5 Fridays 10:30am-12:00am
Sept. 8, 15, 22/Oct. 6, 13, 2023
Location: UVA Clark Library 156
This free, non-credit, faculty-led minicourse is designed for interested UVA students regardless of their study area. Selected readings are short, and there are no papers, quizzes or exams! The course instead invites you to engage with us in thinking across the content of both the Catholic intellectual tradition and the contemporary sciences. Each seminar will begin with brief framing remarks followed by open discussion of a short common reading. Prior experience is NOT expected; only an openness to considering the shared truths of faith and science in new ways. This 5-hour commitment may very well change the way you think about God, yourself, others and the great sciences of the universe! Interested? We hope so, but there’s limited space so register today by filling out this online form!
This seminar is made possible through the support of grant #62372 from the John Templeton Foundation, “In Lumine: Promoting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide."
Sept 8, 2023: Session 1
Debunking the Conflict Narrative and Other Caricatures of Catholicism and Science
• Avery Dulles, S.J., “Science and Theology,” (1990) pp. 9-16
September 15, 2023: Seminar 2
Why Something and Not Nothing? The Science of Physics and the Metaphysics of Creation ex Nihilo
• Adam D. Hinks, S.J., “What Does Physical Cosmology Say about Creation from Nothing?” (2018) pp. 319-345
September 22, 2023: Seminar 3, Truth is One: The Sciences of Evolution and Neuroscience, The Emergence of Human Consciousness, and the Doctrine of Original Sin
• Nicanor Austriaco, O.P. “The Historicity of Adam and Eve,” pp. 159-181
October 6, 2023: Seminar 4
Parrhesia and Christian Truth-telling: Who is Responsible for the Misuses of Science at UVA?
Additional reading: Dorr, "Assuring America's Place in the Sun: Ivery Foreman Lewis and the Teaching of Eugenics at the University of Virginia, 1915-1953"
October 13, 2023: Seminar 5
Caring Not Discarding: Human Personhood Without Exception or Equivocation
• Dignitatis Personae (2008); John Paul II, “Life Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas” (2004); Francis I, "Address to Delegation of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty" (2018)