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CTNS Event

Public Forum with Knut-Willy Saether

Event Date: 
Thursday, September 27th 2012, 7:00pm
Knut-Willy Sæther is Adjunct Professor in religious education at the Norwegian School of Leadership and Theology (Høyskolen for Ledelse og Teologi). His Ph.D. was in the area of philosophy of religion focused on the work of John Polkinghorne, and he currently serves as Associate Professor at the University College of Volda. Sæther is an experienced educator and has written on the relationship between theology and the natural sciences. Dinner Board Room, Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Road, Berkeley
CTNS | Center for Theology and the Natural SciencesTheology and Natural SciencesTheology
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Closing Reflections from the SSQ Program Originator

By W. Mark Richardson I write these remarks as one who helped to found and has been involved in leading the Science and Spiritual Quest project over the last eight years. These eight years have been a gift as I have watched the program grow from our original idea to something much larger than anything I could have conceived. SSQ has enriched the lives of so many people—from scientists, to conference guests, and the staff who executed the programs. The SSQ vision was clear. We sought to bring leading scientists from around the globe and from many spiritual traditions into conversation with...
CTNS Event

CTNS 35th Anniversary Celebration

Event Date: 
Tuesday, October 18th 2016, 7:00pm
This event will celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences as well as CTNS's new beginning as a program of the Graduate Theological Union. There will be brief statements from the key players in the transition to be followed by a reception. We hope to see you there to help us celebrate this milestone in the history of CTNS. Tuesday, October 18, 7pm Dinner Board Room, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA Program and Reception. Free and open to the public.
CTNS | Center for Theology and the Natural SciencesRobert John Russell
CTNS Event

CTNS Faculty Showcase

Event Date: 
Sunday, November 6th 2016, 7:00pm
A sampling of theology and science research by faculty from around the GTU.  Confirmed Speakers: Ted Peters: "Astrotheology: Making New Neighbors in Outer Space" Rita Sherma: "Mindfulness, Contemplative Practice, and Neurobiology" Lisa Fullam: "AAAS at JST-SCU: Transforming the Theological Curriculum" Free and open to the public Wednesday, November 9, 7:00 pm Dinner Board Room, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA
CTNS | Center for Theology and the Natural SciencesTheodore F. Ted PetersRita ShermaLisa Fullam
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’...
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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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Science and Religion Course Program

The Science and Religion Course Program was an eight-year initiative to encourage the teaching of science and religion in seminaries, colleges, and universities worldwide. The Course Program was initially administered by Gordon College and focused primarily on scholars in North America and England. From 1998-2002, CTNS administered and broadened the program in a variety of ways, which centered principally on three aims: (1) to strengthen the base of scholars currently teaching in this field, (2) to broaden the impact of science and religion on leading research universities and theological...
Science and Religion Course ProgramSRCPJohn Templeton Foundationscience and religionTheology and Scienceteaching
CTNS Event

Playful Encounters of the Third Kind: How Science and Religion Dialog intersects with Interfaith Advocacy

Event Date: 
Thursday, March 5th 2020, 7:00pm
Fellow's Public Forum Thursday, March 5, 2020, 7pm Richard S. Dinner Board Room Graduate Theological Union (Flora Lamson Hewlett) Library 2400 Ridge Road, Berkeley, California, USA  In this talk, Adam Pryor will examine how the development of intellectual values that can occur through Religion and Science dialog overlap with the development of critical values and skills for Interfaith advocacy work. Focusing particularly on envy, humility, and belonging, he will reflect on how classic methods in the field of Religion and Science can open new avenues for thinking about contemporary...
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2020-2021 Russell Family Research Fellowship in Religion and Science Coming Soon

Dr. Kirk Wegter-McNelly is this year's Russell Family Research Fellow in Religion and Science The fellowship will consist of two events: "A Strigilated Universe: The Cosmogonic Significance of Primordial Gravitation Radiation, "CTNS Public Forum, Thursday, March 18, 2021, 5pm (PST) Online via Zoom "Engaging Hypotheticals: Groundwork for the Study of Theology in a Secular Academic Context," Research Conference, Saturday, March 20, 2021, 1pm (PST) Online via Zoom Visit the Russell Fellowship page for more information. Please email Melissa Moritz, mmoritz@gtu.edu, to register for one or...
CTNS Event

CTNS Public Forum with Dr. Carolin Frueh

Event Date: 
Wednesday, March 16th 2022, 5:00pm
Register Here for this Zoom Webinar   Time and its associated properties are an integral part of any physics calculation. Differentiability enables equations of motion and therefore quantitative predictions in the first place. Time also has an ontological dimension and is intimately linked to human existence. A third understanding of time is the one in theology, contrasting human time with divine eternity. In this talk the property of time in physics is contrasted with an understanding of time following Heidegger and a theological time dimension from Pannenberg.   Dr. Carolin Frueh is a...
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Vatican Observatory and CTNS Collaboration

Collaboration with the Vatican Observatory The Vatican Observatory/CTNS Project: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action (VO/CTNS: 1990-2005). Beginning in 1990, the Vatican Observatory and CTNS co-sponsored a series of international research conferences on a variety of topics in “theology and science” that touch in varying ways on the overall theme, “scientific perspectives on divine action.” The series produced six scholarly volumes with contributions from over fifty distinguished scientists, philosophers and theologians. CTNS Founder and Director Robert John Russell served as the...
CTNS News

Myoung-ho Sin Awarded 2020 Townes Fellowship

Myoung-ho Sin awarded 2020 Townes Fellowship Award

CTNS is pleased to announce that Myoung-Ho Sin has been selected as the Charles H. Townes Fellow in Theology and Science for 2020. Myoung came to the GTU in 2016 with a background in Economic Engineering, Photonics and Digital Image Processing, a Masters in Divinity and a Masters in Early Reformation Theology from Honam Theological University and Seminary, Seoul, South Korea. He passed his GTU Oral Comps with distinction in 2019, and is currently writing his dissertation. Myoung’s dissertation begins by rebutting the challenge from Lynn White Jr. that “the anthropocentric view of...
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Science and the Spiritual Quest

“Science and the Spiritual Quest” was an international program conducted by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in collaboration with several partner organizations and funded by a major grant from the John Templeton Foundation. From 1996-2003, SSQ focused on the ethical and spiritual questions raised by the best of contemporary science particularly for its scientific practitioners. Our mission was to invite leading scientists into dialogue, through private workshops, on the connections between their scientific pursuits and their spiritual practices, and to present the results of...
CTNS Event

New Perspectives on Human Origins: Three Challenges for Christian Theology

Event Date: 
Saturday, March 10th 2018, 1:00pm
Over the past decade, scientific and technical advances have transformed our understanding of human evolution. Paleogenomics (the recovery, sequencing, and analysis of genomic DNA from ancient individuals) provides powerful tools for retracing the steps of our evolutionary past. Newly discovered species such as Homo naledi point to multiple hominin lineages living simultaneously. New findings and advanced analysis of tools and cultural artefacts from Neandertals and other early humans tend to undermine our confidence in any cultural "big bang" that separates behaviorally modern humans from...
science and religionTheology and SciencectnsRon Cole-Turnerhuman origins
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SSQ Boston Conference

The Quest for Truth, Knowledge, and Values in Science & Religion October 21-23, 2001 at Harvard Memorial Church Cambridge, Massachusettspresented byScience and the Spiritual Quest in partnership withThe Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science) andThe Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity SchoolConference OverviewThe growth of knowledge in the natural sciences is revolutionizing our understanding of the universe, our planet, and ourselves. At the same time the world’s spiritual traditions remain...
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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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SSQ Publications

Faith in Science: Scientists Search for Truth Edited by W. Mark Richardson and Gordy Slack Routledge, 2001   Science vs religion-the two have traditionally been seen as having an adversarial relationship, from before Galileo to this day. Faith in Science demonstrates how misleading this portrayal is, by allowing those who know best—scientists—speak for themselves. W. Mark Richardson and Gordy Slack, philosopher and science writer respectively, conducted interviews with twelve of the world's top scientists on subjects ranging from the existence and nature of God to the role of religion...
CTNS Event

J.K. Russell Research Conference, "Scientific Vetoes and the “Hands-off” God: Can We Say that God Acts In History?" with Thomas F. Tracy

Event Date: 
Sunday, October 16th 2016, 12:00pm
J.K. Russell Research Conference, "Scientific Vetoes and the “Hands-off” God: Can We Say that God Acts In History?" with Thomas F. Tracy The idea of special divine action has been notoriously problematic in modern theology. Two difficulties in particular have dominated discussion. First, it has been commonplace to contend that this idea runs fatally afoul of the natural sciences. Second, it is widely thought that if we affirm that God acts on particular occasions to shape the course of events in the world, then the problem of evil is made even more difficult. We seem to face an unhappy trade...
CTNS Event

J. K. Russell Fellow’s Public Forum, "Dance of the Fertile Universe", with George V. Coyne, S.J. Co-Sponsored with Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (JSTB).

Event Date: 
Friday, March 18th 2016, 7:00pm
J. K. Russell Fellow’s Public Forum, "Dance of the Fertile Universe", with George V. Coyne, S.J. Co-Sponsored with Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (JSTB). Did we come about by chance or by necessity in the evolving universe? Did God make us? Can we conclude that there is an Intelligent Design to the universe? To what extent can the natural sciences address these questions? As to chance or necessity the first thing to be said is that the problem is not formulated correctly. It is not just a question of chance or necessity because, first of all, it is both. Furthermore, there is a third...
CTNS Event

In Pursuit of Perfection: The Misguided Transhumanist Vision

Event Date: 
Thursday, March 9th 2017, 1:00pm
The 2017 Russell Family Research Conference with Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, "In Pursuit of Perfection: The Misguided Transhumanist Vision" Sponsored by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences Registration required. Richard S. Dinner Board Room, GTU, 2400 Ridge Rd., Berkeley, 3rd Floor 
CTNS | Center for Theology and the Natural SciencesRussell Family Fellowship in Religion and ScienceHava Tirosh-Samuelson