WEEKLY CLASS SCHEDULE 2001
SCIENCE & RELIGION: Cosmos to Consciousness

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:30 – 12:45 A.M.

1. THE NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC AND RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

What is science? What is religion?

Goals: (1)Understand the different viewpoints, methods,

and concepts in science and religion.

(2)The role of creativity in connecting S & R.

Sept 4 Introduction, Overview Lecture

In antiquity, there was little distinction between the Sacred and the secular. The development of empirical science during the Renaissance led to tension with religion. In this course, we will explore the nature of methods and concepts in science and religion and ways of relating them. We will discuss the religious symbols of creation, contingency, consummation, providence, revelation, and eschatology in relation to science.
 
 

Sept 6 *Read:- Introduction of Barhour’s S & R &(Tillich’s

The Relationship Today between Science & Religion

*Bring to class one-page typed summary of key issues and questions for discussion
 
 

Sept.11 LECTURE: CREATIVITY & COURAGE IN Science & Religion
 
 

"It is by logic we prove, it is by intuition we discover."

We shall explore creativity, conflict, and courage in relating science and religion. As "created co-creators," we experience the creativity of scientific insight and of religious revelation. Creative imagination connects scientific data to theory and religious experience to belief. Creativity gives birth to new ideas that often conflict with established organizations and paradigms. This tension requires the courage-to-create. Galileo and Einstein exemplify creative courage. Religious faith can be a source of courage. *Read: P. H. Carr, Creativity & Courage in Science & Religion

Sept 13 VIDEO: GALILEO

LECTURE: SCIENCE AND RELIIGON:

ORIGINAL UNITY AND "COURAGE TO CREATE"

Case Study: Galileo’s scientific creativity led to conflict with the church. His faith in"his God in heaven" was a source of his courage.

*Read "GALILEO’S ‘Two New Sciences" pgs. 9 – 17 Barbour

*Read: Above lecture, Reader pgs 31a - 31d

 *Supplementary Reading:

*Read:Pro.& Chs 4,5, THE GALILEO CONNECTION by C. Hummel

*GALILEO, SCIENCE, & THE CHURCH by Jerome Langford
 
 
 
 

2. THE EVOLUTION OF THE COSMOS & CONSCIOUSNESS

versus CREATION

How did the universe and I get here?

What is the theological significance of the "Big Bang"

Goals: Case Studies and lectures to understand and relate:

(1) Evolution from cosmos to complexity & consciousness to

(2) Religious symbols of creation and eschatology.
 
 

Sept 18 LECTURE: Exploring the Universe: Big Bang Basics:

Henry T. Wadzinski, Ph.D., Harvard Center for Astrophysics

Introduction to scientific origin of the universe

*P. H. Carr summary "Science & Faith at Millennium’s End"

Reader pgs. 56 -50

 Barbour (1997) Chap 8. "Astronomy and Creation,"
 
 

Sept 20 DISCUSSION: COSMOLOGY FROM ALPHA TO OMEGA by R. Russell

- How does Creation ex nihilo relate to the "initial singularity" (t = 0) of the "Big Bang?"

- How does dynamic chaos relate to God’s immanence in the world?

- What does science and religious eschatology say about the "omega point" or the "End-of-the-World"?

*Read: R.J. Russel’s Essay, title above, ZYGON, Dec 94

*Summary of Russel’s Talk at Re-Discovering Cosmos Symp.

 *Sup. Reading: A. Peacocke, Creation & the World of Science

F.J. Tipler, The Physics of Immortality

Sept 20 Turn in Class Questionnaire
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sept 25 MODERN COSMOGONY & BIBLICAL CREATION

Prof. Owen Gingerich, Harvard University

Astronomer and Science Historian

Our conception of the universe at large traditionally has intertwined with our thoughts about God and creation, though the latter topics go beyond the reach of science. Prof. Gingerich considers the Anthropic Principle and theological and philosophical issues raised by "Big Bang" cosmology.

 * Read: Prof. Gingerich’s essay with the same title

* Supplementary Reading:

Templeton & Herrmann: Is God the Only Reality?, Ch 4.

Davies: The Mind of God: Chs. 2,3.

Hawking: A Brief History of Time

Raymo: Skeptics and True Believers

Sept 27 Select Book for Report OR Choose 4-Way-Dialogue/Debate
 
 

9/27,10/2 DISCUSSION: THE COURAGE TO CREATE by Rollo May

Therapist Dr. May defines creativity as "bringing something new into being" as well as "an expression of our being." Both require courage. "Courage is not the absence of despair but the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair." Dr. May’s chapter "Creativity and the Unconscious" describes mathematician Poincare’s insights and is consistent with physicist

Gell-Mann’s account of creativity.

 *Read: The Courage to Create, Chapters 1,2,3,4.
 
 

Oct 4 STUDENT LED DIALOGUES:

-EINSTEIN’S "COSMIC RELIGIOUS FEELING"

& TILLICH’S "SUPRAPERSONAL GOD"
 
 

Oct 9 -"DOES SCIENCE RULE OUT A PESONAL GOD" (Haught)

Einstein lived by a deep faith in the laws of nature. He believed in a nonpersonal God who does not interfere with the laws of nature.

Tillich answered Einstein’s disbelief in a Nonpersonal God by interpreting God as a Suprapersonal symbol of an "I-Thou" (rather than an "I-It") relation.

 *Read: Einstein’s Essay, "Science & Religion."

Tillich’s Essay, "Science & Religion: A

Discussion with Einstein"

*"Does Science Rule Out a Personal God,"

Science and Religion (Haught1995)
 

Oct 11 Lecture: EVOLUTION OF THE EARTH THROUGH TIME

Prof. James Skehan, S.J.,

Boston College Geology Dept. Chairman Emeritus

A clear distinction must be drawn between what science and Genesis tell us about the origins of the earth. Research on the age and origin of the Earth, of life, and of mankind is within the domain of science, and Genesis is in no sense a scientific treatment. Genesis, on the other hand, is a religious history of the people of Israel, and as such is one of the noblest and remarkable documents of civilization.

 *Read: Prof. Skehan, "The Age of the Earth, of Life, and

of Mankind: Geology and Biblical Theology vs. Creationism."

*Sup. Reading: Templeton & Herrmann (1994), Chap. 5.
 
 

Oct 16 DISCUSSION

* Read Barbour, Chap 9, pgs 221-235

Oct 18 Midterm QUIZ
 
 

Oct 23 NO CLASS to allow Prof. Carr & interested students to attend

Harvard Conference on Science and the Spiritual Quest:

The Quest for Knowledge, Truth, and Values in Science & Religion

Harvard University, Harvard Memorial Church, Cambridge, MA

October 21-23, 2001, Registration Info http://www.ssq.net
 
 

Oct 25 Self-Organization, evolution of Life & consciousness.

- Is evolution due to chance or/and design?

- The "Evolution of Evolution" -Darwin’s Theory of Evolution emphasized the competitive "survival of the fittest," while complex life emerged only when cells developed the ability to cooperate only 600 million years ago. -"What is life?" - Biologists have difficulty defining life.

- Complexity theory defines life as being "on the edge of chaos and order."

- Theologian, Tillich, describes life as the "polarity of dynamics and form."

 -Created Co-creators (Heffner, THE HUMAN FACTOR).

"Humans are created by God to be co-creators. Evolution is God’s creative process for the emanation of the universe and the emergence of human freedom. The freedom that marks the created co-creator and its culture is an instrumentality of God for enabling the creation."

 to "Does God Play Dice" (pgs. 77 - 95) * Sup. Reading: Templeton & Herrmann(1994,Chaps 4-6. * Margulis & Sagan, What is Life? * Tillich, Systematic Theology, Vol III,p.30, 50 * Penrose, Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness * Albright, Zygon’s 1996 Expedition into Neuroscience & Religion (Dec 96, p 711) * Heffner, The Human Factor: Evolution,Culture,Rel.
  Oct 30 LECTURE: DOES GOD PLAY DICE? Answers from the Fractal

Geometry of Nature. By Paul H. Carr

Nov 1 PLAYING GOD: Genetic Determinism & Human Freedom

By Ted Peters

Foreword, Introduction, Chapter 1, "Playing God with DNA"

"Creatio ex nihilo & Creatio Continua" pg. 14
 

Nov 6 Chapter 2, "Puppet Determinism and Promethian Determinism"

"The human soul is a phenomenon that exists at the metaxy,

the interstice of soil and spirit" pg 57.

* "Conclusion" pgs 176-178.
 
 

3. The SCIENCE-RELIGION DIALOGUE:

What can science learn from religion?

What can religion learn from science?

Goal: To understand the advantages and limitations of different ways of relating science and religion.

Nov 8 LECTURE: JACOB’S LADDER: Connecting Cosmology and Theology

Rev. Barbara Smith-Moran, Society of Ordained Scientists

Four possible types of connection between

physical reality & spiritual reality:

1. Weak interaction between parallel realities.

2. Strong interaction between parallel realities. 3. Derivation (or evolution)of one reality from another. 4. Integration of Realities (or one reality, 2 natures)

Nov 13 DISCUSSION:

- Rev. Barbara Smith-Moran’s Lecture

- Whitehead’s: Process Thought: "God is the ground of novelty as well as order...God influences the world without determining it." * Read: Barbour (1997), Ch. 11, Process Thought,

Teilhard de Chardin: pp 247-248.

* Sup. Reading: Essay Religion & Science,

Whitehead , Science & the Modern World

Nov 13 BOOK REPORTS DUE (IF NOT DOING DEBATE OR 4-WAY-DIALOGUE)
 

Nov 15: DISCUSSION: Ways of Relating Science and Religion

*Read: Barbour (1997): Chapter 4

I. Conflict 1. Scientific Materialism

2. Biblical Literalism

II. CONTRAST (INDEPENDENCE) 1. Contrasting Methods

2. Differing Languages

Nov 20 No Class (Prof Carr Attends AAR/SBL) Nov 22 THANKSGIVING
 
 

Nov.27 III.CONTACT (DIALOGUE) 1. Boundary Questions

2. Methodological Parallels

IV. CONFIRMATION(INTEGRATION) 1. Theology

2. Systematic Synthesis

3. Creativity

Nov 27 Submit Essay Summary, Outline, & Bibliography
 

Nov 29 LECTURE: "CAN SCIENCE AND RELIGION SAVE OUR ENVIRONMENT?"

"Then God said: "let us make man in our image, after our

likeness, and let them have dominion over…every living

thing that moves upon the earth." (Genesis 1:26-28)

Does "dominion" lead to conscience and moral responsibility

for our environment? We shall consider three answers:

"No, Yes But, and Yes."

*Read Prof. Carr’s Essay in the Reader

Barbour: pgs. 9, 97, 102-3, 215, 278-80, 291, 331
 
 

Dec 4 4-Way Dialogue: "Is Religion Responsible for the

Environmental Crisis?

*Recommended Reading: Above Essay in Haught, "Science &

Religion: From Conflict to Conversation."
 
 

Dec 6 Essays Completed AND TURNED-IN

CLASS DISCUSSION OF ESSAYS
 
 

Dec 11 DISCUSSION:

Structures and methods of science & religion (S & R),

-The role of models & paradigms in S & R.

- The structures of both S & R are both circular.

- Creative imagination links scientific data to theories and religious experience to beliefs.

- Complementary of "wave" and "particle" models of quantum mechanics.

 -Tentativeness and Commitment

* Read: Chapter 5 of Barbour (1997)
 
 

DEC 13 LAST CLASS, ESSAYS RETURNED, CLASS SUMMARY & EVALUATION