Plenary Session Presenters:
Justin L. Barrett, Young Life, Douglas County, and
Queen's University at Belfast, Northern Ireland
John F. Haught, Georgetown University
Dominic Johnson, Princeton University
Michael Murray, Franklin and Marshall College
Alvin Plantinga, University of Notre Dame
Del Ratzsch, Calvin College
Charles Taliaferro, St. Olaf College
Concurrent Session Presenters:
Donald Cronkite, Hope College
Bruce L. Gordon, Baylor University
James P. Hurd, Bethel University
Joseph LaPorte, Hope College
Timothy D. Morris, Covenant College
John T. Mullen, Oklahoma Baptist University
Ralph F. Stearley, Calvin College
William Struthers, Wheaton College
Raymond J. VanArragon, Bethel University
David Vander Laan, Westmont College
Jitse M. van der Meer, Redeemer University College
Robert Waltzer, Belhaven College
One of the most provocative historic interactions between science and religion has been the elucidation by science of naturalistic causes for phenomena understood by religion as entailing divine agency No current issue embodies this tension more dramatically than the quest for biological explanations of religious belief, behavior, and experience. However, the implications for religious faith are ambiguous. On the one hand, western religious traditions view belief in God as facilitated by and fulfilling of human nature. So uncovering natural inclinations, and perhaps adaptive benefits, to religious faith is both welcome and anticipated, and may even constitute a resource for natural theology. On the other hand, biblical faith entails the conviction that God has acted to engage humanity through special revelation and often through supernatural initiative. Reductively functionalist, not to mention overtly eliminativist accounts of religion are problematic for believers, and may represent a new natural atheology. Through plenary addresses and concurrent presentations by advocates and critics of various evolutionary theories of religion, this conference will survey current approaches, assess scientific and philosophical merits, and explore implications for religious belief.
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