Conference on Religion and Science to examine ideas of ‘personhood’
Conference: 15th annual Goshen College Conference on Religion and Science, featuring Wentzel van Huyssteen, professor of theology and science at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Public lectures: Friday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m., “Rediscovering Darwin for Theology: Rethinking Personhood,” and Saturday, March 21 at 10:30 a.m., “The Evolution of Morality: The Emergence of Personhood”
Location: Goshen College’s Church-Chapel
Website: www.goshen.edu/religionscience
Goshen College’s 14th annual Conference on Science and Religion will be held March 20-22 and will feature speaker Wentzel van Huyssteen, professor of theology and science at Princeton Theological Seminary.
The conference’s theme is “Interdisciplinary Theology and the Archeology of Personhood.”
Van Huyssteen will offer two public lectures: “Rediscovering Darwin for Theology: Rethinking Personhood” on Friday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m., and “The Evolution of Morality: The Emergence of Personhood” on Saturday, March 21 at 10:30 a.m. Both lectures will take place in Goshen College’s Church-Chapel and are free. Huyssteen will present a third lecture, “From Empathy to Embodied Faith: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Evolution of Religion,” on Sunday, March 22 at 10 a.m. for conference registrants.
Van Huyssteen was the first James I. McCord Professor of Theology and Science at Princeton Theological Seminary. Ordained in the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa and a native of that country, he holds a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, and a doctoral degree in philosophical theology from the Free University of Amsterdam.
His areas of academic interest include theology and science, and religion and scientific epistemology. Van Huyssteen has taught courses on the role of worldviews in theological reflection; theology and the problem of rationality; theology and cosmology; and theology and evolution. He serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, the Nederduits Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif, and the Journal of Theology and Science, and is coeditor of the Science and Religion Series (Ashgate Press). He delivered the Gifford Lectures in 2004, titled “Alone in the World? Science and Theology on Human Uniqueness.”
The annual Goshen College Conference on Religion and Science is designed to provide discussion prompted by a leading thinker in the dialogue between religion and science.
A single invited speaker presents three lectures, two of which are open to the public. Small, moderated discussion sessions provide conference participants an opportunity to address topics from the lectures in conversation with the speaker.
Conference participants include pastors and laypersons, academic scientists, mathematicians, theologians and students. Registration is still open for this conference.
Carl Helrich, professor emeritus of physics at Goshen College, serves as conference director. For more information about the conference or to register, visit www.goshen.edu/religionscience.