Events

Public Forum & Book Launch: "Saving Darwin: How to be a Christian and
Believe in Evolution" by Karl Giberson, February 6, 2009, Pacific School of Religion Chapel, Berkeley, CA. Details forthcoming.

The 2008-2009 J. K. Russell Research Fellowship in Religion and Science with
Dr. Francisco Ayala is scheduled for April 3-9, 2009.
Save Saturday, April 4 for the Research Conference and Tuesday, April 7 at 7 pm for the Fellow's Forum, both held at the Graduate Theological Union Board Room, Berkeley, California.

News Announcements

Robert Russell and other Board members featured on new program for TV and web, "Closer to Truth." PBS stations adding programming this fall; click here for more information. (Bob will be speaking on "Can Science Deal with God?", "Did God Create Time?" and "How Could God Interact with the World?")

New Book: Sacred Cells?, by Ted Peters, Karen Lebacqz and Gaymon Bennett.

Check out "The Clergy Letter Project" About-->Links

Bay Area Friends: Donate your vehicle and CTNS "wins". Click here for information.

Respected Voices Respond to Ben Stein's movie, Expelled

• CTNS Press Release Offers an Alternative to Divisive Language
• Jeffrey Schloss, Professor of Biology at Westmont College, publishes response to Expelled: "Seeking an Open Inquiry: The Expelled Controversy: Overcoming or Raising Walls of Division?" posted on Counterbalance Website and ASA Website. Note: This article first appeared on the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) website in HTML and as a PDF.

Recent Past Events

Professor LeRon Shults to give CTNS Public Forum November 5 on his book -- Christology and Science with a response by Professor Robert Russell. Join us at 7 pm in the GTU Board Room.

Public Forum: Book Launch Lecture by Dr. Christopher Southgate, Wednesday, September 10, 2008, 7:00 pm, GTU Board Room, 2400 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA
Click here for details.

The Annual J. K. Russell Research Fellowship in Religion and Science, Berkeley, CA, March 14 - 20, 2008.
Dr. George V. Coyne, S. J., former Director of the Vatican Observatory. (Click here for Details)
Saturday, March 15, 2008, Research Conference, 10:30 am to 5:00 pm:"Twenty Years After the New View from Rome: Pope John Paul II on Science and Religion"

Fellow's Public Forum, Tuesday, March 18, 2008: "Dance of the Fertile Universe",
Co-Sponsored with Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (JSTB).

CTNS/GTU Conference and Celebration; December 8, 2007,1-5:00 pm,
Assessing the Work of Robert John Russell:
"God’s Action in Nature’s World: Creative Mutual Interaction from Alpha to Omega"
and Celebrating the public Campaign for the Ian G. Barbour Chair in Theology and Science.

CTNS Fall 2007 Public Forum:
Tuesday, October 30, 7:00 pm(James Haag, Ph.D.) Click here for details.

Book Launch & Reception April 19, 2007
Anticipating Omega by Ted Peters

The Charles H. Townes Student Fellowships will be awarded at this Reception.

CTNS Public Forum April 25, 2007
"Divine Action, Natural Science, and the Problem of Evil"
with Thomas Tracy Visiting Scholar from Bates College
7:00 pm GTU Richard S. Dinner Board Room

The 2007 J. K. Russell Research Fellowship
March 24-April 1, 2007, Berkeley, California
Dr. Celia Deane-Drummond

Past Events

September 14-15, 2006
CTNS Annual J. K. Russell Research Fellowship, Berkeley

September 16, 2006
CTNS Twenty-fifth Anniversary Celebration, Berkeley
2:00 pm; Celebrating the history and achievements of CTNS while looking forward; Celebrating "God's Action in Nature's World", a festschrift in honor of Robert John Russell (edited by Ted Peters and Nathan Hallanger). .
Location: The GTU Board Room, 2400 Ridge Rd., Berkeley.
(No charge) 6:00 pm. Dinner and program celebrating twenty-five years of scholarship, teaching and public service including a special surprise announcement.

October 4, 2006, 7 pm
CTNS Public Forum with Andrew Newberg

Robert Russell Speaker at Annual Goshen Conference:
The Fifth Annual Goshen Conference on Religion and Science,
Goshen College, Goshen, IN, March 18-20, 2005.
March 18- 20: Public Lecture, "The role of philosophy and theology in relativity and cosmology." Discussion with Professor Robert John Russell and conference participants.
Public Lecture, "Evolution, natural theodicy and ‘new creation' eschatology."
Lecture, “Eschatology and Cosmology: Guidelines for their mutual interaction."
Conference participants include pastors, and interested lay persons, as well as academic scientists, mathematicians, theologians, and students.http://www.goshen.edu/religionscience.

AAR/SBL Hospitality Event
November 20, 2004, 7:00 pm-11:00 pm
San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter - Conference Room 8. Saturday, November 20 from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm 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 and Science (ZCRS).

2004 J. K. Russell Research Fellowship: Niels Henrik Gregersen, the J. K. Russell Fellow for 2003-2004, is Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Copenhagen.

Nov. 23, 2003
Theology and Science Journal Launch Reception at AAR/SBL
On behalf of Taylor and Francis, a division of Routledge, join us for a reception on Sunday, November 23 from 7 - 8.30 pm in the Cobb Room of the Hilton Atlanta and Towers Hotel. The new CTNS journal's co-editors, managing editor, publisher and others will be present to greet you.

October 6-13, 2003
Reductionism and Emergence Lecture Series and Conference
CTNS is pleased to co-sponsor a research conference with University of San Francisco and the Vatican Observatory October 7-11, 2003.
Three Public Lectures are offered to the community:

October 6: "A New Kind of Science? Complexity Studies and Religious Reflection"
7:30 p.m. Lone Mountain 100. Lecture by Niels Henrik Gregersen. Part of the "Reductionism and Emergence" conference. For more information, please call (415) 422-6174 or email stmarie@usfca.edu.

October 9: "Emergence of Human Mental Abilities: Not Simply 'Evolution as Usual'"
7:30 p.m. Maraschi Room. Lecture by Terrence Deacon. Part of the "Reductionism and Emergence" conference. For more information, please call (415) 422-6174 or email stmarie@usfca.edu.

October 13: "Reductionish or Emergence? An Introdution to a New Paradigm?"
7:30 p.m. Lone Mountain 100. Lecture by Philip Clayton. Part of the "Reductionism and Emergence" conference. For more information,please call (415) 422-6174 or email stmarie@usfca.edu

October 8–11: Conference: Reductionism and Emergence: Implications for the Science/Theology Dialogue
9 a.m.–6 p.m. Lone Mountain 148. Dialogue among 25 leading thinkers in the field. Participation is by invitation only.

October 3-5, 2003
The Past and Future of the Science-Religion Dialogue: 
Celebrating the Work of Ian G. Barbour
Berkeley, CA

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 theology and Buddhist thought. Presenters will explore a variety of theological visions of the field s wider dimensions and its frontier challenges. Each speaker will assess what has been accomplished in the past and help us envision what lies ahead as we look toward the coming decades in the light of the legacy of Ian G. Barbour.

Click here for more information about the conference.

June 14, 2003
Gaia and the Sacred: Religion, Science, and Ethics
Church Divinity School of the Pacific

GAIA AND THE SACRED is a one-day conference made possible by the CTNS Fellowship program at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Graduate Theological Union. This conference will explore the ways in which religion, ethics, and the sciences play into our understanding of who we are, as humans, within the natural world. Topics to be addressed include: Religion and Animals, Theological Ethics, Ecology and Economics, and World Religions and Ecology.  For more information, visit the TREES website.

May 31-June 5, 2003
"Works of Love: Scientific and Religious Perspectives on Altruism" Conference Co-Sponsorship

Science and the Spiritual Quest, a program of CTNS, is pleased to co-sponsor the public conference "Works of Love: Scientific and Religious Perspectives on Altruism" to be held May 31 - June 5, 2003 at Villanova University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Organized by the Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science and the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, the conference will explore altruism in an interfaith and interdisciplinary context. SSQ will provide conference sessions and host a reception. For more information and registration, visit
www.metanexus.net/conference2003 or call 215-789-2200.

PLTS Spring Theological Conference
Friday, April 25, 8:30am to 12:30pm
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, CA
"Evolution, Evil & the Cross: The Theological Importance of Race and Genetic Inheritance"

Speakers include Robert J. Russell, Martinez Hewlett, Peter Nash, Alan Padgett, Gary Pence, and Marty Stortz.
The 2003 Spring Theological Conference will address the concept of genetic inheritance, the DNA evolution has bequeathed to us. Among the many things we inherit, we would like to draw out the theological implications of two. First, if we have a genetic predispositon to what we might call “sin” or anti-social behavior or for exacting suffering on other beings, we want to ask the theodicy question: why would God create us this way? Second, we want to ask the scientific question regarding the degree to which racial differences might have a genetic basis and then pose the question: what are the ethical implications? Our mission is to prevent possible misuse of genetic science and the concept of inheritance.
For registration information, please visit the PLTS website.

April 23, 2003
Kirk Wegter-McNelly, Ph.D Candidate, "Living in a Tangled World: Quantum Clues for Contemporary Theology"

Kirk Wegter-McNelly has recently completed his doctorate in systematic and philosophical theology at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California. He also holds a B.A. in physics from Central College and an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary. Among other CTNS projects to which he contributed while at the GTU, Kirk served as co-editor for two CTNS publications: the most recent volume of the CTNS/Vatican Observatory research series, Quantum Mechanics: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action (CTNS/VO, 2001), and the SSQ volume, Science and the Spiritual Quest: New Essays by Leading Scientists (Routledge, 2002). This fall, Kirk will join the Religious Studies Department of Manhattan College, New York City, teaching primarily courses focused on the relation between religion and science. Call 510-848-8152 for more information or via email: ctnsinfo@ctns.org

April 1, 2003
William Dembski, Ph.D., "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 just fine most of the time, but then needs to be punctuated with divine interventions. Kenneth Miller regards intelligent design as progressive creationism by another name. Edward Oakes memorably characterizes intelligent design as "deism under a stroboscope."

March 22, 2003
The 2002-2003 J. K. Russell Research Conference: Paul Davies, Ph.D.
10:30 to 4:30, Library, 2400 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA.

"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 of a multiverse. This theory envisages an infinite array of universes manifesting an infinite variety of laws. Only in those universes where the laws are, by accident, bio-friendly, will there be observers such as us to marvel at the contrived nature of their world. But how scientific is the multiverse? Does it really explain the facts? And is this theory any more convincing than a divine selection?

March 21, 2003, 7:00 pm
Fellowship Forum. Pacific School of Religion Chapel, 1798 Scenic Avenue, Berkeley, CA, featuring Paul Davies, Ph.D., The CTNS 2002-2003 J. K. Russell Fellow. "ET and God: Theological Implications of the Search for Life Beyond Earth?"

Note new location. Free and open to the public.

March 11, 2003, 7:00 pm
John Haught, Ph.D., of Georgetown University.
"The Suffering of Sentient Life: The Theodicy Problem in Evolutionary Theism."

Free and open to the public.

This Forum, part of the theodicy series linked to a CTNS-sponsored course at the GTU, is made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

March 9, 2003, 9:30 am
CTNS Forum; San Francisco. John Haught, Ph.D., Georgetown University

Discussion with Dean Alan Jones of Grace Cathedral. 9:30 am in Gresham Hall at Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street, San Francisco, CA. Free and open to the public. Live webcast at www.GraceCathedral.org

February 24, 2003, 7:00 pm (note new date)
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 examines this claim, starting with the supposition that the Darwinian mechanism of natural selection is not merely true but by far the chief cause of evolutionary change. Free and open to the public.

February 11, 2003, 7:00 pm
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 rejects the very violence that the archaic myths silently reflect. Girard presents the thesis that a truly scientific approach in comparative religions would not deny Judaic and Christian claims to unique truthfulness. Free and open to the public.

Call 510-848-8152 for more information or via email: ctnsinfo@ctns.org

This Forum, part of the theodicy series linked to a CTNS-sponsored course at the GTU, is made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

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