BUILDING ENTHUSIASM AND OVERCOMING FEAR: ENGAGING WITH CHRISTIAN LEADERS IN AN AGE OF SCIENCE with Lydia Reid and David Wilkinson, "Building Enthusiasm and Overcoming Fear: Engaging with Christian Leaders in an Age of Science" and Zara Thokozani Kamwendo, "Resistance to Narratives of the COVID-19 Pandemic as an Act of God."

ABSTRACT

In popular culture, the relationship between science and religion has often been portrayed as one of "conflict." The impact of the conflict thesis can be observed in church leaders' hesitancy in talking about science and religion in the public domain, and it was this finding that inspired the project "Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science." The data presented in this article (collected during 2015-2018) are derived from two separate pieces of research carried out in the United Kingdom. The first consisting of a survey of over 1,000 church leaders and interviews with 20 senior church leaders and, the second, with a strategic focus on ministerial training composed of 12 interviews with church educators. This article reflects on the findings from both pieces of research-covering topics such as church leaders' enthusiasm toward science, how church leaders view the relationship between science and religion and the role of compartmentalization in ministerial training.