September 2012
In this issue:
Science, technology and humanity explored in the pews
University science center named for well-known ordained medical doctor
Immortality studied by UC philosopher
Science, technology and humanity explored in the pews
The Scientists in Congregations grants continue to fuel science and religion dialogue across the US, with a number of meetings taking place in recent months.
Calvary Presbyterian Church in Indiana recently held a weekend of exploration hosting the Rev. Dr. Ronald Cole-Turner, a theologian well known for his mixing of theology and scientific ethics.
The September 8 and 9 conference “Science or Religion….Must We Choose?” covered territory such as science and technology, human origins and how science relates to the congregation. Attendees looked at questions such as: Do we really want our church to take on the challenge of engaging science and do we really have any other choice?
Rev. Dr. Turner is the H. Parker Sharp Professor of Theology and Ethics at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion and has served on the advisory board of the John Templeton Foundation and the Metanexus Institute. He is an author of numerous books including Transhumanism and Transcendence: Christian Hope in an Age of Technological Advancement.
Funded by the John Templeton Foundation and founded by a Presbyterian minister, the Scientists in Congregations program has provided numerous religion and science discussions with congregations across the US. For instance, grants have been awarded to ELCA Congregations: Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church and Student Center in College Park, Maryland; Trinity Lutheran in Moorhead, Minnesota; The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Brevard, North Carolina; and First Lutheran Church in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Another grant winner, Church of the Advent in Washington, D.C., held its second event in its series on Science & Faith in Conversation in late August. The event, “The Shape of the Human Soul”, featured philosopher and theologian James K.A. Smith and psychiatrist Dr. Curt Thompson, author of Anatomy of the Soul.
The Scientists in Congregations grant making initiative calls for a sustained, creative collaboration between practitioners in the fields of science (scientists or science educators) and theology (pastors) who are already engaged with one another through shared participation in the life of a congregation.
University science center named for well-known ordained medical doctor
A science and community life center is being built at North Park University in Chicago and is named for Nancy and G. Timothy Johnson, a longtime medical editor and senior medical contributor for ABC News.
A grad of North Park, Dr. Johnson also earned a seminary degree at North Park Theological Seminary in 1963. He is well known for his on-air medical analysis on Good Morning America, World News Tonight, Nightline and 20/20. He is also an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Covenant Church, which is the church denomination North Park University is affiliated with. Founding editor of the Harvard Health Letter, Johnson is also the author of several books on medicine and faith.
A formal groundbreaking ceremony is planned for October 26 and the Nancy and G. Timothy Johnson Center for Science and Community Life is expected to be completed in time for the 2014 fall semester. The Johnson Center will support the University’s academic programs in science and the health professions, as well as offices for university ministries, international study, career development and resident life.
Immortality studied by UC philosopher
The John Templeton Foundation awarded a $5 million grant to University of California Riverside philosopher John Fischer to research aspects of immortality, including near-death experiences and the impact of belief in an afterlife on human behavior.
The three year grant is the largest ever awarded to a humanities professor at the university. “People have been thinking about immortality throughout history,” said Fischer, the principal investigator of The Immortality Project. “We have a deep human need to figure out what happens to us after death.” He added that no one has taken a comprehensive and sustained look at immortality that brings together science, theology and philosophy.
According to the University of California Riverside, half of the grant will fund research projects. The grant will also fund two conferences, while a website will include a variety of resources, from glossaries and bibliographies to announcements of research conferences and links to published research.
Fischer, who is a scholar of free will and moral responsibility, said that anecdotal reports of near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences and past lives are plentiful, but it is important to subject these reports to careful analysis. In this careful analysis, researchers will try to figure out if these are plausible glimpses of an afterlife or are biologically induced illusions, according to Fischer.
The project will look at a range of issues relating to immortality and how these bear on the way we conceptualize our own lives. Philosophers may consider questions such as: Is immortality potentially worthwhile or not? Would existence in an afterlife be repetitive or boring? Does death give meaning to life? Could we still have virtues like courage if we knew we couldn’t die?
Theologians and philosophers may look into the relationship between belief in life after death and individual behavior and how individuals could survive death as the same person. Fischer said, “We think that free will is very important to us theologically and philosophically. And heaven in the Judeo-Christian tradition is supposed to be the best place. Yet we arguably wouldn’t have free will in heaven. How do you fit these ideas together?”
The project is slated to culminate in a book. The working title is “Immortality and the Meaning of Death,” and is slated for publication by Oxford University Press.
Covalence, September 2012