November 2020 Newsletter

 

Dear ISSR Member,

 

I do hope you and yours are keeping well. Here in Toronto, our province (Ontario) today posted another 948 COVID-19 cases. What is more, we had our first snowfall, and with Daylight Savings now ended, it was dark at 17:06! It all feels a little bit dreary, especially with an election that so many of us are paying attention to happening this week. Wherever you are reading this, I hope this month’s round-up of science and religion news brings some interesting and positive information to your day.

 

There is quite a bit this month, so I will get right into it:

 

ISSR Matters

  • ISSR announced last month that Fellowship nominations are now open. Nominations for Fellowship of ISSR may only be made by existing Fellows, and are made on the basis of four categories of achievement. When considering a potential nomination, please do so using these categories:
    • Major contribution (e.g. books) to the field of science/religion; or
    • Excellent standing in one of the relevant areas (science, religion, philosophy) together with a sustained interest in or support of the science/religion debate; or
    • Demonstration of significant organizational and entrepreneurial skills within the science/religion field, especially in geographical regions or religious traditions in which science-religion studies are not yet well-developed.
    • Early career scholars whose publications in the science-religion field indicate outstanding promise.

If you would like to submit a name for nomination, please send me an email that includes the nominee’s name, a link to their academic profile or website, a few sentences as to why they are being nominated, and their CV. (Please note: If we cannot find their CV easily on-line, we will ask you to source a copy to send to us.)

The deadline to submit nominations for new Fellows is 15 December 2020.

You may send your nominations, and relevant materials, to me at admin@issr.org.uk.

  • ISSR is excited to make a preliminary announcement that we will be hosting a digital conference early in the new year. Please read the following from Fraser Watts:
    • “ISSR is organising an international online conference on the radical reframing of work on the interface of science and religion. It will extend over three days and focus around three themes:
      • Diversification: Work on science is moving beyond the early concentration on physics and Christian theology, to include a wider range of sciences and of religions.
      • Transformations: Both religion and science can be transformed by the interaction between them: religion may become more empirical, and scientific assumptions may be challenged.
      • Applications: Work on science and religion includes how they can collaborate in tackling global issues, such as climate change and technological developments.

 

The conference will run for just 2-3 hours each day, starting early morning (7.00 am) in California, and with corresponding later times in countries further east (e.g. 3.00 pm in UK). Dates will be notified asap, but we are aiming for the latter part of February.

 

Each day will focus on one of the three themes, beginning with three short talks which we hope with give contrasting approaches to the theme of the day. These plenary talks will be streamed and open to anyone. They will be followed by breakout groups that will be for ISSR Fellows and Associates (though anyone is able to apply to be an Associate of ISSR).”

 

  • In late summer, we asked for you to send ideas in for interest groups to meet and discuss topics related to science and religion. Please contact Fraser Watts if you have ideas for other interest groups. In the meantime, our first group is now being formed. Please read the following from Fraser about our first group and how to join:
    • “Some of the psychologists in ISSR would like to form an interest group. There are three of us so far, and we would be pleased to hear from anyone else who would like to join us. We will organise an initial meeting at which we will decide what to focus on, how often we want to meet (by zoom) etc.

Robert Kugelman is especially interested in the dialogue between psychology and Christianity, with an eye toward topics such as philosophical anthropology, the relations between faith and reason, and pastoral psychology.

Loren Toussaint is especially interested in religiousness/spirituality, health, well being (happiness), and longevity; and the connection between religious virtues and positive psychology.

Fraser Watts has broad interests in psychology of religion, and the interface between psychology and theology, but his current research is mainly on implications of the psychology of mysticism for mystical theology, and the theology of cognition, intelligence and human distinctiveness.

If you would like to join us for an initial exploratory meeting, contact Fraser Watts on fraser.watts@cantab.net.”

 

New Books

 

 

 

  • Fern Elsdon-Baker and Bernard Lightman have a new book out called Identity in a Secular Age. From University of Pittsburgh Press:

 

  • “Although historians have suggested for some time that we move away from the assumption of a necessary clash between science and religion, the conflict narrative persists in contemporary discourse. But why? And how do we really know what people actually think about evolutionary science, let alone the many and varied ways in which it might relate to individual belief? In this multidisciplinary volume, experts in history and philosophy of science, oral history, sociology of religion, social psychology, and science communication and public engagement look beyond two warring systems of thought. They consider a far more complex, multifaceted, and distinctly more interesting picture of how differing groups along a spectrum of worldviews—including atheistic, agnostic, and faith groups—relate to and form the ongoing narrative of a necessary clash between evolution and faith. By ascribing agency to the public, from the nineteenth century to the present and across Canada and the United Kingdom, this volume offers a much more nuanced analysis of people’s perceptions about the relationship between evolutionary science, religion, and personal belief, one that better elucidates the complexities not only of that relationship but of actual lived experience.”

 

More info can be found here: https://upittpress.org/books/9780822946281/.

 

Also, a book prize for a copy of this book is running until 04 November. If you act quickly you may win! Details can be found on their website: https://scienceandbeliefinsociety.org/

 

 

Other Items of Interest

 

  • WCF’s forthcoming annual Younghusband Lecture. This is on the theme “One Mystery, Two Stories – Science and Religion in Dialogue”, and will take place via Zoom from 4.00pm to 5.30 pm on Thursday 12th November. The unusual start time is due to the fact that we will have exciting contributions from people in time zones several hours ahead of the UK. Instead of just one speaker, there will be three: Prof. NIdhal Guessoum (Muslim), Algerian astrophysicist and professor at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; Swami Medhananda (Hindu), Assistant Professor and Head of Department of Philosophy, Ramakrishna Mission; Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute, West Bengal, India; Dr David Gosling (Christian), Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. The speakers will each reflect their personal interests in the ‘Science and Religion debate’, as well as addressing general issues. This year’s event promises to be not only a new venture for WCF but also an exciting journey into dialogue between traditions and into the amazing world of scientific achievements. Your members can register here: tinyurl.com/wcf-yhl . There will be no charge for attending. More information can be found in the WCF newsletter here: https://www.issr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/September-2020-WCF-News-Views-FINAL-1.pdf

 

 

  • The Protestant Theological University is hosting a discussion this month. They issued the following:
    • “Does the dominance of the Western perspective limit the further development of the science and religion debate? That is a question I believe may be interesting to the International Society for Science & Religion. On 12 November, assistant professor Klaas Bom and Professor Benno van den Toren of the Protestant Theological University in the Netherlands will discuss this question in a webinar. The discussion is related to their recently published book Context and catholicity in the science and religion debate. Intercultural Contributions from French-speaking Africa (Brill, 2020).

You can learn more about the webinar and register on our website. Please see this URL for more information: https://www.pthu.nl/en/news-and-events/events/2020/11/webinar-context-and-catholicity-in-the-science-and-religion-debate/”

 

As always, ISSR’s newsletter is supplied primarily by our members. If there is anything you have or something you come across that would be of benefit to our international community, please share it with me at admin@issr.org.uk.  Also, our blog is put out around the 15th of each month, so 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