th century. Under the terms of his will Boyle endowed a series of lectures or sermons (originally eight each year) which were to serve as a public forum in which to consider the relationship between Christianity and the new natural philosophy (what we today term 'science') then emerging in European society.
The first such lecture was given in 1692 by Richard Bentley to whom Isaac Newton wrote:
"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."
The lecturers were specifically charged 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 the Anglican church of St Mary-le-Bow by Michael Byrne. They now take place annually and are administered by a board whose members include John Boyle, 15th Earl of Cork; Robert Boyle; Richard Chartres, Bishop of London; Julian Tregoning; David Vermont; George R. Bush; John Hedley Brooke; Alister McGrath; Russell Re Manning; and Michael Byrne (Convenor). A book to mark the 10th anniversary of the revived series was edited by Russell Re Manning and Michael Byrne and published by SCM Press in 2013 as 'Science and Religion in the Twenty-First Century: The Boyle Lectures 2004-2013'.
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