Useful bookmarks on Science and Christianity

7/21/2000
Keith Miller's Annotated Science/Faith Bibliography

8/22/01
A Reader's Guide to Of Pandas and People, by Richard P. Aulie. This site and its two companions, sponsored by the National Association of Biology Teachers, are an exhaustive discussion of the history and (bad) theology behind intelligent design. Unfortunately, NABT has not yet updated the links in parts 2 and 3, so it takes a little digging to get all the way through.

SCICHR-L

The Science and Christianity Mailing List is now defunct.

The documentary "Faith and Reason"

I'm reluctant to put popular culture sites on this page, since often they don't have much to add, and besides then I have to go through the work of reviewing them! But this is an absolutely wonderful sight, with the most thorough background I've seen on the Web. Highly recommended to newbies as well as oldbies! It includes extensive essays by Margaret Wertheim on the interaction of religion and science: its history; genetics; cosmology; and more.

The META listserv

META is an edited, moderated list devoted to promoting constructive engagement between science and religion. It is quite useful both as a way of finding out about meetings, and of learning more about science and religion. The volume is kept down to one post per day. The website contains archives of previous posts.

The American Scientific Affiliation, or ASA

This is an organization for Christians in science with a distinctly evangelical flavor. I find its journal, Perspectives on Science & Christian Faith, both useful and stimulating. The Institute for Creation Research (to which I refuse to provide a link) is a splinter group which seceded in the early 1960s.

PSCF recently (July 1997) published paired reviews of Michael Behe's book Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution. The skeptical one is by someone I know... anyhow,

Darwin's Black Box

has been getting quite a lot of publicity.

• I used to link to a critical response to Behe's book by a Calvinist biochemist, but it's no longer available. He used classical predestinationist arguments. This is a perfectly reasonable Christian viewpoint, as also analyzed by (atheist) Michael Ruse in Can a Darwinian Be a Christian?
• Ken Miller, Roman Catholic Christian and a biologist at Brown University, has written a rather critical review of Behe as well.
• Here's a page devoted to refutations of Behe, called Behe's Empty Box. I must say, though, that it narrowly approaches the edge of the pitfall cited by Notre Dame University philosopher Peter van Inwagen: "If Darwinians respond to [Darwin's Black Box] by ignoring it, misrepresenting it, or ridiculing it, that will be evidence in favor of the widespread suspicion that Darwinism today functions more as an ideology than a scientific theory."

The Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion of the AAAS

This is a very useful site. It has several good essays and links to other sites as well as information about symposia. DBSR is run by the AAAS Directorate for Science & Policy Programs.

Christians in Science

This organization is the British counterpart to the ASA. It publishes the journal Science and Christian Belief. Affiliated with it is

Christian Students in Science

This organization is a sort of "student affiliate" to the British organization Christians in Science. The CSIS website is a valuable website, but it is very heavy on graphics so download times will be long. It contains several essays and a short book on Science/Christianity issues, as well as a nice discussion of several common misconceptions. The link above is to Christians in Science; the CSIS website is currently missing (11/5/01).

Naturalism, Theism and the Scientific Enterprise; here is a final report

This was a conference sponsored by the University of Texas at Austin, held Feb. 20-23, 1997, "dedicated to fostering dialogue between naturalists and theists on the impact of social and philosophical predispositions on the development, interpretation and presentation of scientific knowledge." Abstracts and articles are available! The conference was organized by Robert C. Koons.

Dialogos

DiaLogos is an interactive journal of the sciences, philosophy, and theology, which appears to be drawing considerable interest. It is edited by a Teilhardian philosopher, and is generally "liberal" in its theological orientation.

The John Templeton Foundation

This foundation is devoted to support of research and education on the interaction of science and religion, and promotes humility theology. In a nutshell, this is a recognition that because of our finitude we're never going to know everything about God.

Bluffton University is listed in the Templeton Foundation's Honor Roll for Character-Building Colleges.

The Center for Theology & the Natural Sciences

The CTNS is an interdenominational/interfaith center affiliated with the Graduate Theological Union, a consortium of several seminaries around Berkeley, California. It publishes the quarterly CTNS Bulletin and maintains several research projects into areas concerning science and religion, including a list of college courses on science and religion which is under development. The CTNS was founded in 1981, and was "the first organization to receive a major grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the theological, as well as the ethical, implications of the Human Genome Project." The founder and director is Robert Russell, who was once told by his thesis advisor that he'd be a first rate physicist if he'd just ditch his Christianity...

The Fellowship of Scientists

"The Fellowship of Scientists is a group of scientists who endeavor to support each other as they seek a greater understanding of and a deeper commitment to the vocation of scientist as one form of Christian service." It is functionally a lay religious order, and part of the "Form of Practice"

is to receive the Holy Eucharist at least once per year, at Pentecost. The Fellowship is non-denominational and in fact has members in several different denominations. By the way, the home page has several useful links to other Christian resources.

The Faith and Science Exchange

FASE is based in Massachusetts. Founded by Episcopalians, it is now interfaith (both Jews and Christians sit on its advisory board). Its website is rather dingy and eternally under construction. FASE is sponsored by the Religion and Science program of the Boston Theological Institute.

Dan Berger's Home Page

Bluffton University Science Department Home Page

Bluffton University Home Page

Maintained by Daniel J. Berger.