The 2020 Global Digital History of Science Festival organized by the British Society for the History of Science features a virtual book launch of Jesuits and the Book of Nature: Science and Education in Modern Portugal by Francisco Malta Romeiras. The event features remarks by Malta Romeiras as well as a question-and-answer period hosted by Nuno Castel-Branco, a Ph.D. Candidate in the History of Science at Johns Hopkins University.
The virtual discussion is free and open to the public. It takes place at Wednesday 8th July, 16:00 – 17:00 (UTC+1). More details are available at https://bshsfestival.org.uk/index.php/programme/author-qas/book-launch-jesuits-and-the-book-of-nature/.
Malta Romeiras published Jesuits and the Book of Nature with Brill Publishers, as part of its Jesuit Studies book series. According to the publisher, the book offers “an account of the Jesuits’ contributions to science and education after the restoration of the Society of Jesus in Portugal in 1858. As well as promoting an education grounded on an “alliance between religion and science,” the Portuguese Jesuits founded a scientific journal that played a significant role in the consolidation of taxonomy, plant breeding, biochemistry, and molecular genetics.” The Jesuits’ prioritization of the scientific teaching and practice not only continued their order’s long tradition but also was a “response to the adverse anticlerical milieu in which the restoration of the Society of Jesus took place.”
The online book launch features a summary of the book and is targeted to those those interested in the role of religion and politics in the development of science and education.
Malta Romeiras largely wrote Jesuits and the Book of Nature while serving as a senior research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies. Learn more about the Institute’s in-residence fellowship program at: https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/centers/iajs/research-/in-residence-fellows/meet-the-fellows.html.