Winter Quarter, 2012
Science, the Bible, Christian Faith and the University
- Engaged in Conversation -
Holy Trinity Church has been very fortunate to receive a two year grant to promote discussion of issues of science and Christian faith from the project Scientists in Congregations [SinCs]
http://www.scientistsincongregations.org/
Though the focus of the grant is our local congregation, we have also asked each speaker to give an academic lecture for our Text and Truth series.
During the Autumn Quarter, Tim Morris, professor of biology, and Don Petcher, professor of physics, at Covenant College opened our SinCs project with an introductory presentation on some of the challenging issues for discussion between science and Christian faith. Notes and links for this and several more events last quarter can be found on the Text and Truth archive page. http://www.htcchicago.org/text-and-truth-archive/
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This quarter, we shift the focus to a conversation about Biblical and theological issues which have shaped Christianity’s relationship with science, especially in America. As many know and almost continually hear, science and religion, and Christianity in particular, are supposedly “at war.” We would like to turn that idea into several questions. Are science and Christianity at war? What is the history of this idea? What are some of the issues that have given cause for this idea? What might scientists and Christians do to reduce the tension, if not establish peace with one another? Are there any signs that this might already be happening? How might Christians renew their knowledge of and engagement with all the sciences?
Our main speaker for this quarter will be Mark Noll. Since the material that Professor Noll could cover in a single lecture is so voluminous, we provide below a number of resources to read in preparation for Professor Noll’s lecture, as well as brief talks by several other faculty members, who will address specific parts of the puzzle Professor Noll will be addressing.
February 1 - Jeffrey Stackert - 12 noon, Reynolds Club basement conference room
- a light lunch will be provided
“A Brief Introduction to Critical Biblical Studies, with a Focus on Creation Narratives”
Jeffrey Stackert, professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Chicago Divinity School, situates the Hebrew Bible in the context of the larger ancient Near Eastern world in which it was composed. For example, his first book, Rewriting the Torah, (Mohr Siebeck, 2007), addresses literary correspondences among the biblical legal corpora and especially the relationships between similar laws in Deuteronomy and pentateuchal Priestly literature. Professor Stackert was honored with the 2010 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise for his book.
http://divinity.uchicago.edu/faculty/stackert.shtml
Since it will be impossible for Mark Noll to address in a single lecture all the problematic issues of Biblical interpretation which are involved in the science and Christianity debate, Professor Stackert will help us start a conversation on this one issue, which will have direct relevance to Professor Noll’s lecture and open up issues that will profit from further study.
February 8 - Catherine Brekus - 12 noon, South Lounge, the Reynolds Club
- a light lunch will be provided
“A Brief Introduction to the Rise of Evangelicalism in Early America, with special emphasis on the common-sense strain of the British Enlightenment”
Catherine Brekus, professor of the history of Christianity in the Divinity School, has focused her research on American religious history. She is particularly interested in the rise of Protestant female preaching during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and asks how women’s history changes our understanding of American religion.
http://divinity.uchicago.edu/faculty/brekus.shtml
Drawing upon material for a course Professor Brekus is teaching this quarter on the history of evangelicalism in America, she will discuss the rise of evangelicalism in the 18th century, especially how evangelicalism was deeply influenced by the empirical, common-sense strain of the British Enlightenment. Here is another piece of the very large puzzle which Mark Noll will be addressing, and which Professor Brekus can help us begin to consider.
February 23 - Mark Noll - 12 noon, Swift lecture hall in the Div School - American Religious History Workshop
“Christianity, the Bible and the Civil War”
http://cas.uchicago.edu/workshops/americanreligioushistory/
For this talk, Professor Noll will be drawing on research he did for his book, The Civil War as a Theological Crisis. http://uncpress.unc.edu/books/T-7959.html
Februar y 23 - Mark Noll - 4 p.m., Swift Lecture Hall, 3rd floor, The Divinity School
- 5:30 pm reception to follow in the Divinity School Commons Room, 1st floor.
“Difficulties in America for ‘Science and Christianity’ Historically Considered”
Mark Noll is Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at Notre Dame University, Noll's research concerns mostly the intellectual history of Christianity in the United States and Canada. For a full idea of Noll’s research program, see his CV at the following link.
http://history.nd.edu/faculty/directory/mark-a-noll/
In order to prepare for Noll’s lecture, we recommend that people attending read two articles he has recently published and which are available on the internet for reading and download. Though the division between science and religion is a worldwide phenomenon, the division in America has particular roots, which Noll can help us consider in new ways.
1] “Evangelicals, Creation and Scripture: an Overview”
http://biologos.org/uploads/projects/Noll_scholarly_essay.pdf
2] “Science, Religion, and Andrew Dickson White: Seeking Peace in the 'Warfare between Science and Theology'”
http://biologos.org/uploads/projects/noll_scholarly_essay2.pdf
White, the founding president of Cornell University, began publishing and speaking on a war between science and theology in the 1870's and continued to do so until the early 1900's, by so doing, firmly planting and nurturing a theme in popular culture, which has not disappeared.
This paper was first given as a lecture at Cornell University, which you can watch at the link below. The q&a after the talk, which begins at minute 55, is equally instructive.
http://www.cornell.edu/video/?videoID=491
February 23 - Mark Noll - 7 p.m. Holy Trinity Church, meeting at The United Church of Hyde Park, corner of 53rd and Blackstone, for Scientists in Congregations
- a brief reception will follow this event
“Science & Faith: An Historian's Advice for Moving Ahead as a Result of Looking Back”
Drawing upon the main intellectual and social themes from the afternoon talk, Professor Noll will discuss some classical Christian doctrines about the creation and the Incarnation of Christ as helpful orientations for a positive Christian participation in modern scientific endeavors.
In order to prepare for his evening talk, we recommend Professor Noll’s essay “Come and See: a Christological Invitation for Science”, an excerpt from his new book Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind. http://biologos.org/uploads/projects/noll_scholarly_essay3.pdf
We also recommend the blog essay that Professor Noll wrote for his new book, especially since he refers to his earlier book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind [1994], which launched his research program on the problems Christians have had in engaging science and the research university in general. He goes on to discuss some of his positive recommendations for Christian theological engagement with science and the research university.
http://eerdword.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/next-in-line-by-mark-a-noll/
Archive for Text and Truth past events
http://www.htcchicago.org/text-and-truth-archive/
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Campus Events by Other Groups
Check the following links for seminars, conferences, workshops, and other events sponsored by other groups, all addressing religious and ethical perspectives on academic issues,
which open the door for Christian engagement and conversation.
Winter Quarter
Lumen Christi Institute
American Religious History Workshop
http://cas.uchicago.edu/workshops/americanreligioushistory/
MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics
Religion and Ethics Workshop
http://cas.uchicago.edu/workshops/religionethics/
The Theology Workshop
http://cas.uchicago.edu/workshops/theology/
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Online Resources for Christian Engagement with the University
At the links provided here, you will find online resources for Christian engagement with the academic enterprise of a secular research university.
These links will be updated periodically.
http://charlesmalik.org/images/MAJOR_RESEARCH_CENTERS__Ya.pdf
