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CTNS Event

Public Forum with George Ellis on “Cosmology and Ultimate Causality”

Event Date: 
Wednesday, February 24th 2016, 7:00pm
Public Forum with George Ellis on “Cosmology and Ultimate Causality” Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Tucson Room The deep issue in both cosmology and human life is what underlies the existence of the laws of nature, which define the possibility space within which the universe and life comes into being. Is the ultimate reason pure chance, probability, necessity, or purpose? Is their nature prescriptive or descriptive? The possibility of meaning and ethics has to have been built into the foundations that gave physical existence its structure, suggesting a higher intention is realised...
CTNS Event

"Saving Darwin: How to be a Christian and Believe in Evolution" by Karl Giberson, Public Forum & Book Launch.

Event Date: 
Saturday, February 6th 2016, 12:00am
"Saving Darwin: How to be a Christian and Believe in Evolution" by Karl Giberson, Public Forum & Book Launch. Karl Giberson was raised in a fundamentalist parsonage and entered college in 1975 intending to become a creation scientist and join the fight against evolution. While studying science at college he became convinced that evolution was true and, with much struggle and angst, abandoned his childhood belief in creationism. Karl's personal story mirrors that of America in the decades since Darwinism came ashore and challenged the country's traditional creation story. Saving Darwin is...
CTNS Event

Public Forum and Book Launch Lecture for The Groaning of Creation: God, Evolution, and the Problem of Evil, by Dr. Christopher Southgate

Event Date: 
Saturday, September 10th 2016, 7:00pm
Public Forum and Book Launch Lecture for The Groaning of Creation: God, Evolution, and the Problem of Evil, by Dr. Christopher Southgate GTU Board Room Pain, suffering and extinction are intrinsic to the evolutionary process. In this book Christopher Southgate shows how the world that is "very good" is also "groaning in travail" and subjected by God to that travail. Southgate then evaluates several attempts at evolutionary theodicy and argues for his own approach--an approach that takes full account of God's self-emptying and human beings' special responsibilities as created co-creators.
CTNS Event

Book Launch & Reception Anticipating Omega by Ted Peters

Event Date: 
Tuesday, April 19th 2016, 5:00pm
Thursday, April 19, 2007, 5pm Book Launch & Reception Anticipating Omega by Ted Peters 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’...
CTNS Event

J.K. Russell Fellowship with Niels Henrik Gregersen, Complexity Studies and Theories of Emergence: What Does It All Mean for Religion?

Event Date: 
Wednesday, October 5th 2016, 12:00am
J.K. Russell Fellowship with Niels Henrik Gregersen, Complexity Studies and Theories of Emergence: What Does It All Mean for Religion? The Complexification of Nature: Supplementing the Neo-Darwinian Paradigm Saturday, November 20, 2004, 7-11pm AAR/SBL Joint Reception San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter - Conference Room 8 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature for a reception sponsored by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS), the Institute for Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS), and the Zygon Center for Religion...
CTNS Event

René Girard, Ph.D., "Violence and the Cross."

Event Date: 
Thursday, February 11th 2016, 7:00pm
René Girard, Ph.D., "Violence and the Cross." Dr. René Girard, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, author of several works on literary criticism, anthropology and Biblical exegesis, presents "Violence and the Cross." In this lecture/discussion, Girard expounds the idea that the salvific value Christians confer upon the Cross prevents them from exploring the anthropological significance of the crucifixion, and because of this, anthropologists are left to this task. Yet these anthropologists conclude that Christianity is only mythology—overlooking the crucial idea that the Bible...
CTNS Event

Michael Ruse, Ph.D., "The Problem of Suffering in Neo-Darwinian Biology and Christian Theology"

Event Date: 
Wednesday, February 24th 2016, 7:00pm
Michael Ruse, Ph.D., "The Problem of Suffering in Neo-Darwinian Biology and Christian Theology" Dr. Michael Ruse from Florida State University presents "The Problem of Suffering in Neo-Darwinian Biology and Christian Theology." There is a common opinion among Darwinians that Darwinism not only makes Christianity redundant, but with the emphasis on a struggle for existence makes Christianity positively false. It is argued that a process that has at its heart an ongoing cruel method of elimination could not possibly be compatible with the good god supposed at the heart of Christianity. Ruse...
CTNS Event

The 2002-2003 J. K. Russell Research Conference: Paul Davies Graduate Theological Union Library

Event Date: 
Tuesday, March 22nd 2016, 10:30am
The 2002-2003 J. K. Russell Research Conference: Paul Davies Graduate Theological Union Library Multiverse and Anthropic Fine-Tuning: Philosophical and Theological Implications Scientists have long known that if the laws of physics were only slightly different, then life (at least as we know it) would be impossible. Some theologians have suggested that this biological fine-tuning (often misnamed anthropic fine-tuning) is evidence for a Cosmic Designer. But many scientists prefer to explain the ingeniously bio-friendly nature of the universe as a selection effect, by appealing to the idea...
CTNS Event

Public Forum, William Dembski, "Intelligent Design: Making the Task of Theodicy Impossible?"

Event Date: 
Friday, April 1st 2016, 12:00am
Public Forum, William Dembski, "Intelligent Design: Making the Task of Theodicy Impossible?" According to Edward Oakes, intelligent design makes the task of theodicy impossible. As he sees it, intelligent design is committed to an interventionist account of divine action in which God periodically has to nudge things along when things cannot quite get along by themselves. This, of course, raises the question why God does not intervene to prevent evils before they take root. Oakes is not alone in this concern. Howard Van Till refers to intelligent design as punctuated naturalism: nature does...
CTNS Event

The Past and Future of the Science-Religion Dialogue: Celebrating the Work of Ian G. Barbour

Event Date: 
Monday, October 3rd 2016, 12:00am
The Past and Future of the Science-Religion Dialogue: Celebrating the Work of Ian G. Barbour   Ian Barbour's pioneering writing in the 1960s and 1970s helped to create the field of science and religion, and his ongoing work over the past forty years has explored almost every aspect of it. On his eightieth birthday we will honor his contribution and look to the future of the dialogue. The conference sessions deal with methodology; God and nature; theology and physics; theology and biology; ethics, technology and the environment; and perspectives from process theology, Roman Catholic...
CTNS Event

CTNS Public Forum: The Ethical and Social Implications of AI in Asia

Event Date: 
Monday, May 9th 2022, 3:00pm
The Ethical and Social Implications of AI in Asia Monday, May 9th, 2022, 3 pm PT  Levi Checketts is an associate professor of religion and philosophy at Hong Kong Baptist University. A 2018 graduate of the GTU and recipient of the Charles H. Townes Fellowship, his research focuses on Catholic social ethics and new technologies. He leads a committee on AI concerns from an Asian perspective for the Pontifical Council for Culture and serves as Networking Fellow for AI and Faith. He has a forthcoming two-volume edited work, Theology and Technology, from Wipf and Stock and is currently writing a...
CTNS Event

Virtuous AI: Call for papers

Event Date: 
Sunday, January 1st 2023
Call for Paper Deadline: January 31, 2023 CTNS welcomes papers for these conferences on three core questions. More details on the three core questions can be found in this link.   1) How and to what extent will AI influence human cultural evolution? 2) Can AI assist humans in the acquisition of virtue? 3) Is AI capable of virtue? If so, are those virtues shared with or distinct from human virtues?   If you are interested, please send your 100-word abstract and a 500-word description of the paper by January 31, 2023. You can find the submission link and detailed requirements for the...
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SSQ Events—Berkeley

Wheeler Auditorium, University of California, Berkeley CA June 7-10, 1998 Presented by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences Conference Overview Science and religion are clearly two of the most important cultural forces in the world today. The growth of knowledge in the natural sciences is revolutionizing our understanding of the universe, planet Earth, and ourselves. At the same time, the great monotheistic religious traditions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—remain powerful spiritual forces that shape and influence billions of people around the world. They have shown...
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Spain Symposium

Science and the Three Monotheisms: A New Partnership?August 23-25, 2002 Hotel Alhambra Palace, Granada, SpainConference OverviewRecent world events signal the urgent need for dialogue among the three monotheistic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. If we are to respond to these events, we must understand the complex mutual influences between the spiritual traditions and their wider cultural contexts. At this symposium—held at an historic meeting ground of Jews, Christians, and Muslims— we focused on these three traditions as they engaged with one of the most pervasive of cultural...
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SSQ/UIP Morocco Colloquium

June 1- 3, 2002 Based in Ifrane, Morocco, Al Akhawayn is a university based on the American education system. It offers a graduate and undergraduate program in Business Administration, Humanities and Social Sciences and Science and Engineering. It also houses a Center of Environmental Issues and Regional Development well known as an Institute seeking to bridge between Morocco’s environment and its developmental needs. It is also known for its Institute of Economic Analysis and Prospective Studies, the Hillary Rodham Clinton Women Empowerment Center and the Azrou Center for Community...
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Kazakhstan Colloquium

September 19- 20, 2002 National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan Almaty, KazakhstanInstitute of the Oriental Studies of the Ministry of Education & Science of the Republic of KazakhstanPurpose of Colloquium:The main purpose of the colloquium was to bring together, in Central Asia, scholars who share an interest in Education, Science and Religion. The colloquium explored general issues relating to education and religion in the region, at all levels, but also took the opportunity to open up dialogue between different universities in order to develop joint scientific and...
CTNS Event

CTNS Student Showcase

Event Date: 
Thursday, September 28th 2017, 7:00pm
CTNS Student Showcase Free and open to the public Dinner Board Room, Graduate Theological Union To kick off the 2017-2018 school year CTNS will give a sampling of the kinds of science and religion research being done at the GTU by doctoral students. Speakers: Austin Eikenberry, Ki Wook Min and Robert Russell (for our recent graduate Hun Cho Yu) Austin Eikenberry, The Temporality of Creation and the Eternality of God The intersection of temporality and eternality has been a fundamental question of Christian theology almost from its earliest inception. Rooted in the ancient Greek...
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Fifty Years in Science and Religion: Ian G. Barbour and his Legacy

Fifty Years in Science and Religion: Ian G. Barbour and His Legacy Edited by Robert John Russell ISBN: 075464118X (paperback) 0754641171(hardback) Publication Date: 12/23/2004    Fifty Years in Science and Religion brings together nineteen leading scholars in the field to offer an appreciative yet critical assessment of the impact of Barbour's work on science and religion and to point ahead towards future critical areas, goals and tasks that await new research and visionary exploration. This book includes a unique autobiography by Barbour in which for the first time he shares and...
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Outstanding Books in Theology and the Natural Sciences Prize

In 1996, the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences created a new award for Outstanding Books in Theology and the Natural Sciences. The Outstanding Books Prize recognized exemplary scholarship in the dialogue between theology and the natural sciences and sought to foster outstanding scholarly investigation of the methodological relations between theology and science. Books were judged using the following criteria: Does the book make a convincing and scholarly case? Does it have real potential for affecting opinion makers and the general public? Will it be an important resource to be...
CTNS News

2020 Townes Fellowship Seeking Applications

Announcing the 2020 Townes Graduate Student Fellowship in Theology and Science

  CTNS is pleased to announce the 2020 competition for the Charles H. Townes Graduate Student Fellowship in Theology and Science. The purpose of the Townes Fellowship is to publicly recognize and offer modest financial support to doctoral students of the Graduate Theological Union who have demonstrated the clear ability to do highly promising research on issues related to theology and science.  The selection is based on academic excellence and students in any Department of the Graduate Theological Union doctoral program whose research focuses on theology and science are eligible to apply....