top of page

SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY

LECTURE TITLES

​

Week 1 
Introduction; History of Science and Religion: Challenging the conflict thesis
Readings: (80pp, 4 hours)

  1. Peter Harrison, “‘Science’ and ‘Religion’: Constructing the Boundaries,” The Journal of Religion, Vol. 86, No. 1 (January 2006): 81-106. 

  2. Peter Harrison, “Science and Secularization,” Intellectual History Review, Vol. 27, No. 1 (January 2017): 47-70.

  3. Ross Hastings, “The Coinherent History of Ideas,” in Echoes of Coinherence (Eugene: Cascade, 2017), 60-94.

  4. Alan Padgett, “Science and Religion in Western History: Models and Relationships”, in Science and Religion in Dialogue, edited by Melville Y. Stewart (Malden: Blackwell, 2010), 849-861.
     


Week 2 
Considering a Theology of the Sciences: Towards Trinitarian Theology and Science Together
Readings: (60pp, 3 hour)

  1. Ross Hastings, “Coinherence in the Theology/Science Tradition,” in Echoes of Coinherence (Eugene: Cascade, 2017), 1-59.

 

PART TWO: UNDERSTANDING SCIENCE 

 

Week 3 
Knowledge, Method(s), and Laws
Readings: (45pp, 2 hours)

  1. Ross Hastings, “Coinherent Epistemologies in the Theology/Science Tradition,” in Echoes of Coinherence (Eugene: Cascade, 2017), 95-121.​

  2. Lydia Jaeger, “Facts and Theories in Science and Theology: Implications for the Knowledge of Human Origins,” Themelios 41.3 (2016): 427–46.

​

Week 4 
From Aristotle to Newton: The Rise of Modern Science
Readings: (50pp, 3 hours)

  1. Michael B. Foster, “The Christian Doctrine of Creation and the Rise of Modern Natural Science,” Mind, Vol. 43, No. 172 (October 1934): 446-468.

  2. Michael B. Foster, “Christian Theology and Modern Science of Nature (Part I),” Mind, Vol. 44, No. 176 (October 1935): 439-466.
     

Week 5 
Natural Processes and Divine Providence
Readings: (70pp, 3 hours)

  1. David Fergusson, “Providence in Nature,” in The Providence of God: A Polyphonic Approach (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 167-240. 

 

Week 6 
Contemporary Science(s) and Worldviews
Readings: (70pp, 3 hours)

  1. Peter Harrison, “Religion, the Royal Society, and the Rise of Science,” Theology and Science 6, no. 3 (2008): 255–71.

  2. John Polkinghorne, “The Scientific View of the World,” “The Personal View of the World,” and “The Religious View of the World,” in The Way the World Is (Louisville and London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007 [1983]), 7-16, 17-26, 27-32.

  3. Iain Provan, The Reformation and the Right Reading of Scripture (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2017), 347-382.
     


PART THREE: EXPLORING COINHERENCE

Week 7 
Science and the Church; Vocation of the Scientist (Guest Scientist w. Interview/Response)
Readings: (40pp, 2 hours)

  1. Karl Barth, “The Vocation of Man,” in Church Dogmatics (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004) IV.3, 520-555.

  2. Jennifer Wiseman, “How You Can Help Young Christians in Science,” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 51, no.1 (1999), 1–5.
     

Week 8 
Resonances Between Theology and Science: Knowing, Being, Making
Readings: (60pp, 3 hours)

  1. Ross Hastings, “The Coinherent Ontologies of Theology and Science [Part One and Part Two],” in Echoes of Coinherence (Eugene: Cascade, 2017), 122-168.

  2. Tom McCleish, “A Theology of Science?” in Faith and Wisdom in Science (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 166-212.

  3. Bronislaw Szerszinski, “Modernity, Nature and the Sacred,” in Nature, Technology, and the Sacred (Malden and Oxford: Blackwell, 2005), 1-27.

 
Week 9 
Biology and Evolution (Guest Scientist w. Interview/Response)
Readings: (40pp, 2 hours)

  1. Nancey Murphy, “Is Altruism Good? Evolution, Ethics, and the Hunger for Theology,” Zygon, Vol. 41, No. 4 (December 2006): 985-994. 

  2. Dennis Venema, Genomes as Ancient Texts at BioLogos (https://biologos.org/blogs/dennis-venema-letters-to-the-duchess/series/evolution-basics).

​

Week 10 
Physics (Guest Scientist w. Interview/Response)
Readings: (80pp, 4 hours)

  1. Polkinghorne, Science and the Trinity, 88-117; Quantum Physics & Theology, 1-47.

 

Week 11
Biotechnology / Genetics (Guest Scientist w. Interview/Response)
Readings: (40pp, 2 hours)

  1. Gerald McKenny, “Evolution, Biotechnology, and the Normative Significance of Created Order,” Toronto Journal of Theology, Vol. 31, No. 1 (2015): 15-26.

  2. Robert Song, “Genetic Manipulation and the Body of Christ,” Studies in Christian Ethics, Vol. 20, No. 3 (2007): 399-420.

 

Week 12 
Mediating and Practicing Coinherence; Important Practitioners in Theology and Science  
Readings: (90pp, 2 hours)

  1. Ross Hastings, “The Coinherent Ontologies of Theology and Science,” and “Trinitarian Theology as the ‘Theory of Everything’ and its Practice,” in Echoes of Coinherence (Eugene: Cascade, 2017), 169-223. 

  2. Alister McGrath, Science and Religion: A New Introduction. 2nd ed. (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 193-234.


Required Reading 
 

  1. Karl Barth, “The Vocation of Man,” in Church Dogmatics (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004) IV.3, 520-555.

  2. David Fergusson, “Providence in Nature,” in The Providence of God: A Polyphonic Approach (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 167-240. 

  3. Peter Harrison, “‘Science’ and ‘Religion’: Constructing the Boundaries,” The Journal of Religion, Vol. 86, No. 1 (January 2006): 81-106. 

  4. ———, “Science and Secularization,”Intellectual History Review 
    , Vol. 27, No. 1 (January 2017): 47-70. 

  5. ———, “Religion, the Royal Society, and the Rise of Science,” Theology and Science 6, no. 3 (2008): 255–71.

  6. Ross Hastings, Echoes of Coinherence (Eugene: Cascade, 2017). $45.00.

  7. Lydia Jaeger, “Facts and Theories in Science and Theology: Implications for the Knowledge of Human Origins,” Themelios
    41.3 (2016): 427–46.

  8. Tom McCleish, “A Theology of Science?” in Faith and Wisdom in Science (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 166-212.

  9. Alister McGrath, Science and Religion: A New Introduction. 2nd ed. (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 193-234.

  10. Alan Padgett, “Science and Religion in Western History: Models and Relationships”, in Science and Religion in Dialogue, edited by Melville Y. Stewart (Malden: Blackwell, 2010), 849-861.

  11. John Polkinghorne, The Way the World Is (Louisville and London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007 [1983]). $23.99.

  12. ———, Science and the Trinity, Yale University Press, 2006. 88-117. 

  13. ———, Quantum Physics & Theology, Yale University Press, 2008. 1-47.

  14. Iain Provan, The Reformation and the Right Reading of Scripture, 
    (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2017), 347-382.

  15. Bronislaw Szerszinski, “Modernity, Nature and the Sacred,” in Nature, Technology, and the Sacred (Malden and Oxford: Blackwell, 2005), 1-27. 

  16. Jennifer Wiseman, “How You Can Help Young Christians in Science,” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 51, no.1 (1999), 1–5.

bottom of page