Conference Details
Are we in the midst of a second Copernican Revolution, with the frontiers of scientific research leading us to reevaluate our place and role in the universe? The discovery of untold numbers of planets outside our solar system that seem to meet certain biological requirements make it statistically likely that there is life on other worlds. Even here on earth, humans are not the only creatures that have language and tools while trees communicate and seem to exhibit some sort of intelligence. We inch ever closer to artificial intelligence. In short, it might appear that we are no longer special, nor even live in a special place. This has profound implications for our understanding of life, ourselves and our place in the universe and raises questions across world cultures and religious traditions.
This summer, scientists, philosophers and theologians are coming together for an international, multiday collaborative conversation to discuss these new frontiers of science, reason, and faith. Celia Deane-Drummond (Oxford) will give a keynote address. Committed plenary speakers currently include Dylan Belton (Villanova), Anne Foerst (St. Bonaventure), Marie George (St. John’s), Noreen Herzfeld (St. John's University), Jonathan Lunine (Cornell), Stephen Meredith (University of Chicago), Brendan Sammon (St. Joe's), Jonathan Tran (Baylor), Eric Turkheimer (University of Virginia) and Charles Yang (UPenn). Michelle Francl (Bryn Mawr College) will give the closing remarks. The conference will be structured around 6 subquestions, each of which will platform two discussants from different disciplines in the sciences and humanities. The aim is to publish these initial statements along with their post-conference reflections in a special conversational issue of the PRRUCS Journal.
The opening lecture Thursday evening is free and open to the public. If you would like to register for just the opening lecture, click here.
Dates: June 16–18
Locations:
Thursday - Sheraton, University City
Friday - Houston Hall
Saturday - Penn Newman Center
Registration: This conference is open to graduate and professional students, faculty, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.
Early Bird Registration (Through May 15 or until seats run out): $20
Regular Registration: $40
Student Registration: Free. If you are a student, email Emmie Brown at ebrown@collegiuminstitute.org from your university-affiliated email address to request the student discount code.
Conference Speakers
Celia Deane-Drummond is Director of the Laudato Si’ Research Institute and Senior Research Fellow in theology at Campion Hall, Oxford University. Her work involves analyzing systematic theology in relation to biological sciences in areas such as evolution, ecology, genetics, and bioethics. She has written several books such as Christ and Evolution (2009) and Genetics and Christian Ethics (2006). Finally, Deane-Drummond is also the editor of the international journal Philosophy, Theology and the Sciences.
Dylan Belton is a Mendel Postdoctoral Fellow at Villanova University. His research concentrates on the notion of “Umwelt” and its significance for scholarship in theological anthropology focused on the human embodiment. Belton has also received research funding awards from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) as well as the Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology in Heidelberg, Germany. Lastly, in 2019, he holds a membership in professional associations including both the Catholic Theological Society of America and The College Theology Society.
Anne Foerst is a Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Individualized Major Program at St. Bonaventure University. Previously, she worked at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she served as the theological advisor for the Cog and Kismet projects. She has also written a book titled God in the Machine: What Robots Teaches Us About Humanity and God (2004). Currently, Professor Foerst is the contributing editor for the quarterly magazine Spirituality & Health.
Michelle M. Francl is a Professor of Chemistry at Bryn Mawr College. She is noted for her development of a new methodology in computational chemistry, including the 6-31G* basis set for sodium (Na) to argon (Ar) and electrostatic potential charges. In addition, she serves as a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modelling and is the author of The Survival Guide for Physical Chemistry. Professor Francl was awarded the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award in 1994 and the American Chemical Society’s Philadelphia Section Award in 2019. She was named one of the nine adjunct scholars of the Vatican Observatory in April 2016.
Marie I. George is a philosophy professor at St. John’s University. She has written over 50 peer-reviewed articles and two books: Christianity and Extraterrestrials? A Catholic Perspective (2005) and Stewardship of Creation (2009). Professor George has also received several awards from the John Templeton Foundation for her work in science and religion. In 2007, she received a grant from the Center of Theology and the Natural Sciences for an interdisciplinary project called: “The Evolution of Sympathy and Morality.”
Noreen Herzfeld is the Professor of Science and Religion at St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict and a research associate with ZRS Koper. She is the author of In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit (Fortress, 2002) and The Limits of Perfection in Technology, Religion, and Science (Pandora, 2010). In addition, Professor Herzfeld is the founder and writer for the Avon Hills Salon.
Jonathan Lunine is an American planetary scientist and physicist who serves as the Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. In addition to serving as the chairman, Lunine is an interdisciplinary scientist on the Cassini mission to Saturn, as well as a co-investigator on the Juno mission to Jupiter in 2011. Recently, he has received the Jean Dominique Cassini Medal of the European Geosciences Union in 2015. Lunine is the author of two textbooks, Earth: Evolution of a Habitable World, 2nd Edition (Cambridge University Press, 2013) and Astrobiology: A Multidisciplinary Approach (Pearson Addison-Wesley, 2005).
Stephen C. Meredith is a Professor in the Department of Pathology, the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Department of Neurology at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on the biophysics of protein structure by concentrating on amyloid proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases. Professor Meredith also teaches at the College and the Divinity School where he is interested in theological problems of evil, drawing on the works of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine, among others. His interest led him to currently pen a book focusing on the philosophical and literary perspectives on diseases.
Brendan Sammon is a Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at St. Joseph’s University. His research revolves around theology, specifically theological anthropology, theological aesthetics, and the theology of disability. Professor Sammon has been involved in numerous top associations such as the Catholic Theological Society of America, the American Catholic Philosophical Association, and the Metaphysical Society of America. In his 2013 book, The God Who is Beauty: Beauty as a Divine Name in Thomas Aquinas and Dionysius the Areopagite (Pickwick Publications, 2013), Professor Sammon examines the theological approach to seeing God as beauty itself.
Jonathan Tran is an Associate Professor of Philosophical Theology and George W. Baines Chair of Religion at Baylor University. He researches the theological and political implications of human life in language. Professor Tran also serves as a contributing editor for several journal and magazine outlets including Christian Century, the Journal of Religious Ethics, and Marginalia (Los Angeles Review of Books). Finally, in 2021, he joined the Steering Committee in the American Academy of Religion.
Eric Turkheimer is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on the genetics of complex behaviors, such as the effects of socioeconomic status and genes on IQ. In addition to serving as a professor, Turkheimer served as the Director of Clinical Training from 2003 to 2008. He was a recipient of the James Shields Memorial Award for outstanding research in Behavioral Genetics. In April 2021, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Charles Yang is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics, Computer Science, and Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania as well as the director of the Program in Cognitive Science. His work includes language acquisition, variation and change, natural language processing (NLP), and numerical development in children. Professor Yang is the author of his most recent book titled The Price of Productivity: How Children Learn to Break the Rules of Language (MIT Press, 2016), which won the Leonard Bloomfield Award from the Linguistic Society of America. In 1995, he received fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 2018.
This conference was made possible through the support of ‘In Lumine: Supporting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide’ (Grant #62372) from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this conference are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.