Dear ISSR Member,

 

I trust you have been keeping well and have had an excellent first month of 2021. While numbers here in Toronto continue to inspire worry, and our recent bout of vaccination delays add to that worry, it has nonetheless been a relatively lively beginning to the year. There is much to look forward to this year, and I hope that wherever you are there is positive news too.

 

This month is quite short but includes excellent content. I will post my email at the end of the newsletter if you have a question.

 

ISSR Matters:

  • The 2021 Boyle Lecture will be this Wednesday, 03 February 2021, at 6pm GMT/1pm EST. As you know, this year’s Lecture will be given by Professor Tom McLeish, Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of York, on the subject of: “The Rediscovery of Contemplation Through Science”. The response this year will be given by The Rt Revd & Rt Hon The Lord Rowan Williamsof Oystermouth. The Lecture will be on YouTube this year, with a live discussion consisting of Professor Tom McLeish, Lord Rowan Williams, Professor Sarah Coakley, Dr Sarah Lane Ritchie and Professor Fraser Watts, and chaired by Professor Michael J Reiss, occurring online via Webinar. directly after the Lecture. All information for this prestigious event, can be found on our website here: https://www.issr.org.uk/the-boyle-lectures/. Please note, the Lecture will be a YouTube Premiere, meaning that the video is now posted to our YouTube channel, but will only play at the stated time so we can all watch it together. The Webinar is being hosted through the University of York, so you must register for this event (link for this is included on our website). If you have any questions about this or need clarification, do not hesitate to email me.

 

  • As you may know, ISSR has become a sponsoring organization of Zygon. As such, we are happy to offer ISSR members this new, updated exclusive discount. ISSR members can now subscribe to Zygon for $10.00USD (online only), or for $18.00USD (online + print). To take advantage of this very attractive pricing, Zygon asks that you email Dave Glover at zygon@lstc.edu, letting them know you are an ISSR member. Dave will take care of the rest from there.

 

  • I am pleased to offer here the first part of a two-part series of blogs dedicated to India. In the first blog, Job Kozhamthadam provides us with an interesting insight into his work at the Indian Institute for Science and Religion (IISR) and what IIRS does. You can read this blog here: https://www.issr.org.uk/blog/february-2021-blog-india-part-1/

 

Publications:

  • Jeff Levin has a new book out, Religion and Medicine, published by Oxford in 2020. The description for the book is as follows: “Though the current political climate might lead one to suspect that religion and medicine make for uncomfortable bedfellows, the two institutions have a long history of alliance. From religious healers and religious hospitals to religiously informed bioethics and research studies on the impact of religious and spiritual beliefs on physical and mental well-being, religion and medicine have encountered one another from antiquity through the present day. In Religion and Medicine, Dr. Jeff Levin outlines this longstanding history and the multifaceted interconnections between these two institutions. The first book to cover the full breadth of this subject, it documents religion-medicine alliances across religious traditions, throughout the world, and over the course of history. Levin summarizes a wide range of material in the most comprehensive introduction to this emerging field of scholarship to date.” For more information and/or to order the text, please visit: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/religion-and-medicine-9780190867355?cc=us&lang=en&

 

  • Brad Strawn, along with Warren S Brown, has published a new book titled, Enhancing Christian Life: How Extended Cognition Augments Religious Community (2020) with IVP Academic. The description for the books reads: “No one is really Christian on their own. But often the religious life is seen as individual, private, and internal―resulting in a truncated, consumeristic faith. And what if that kind of individualistic Christianity is built on a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature? According to psychologists Brad Strawn and Warren Brown, it’s time to rethink the Christian life in light of current research on the human mind, particularly with a deeper understanding of the process called “extended cognition.” Using insights from neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, they argue in Enhancing Christian Life that persons must be understood as not only embodied and embedded within particular contexts, but also extended beyond the body to encompass aspects of the physical and social world. Embracing a vision of the Christian life as extended into interactions with a local network of believers, they help us discover a fuller, more effective way to be Christian. After exploring the psychological dynamics of extended cognition, including how the mind is “supersized” by the incorporation of physical tools and social networks, Strawn and Brown consider implications for spiritual practices, congregational life, and religious language and traditions, which they describe as mental “wikis.” The formation of robust Christian life, they show, is a process that takes place within a larger mesh of embodiment and mind―broader, deeper, and richer than we could ever be on our own.” To purchase and read more, visit here: https://www.amazon.com/Enhancing-Christian-Life-Cognition-Religious/dp/0830852816/ref=sr_1_2?crid=LLYO3PQDIAR8&dchild=1&keywords=enhancing+christian+life&qid=1609630993&sprefix=Enhancing+Christian+life%2Caps%2C191&sr=8-2

 

  • Holmes Rolston has published a new article which was under embargo for 18 months but is now online, titled “Surprisingly Neuroplastic Human Brains: Reading, Science, Philosophy, Theology,” in Theology and Science, 17(2019)(no.3): 395-402. The abstract is: “Human brains, dramatically more complex than anything else in the known universe, are marvelously mutable. Recent neuroscience focuses on how humans create cumulative transmissible cultures which in turn shape mental development. When cultures become literate, cognitive powers escalate. Although until recently only a comparative few learned to read and write, this takes place with the serendipitous re-use of pattern recognizing capacities, such as those for recognizing faces. With sustained reading diligence, as required during education in science, philosophy, and theology, this results in advanced cognitive skills.” You can read this article online here: https://hdl.handle.net/10217/219460

 

Other News:

  • The International Network for Science and Belief in Society (INSBS) is pleased to announce that they will be launching their second round of funding next week. Courtesy of the Templeton Religion Trust, they will be offering support for regional networks. Please visit the ‘Grants’ section of their website for more details from 5 February, which can be accessed here: https://scienceandbeliefinsociety.org/grants/

 

 

ISSR’s newsletter is supplied primarily by you, our members. If there is anything you come across that would be of benefit to our international community, please share it with me at admin@issr.org.uk. I would also especially welcome receiving news from our members from non-English-speaking countries. This is a great tool for sharing important work on science and religion from different perspectives and different traditions. Also, please remember that our blog is put out around the 15th of each month and is written by our Fellows. If you have a blog idea (about a new book, research, reflections, etc.) you may contact me for that as well.

 

Good luck, stay safe, and do let me know if you need anything or have any questions.

 

All best,

 

Anthony K Nairn

www.anthonynairn.com

ISSR Administrator

www.issr.org.uk