Bridging Science & Theology

4th to 8th Decmber 2023

This course is being organised by the Senate of Serampore College and is exclusively for the faculty members in Serampore affiliated colleges and seminaries.

The course will be held at Union Theological Seminar Bangalore

About the Course

This three-day course is designed to equip faculty members teaching in theological seminaries affiliated with Serampore University with a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between science and religion. Through a blend of lectures, discussions, and interactive activities, participants will explore various perspectives on this complex relationship and consider its implications for theological education. The course aims to promote a thoughtful engagement with science and its intersection with religious beliefs within the context of theological teaching.

Objective and topics

This course aims to provide faculty members teaching in theological seminaries in Serampore affiliated colleges and seminaries with a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between science and religion. The course aims to facilitate a nuanced and informed dialogue between these two seemingly distinct realms, enabling faculty members to engage in thoughtful discussions and provide balanced perspectives to their students.

Day 1

1. Nature of science, technology and religion - Analysis of Enlightenment induced skepticism from within theological scholarship - religion and the rise of technology.

2. The Origin of the Universe: Varieties of Creationism, Intelligent Design, Big Bang Model, Steady State Theory, Many-world Theory, Anthropic Cosmological Principle, Flat earth Cosmology.

3. Creation and Evolution: Biblical doctrine of creation: from existing material or creation ex nihilo - Problem with biblical literalism - Evolution theory and the problem of Adam. Neo-Darwinian synthesis – God of the Gaps.

Day 2

4. Philosophy and Sociology of science – An Introduction, highlighting some of the important philosophers and sociologists of science.

5. Important scientific theories and laws: Newton’s laws of motion, Newton’s laws of gravitation; Newton’s Contribution to science and religion relation - Einstein Theory of relativities: Four dimensional space, dilation of time, curvature of time-space and bending of light - the impact of quantum physics on the science and religion relations.

6. Historical encounter between science and religion: Darwin’s theory of evolution and the Church – Flat earth cosmology, Heliocentric cosmology, Copernicus and Galileo – Church and the advances in medical science.

Day 3

7. Christian roots of modern science and Christian contributions to modern science – Michael Faraday, Son Knuth, Donald Mackay, Francis Collins, Rosalind Picard, William D Phillips, John Houghton, Francis Bacon, and John Ray.

8. Indian Contribution to Science and religion Dialogue

9. Models of science and religion relations: Ian Barbour (four Models), Ted Peters’ suggestion and Michael Stenmark’s contribution.

10. Some issues in science and religion relations: Science and miracles; Scientism; Scientific method and astrology.