Jessica Riskin

Jessica Riskin is a historian of science whose work has significantly influenced contemporary debates about God, materialism, and the mechanistic worldview. Her landmark book "The Restless Clock" (2016) traces how modern science emerged from theological debates about divine agency and mechanical nature, showing how the clockwork universe metaphor contained inherent tensions regarding God's relationship to creation. Riskin demonstrates that early modern natural philosophers developed concepts of "active matter" and self-organizing systems partly to reconcile mechanism with divine providence. Her research reveals how theological concerns shaped scientific methodology and metaphysics, particularly regarding questions of teleology, consciousness, and emergence. By uncovering the religious roots of supposedly secular scientific concepts, Riskin's work complicates standard narratives about the conflict between science and religion, showing instead how debates about God's nature and action fundamentally structured the development of modern scientific thought.