Science and Faith in Conversation
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On November 16 Tim Morris and Don Petcher, Professors of Biology and Physics at Covenant College, will be speaking at our first Science and Faith in Conversation event. Morris and Petcher, coauthors of Science and Grace, will give a lecture at the University of Chicago from 4 – 5:30 pm, followed by a Congregational Conversation at the United Church of Hyde Park starting at 7pm.
University of Chicago Lecture Hall 1103 in the Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery
900 E. 57th Street
The idea that contemporary science and Christian convictions are at odds in some basic way is common in the Christian and scientific subcultures as well as in the broader popular culture. I will raise the question of whether a Christian worldview as a whole tends to increase or tends to decrease respect for scientific consensus. I will pursue nuanced, constructive answers to this question in a conversation with contemporary philosophy of science and a Christian theology of scientific endeavor.
Most of us by cultural default have a mechanistic view of the laws of nature, a view inherited from the nineteenth century. This view was substantially upset by the development of quantum theory, and with the move to postmodernism, we now know that worldviews come into play even when assessing science. So those of different worldviews may have substantially different ideas about how we should reassess our understanding of the laws of nature. In this talk, I will raise the important theological issues in relation to this topic that follow from a Christian perspective, and discuss some of the ramifications.
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Dr. Tim Morris is a Professor of Biology at Covenant College. After graduating from Covenant in 1983, he did graduate work at the University of Florida (PhD in cellular and molecular biology, 1989) and post-doctoral research at the University of Georgia (molecular virology). He joined faculty at Covenant in 1995, serves as chair of the biology department and teaches a variety of courses in the Biology major program and in the college’s Core program as well. In addition to his love for the biological aspects of God’s world, he has a special interest in helping Christians better understand the relationship between contemporary science and Christianity. He was a participant in the Templeton/Oxford Seminars on Science and Christianity held during the summers of 1999, 2000, and 2001 at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford, England. The book, Science and Grace, which Tim co-authored with physicist Don Petcher, was released by Crossway Books in March 2006. Science and Grace was written to help Christians build an understanding of scientific endeavor within a Christian worldview by utilizing specific Christian convictions concerning God’s faithfulness to His people and to His creation.
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Dr. Don Petcher is Professor of Physics at Covenant College. After graduating from Covenant in 1974, he did graduate work at the University of Georgia (MS in Physics, 1978) and Indiana University (PhD in Theoretical Particle Physics, 1981). He subsequently held post-doctoral positions at the University of Bern in Bern, Switzerland, the National Institute for Nuclear and High Energy Physics (NIKHEF) in Amsterdam, Holland, and at the Supercomputer Computations Research Institute (SCRI) at Florida State University, before joining the research faculty at Washington University in St. Louis. He joined the faculty at Covenant College in 1993, serves as chair of the physics department, and teaches a variety of courses in the physics and mathematics major programs, in the college’s core, and also helps out in philosophy of science and philosophy of math. He has always had a strong interest in philosophy and in particular the philosophy of science and the relationship between science and Christianity. He was a participant in the Templeton/Oxford Seminars on Science and Christianity held during the summers of 1999, 2000, and 2001 at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford, England. The book, Science & Grace, which Don co-authored with biologist Tim Morris, was released by Crossway Books in March 2006. Science & Grace was written to help Christians build an understanding of scientific endeavor within a Christian worldview by utilizing specific Christian convictions concerning God’s faithfulness to His people and to His creation. Don and his wife Ling Mei have one daughter and live in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. |
