M15 - Science and Religion: Recent Episodes
Cambridge University
Our sermon series this term, entitled ‘Science and Religion’. Each Sunday, guest preachers will explore the fundamental questions about the relationship between science and faith.
Preacher: Dr Michael Ward, Senior Research Fellow, Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University
Michael Ward is a Senior Research Fellow at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, and co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to C.S. Lewis. Dr Ward is best known for his study of Lewis’s synthesis of medieval cosmology and theological imagination, published as Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis (Oxford University Press, 2008). He is also the author of ‘Science and Religion in the Writings of C.S. Lewis’ in Science and Christian Belief (April 2013). On the fiftieth anniversary of Lewis’s death, Dr Ward unveiled a permanent national memorial to him in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey.
Preacher: The Rev'd Canon Dr Victoria Johnson, Residentiary Canon, Ely Cathedral
Victoria studied Biochemistry and Genetics and went on to become a Research Scientist at Manchester University. In her research career she studied two parallel processes involved in the development of cancer: cell death (apoptosis) and cell division (mitosis). She trained for the priesthood at Westcott House, reading Theology at Cambridge and Yale Universities, before returning to Manchester to serve as a curate and then parish priest. Victoria has taught ordinands training for ministry, and is regularly invited to preach, lecture and write on the dialogue between Science and Religion. She is a member of the Church of England's Mission Theology Advisory Group and Mission and Public Affairs Council.
Preacher: Dr Jacob Sherman, Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion, Cambridge University
Jacob Sherman is University Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. Previously, he has been assistant professor of philosophy and religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies, a visiting fellow in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, and a visiting lecturer in philosophy of religion at King's College London. He is the author of numerous journal articles, editor of The Participatory Turn: Spirituality, Mysticism, Religious Studies (SUNY Press 2008), and author of Partakers of the Divine: Contemplation and the Practice of Philosophy (Fortress Press 2014). His research largely focusses on questions of metaphysics and religion, especially the reappraisal and reinterpretation of premodern traditions within contemporary philosophy and theology. He is currently working on challenges to the modern concept of nature and its viability in an ecological and "post-postmodern" age.
Preacher: Dr Denis Alexander, Emeritus Director, The Faraday Institute
Denis Alexander is Emeritus Director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at St. Edmunds College, Cambridge, where he is Emeritus Fellow. Previously he was at The Babraham Institute where he was Chair of the Molecular Immunology Programme. Dr Alexander serves on the Executive Committee of the International Society for Science and Religion. His recent books include Biology and Ideology – From Descartes to Dawkins (co-edited with Ronald Numbers, Chicago University Press, 2010) and The Language of Genetics – an Introduction [Templeton Foundation Press, 2011]. He delivered the Gifford Lectures at St. Andrews University in December 2012 on the theme ‘Genes, Determinism and God’ and his book based on these lectures will be published in 2016 by Cambridge University Press.
Preacher: The Rev’d Dr Andrew Davison, Starbridge Lecturer in Theology and Natural Sciences, Cambridge University
Dr Davison is the Starbridge Lecturer in Theology and Natural Sciences in the Faculty, and Fellow in Theology at Corpus Christi College. Previously, he was tutor in doctrine at Westcott House, Cambridge (2010–2014) and before that tutor in doctrine at St Stephen's House, Oxford and junior chaplain of Merton College (2006–2010). He read chemistry at Merton in the 1990’s, followed by a DPhil in biochemistry. He read Tripos in theology and religious studies at Corpus Christi and subsequently completed a PhD in philosophical theology with Dr Catherine Pickstock in the faculty. He is a priest of the Church of England and served a curacy in South East London.
Andrew is author of serval books, most recently Care for the Dying (Canterbury Press, 2014 - with the physician Sioned Evans), The Love of Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy for Theologians (SCM, 2013) and Why Sacraments? (SPCK, 2013; Wipf and Stock, 2013). At the end of November 2014, Canterbury Press published his new book on the theory and practice of blessing (entitled, simply, Blessing). 2015 will see the publication of Participation: An Study in Christian Metaphysics, from Wipf and Stock. In June 2015, Andrew was installed as the first Canon Philosopher of St Albans Abbey.
Preacher: The Rev’d Dr Rodney Holder, Former Course Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion
The Revd Dr Rodney Holder is the former Course Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, where he remains a Bye Fellow. He read mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, and researched for a DPhil in astrophysics at Christ Church, Oxford. He also took a first in theology at Oxford while training for ordination in the Church of England. His publications include God, the Multiverse, and Everything: Modern Cosmology and the Argument from Design (Ashgate 2004), Georges Lemaître: Life Science and Legacy (Royal Astronomical Society/Springer 2012), and Big Bang, Big God: A Universe Designed for Life? (Lion Hudson 2013).
Preacher: Professor Tom McLeish, Professor of Physics, Durham University
Tom McLeish FRS is Professor of Theoretical Soft Matter Physics at Durham University, where he was Pro-Vice-Chancellor for research from 2008-2015. He is currently chair the Royal Society’s education committee and Vice-President of Science and Innovation at the Institute of Physics. His scientific research is directed at revealing the molecular causes of emergent properties in soft and biological complex matter, and he is also engaged in research projects on the philosophy, theology, ethics and history of science. He has published over 180 scientific papers and reviews, and is regularly involved in science-communication with the public, including lectures and workshops on science and faith. In 2014 OUP published his book Faith and Wisdom in Science. He has been a Reader in the Anglican Church since 1993, in the dioceses of Ripon and York.