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CTNS Event

"Exploring the Convergence of Science and Religion: Following in the Footsteps of Charlie Townes."

Event Date: 
Wednesday, July 6th 2016, 9:00am
Wednesday, July 6, 2016, 9am "Exploring the Convergence of Science and Religion: Following in the Footsteps of Charlie Townes." First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way Berkeley, CA 94704 On Wednesday July 6 First Congregational Church of Berkeley (FCCB) member Robert Russell will present three lectures on "Exploring the Convergence of Science and Religion: Following in the Footsteps of Charlie Townes." This morning lecture series will be a special repeat consolidating three FCCB Learning Hours offered in the fall of 2015. In 1966, Charlie Townes published a...
CTNS Event

Surrogate, Partner, or Tool: How Autonomous Should Technology Be?

Event Date: 
Tuesday, September 15th 2020, 5:00pm
Please join us for the first-ever online CTNS Public Forum:   Surrogate, Partner, or Tool:  How Autonomous Should Technology Be? with Dr. Noreen Herzfeld   We have traditionally thought of technology as tools we build and use.  However, the advent of Alexa, autonomous vehicles, autonomous weapons, and other forms of AI makes modern technology more partner or surrogate than tool.  How autonomous do we want our technologies to be?  How will these technologies change or role in the world and our relationships to God and to one another?   Noreen Herzfeld is the Nicholas and Bernice...
CTNS Event

Engaging Hypotheticals: Groundwork for the Study of Theology in a Secular Academic Context

Event Date: 
Saturday, March 20th 2021, 1:00pm
PLEASE NOTE: This event has been postponed due to unforseen circumstances. A new date and time will be chosen in the near future. Thank you.   2021 Russell Research Fellowship in Religion and Science Research Conference Saturday, March 20, 2021, 1pm (PST) on Zoom. Please email Melissa Moritz, mmoritz@gtu.edu, to register. Engaging Hypotheticals: Groundwork for the Study of Theology in a Secular Academic Context  The Annual Russell Family Research Conference The study of religion in the secular academy is dominated by the “religious studies” approach, which situates theological ideas...
CTNS Event

Transhumanism as Contemporary Idolatry: A Judaic Critique

Event Date: 
Wednesday, November 17th 2021, 5:00pm
Transhumanism as Contemporary Idolatry: A Judaic Critique Wednesday, November 17, 2021, 5pm (PST) on Zoom.  REGISTER HERE   Transhumanism is a social and intellectual movement that promotes the use of technoscience to shape the evolution of the human species. Transhumanism calls for the engineering of the human body to enhance physiological and mental capacities, radically expand the duration of human life, and even attain (digital) immortality. Although secular in tone and style, transhumanist discourse is rife with utopian, apocalyptic, and eschatological motifs that invest technoscience...
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Computer Science and Information Technology Group

Computer Science and Information Technology Some of the most fascinating questions about the nature of spirituality are raised by the various fields of computer science and information technology (CSIT). The role of intelligent machines and computational models for human thought have already been discussed. But the advent of technology also raises crucial ethical and social questions for society today. The scientists in the CSIT group, specialized as they are in the development and use of these new technologies, discussed the probable effects of future technologies on human social and...
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The SSQ Program

History “Science and the Spiritual Quest” served as a hub of expertise and activity at the intersection of science and spirituality from 1996 - 2003. SSQ benefited from the intellectual capital of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences as well as the academic reputations of the Graduate Theological Union and the University of California at Berkeley. “Science and the Spiritual Quest” was one of the most successful programs ever conducted in the field of science and religion. In seven years, SSQ recruited more than 120 internationally, leading scientists into intensive dialogue on...
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Bangalore Symposium

Science and Beyond: Consciousness, Cosmology and Technology in the Indic TraditionsJanuary 8-11, 2003 National Institute for Advanced Studies, Bangalore, IndiaWe are grateful to our many partners for making this symposium possible:John Templeton FoundationCTNS Science and Religion Course ProgramNational Institute of Advanced Studies, BangaloreKengal Hanumanthaiya FoundationThe Infinity FoundationIndian Council for Philosophical ResearchCentre for Studies in CivilisationsUniversité Interdisciplinaire de ParisConference Overview Religious and scientific specialists on consciousness gathered in...
CTNS News

Announcement of Dr. Braden Molhoek as the new CTNS Barbour Chair and Director

January 21, 2022 Dear members and friends of CTNS and the GTU: I am delighted to announce that Dr. Braden Molhoek will become the new Ian G. Barbour Assistant Professor in Theology, Science, Ethics and Technology and the CTNS Director in the summer, 2022, following my retirement in June. Braden’s appointment by the GTU, following on the recommendations which I offered with input from the CTNS Advisory Board and other sources, marks a landmark expansion of our mission in interdisciplinary research, teaching and public service to explicitly include ethics and technology along with theology...
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Physics and Cosmology Group

Physics and Cosmology GroupCosmology, or the scientific study of the origin and development of the universe, raises fundamental religious questions: Where did we come from? What or who, if anything, created the universe in the first place? Must some cause be posited to explain the singularity from which our universe arose, or is the universe self-explanatory? Is the notion of God required to explain the lawlikeness of the universe, or to account for its proclivity to produce intelligent life? And what is the final fate of the universe; is the so-called heat death of the universe, or its final...
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Course Award Winners 1995-2002

Nearly eight hundred US $10,000 Course Awards were distributed to institutions and professors across the globe over the history of the entire SRC program. Though the program has ended, the community of scholars and the legacy of pedagogical resources that the Course program created continue to influence ongoing dialogues between science and religion. This program was made possible by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation. Course Award Winners by Year
Science and Religion Course ProgramSRCPSyllabiTheology and Sciencescience and religionteachingJohn Templeton Foundation
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Genetics and Evolutionary Biology Group

Genetics and Evolutionary Biology GroupThe field of genetics has come to public attention in recent years as scientists have developed procedures for germ line intervention and cloning. Both scientists and the general public are aware of the massive ethical questions raised by the capacities we now have for genetic manipulation. In the United States, at least, there is also widespread public interest in the tensions that arise between the dominant theories of biological evolution (Darwinian evolution plus the science of genetics) on the one hand, and on the other religious belief in the...
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Sciences of the Human Person Group

Sciences of the Human Person BiosIn recent years increasing attention has been given to questions of what (if anything) constitutes the uniqueness of the human person in light of contemporary science. This group was staffed by specialists in the various sciences which study or are related to the human person: the neurosciences, quantum physics, primatology, cognitive psychology, computer science and Artificial Intelligence, computational theory, clinical psychology, medicine and consciousness studies, to name a few. Each specialist brought his or her disciplinary training and empirical...
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Journal

Begun in 2003, Theology and Science draws its academic strength from the background of over thirty years of CTNS development, the expertise of hundreds of scientists and theologians from around the world who have participated in CTNS research programs, as well as a cadre of more than 40 editors on the Editorial Advisory Board. From physics and cosmology to evolutionary biology, genetics, neuroscience and the environmental sciences, Theology and Science engages scientific discourse in dialogue with both Christian and multi-religious perspectives. With these affiliations, the journal provides a...
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SATURN Participants

Principal Investigator: Robert John Russell Participants include Jim Bradley, Gerald Cleaver, George Ellis, Alicia Juarrero, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Rope Kojonen, Joshua Moritz, Ted Peters, Karl Svozil, Robert Ulanowicz, and Kirk Wegter-McNelly. Robert J. Russell is Founder and Director of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS), and the Ian G. Barbour Professor of Theology and Science in Residence at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA. He is a leading researcher and spokesperson for the growing international body of theologians and scientists committed to a...
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SSQ Collaborating Speakers

Collaborating SpeakersThis page contains brief biographies of people who were not involved in the SSQ workshops but whose involvement in the field of science and religion has made them valued participants in SSQ public events.Please note: these bios date from the time of the SSQ program. In the time since the program, some of the participants have moved institutions and some have passed away.Imad Ad Din AhmedImad Ad Din Ahmed is astronomer and Professor of Social Change and of Religion and Progress at the John Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies and at the University of Maryland...
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Buddhism and Ecology

BUDDHISM AND ECOLOGYCourse Number: ENVS 296Institution: University of VermontInstructor: Dr. Stephanie Kaza, Assoc. ProfessorEmail: skaza@zoo.uvm.eduCourse Description:A survey of classical texts and modern commentaries relevant to a Buddhist perspective on ecology and the environment. This is a senior level seminar investigating Buddhist foundations for ecological thought, Buddhist ethical and doctrinal questions related to ecological problems, and current challenges in Buddhist thought as it intersects modern ecological science. We will consider classic principles evoked by Buddhist...
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CTNS Bulletin

As a benefit of membership, CTNS members have access to articles from The CTNS Bulletin, published 1981-2002.  Members may request the access code by writing to csohn@gtu.edu.  Once you have the code, please click on the link below to log in.   Member Access
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SSQ People

Please note: these bios date from the time of the SSQ program. In the time since the program, some of the participants have moved institutions and some have passed away. Science and the Spiritual Quest Investigators Philip Clayton Claremont School of Theology and Claremont Graduate University Principal Investigator, Science and the Spiritual Quest Philip Clayton holds a Ph.D. in both Philosophy of Science and Religious Studies from Yale University. He has taught at Haverford and Williams Colleges, at the California State University, at the University of Munich (holding Humboldt and...