We would be mistaken to think that these are matters of concern only for scientists and not for humanists, for they go right to the heart of what it means for us to be human beings created in the image of God: and this in turn goes right to the heart of the educational mission of religious colleges and universities. Our goal in this seminar is to help future faculty members in the humanities understand more fully the scientific enterprise and the human questions it raises, in order that they might be better equipped to help their future students with the intensely personal matter of faith-formation: to do their part in producing the next generation of well-informed, thoughtful, and committed Christians.
An effective way to accomplish this with students of the humanities is formally to introduce them to the broad historical landscape on which Christianity and science have interacted since the early church, emphasizing the various ways in which thoughtful Christians have viewed the overall relationship between science and faith: what has Athens actually had to do with Jerusalem? Participants will be encouraged to articulate their own sets of significant questions and putative answers, drawing as they see fit on the theological resources they have encountered in the course. In the process, they may be given to reflection on how world views are formed and the role of faith in this, which may in turn stimulate reflection on the philosophy of higher education in a religious environment. Indeed, the seminar will include some attention to successful strategies/types of courses for teaching religion and science, in addition to an in-depth, historically based survey of several important episodes.
The seminar will include some attention
to successful strategies/types of courses for teaching religion and science,
in addition to an in-depth, historically based survey of several important
episodes. Guest speakers (not identified here) may be invited to lead certain
topics, and seminar participants may be invited to lead others. Most evenings
will be left open for participants to prepare for sessions the next day,
though some evening activities will be scheduled. Assignments (not detailed
here) will be mostly short, written responses to primary and secondary
readings that will prepare us to discuss the readings together.
Date |
Activities |
| Mon, June 22 | Morning: Participants arrive;
registration
Lunch Institute begins after lunch: Introduction of participants Christianity, Science, and the History of Science -- an overview of 2000 years of interaction, emphasizing models for relating religion and science Remarks on teaching religion and science After dinner: A short visit to the Learning Resources Center and the Neidhardt Collection |
| Tues, June 23 | Guest presenter: Dr. William A. Wallace,
professor emeritus of philosophy, the Catholic University
Morning: The early church -- the handmaiden model Augustine, Platonism, and the hexameral tradition Afternoon: Radical Aristotelianism in the high middle ages -- revolt of the handmaiden The medieval synthesis of Aristotle and Christianity -- the dialogue model |
| Wed, June 24 | Guest presenter: Dr. William A. Wallace,
professor emeritus of philosophy, the Catholic University
Morning: The new cosmology of Copernicus and the principle of accommodation -- the two books model Discussion of Galileo Galilei, "Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina" Afternoon: The Galileo affair -- the conflict model? How to help students get past the conflict model |
| Thurs, June 25 | Morning: Renaissance neoplatonism
-- God as divine geometer
The mechanical philosophy -- God as clockmaker Afternoon: Discussion of Robert Boyle, A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature Is mechanistic science harmful to Christian faith? Is God free in a mechanistic universe? Are humans free in a mechanistic universe? |
| Fri, June 26 | Morning: Christian theology,
natural theology, and the rise of modern science -- the harmony model
Afternoon: The Enlightenment challenge of reason -- miracles, scepticism, higher criticism, and the conflict model Guest presenter: Dr. Roy Clouser, professor of philosophy, the College of New Jersey |
| Sat, June 27 | Morning: The Baconian tradition
and natural theology in Britain and America -- the harmony model
Evolution and the Christian faith -- conflict, accommodation, separation, and doctrinal reformulation Afternoon: Fundamentalism, evolution, and biblical criticism -- the conflict model How to help students approach biblical texts in appropriate ways, without undermining their religious beliefs Evening: Film, "Inherit the Wind," with discussion |
| Sun, June 28 | Trip to Washington, DC, arriving at National Cathedral in time for worship service and visiting Smithsonian Institution in afternoon. |
| Mon, June 29 | Morning: "Mother earth" and
Christian stewardship -- a new synthesis or an old conflict?
Afternoon: Heredity and Human Responsibility Guest presenter: Dr. Dennis Hollinger, ethicist and campus pastor, Messiah College |
| Tues, June 30 | Guest presenter: Dr. George Murphy, astrophysicist
and pastor, St Mark's Lutheran Church (Tallmadge, OH)
Morning: Modern physics and problems of knowledge -- the complementarity model and Christian theology Afternoon: Modern cosmogony and the anthropic principle |
| Wed, July 1 | Morning: Discussion of options
for contemporary believers -- religion in an age of science? What do participants
see as the most significant questions/possible answers? How do they view
the overall relation between science and faith?
Institute ends after lunch. |
Robert Boyle, A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature. Edward B. Davis and Michael Hunter, eds. Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
John Hedley Brooke, Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Stillman Drake (ed. and trans.), Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo. Garden City: Doubleday, 1957.
James Gilbert, Redeeming Culture: American Religion in an Age of Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.
David Hollinger, "Justification by Verification: The Scientific Challenge to the Moral Authority of Christianity in Modern America," in Religion and Twentieth-Century American Intellectual Life, ed. Michael J. Lacey (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 116-35.
James E. Huchingson, ed., Religion and the Natural Sciences: The Range of Engagement. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993.
David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers, ed. God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter between Christianity and Science. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.
James R. Moore, The Future of Science and Belief: Theological Views in the Twentieth Century. Milton Keynes: The Open University Press, 1981.
Nancey Murphy, Theology in an Age of Scientific Reasoning. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990.
Wayne Proudfoot, "Religion and Science," in Altered Landscapes: Christianity in America, 1935-1985, ed. David W. Lotz (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 268-79.
R.J. Russell, W.R. Stoeger, and G.V. Coyne, eds., Physics, Philosophy, and Theology: A Common Quest for Understanding. Vatican City: Vatican Observatory, 1988.
Completed forms should be returned
to the address below, postmarked by 10 April 1998, if possible.
Name ___________________________
Present mailing address* __________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Phone ( ) ________________ Fax (
) ________________ E-mail _____________________________
Undergraduate institution from which
you graduated ____________________________________________
*If you expect to be away from home
for an extended period at the end of April (when participants will be notified)
or in the first part of June (just prior to the institute), please provide
contact information below:
Please attach the following to this page:
__ A brief curriculum vitae
__ A short statement (not more than 500 words) of your interest in the institute, with appropriate references to your background and religious beliefs (if any). You are also encouraged (though not required) to state how you think the institute might affect your teaching, whether or not you are presently a faculty member.
__ A list, identifying those topics from the proposed syllabus that interest you most, and also identifying additional topics that you would like to nominate for inclusion in the syllabus. For the latter, it would be helpful to suggest some specific readings for consideration.