Campus
- St. George
Fields of Study
- Science and Technology Studies (STS)
- Philosophy of Science
Biography
Trained in philosophy (PhD, 2004), theology (PhD, 2011), and physics (BSc, 1998), I study the intriguing interaction of science and values. My work is intentionally interdisciplinary and aligns closely with the mission of the IHPST, where I have been a core faculty member since 2007. In both research and teaching, I contribute to science-and-values discussions with a particular focus on science and religion. I am an elected Experiential Learning Fellow in the Faculty of Arts & Science, supporting innovative, hands-on approaches to teaching and curriculum design.
My scholarship examines how scientific and religious forms of reasoning shape public knowledge, culture, and democratic life, and it engages topics such as thought experiments, pluralist theories of knowledge, embodiment and human sexuality, and the role of religion in democratic societies. Recent publications include Thought Experiments, Science, and Theology (2024) and Science & Religion in a Democratic Society (coming out in 2026). My current project takes an ethnographic approach to the longstanding question of whether theology can continue to function as a science, with a focus on institutional and intellectual transformations in reunified Germany. In 2015, I was elected a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion, the leading professional organization in my field.
Selected Publications
Science & Religion in a Democratic Society. (under contract)
Thought Experiments, Science, and Theology. Brill, 2024.
“The Annus Mirabilis of 1986: Thought Experiments & Scientific Pluralism.” HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 11 (2021): 222-240.
“Atheism vs. Atheism in the Encounter between Science and Religion: A Post-Metaphysical Exploration.” Philosophy, Theology, and the Sciences 6 (2019): 183-210.
Science and Religion: East and West. Routledge, 2016.
“Intellectual Tennis without a Net? Thought Experiments and Theology.” Theology and Science 12 (2014): 377-394.
(with James R. Brown) “Thought Experiments.” In: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [2010ff.].