Dec 26, 2024  
2020-21 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
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2020-21 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

RE 328 Of God, Science, and the Universe

The class explores the influence of science on religion and culture in the modern and postmodern worlds. The course focuses on four themes of creation: the formation of the universe, the appearance of life, the origins of human consciousness, and the formation of nature and the earth. First, the class examines the sacred cosmology of Western Culture that is based upon the creation of narrative of Genesis and Greek philosophy. Then, the class examines the challenges of science to this cosmology focusing on the disciplines of astronomy, quantum physics, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and ecology. Issues such as Galileo and the Inquisition, the theory of the Big Bank, evolution and intelligent design, human consciousness and religious experience, and ecology and global warming are examined. The course raises the question of whether or not it is possible to reconcile the belief in God with the practice of science.