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How Has the Science-Religion Field Changed Over the Last Eight Years? An SSQ Retrospective

by Philip Clayton "SSQ has been an extraordinary program in its global outreach. Every conference has been simultaneously a dialogue between science and religion and a dialogue among major religious traditions. Because the participants respected each other as scientists, they were open to each other’s views without the defensiveness typically found in ecumenical conferences. Because these were such eminent and articulate scientists, they communicated effectively to a wider public through symposia, media coverage, and subsequent publication" –Ian Barbour, Carleton College For eight years,...
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The Ian G. Barbour Chair in Theology and Science

The Ian G. Barbour Chair is the cornerstone of the CTNS Mission, ensuring its central educational program into the future. In an age when science is often seen to conflict with religion, the Chair will continue to bring the natural sciences into the classrooms of Graduate Theological Union doctoral and seminary students in constructive new ways. It will ensure that future generations of faculty and students may enter into the constructive dialogue between faith and science and be empowered for research, teaching and ministry. The Chair will also provide leadership for ongoing CTNS research...
Robert John RussellIan G. BarbourBarbour Chair in Theology and ScienceTheology and Science
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History

Founded as a California non-profit corporation in 1981, the Center is now a program of the Graduate Theological Union, an ecumenical and interfaith consortium of seminaries and centers based in Berkeley, California. Interested individuals may fully participate in the dialog by becoming a member, receiving Theology and Science, the Center’s refereed journal, CTNS E-News, and other benefits.
CTNS Event

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

Event Date: 
Saturday, April 23rd 2016, 12:00am
Public Forum, 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:...
CTNS Event

CTNS Public Forum with Dr. Carolin Frueh

Event Date: 
Wednesday, March 16th 2022, 5:00pm
Register Here for this Zoom Webinar   Time and its associated properties are an integral part of any physics calculation. Differentiability enables equations of motion and therefore quantitative predictions in the first place. Time also has an ontological dimension and is intimately linked to human existence. A third understanding of time is the one in theology, contrasting human time with divine eternity. In this talk the property of time in physics is contrasted with an understanding of time following Heidegger and a theological time dimension from Pannenberg.   Dr. Carolin Frueh is a...
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Founder

Professor Robert J. Russell is the Founder and Director of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS), and the Ian G. Barbour Professor of Theology and Science at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), Berkeley. He is the author of Time in Eternity: Pannenberg, Physics, and Eschatology in Creative Mutual Interaction (University of Notre Dame Press, 2012) and Cosmology from Alpha to Omega: Towards the Mutual Creative Interaction of Theology and Science (Fortress Press, 2008). He has co-edited a multi-volume series of books focused on scientific perspectives on divine action...
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Vatican Observatory and CTNS Collaboration

Collaboration with the Vatican Observatory The Vatican Observatory/CTNS Project: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action (VO/CTNS: 1990-2005). Beginning in 1990, the Vatican Observatory and CTNS co-sponsored a series of international research conferences on a variety of topics in “theology and science” that touch in varying ways on the overall theme, “scientific perspectives on divine action.” The series produced six scholarly volumes with contributions from over fifty distinguished scientists, philosophers and theologians. CTNS Founder and Director Robert John Russell served as the...
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CTNS Public forum with Dr. Cyrus Olsen

CTNS Public Forum with Dr. Cyrus Olsen: Virtuous AI?: Perspectives on Prudential Judgement in Medicine from the US and Uganda

From collaboration on GTU's "Virtuous AI?" Conference, Dr. Olsen presents research on the promises and perils of AI in healthcare settings in the USA and Uganda. The virtue of prudence receives special attention in light of AI/ML augmentation for medical decision-making.

 

Virtuous AI?: Perspectives on Prudential Judgement in Medicine from the US and Uganda 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm, September 30, 2024 Hybrid Event - Second Floor Multi-use room (Classroom #222), Graduate Theological Union & Zoom (Registration required) Registration Link: https://events.gtu.edu/event/691923 From collaboration on GTU's "Virtuous AI?" Conference, Dr. Olsen presents research on the promises and perils of AI in healthcare settings in the USA and Uganda. The virtue of prudence receives special attention in light of AI/ML augmentation for medical decision-making. Cyrus P. Olsen III, D....
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The SSQ Program

History “Science and the Spiritual Quest” served as a hub of expertise and activity at the intersection of science and spirituality from 1996 - 2003. SSQ benefited from the intellectual capital of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences as well as the academic reputations of the Graduate Theological Union and the University of California at Berkeley. “Science and the Spiritual Quest” was one of the most successful programs ever conducted in the field of science and religion. In seven years, SSQ recruited more than 120 internationally, leading scientists into intensive dialogue on...
CTNS Event

From Empathy to the Evolution of Compassion

Event Date: 
Wednesday, April 26th 2017, 7:00pm
A CTNS Public Forum featuring Professor Celia Deane-Drummond Dinner Board Room, GTU Library Free and open to the public. This lecture contributes a theological perspective to recent heated public debates in psychology on the rejection of empathy as of key significance in the moral life.  In dialogue with philosopher Martha Nussbaum, Professor Deane-Drummond explores recent analysis of the deep history of the evolution of compassion in early hominins. She also argues for the importance of charity, understood in the classic, Thomistic sense, as holding a central place for mercy and its...
CTNS | Center for Theology and the Natural SciencesCelia Deane-Drummond
CTNS Event

"The Human Surprise: The Unexpected Science of our Origins and Why It Matters for Theology," Fellow's Public Forum

Event Date: 
Thursday, March 8th 2018, 7:00pm
2018 March 8-10, 2018, Russell Family Fellowship in Religion and Science with Ron Cole-Turner: New Perspectives from Science on Human Origins Thursday, March 8, 2018, 7pm "The Human Surprise: The Unexpected Science of our Origins and Why It Matters for Theology," Fellow's Public Forum Over the past decade, scientific discoveries have suggested a new and surprising view of the origins of today's human family. The classic "Out of Africa" story, prominent among scientists from the mid-1990s until just recently, held that "modern" Homo sapiens emerged as a distinct species about 200,000...
CTNS Event

CTNS Public Forum with Greg Cootsona, "Listening to Emerging Adults and Discerning the Future State of the Dialogue of Science and Religion"

Event Date: 
Thursday, October 22nd 2015, 7:00pm
CTNS Public Forum with Greg Cootsona, "Listening to Emerging Adults and Discerning the Future State of the Dialogue of Science and Religion" Free and open to the public Hedco Room, 2nd Floor, 2465 LeConte Avenue, Berkeley Through the projects Scientists in Congregations (SinC) and Science for Students and Emerging Young Adults (SEYA) Greg Cootsona identified six key problems facing the integration of science and faith: Young adults sense that religion is against—is at war with—science (and vice versa, to some degree). They may not actually feel it themselves, but they hear it on the...
CTNS Event

CTNS/GTU Conference and Celebration; 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.

Event Date: 
Thursday, December 8th 2016, 1:00pm
Saturday, December 8, 2007, 1-5pm CTNS/GTU Conference and Celebration; 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. Graduate Theological Union, Richard S. Dinner Board Room, GTU Library For more than twenty-five years, Robert John Russell has been engaged in research and teaching focused on the creative mutual interaction between theology and the natural sciences. To celebrate the forthcoming publication of his new book,...
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CTNS Event

CTNS Public Forum with Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, "Judaism and the Science-and-Religion Dialogue: A Personal Journey "

Event Date: 
Wednesday, March 8th 2017, 7:00pm
CTNS Public Forum with Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, "Judaism and the Science-and-Religion Dialogue: A Personal Journey " Dinner Board Room, Graduate Theological Union How did a secular, Zionist woman born in a kibbutz in Israel become involved in the field of science and religion? While telling a unique personal story, Dr. Tirosh-Samuelson will reflect on the place of science in Jewish history, the diverse perceptions of science in modern Judaism, and the limited interest of Jews in the science and religion and dialogue. Dr. Tirosh-Samuelson will argue that engaging the field of science and...
CTNS Event

CTNS Public Forum with Oliver Putz, God’s Self-Communication in an Evolving World: Evolution, Self and Transcendental Being

Event Date: 
Wednesday, May 1st 2019, 12:00am
CTNS Public Forum with Oliver Putz, God’s Self-Communication in an Evolving World: Evolution, Self and Transcendental Being A fundamental assumption of traditional Judeo-Christian anthropology is that humans alone are capable of knowing and loving God as both, their whence and wither. While all of creation is intimately related to a wholly transcendent and immanent divine, only humans are aware of this relationship and can respond to it appropriately. The present paper challenges this anthropocentric view on the basis of both transcendental theological anthropology and insights from the...
CTNS Event

CTNS Public Forum: Lies, Damned Lies, Science and Theology Bishop Richard Cheetham

Event Date: 
Sunday, November 13th 2016, 7:00pm
CTNS Public Forum: Lies, Damned Lies, Science and Theology Bishop Richard Cheetham Graduate Theological Union Library, Dinner Board Room The popular image of science as providing reliable, useful and objective knowledge, whilst theology only offers speculative and subjective opinion is remarkably widespread and persistent. This remains so despite a large and growing body of academic literature which presents a much more nuanced view. One important understanding is that both science and theology can be seen as saying (albeit in different ways) true things about the way things really are - i...
CTNS Event

Public Forum with George Ellis on “Cosmology and Ultimate Causality”

Event Date: 
Wednesday, February 24th 2016, 7:00pm
Public Forum with George Ellis on “Cosmology and Ultimate Causality” Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Tucson Room The deep issue in both cosmology and human life is what underlies the existence of the laws of nature, which define the possibility space within which the universe and life comes into being. Is the ultimate reason pure chance, probability, necessity, or purpose? Is their nature prescriptive or descriptive? The possibility of meaning and ethics has to have been built into the foundations that gave physical existence its structure, suggesting a higher intention is realised...
CTNS Event

"Saving Darwin: How to be a Christian and Believe in Evolution" by Karl Giberson, Public Forum & Book Launch.

Event Date: 
Saturday, February 6th 2016, 12:00am
"Saving Darwin: How to be a Christian and Believe in Evolution" by Karl Giberson, Public Forum & Book Launch. Karl Giberson was raised in a fundamentalist parsonage and entered college in 1975 intending to become a creation scientist and join the fight against evolution. While studying science at college he became convinced that evolution was true and, with much struggle and angst, abandoned his childhood belief in creationism. Karl's personal story mirrors that of America in the decades since Darwinism came ashore and challenged the country's traditional creation story. Saving Darwin is...
CTNS Event

Public Forum and Book Launch Lecture for The Groaning of Creation: God, Evolution, and the Problem of Evil, by Dr. Christopher Southgate

Event Date: 
Saturday, September 10th 2016, 7:00pm
Public Forum and Book Launch Lecture for The Groaning of Creation: God, Evolution, and the Problem of Evil, by Dr. Christopher Southgate GTU Board Room Pain, suffering and extinction are intrinsic to the evolutionary process. In this book Christopher Southgate shows how the world that is "very good" is also "groaning in travail" and subjected by God to that travail. Southgate then evaluates several attempts at evolutionary theodicy and argues for his own approach--an approach that takes full account of God's self-emptying and human beings' special responsibilities as created co-creators.