2008 Woodie Awards
Science and religion together again
Mortensen and Smith devise course on science, religion and magic
Jake Blumgart
Issue date: 4/13/07 Section: Features
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Science and religion are often depicted as two titans, eternally duking it out for the hearts and minds of an existentially bemused humanity.
Today's newspapers and bestseller lists are filled with polemics propping up one and degrading the other. From myopic creationists to Oxford Don Richard Dawkins, no one seems to think the two can live in peace.
Assistant Professor of Physics Don Smith and Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Eric Mortensen hope to challenge this popular conception with an IDS course in spring 2008. Mortensen argues that most serious European scientists, until relatively recently, were men of the cloth. Darwin's loss of faith was the exception, not the rule.
The course, tentatively titled "Magic, Science and Religion," will not focus entirely on the science versus religion showdown. Both men vehemently oppose the assumption that science and religion are mutually exclusive, but they hope the class will shake up more then one popular metaphysical assumption.
"We met during the science and religion discussions that were held last year during the Year of Spirit and Spirituality," Mortensen said. "We'd bring different things to this - besides fun. I'm a comparative (religion) theorist, but I'm also an agnostic, Buddhist, folklorist and relativist."
"One of the things I hoped for in coming to work at a liberal arts school was that I would be able to do team teaching," said Smith who describes himself as a Quaker astrophysicist. "We will basically be looking at different ways of looking at the world."
Mortensen has taught a previous incarnation of the course as a 400-level religious studies capstone and enlisted the only surviving member of the original class as a teaching assistant.
"It was my favorite class I've taken at Guilford, so I was really psyched when Eric asked me to T.A.," said senior religious studies major Amanda Armbrust. "It made me question my whole paradigm and the very fundamentals that shape it. It became problematic to use words like 'fact' and 'truth.'"
Today's newspapers and bestseller lists are filled with polemics propping up one and degrading the other. From myopic creationists to Oxford Don Richard Dawkins, no one seems to think the two can live in peace.
Assistant Professor of Physics Don Smith and Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Eric Mortensen hope to challenge this popular conception with an IDS course in spring 2008. Mortensen argues that most serious European scientists, until relatively recently, were men of the cloth. Darwin's loss of faith was the exception, not the rule.
The course, tentatively titled "Magic, Science and Religion," will not focus entirely on the science versus religion showdown. Both men vehemently oppose the assumption that science and religion are mutually exclusive, but they hope the class will shake up more then one popular metaphysical assumption.
"We met during the science and religion discussions that were held last year during the Year of Spirit and Spirituality," Mortensen said. "We'd bring different things to this - besides fun. I'm a comparative (religion) theorist, but I'm also an agnostic, Buddhist, folklorist and relativist."
"One of the things I hoped for in coming to work at a liberal arts school was that I would be able to do team teaching," said Smith who describes himself as a Quaker astrophysicist. "We will basically be looking at different ways of looking at the world."
Mortensen has taught a previous incarnation of the course as a 400-level religious studies capstone and enlisted the only surviving member of the original class as a teaching assistant.
"It was my favorite class I've taken at Guilford, so I was really psyched when Eric asked me to T.A.," said senior religious studies major Amanda Armbrust. "It made me question my whole paradigm and the very fundamentals that shape it. It became problematic to use words like 'fact' and 'truth.'"
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Marilyn
posted 4/13/07 @ 12:48 PM EST
To Whom It May Concern.
Actually "True Science" is in total agreement with our Creator:
There are persons today who deny the existence of God. Some say, "God is dead. (Continued…)
sara
posted 4/23/07 @ 2:03 PM EST
Here is a politically incorrect thought: Marxists use their hatred of Christianity, emphasing differences or opposition to science, in order to justify their dominance over Chrisstians. (Continued…)
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