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Regent’s School of Divinity Hosts Integration of Faith & Science Workshop

According to Pew Data research, nearly 60 percent of Americans believe that science and religion are in conflict.

On Wednesday, October 28th, Regent University School of Divinity (DIV) students, faculty, staff and online community marched to the border of this “conflict” at the Integration of Faith & Science Workshop.

The workshop featured lectures and discussions led by Dr. Ronald L. Numbers, Hilldale Professor of the History of Science & Medicine Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Dr. Steven Bouma-Prediger, professor of Religion and associate dean for Teaching and Learning at Hope College.

Numbers presented his lecture, “Revisiting the Battlefields of Science and Religion,” opening a discussion of centuries-worth of misunderstandings of where the two entities have successfully and unsuccessfully intersected – and eventually began to pull apart.

He outlined his theories in his book, Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion, among more than two-dozen others he’s taken part in writing or editing. This extensive research has made him a “nonpartisan” in the argument.

“Maybe I’m wishy-washy, or maybe I just tell the truth,” said Numbers.

Bouma-Prediger spoke on “Christian Faith and Natural Science: Opportunities for Integration.” He encouraged his audience to think of their favorite places in the natural world, an exercise he completed as he wrote his most recent book, For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care.

He argued the notion to “serve and protect” the earth and to praise God in accordance with the exclamations in Psalm 148.

“We’re called to be creation’s ‘cops’ to foster the flourishing of all things,” said Bouma-Prediger. “Our faith is ‘earthy.'”

The workshop was sponsored by the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and its Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion (DoSER) grant titled, Science for Seminaries. DIV was one of 10 seminaries selected to participate in the dialogue.

Learn more about Regent University’s School of Divinity.