Science and faith have a long, complex and storied relationship. We’re convinced that better understanding the past can help us better navigate the future.
To that end, we cordially invite you to Science and the Christian Faith: Moments That Shaped History — a two-day conference at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary on February 21-22 which brings together some of the world’s best theologians, scientists and historians. Learn more and register now.
In this post, get to know the speakers you’ll hear from at this fascinating conference.
Peter Harrison
Lecture Topic: The Christian Origins of Modern Science
Peter Harrison is an Australian Laureate Fellow and Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland. He is the former Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion and Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre at the University of Oxford, where he remains a Research Fellow. He has published extensively in the field of intellectual history with a focus on the philosophical, scientific and religious thought of the early modern period, and has a particular interest in historical and contemporary relations between science and religion.
In 2011 he gave the Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh, now published as The Territories of Science and Religion, and in 2019 delivered the Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford. He is the author of over 100 articles and book chapters, his eight books include, most recently, Science without God? Rethinking the History of Scientific Naturalism published by Oxford University Press.
Michael Murray
Lecture Topic: The Aquinas Appropriation
Michael Murray is the President of the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation. He is also Senior Visiting Scholar in Philosophy at Franklin and Marshall College (Lancaster, PA).
In addition to a variety of articles in the history of philosophy and the philosophy of religion, he has recently authored or edited Philosophy of Religion (Cambridge, with Michael Rea) and Nature Red in Tooth and Claw: Theism and the Problem of Animal Suffering (Oxford), The Believing Primate: Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Reflections on the Origin of Religion (Oxford, with Jeffrey Schloss), On Predestination and Election (Yale) and Divine Evil? (Oxford, with Michael Rea and Michael Bergmann).
Ted Cabal
Lecture Topic: The Galileo Affair
Ted Cabal is Professor of Philosophy and Apologetics at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he has taught since 1998. Previously he taught at Dallas Baptist University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received his PhD in philosophy of religion.
Ted coauthored Controversy of the Ages: Why Christians Should Not Divide over the Age of the Earth (Lexham Press, 2018) and is general editor of The Apologetics Study Bible (B&H, 2nd ed., 2017). His special interest in the faith and reason relationship stems from his coming to faith in Christ as a professional rock guitarist and atheist while reading the book of Matthew. This interest informs his decades of studying conservative evangelical interaction with science. Ted’s life also was dramatically shaped by a diagnosis of terminal cancer (multiple myeloma) in 2001 followed by years of chemotherapy. Remarkably, Ted’s cancer has remained “asleep” for more than a decade without need of treatment.
Ted Davis
Lecture Topic: The Scopes Monkey Trial
Prof Edward B. (“Ted”) Davis is Distinguished Professor of the History of Science at Messiah College, Affiliate Fellow in the Department of the History of Science at University of Oklahoma, and Fellow of the International Society for Science & Religion. With Michael Hunter, Davis edited The Works of Robert Boyle, 14 vols. (Pickering & Chatto, 1999-2000), and a separate edition of Robert Boyle’s great treatise on God and nature, A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature(Cambridge University Press, 1996). Routledge will soon reissue his edition of The Antievolution Pamphlets of Harry Rimmer (Garland Publishing, 1995).
He has published dozens of articles and essays about religion and science in the Scientific Revolution and modern America, including a study of modern Jonah stories that was featured on two BBC radio programs. A recently completed book about the religious activities and beliefs of prominent American scientists from the period between the two world wars is under review at an academic press. He is currently writing a book about Christianity and the creation of modern science aimed at a general audience.
Nathan Finn
Lecture Topic: Southern Baptists and Evolution
Nathan Finn is the Provost and Dean of the University Faculty at North Greenville University, where he has served since 2018. Previously, he served as Dean of the School of Theology and Missions at Union University and as associate professor of historical theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Finn has published widely in the fields of church history, spiritual formation, and Christian higher education, and his expertise is Baptist history and thought. He is co-author of The Baptist Story: From English Sect to Global Movement (B&H Academic, 2015) and author of History: A Student’s Guide (Crossway, 2016). He is also an ordained minister who regularly preaches and teaches in local congregations. Finn is married to Leah and is the father of four children aged 6 to 13.
Ken Keathley
Lecture Topic: Panel Discussion
Ken Keathley is Senior Professor of Theology and the Jesse Hendley Chair of Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina where he has been teaching since 2006. He also directs the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture.
He is the co-author of 40 Questions About Creation and Evolution (Kregel, November 2014). Ken and his wife Penny have been married since 1980, live in Wake Forest, NC and are members of North Wake Church. They have a son and daughter, both married, and four grandchildren.
Join these speakers and more at Science and the Christian Faith: Moments that Shaped History.
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