Workshop 9, Part 1
Quantum Cosmology and Creation
Date: August 21, 2014
Time: 10:30am to 12pm
Place: Business Administration Amphiteater
Presenter: Dr. George Coyne
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Workshop 9, Part 2
The Implications of Scientific Evolution to the Semantics of Christian Faith
Date: August 22, 2014
Time: 8:00am to 3:00pm
Place: Business Administration, ADEM 341
Presenters: Dr.George Coyne
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The workshop
Dr. Coyne belongs to a group that sustains that natural sciences and religions are complementary and not in conflict. However, a possible dialogue between these two sources of knowledge raises some questions. To what extent can our scientific knowledge about the origins of the universe and the evolution of life influence our religious beliefs? And, on the other hand, to what extent can religious thought make a contribution to our scientific understanding of the origins and evolution of life in the universe? Moreover, is the religious notion of creation in conflict with current cosmological worldviews? Or, on the contrary, Quantum cosmological views of vacuum fluctuations and the theological notion of creation out of nothing have some relation?
Dr. George Coyne, S.J. will address the issue of how what we know from science about the evolution of life in the universe influences our religious attitudes. And to what extent can religious thought contributes to our scientific understanding of the origins and evolution of life in the universe. This twofold question poses the serious risk of transgressing upon the epistemological independence of the various disciplines: theology, philosophy, astrophysics, biology and cosmology, and creating, thereby, more confusion than understanding. Therefore, it is that possible to establish a fruitful dialogue between natural sciences, philosophy and faith? What are the conditions that render possible such interdisciplinary dialogue? From the religious side this dialogue must be limited to the rational foundations for religious belief.
MESSAGE TO THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: ON EVOLUTION Pope John Paul II
