Summer Course no. 8: Science and Religion – Two Paths to Truth?

Aim of Course

In this one week course a wide range of topics at the science/religion interface will be addressed by internationally renowned speakers. The topics to be covered include historical and philosophical perspectives; the relationships between physics, evolutionary biology and neuroscience with religion; and some of the ethical issues raised by science.

Speakers (listed in alphabetical order) and topics

See multimedia items for this course.

• Dr John Bimson : Interpreting the creation narratives in Genesis 1-3
• John Bryant : Creation or Evolution?
• Peter Clarke (deceased) : The Brain as a Neuronal Machine
• Russell Cowburn FRS : Nanotechnology, Ethics and Religion
• Edward B. (“Ted”) Davis : Why History Matters: Debunking the Warfare View of Science and Religion, and Science and Religion in the Life of Robert Boyle
• Prof Owen Gingerich : Gods Universe: Science and Religion in the History of Astronomy
• Nidhal Guessoum : Mediaeval Islam and Science, and Islam and Modern Science
• Peter Harrison : Religion and the Rise of Modern Science
• Noreen Herzfeld : Are humans computers?
• Revd Margot Hodson : The environment: what hope do we have for life on a fragile planet?
• Dr Cherryl Hunt : Ethics, Theology and the Biosciences
• Tim O’Connor : Cosmic Fine Tuning, and Free Will and the Scientific Study of the Mind
• Revd Dr John Polkinghorne KBE FRS: Theology and Physics
• Dr Cara Wall-Scheffler : Human Anthropology and the Origins of Religion
• Dr Daniel Weiss : The Concept of the Person in Judaism
• Dr Jennifer Wiseman : Habitable exoplanets: the implications for human significance
• John Wyatt : What does it mean to be a person? Issues of life and death

Venue

The course will be held at Lucy Cavendish College, Lady Margaret Road, Cambridge, CB3 0BU. Click here to obtain further details about the College.

Lucy Cavendish College is set in its own private grounds just off the Lady Margaret Road, within walking distance of Cambridge City Centre, the celebrated “Backs” and the other University Colleges.  It is located a few hundred metres from the Woolf Building, the home of the Faraday Institute.

Lucy Cavendish College is just off the Madingly Road, a main ring road for Cambridge. It is within easy access of the M11 and A14 and has on-site parking.  The College is a short taxi-ride from the train and bus stations. Airport coach or train from Stansted Airport (the most convenient airport for Cambridge) takes 30-40 minutes.

Location map for Lucy Cavendish College.

Course Schedule