Become a Member Support Our Work Apply to GTU

Search CTNS

Displaying 281 - 300 of 303
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...
CTNS Event

The Russell Family Research Fellowship in Religion and Science 2024-25

Event Date: 
Saturday, May 3rd 2025, 12:00am
Register for the Event The annual Russell Family Research Fellowship in Religion and Science brings internationally distinguished scholars in religion and science to the GTU. Since 1981, Russell Fellows have been in residence at CTNS/GTU every year to conduct research, teach doctoral and seminary courses and present public lectures at the GTU and at other San Francisco Bay Area locations. The annual Russell Family Fellowship in Religion and Science was created in memory of John K. Russell (1896-1958). Mr. Russell, born of Italian immigrants, was an industrial engineer and humanitarian. In...
Basic Page

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...
Basic Page

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...
Basic Page

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

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 and science.  It reflects the four goals of our search process...

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...
Basic Page

Students and Alumni

CTNS Current Students Rev. Dr. Hyung-Joo Lee is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Theology and Ethics/Theology and Science at the Graduate Theological Union/the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (GTU/CTNS). He is a cosmologist holding a Ph.D. in physics from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). He is writing a dissertation dealing with the creative mutual interaction between inflationary Big Bang cosmology and Christian doctrines of creation, redemption, and eschatology, with a particular interest in emergence in physics. He earned his M.Div. from...
Basic Page

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...
Basic Page

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
Basic Page

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...
Basic Page

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...
Basic Page

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...
Basic Page

Two years into my retirement

Dear CTNS Members and Friends:                                                           Now, two years into my retirement, I am writing you a “letter” to reflect on the background, creation and history of CTNS over the past four decades, to frame the tremendous changes at CTNS these past two years since my retirement, and to look ahead briefly to where my retirement journey will --- hopefully --- take me into vistas of research and reflection in theology and science. As you undoubtedly know, I formally retired as the Ian G. Barbour Professor of Theology and Science and the Founding...
Basic Page

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...
Basic Page

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...
Basic Page

Theology and Science Table of Contents

Volume 22, Issue 4, November 2024   Editorial Memories of Philip Hefner by Ted Peters & Bob Russell   AI and Faith Editorial Series Framing Theological Investigations of Near-Future AI by Mark Graves   Book Symposium: Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine Love is Universal: AI, Angels, and Astrobiology at the Ends of Time and Space by Benjamin B. DeVan Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine by Michael Summers Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine: Disputatio Rediviva by Jacques Arnould Astrobiology and Challenges for Traditional Christian Doctrine by Grace Wolf-Chase Angels and AI,...
Basic Page
Basic Page

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...
CTNS Event

CTNS Public Forum with Dr. Anna Puzio

Event Date: 
Tuesday, May 13th 2025, 5:30pm
Register for the Event Title: On the rise of posthuman visions and how they are transforming anthropology of technology   Short description: New technologies and the environmental crisis are transforming what it means to be human. They challenge the role of the human being – especially in relation to the non-human –and call for new anthropological reflections. In this context, various visions of the so-called "posthuman" are emerging. First, there are transhumanist and ideological visions of the posthuman that aim to radically transform or even overcome the human through technology....
Basic Page