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The 2013 J. K. Russell Research Fellowship in
Religion and Science
Dr. Niels Gregersen
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The Annual J. K. Russell Research Conference
Saturday, February 9, 2013
God, Information and the Sciences of Complexity
Richard S. Dinner Board Room of the GTU (Hewlett Library), 2400 Ridge Road, Berkeley
1:00 to 5:30pm
Information and complexity have become central concepts of our contemporary scientific world-view. In which sense can we speak of information and complexity also as part of the nature of God? It will be argued that traditional Logos Christology already offers important resources for speaking of aspects of information as inherent to divine life. The divine Logos is “in God”, while being both the wellspring of information (the differentiating and structuring capacity in creation) and the incarnational embodiment of creaturely differences (from physical “differences that make a difference” to semantic information). Philosophical theology, however, has often maintained a strong distinction between the divine Logos and the logoi of creation. Accordingly, the inherited idea of divine simplicity has circumvented notions of complexity from being inner features of divine fecundity, creative richness, and capacity for communication. An argument will be developed for an alternative philosophical theology, inspired by central concerns of Trinitarian theology. To the Father is ascribed the role of the inner fecundity of ‘birthing’ the eternal Son, thus encompassing the overflow of divine essence and love; to the eternal Son is ascribed the role of the differentiating power of information (Logos), while the life-giving and communicative power is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. In this light, the notion of divine simplicity will have to be redefined as the divine self-identity in the midst of temporal flux. For not all that happens in the world of creation is conformal with divine life.
Conference Respondents:
Joshua Moritz, Ted Peters, Oliver Putz and Robert Russell
| 1:00pm |
Registration |
| 1:20pm |
Welcome |
| 1:30pm |
Fellowship Lecture: Niels Gregersen |
| 2:30pm |
Q&A from the floor |
| 2:45pm |
Response: Oliver Putz |
| 3:15pm |
Response: Joshua Moritz |
| 3:45pm |
Response: Ted Peters |
| 4:15pm |
Response: Robert Russell |
| 4:45pm |
Final Comments from the Fellow |
| 5:00pm |
Announcement of the winners of the 2013 Charles H. Townes Graduate Student Fellowship Awards |
| 5:10pm |
Refreshments and Adjournment |
Registration
Register on-line (with your Visa, MasterCard or PayPal account),
print a Registration Form to fax or mail
or
call 510-848-8152 to register.
| Conference Registration: General |
$30 |
Conference Registration: General, FT Student or Senior (62+) |
$25 |
Conference Registration: CTNS Member |
$20 |
Conference Registration: CTNS Member, FT Student or
Senior (62+) |
$15 |
Directions and Lodging:
- GTU area Campus Map
- Lodging Options:
- Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704 (510) 848-7800
- Hotel Durant, 2600 Durant Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704 (510) 845-8981
- The French Hotel, 1538 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA (510) 548-9930 (closest hotel)
Fellow's Public Forum, Friday, February 8, 7:00 PM
Jesus and the Depth of Creation: The Idea of Deep Incarnation
There seems to be an ineradicable tension between the grand-scale story of the world of creation, cosmic in scope and pitiless in its operations, and the small-scale story of Jesus as embodying divine empathy. The idea of deep incarnation aims to overcome three pitfalls of contemporary Christology. The one is the liberal solution of seeing Jesus merely as a significant historical figure of the past; the other is the classic Platonist solution of seeing Christ as an exemplar of the divine Logos, who is existing alongside creation and incarnation; the third is the view that the incarnation of God in a human form is a paradox in principle, beyond further explanation. Deep incarnation here argues for the view that by assuming the particular life-story of Jesus the Jew, God’s own Logos or Wisdom conjoins the material conditions of God’s world of creation (“all flesh”), shares and ennobles the fate of all biological life-forms (“grass” and lilies”), and experiences the pains of all sentient creatures (“sparrows and foxes”). In this view, incarnation is the story of God’s reach into the very tissues of material and biological existence. The “flesh” of Jesus Christ is co-extensive with his divinity, not just an isolated human figure of the past but neither an external appendix to divine life.
The Fellow's Forum is free and open to the public. Registration not required.
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