At Oxford, Stiling and McDonald
Will
Study Links Between Science and Faith
LAST CENTURY, at Oxford University, intellectuals C.S. Lewis
and Owen Barfield debated the controversial topic of how to reconcile
science and religion. For the next three summers at Oxford, two Seattle
Pacific University professors will be among 30 post-doctoral participants
exploring the still-controversial topic of the relationship between
science and faith.
The John Templeton Oxford Seminar on Science and
Christianity, now entering its second round, is co-sponsored by the
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Converging at Oxford
this July for the unusual post-doctoral seminar will be selected
scholars from a range of fields related to science and theology.
There they will hear experts — and conduct research — in both fields.
Seattle Pacific Professor of Theological Studies Randy Maddox, who
participated in the first round, praises the seminar’s thrust. “Often,
professors have a doctoral degree in one field and not in the other,” he
says. “The people who put this seminar together want to train people
in the inter-disciplinary field.”
Rod Stiling, SPU associate professor
of history, and Pat McDonald, SPU assistant professor of philosophy,
are the only two participants to be chosen from the same university.
Stiling plans to add to his research on 19th-century interpretations
of the Genesis Flood and to explore links between evolution theory
and Christianity. “Christendom is getting more interested in theistic
evolution,” says Stiling. “I’m interested in asking, ‘Where’s the
theism’”
McDonald has a similar project in mind: exploring the merits
of intelligent design theory. “I’m interested in examining why some
have categorically separated super-natural events from science,” says
McDonald. “You can’t expect to get all the answers about the universe
from science alone.”
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From the President
Cultivating hope in the face of chaos is vital today. "This is the time
for a Christian university to dig down deep into its formative foundations … and
decide quite clearly what bread we have to offer,” says President Philip
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“The soldier and chaplain are each unique callings fulfilled by those who
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(Major General) Gaylord T. Gunhus, U.S. Army Chief of Chaplains. |
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