Institute for Religion & Science

"Ecotheology, or Why Climate Crisis and Eco-Anxiety Require a Radically Different Kind of Theology" With Philip Clayton November 10, 2022 Online at 7:00pm EST Register here.   If anything has been scientifically established, it’s anthropogenic climate change. As we learned this last summer, climate disruption means floods, droughts, and fires ― levels of social and economic disruption we could hardly have imagined a few decades ago. The result is eco-anxiety and a pervasive sense of hopelessness, especially in younger people. What resources are…

Walking with Teilhard Through Advent: “Contemplating the Divine Milieu” With Anita Wood, DMin November 29 – December 20, 2022 Tuesdays at 6:30 to 7:30pm Register directly with Anita Wood at msanitawood@verizon.net by November 10. A guided journey through Teilhard’s The Divine Milieu. Anita Wood will lead a contemplative dialogue on the material with a group of up to 8 participants. Participants will read sections of this book prior to each meeting and ponder questions which are provided by the facilitator…

"The Greatest Challenge: The Created Co-Creator Creates a Co-Creator" With Philip Hefner, PhD Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago January 25, 2023 Online at 7:00 - 8:30pm View the flyer. Register here. Our technology began as toolmaking even when it turned to bioengineering and robotics. That is, it emerged and evolved to perform tasks for us. Recent developments suggest that it is entering a phase in which it is on its way to creating creatures that are in fact functioning…

“Alexa, do you love me?  AI and Authentic Relationship” With Noreen Herzfeld, PhD February 28, 2023 Online at 7pm ET View the flyer. Register here. We converse with increasingly intelligent programs such as Alexa and ChatGPT, but can we have a truly authentic relationship with them?  What does it take to have such a relationship with another person, or with a non-human being such as a pet, an AI, or God?  Can we love an AI and if we do,…

“Can AI Systems Be Persons?” With Anne Foerst, PhD March 21, 2023 Online at 7pm ET View the flyer. Register here. Humans have the tendency to treat anything that interacts with them as a person and we have the universal tendency to anthropomorphize. At the same time though, we are willing to treat humans as non-persons for which each genocide or war is an example. The new crop of Artificial Intelligences falls right into this tension. I will discuss some…

“Teilhard, Jung, & Berry: Integrating Spirit, Psyche, and Earth” With Andrew Del Rossi, Th.D. May 20, 2023 10am – 2:30pm Offering: $30 Daylesford Abbey 220 South Valley Road Paoli, PA 19301 View the flyer. Register here.

"How a Physicist, a Singer, and an Ordinary Houseplant Can Give Us Hope for a Better World" A Zoom Presentation with the Art and Stories of Brother Mickey McGrath October 25, 2023 Online at 7pm - 8:30pm EDT View the flyer. Register here. Albert Einstein, an immigrant Jew who escaped Nazi Germany, witnessed first-hand the rampant racism of the United States and was vocal in his condemnation of it. His creative talents as a musician helped him nurture a deep…

"Evidence of our Spiritual Core, Freud, Maya, and the Omega Point" With Dr. Calvin Chatlos February 20, 2024 Online at 7pm ET Register here. Recent research demonstrates healing characteristics of a Spiritual Core similar to that opened with psychedelic research, but without drugs. Description of its characteristics and connections with Freud and the unconscious, Jung and the collective unconscious, the Veil of Illusion of Maya, and Teilhard de Chardin’s Omega Point will be discussed. A framework to access this Core…