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CTNS Student Showcase To kick off the 2015-2016 school year CTNS will give a sampling of the kinds of science and religion research being done at the GTU by doctoral students. Free and open to the public Dinner Board Room, Graduate Theological Union Daekyung Jung, “Divine Action and the Origin of Life: Theistic Evolution and Semantic Divine Action” John King, “The One, The Many, and the Philosophy of Science: A Comparison of Trinitarian and Buddhist Epistemologies” Robert Russell, “Untangling the Entangled God: An Appraisal of Kirk Wegter-McNelly’s Book, The Entangled God: Divine...

CTNS Public Forum with Oliver Putz, God’s Self-Communication in an Evolving World: Evolution, Self and Transcendental Being A fundamental assumption of traditional Judeo-Christian anthropology is that humans alone are capable of knowing and loving God as both, their whence and wither. While all of creation is intimately related to a wholly transcendent and immanent divine, only humans are aware of this relationship and can respond to it appropriately. The present paper challenges this anthropocentric view on the basis of both transcendental theological anthropology and insights from the...

The History and Philosophy of Astrobiology (with references to Swedenborg and his work Other Planets), with David Dunér Public Lecture Co-Sponsored by The Swedenborgian House of Studies Free and open to the public PSR Chapel, 1798 Scenic Drive, Berkeley CA 94709   Why are historical and philosophical contexts important for the understanding of astrobiology? How has the field developed and what fundamental problems does it face in the 21st Century? How can the writing of a 17th century Swedish scientist and visionary help put this conversation in a wider context? Come join us for the...

Science and Religion Hospitality Event Westminster Room of the Royal Sonesta, Harbour Court Hotel, 550 Light Street, Baltimore, MD 21202.   Please join CTNS, along with the Zygon Center for Religion and Science (ZCRS, www.zygoncenter.org) the Institute for the Bio-Cultural Study of Religion (IBCSR - www.ibcsr.org) and the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS - www.iras.org) for refreshments and a brief presentation.

"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...

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’...

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...

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...

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...