Calvin Seminars in Christian Scholarship - Design, Self-Organization, and the Integrity of Creation

Course Description:
Nature exhibits complex organized structures that cannot be reduced to their constituent parts. Over the last twenty years two approaches have emerged to account for these structures: intelligent design and complex self-organization. Although neither of these approaches is reductionist, prima facie their understanding of organized complexity is very different. Intelligent design looks to engineering and design principles to account for organized complexity and typically invokes a guiding intelligence. Complex self-organization, on the other hand, looks to emergent properties of physical systems to understand organized complexity. Both approaches connect to the Christian doctrine of creation in ways that are at once congenial and disturbing. Design places front and center the wisdom of God in creation, but seems to allow for almost magical intrusions into the natural order that threatens to undo its integrity. Self-organization, on the other hand, places a premium on preserving the integrity of creation, but seemingly leaves no evidence of the divine handiwork. The aim of this seminar is to see whether a rapprochement between design and self-organization is possible that pays proper due both to the divine wisdom in creation and to the integrity of the world as an act of creation. This is an interdisciplinary seminar, and scholars with expertise in the following disciplines are especially encouraged to apply: complex systems theory, information/design theory, history and philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, and any special sciences dealing with complex systems.

Program Description:
This seminar, one in a series of Christian Worldview Point-Counterpoint Seminars sponsored by a grant from Fieldstead and Company, is designed to provide a forum for Christian scholars and others to explore critical issues facing the Academy in our time. It will include conversations with noted scholars whose viewpoints are directly counter to historic Christian positions. The purpose of these seminars is to enlarge the thinking of all involved.

Participants in each seminar discuss common readings during a six-week residency and work on individual research projects with the director and fellow participants. They are expected to present their projects at a conference the following spring and publish them in appropriate venues. Participants are encouraged to bring their families for the duration.

Follow-up Conference