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Spring greetings to Friends of CTNS.
If you'd like to become a CTNS Member for 2007 and receive all three issues of Theology and Science, visit www.ctns.org/membership.html
You may request a sample of the CTNS journal prior to becoming a member, by clicking the link on the membership page.
Contents
- STARS Conferences a Success: Planning Grant Proposals Due May 1
- New Book From the CTNS SSQ Program
- Use “Goodsearch” to Raise Money for CTNS
- Anticipating Omega Book Launch on April 19
- The 2007 Charles H. Townes Student Fellowships Awarded on April 19th
- CTNS Public Forum on Divine Action on April 25
Journal News (Theology and Science)
- Staff News & Photos
- Residential Fellowship Applications, Austria
- IRAS Star Island Conference on Emergence
STARS Conferences a Success. Planning Grant Proposals Due May 1
CTNS' latest grant program, the Science and Transcendence Advanced Research Series (STARS), held three successful conferences in January near Cancun, Mexico. Each conference was attended by fifty participants who heard lectures from outstanding scholars such as Nancey Murphy, John Barrow, Paul Davies, and Alicia Juarrero. The conferences enabled participants to form interdisciplinary research teams and discuss research ideas for the grant application stage of the STARS program. To assist the conference participants in formulating such research, CTNS Founding Director and STARS PI, Bob Russell provided at least one way to restructure the standard material in "theology and science" in terms of potentially STARS-fundable research. An online Powerpoint version of his lecture is available on the STARS website: www.ctnsstars.org/conferences/presentations/russellstars.html This presentation is best viewed in Internet Explorer.
For a sampling of conference photos, visit www.ctns.org/stars_photos.html
STARS will award up to five grants of $100,000 each on a highly competitive basis. Up to two of these grants will then be open for renewal at $200,000. The awards at every level will be based on the recommendations of a panel of distinguished judges. To assist teams in the formation of their full research proposal for the $100,000 grants STARS will initially award twenty planning grants of $20,000 each. Applications for the $20,000 research planning grants are due May 1, 2007. Specific information about these initial grants and the subsequent $100,000 and $200,000 grants is available on the STARS website http://www.ctnsstars.org/grants/.
If you have any questions or are interested, or know someone who may be interested in applying for a STARS grant, please contact the STARS office at 510-848-2350 or toll-free at 866-848-2350 or via email ctns-stars@ctns.org
The initial research planning grant proposals are due by May 1, 2007 with the announcements given on June 15, 2007. For more information, visit www.ctnsstars.org/grants
The STARS program is funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
New Book From the CTNS Science and the Spiritual Quest Program (SSQ)
Science and the Spiritual Quest was an international program conducted by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in collaboration with several partner organizations. From 1996-2003, SSQ focused on the ethical and spiritual questions raised by the best of contemporary science. Our mission was to invite leading scientists into dialogue, through private workshops, on the connections between their scientific pursuits and their spiritual practices, and to present the results of this dialogue to a worldwide public audience through conferences, publications, and multimedia resources. SSQ did not advocate a particular religious or scientific position or a specific outcome for discussions between science and religion. Rather, we sought to promote open and authentic dialogue on this topic within the scientific community, and to offer the insights and questions resulting from these discussions to the public.
www.ctns.org/ssq/
Practicing Science, Living Faith: Interviews with 12 Leading Scientists
Philip Clayton and Jim Schaal, Editors
Columbia University Press, 2007
ISBN-13: 978-0-231-13576-4
ISBN-10: 0-231-13576-9
Goodsearch Search Engine Raises Money for CTNS
Have you heard about GoodSearch? If not, it's basically a search engine powered by Yahoo which allows you to raise money for the nonprofit organization of your choice. You may enter “CTNS” into the "Who do you Goodsearch for?" box, then do a word search as your would with any search engine. Check it out at: www.goodsearch.com, as you enter CTNS into the box, you will be earning money for CTNS! If enough friends use this engine, we could build up a nice fund to help support the center!
As the website reads, There’s no reason not to.... You search… They give.
So next time you do a search, try using goodsearch to help add to the CTNS fund!
Book Launch and Reception Celebrates Anticipating Omega, by Ted Peters on April 19, 2007
Anticipating Omega is a work of constructive theology that takes into the theological enterprise the findings of the latest research in the natural sciences. Ted Peters asks how the eschatological vision of God’s ultimate future (omega) fits on a map of reality along with physics, evolutionary biology, genetics, and technical prognostications for a post-human future. He formulates a unique theory providing a retroactive ontology of the future in an attempt to understand today’s world in light of tomorrow’s world of transformation. The theological position taken in this book expands on that developed in his earlier work, GOD—The World’s Future (Fortress, rev. ed., 2000).
Published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN: 3-525-56978-5
Available on the web: https://www.eisenbrauns.com/
In addition to being an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Ted Peters has taught Systematic Theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS) and the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, California since 1978. As a research scholar he is affiliated with the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS). He is editor of Dialog: A Journal of Theology and co-editor of Theology and Science. Ted’s most recent book releases include Can You Believe in God and Evolution with Martinez Hewlett (Abingdon 2003) and Playing God? Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom (Routledge 2002).
Location: The GTU Richard S. Dinner Board Room, Third floor of the Hewlett Lamson Library,
2400 Ridge Rd, at Scenic and LeConte Avenues, Berkeley. All are welcome.
2007 Charles H. Townes Student Fellowships to be Awarded on April 19th
You are invited to attend the Charles H. Townes Graduate Student Fellowship Awarding Reception on Thursday, April 19 beginning at 5:00 pm in conjunction with the Book Launch of Anticipating Omega by Ted Peters (see above).
All are welcome! RSVPs are helpful but are not required. Email: ctnsinfo@ctrns.org or call 510-848-8152.
The Charles H. Townes Student Fellowship
The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS) established the Graduate Student Fellowship in 2005 in order to help support doctoral students at the Graduate Theological Union working in science and theology.
The Fellowship was renamed the Charles H. Townes Graduate Student Fellowship on September 16, 2006 in recognition of Dr. Townes' work with physics graduate students at UC Berkeley and for his generous and longstanding support of CTNS. Dr. Townes is a Nobel Laureate in Physics for his role in the discovery of the maser and laser, Professor of Physics in the Graduate School at UC Berkeley and Templeton Prize Winner. Dr. Townes serves on the Advisory Board of the CTNS Program Science and Transcendence Advanced Research Series (STARS), was a participating scientist in the CTNS Program Science and the Spiritual Quest (SSQ), and has served for 2 decades on the CTNS Board of Directors.
The full announcement and tribute may be found on the CTNS website, www.ctns.org/townes.html.
Robert John Russell, CTNS Founder / Director and Ian G. Barbour Professor of Theology and Science in Residence at the GTU states:
“Charlie has been a champion of the intellectual validity and ethical voice of religion to an often skeptical and even dismissive scientific community. Charlie has been unremittingly outspoken in his conviction that science and religion are convergent rather than in conflict or in isolated realms. In particular, science should not be co-opted into the service of atheism and materialism but instead celebrated as a lasting partner with religion in service to the wider culture. As a Nobel laureate in physics with over two dozen honorary degrees and as a member of such distinguished societies as the National Academy of Science and the Pontifical Academy of Science, Charlie represents the world of theological education in places where we could never go and to people who would never listen to us even if we got there.”
The CTNS Charles H. Townes Fellowship is for Graduate Theological Union doctoral students pursuing research in theology and science. Applicants need to be working on their comprehensive exams at an advanced level (the equivalent of the "special comprehensive exams" in the Area of Systematic and Philosophical Theology) or have finished their comprehensive exams and are working on their dissertation or dissertation proposal. The awards are given on the basis of merit: students must clearly demonstrate their ability to do promising research on issues of theology and science.
CTNS is hoping to build up this fund so doctoral students in the future will continue to receive this fellowship award to help support their academic research in theology and science.
CTNS invites you to contribute to this student fund by mailing a check to:
CTNS -Charles H. Townes Student Fund
2400 Ridge Rd.,
Berkeley, CA 94709 USA
or by donating on-line at www.ctns.org/donate.html#donatestudent
Your donations to CTNS are tax-deductible.
Visit www.ctns.org/news_040907.html for more information.
CTNS Public Forum, “Divine Action, Natural Science, and the Problem of Evil”
with Thomas F. Tracy, Visiting Scholar, April 25, 2007
The affirmation that God acts in the world is at the center of the dramatic scriptural narratives that have shaped Jewish and Christian theological reflection for millennia, and it is embedded in the liturgy, preaching, and prayer of the communities that live out these traditions today. Theologians in the modern era, however, have persistently found themselves stumbling over this idea, uncertain about what to make of it. These misgivings have many sources, two of which Dr. Tracy will address in this lecture.Dr. Thomas Tracy graduated with a Masters of Philosophy and PhD from the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. After receiving his degree, Dr. Tracy began teaching at Bates College in the Department of Philosophy and Religion. He has served as the Chair of the Dept. of Philosophy and Religion and currently is the Phillips Professor of Religion. His latest articles include contributions to the Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science (2006) and in the Quantum Mechanics edition of the CTNS/Vatican Observatory series, Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action (2001). His most recent book, The God Who Acts: Philosophical and Theological Explorations (1994), is now available in paperback.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007, 7:00 pm
GTU Board Room of the Flora Lamson Hewlett Library
2400 Ridge Rd., Berkeley, CA
Free and open to the public. Visit: www.ctns.org/news.html
Volume 5, Number 1 of Theology and Science On its Way
CTNS Members receive the tri-annual journal, Theology and Science in paper as well as on-line access. Volume 5, Number 1 is being mailed out to current members now. If you would like to join the Center and receive this great journal as well as discounts on conferences and tapes, visit www.ctns.org/membership.html to sign up for the year. You will receive all three journals, even if you sign up later in the fiscal year (January to December 2007).
Below is the Table of Contents to whet your appetite.
Theology and Science, Volume 5, Number 1 / March 2007.
Editorials
Philip Clayton, “In Memoriam: Arthur Peacocke (1924 – 2006)”
Niels Henrik Gregersen, “Arthur Peacocke in memoriam (1924-2006)”
Philip Hefner, “Arthur Peacocke: A Compleat Man”
Nancey Murphy and William R. Stoeger, S. J., “Arthur Peacocke”
Ann Milliken Pederson, “Tribute to Arthur Peacocke”
Robert John Russell, “Ringing the Changes: In tribute to Arthur R. Peacocke”Articles
Carol L. Bargeron, “Re-thinking Necessity (al-Darūra) in al-Ghazālī’s Understanding of Physical Causation”
J. A. Sheppard, “The Conflict Over Creation from a Medieval Point of View”
Joseph A. Bracken, S. J., “Of Particles and Fields”
Justin L. Barrett, “Is the Spell Really Broken?: Bio-psychological Explanations of Religion and Theistic Belief”
John Byl, “Matter, Mathematics and God”
George Ellis, “The Myth of a Purely Rational Life”
Hans Schwarz, “The Intelligent Design Tradition: A Response to Robert John Russell”Book Reviews
Richard Payne: Review of Why Religion Matters: The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief by Huston SmithA Sample journal may be viewed by visiting http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=t713709314
Scholars wishing to submit articles for consideration to Theology and Science may contact the Managing Editor, James Haag by emailing theology-science@ctns.org or by writing to Theology and Science, CTNS, 2400 Ridge Rd., Berkeley, CA 94709. If you are interested in writing a book review, contact Nathan Hallanger, Book Review Editor, via email: bookreviews@ctns.org or call 510-848-8152 Tuesday-Wednesday, 8:00 am to 1:00 pm PDT.
Please send editorial comments or suggestions to: theology-science@ctns.org. Information for authors or reviewers may visit www.ctns.org/theology_science.html or call the CTNS Publications office at 510-848-8152 between the hours of 9:30 am to 1:00 pm PDT, Monday-Thursday.
STAFF News
To help put "a face to the name", we thought we'd feature various staff members from time to time. Here's the "lion's share" of the staff that many CTNS members have not had the opportunity to meet. As you may be able to tell, we have a gifted and dedicated group of people here, and we enjoy each other too! CTNS is pleased to employ GTU students when possible, and as you can see, this sampling reveals a rich array of current grad students. Nathan plans to defend his dissertation in early fall 2007, Braden passed his "General Comps" last fall; and James Haag plans to defend his dissertation in early summer, 2007.
Not pictured, Joshua Moritz, Research Assistant and Doctoral student; Laurin Beckhusen, IT Consultant; Dennis Hair, STARS Program Director and Bob Russell, CTNS Founder &Executive Director and Ian G. Barbour Professor of Theology and Science in Residence, GTU.
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| STARS Office Staff: Nathan Hallanger, Program Coordinator & Doctoral student and Braden Molhoek, Research Assistant & Doctoral student. | CTNS Staff: Melissa Moritz, Database Coordinator; Bonnie Johnston, Communications & Administrative Manager & Jennifer Bradford, Development Assistant. | CTNS Staff: Blake Horridge, Research Assistant & MDiv student; Eric Metoyer, Staff Accountant & MDiv student; Jamie Haag, Managing Editor, Theology & Science & Doctoral student. |
CTNS Course
Spring CTNS-GTU Course: Advanced Seminar in Theology
Bob Russell, Ted Peters and Associate Patricia Codron are teaching "Tillich and Pannenberg" for the GTU Spring Semester 2007; Thursdays, 2:10 – 5:00 pm.Course Description: This doctoral level seminar will provide a study in comparative systematic theologies. We will read critically and compare the two multi-volume works in Systematic Theology authored by Paul Tillich and Wolfhart Pannenberg. This course will be of value especially to students preparing for the General Comprehensive Examination in systematic theology as well as other students wishing to gain a better grasp of these two important thinkers. www.gtu.edu
These announcements are provided as a courtesy to those initiating these notices, published as we receive them.
Call for Residential Fellowship Applications, Vienna, Austria
Templeton Research Fellows Program: Philosophers and Physicists Collaboration on the Nature of Quantum Reality at IQOQI – The Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria. Program Director: Professor Anton Zeilinger.
Scientists and philosophers who have been engaged at the junction of physics, philosophy, and religious studies are invited to apply for a Residential Templeton research Fellowship in Vienna. Physicists should have a strong philosophical background or inclination, and vice versa. The duration of Fellowships will be one year, extendable upon further application. Shorter tenures will be considered in special circumstances.
The start of a fellowship term is flexible to accommodate the plans of the individual fellow. Applicants should send a full CV with publication list, a list of scientific talks and conference contributions, and a recent photo, together with a statement of specific research interests, and any relevant accompanying material. The selection of Fellows will be made by an international and multi-disciplinary panel of judges. Young scientists, philosophers, and students of religion are particularly encouraged to apply. Please send application materials by e-mail or regular mail to the following address:
Templeton Research Fellows Program
Attn: Ms. Andrea Aglibut
Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information
Austrian Academy of Sciences
Boltzmanngasse 3
A-1090 Vienna
Austria
e-mail: andrea.aglibut@oeaw.ac.atThis program is run by The Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information.
Star Island Conference August 2007
Emergence: Nature’s Mode of Creativity: Religions Implications of Emergence in Human and Cultural Evolution. Sponsored by IRAS—Institute of Religion in an Age of Science. Visit www.iras.org or email: irasemergence@verizon.net. Member discount if contact IRAS by April 10.
Feedback
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We would appreciate your comments about this E-News via email or via written letter.
Bonnie Johnston, Editor
CTNS
2400 Ridge Rd.
Berkeley, CA 94709 USA
Email: bonniej@ctns.org
510-848-8152
fax. 510-848-2535
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