Ui 415: Science and Religion

UI 415: SCIENCE AND RELIGION Home page: http://cstl-csm.semo.edu/gathman/ui415/

Allen Gathman Rev. Robert Towner Office: Rhodes 218 Office: Carnahan 211M E-mail: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Phone: 651-2361 Phone: 335-2997 (Church) or 450-3263 (Cell)

Required Reading for the Course:

Barbour, Ian G. Religion and Science: historical and contemporary issues. HarperCollins: New York, 1997. (Textbook rental)

Each student receives a collection of supplemental readings. These readings are listed on the last page of the syllabus.

Grading:

Papers 66% 90-100% A Class Participation 34% 80-89% B 70-79% C 60-69% D <60% F

Percentage cutoffs for grades may be adjusted downward by the instructors without notice.

The course is organized into three units. Each unit begins with a short (600 words) statement due from each student describing her/his present views on the topic. At the end of each unit, each student turns in a longer reevaluation paper (1500 words) describing how the materials read and discussed have changed or supported her/his original view.

Both short and long papers should be submitted electronically via the Drop Box for the course. We expect both the short and long papers to be well written and carefully proofread. If you need assistance with English mechanics or style, please take a draft to the writing center (or send it to the Online Writing Lab at http://ustudies.semo.edu/writing/owl/) before turning in your work.

For each of the assigned readings, you must write thesis statements, summarizing the most important points, and formulate two discussion questions, using the form included with the readings packet. One form for each assigned reading is due at the beginning of the class session in which the reading is discussed.

The class participation grade includes writing the thesis statements and discussion questions and taking part in small group and full class discussions. Each thesis statement/discussion question page (one per reading) can receive up to 5 points; these reflect both the written assignment (3 points) and your classroom participation (2 points). Obviously, no more than 3 points can be given for thesis statement pages turned in on time for a class session that you do not attend, and late thesis statements will receive even less credit. Please attend all class sessions, and do the preparation for them in advance.

While attendance per se can not be required of students, there are consequences associated with absences and policies governing excused- and non-excused absences. The official statement about attendance, derived from the Undergraduate Bulletin, may be accessed at: http://www.semo.edu/bulletin/pdf/2006Bulletin.pdf.

All work must be IN YOUR OWN words. See note on plagiarism on the web site in Course Materials. Any work containing plagiarism will receive an automatic grade of zero. We also discourage the use of direct quotes, even when properly attributed. Direct quotations do not count toward the word counts for the papers.

The Undergraduate Bulletin defines academic dishonesty as “…those acts which would deceive, cheat, or defraud so as to promote one’s scholastic record…”, and states that “[v]iolations of academic honesty represent a serious breech of discipline and may be considered grounds for disciplinary action, including dismissal from the university”. The official statement about academic honesty, including plagiarism, may be accessed at: http://www.semo.edu/bulletin/pdf/2006Bulletin.pdf Additional information may be accessed at: http://www6.semo.edu/judaffairs/

Civility and Harassment: A major determinant of a successful educational experience is a shared sense of respect among and between the students and their instructor. This is of utmost importance in a seminar of this nature. Different positions about religious matters are to be expected and a matter of course. Differences of opinion will be handled by making “I” statements, and then allowing time to listen to the “I” statement of other parties. “I” statements are, for example, “I believe…. I think…. I wonder…. I prefer….” Students are encouraged to bring promptly complaints about this to the instructors. Judicial Affairs is responsible for addressing such matters and that information is available at: http://www6.semo.edu/judaffairs/

Disabilities: Diversity in all its forms will have the respect of the instructor, who will in turn expect the same of the students. While it is the responsibility of the student to inform the faculty of any physical or learning disabilities, the faculty should inform the students that there are policies and services available to them. Students may obtain official information about disabilities from Learning Assistance and Disability Support Services, located at: http://www.semo.edu/cs/services/lec.htm

Technology: Students will need to write their short and long papers using Microsoft WORD (or related product), and must be capable of using the drop box features on the class website. The class will be conducted as an informal seminar with several lectures. Attention is necessary; distractions and interruptions work contrary to these modalities. Unless necessary to compensate for disability, no electronic devices will be permitted in class. Students are expected to check their semo.edu email in order to get messages sent to the entire class. Students are expected to use the class web site to access required and supplemental resources for the class. Schedule Fall 2008 Unit I. Epistemology: How do you know what you know? Date Topic and/or Reading August 26 Introduction: What do you know about science and religion? 28 Hypothesis testing. Reading: Kourany September 2 Barbour Chapter 4 Lecture/discussion: Basic religious worldviews 4 Due: What are the important elements of your world view? 2 page paper 9 Readings: Fowler, Haught Ch. 2 Tillich -- Excerpt from Dynamics of Faith; Henderson on Tillich, Ch. 6 11 (online) 16 Barbour Ch. 5 18 Smith, pp. 67-75. Buddhism. 23 Barbour Ch. 6 25 Buber Unit II. Origins: How did we get here? 30 Due: Unit I long paper. Video: Joseph Campbell: The Message of the Myth October 2 Barbour, Chapter 3, part 1 and 2, pp 49-62 7 Hyers Due: How did we get here short paper 9 Bones (Lecture on evolution). 14 Bones (Lecture on evolution). Reading: Barbour Ch. 8 16 Fall Break 21 Gilkey; Lecture on Biblical Interpretation 23 Barbour Ch. 9 28 Haught Ch. 7. 30 Barbour Ch. 10 November 4 McFague 6 pre-paper discussion Due: Unit II long paper 11 Video: Tales of the Human Dawn Unit 3: Process: What makes things happen? 13 Polkinghorne Barbour Ch. 7 18 Due: What makes things happen short papers 20 Haught, Stone 25 Murphy 27 Thanksgiving December 2 Barbour Ch. 11 4 Teilhard 9 Haught Ch. 12 11 A Catechism on Creation; Tao Te Ching (excerpts) 16 Unit III long paper due 5 PM Reading List for UI 415 Science and Religion

Unit I: Epistemology (Barbour, Religion and Science, Chapters 1- 6)

Buber, Martin. I and Thou. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970. pp. 53-60, 82-85.

Fowler, James W. III. 1974. "Religious Institutions I. Toward a developmental perspective on faith." Religious Education 69 (2):207-219.

Haught, John F. Deeper than Darwin. Boulder, CO: Westview Press; 2003. pp. 13-26,

Henderson, C.P. Jr. God and Science: The death and rebirth of theism. New York: John Knox Press, 1986. Revised hypertext edition, http://www.godweb.org/godand.htm. Chapter 6.

Kourany, Janet A. Scientific Knowledge: Basic Issues in the Philosophy of Science. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth; 1987. pp. 112-121.

Smith, Huston. The Illustrated World’s Religions: A guide to our wisdom traditions. San Francisco: HarperOne; 1995. pp. 67-75.

Tillich, Paul. Dynamics of Faith. New York: Harper and Row; 1957. pp. 1-40.

Unit II: Origins (Barbour, Religion and Science, Chapters 8 -10)

Gilkey, Langdon. "Creationism: the Roots of the Conflict" In Frye, R. M. Is God a Creationist? The Religious Case Against Creation-Science. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons; 1983. pp. 56-70.

Haught, Op. Cit. pp. 85-102.

Hyers, Conrad. "Biblical Literalism: Constricting the Cosmic Dance" In Frye, R. M. Is God a Creationist? The Religious Case Against Creation-Science. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons; 1983. pp. 95-104.

McFague, Sallie. The Body of God: An Ecological Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993. pp. 27-63.

Unit III: Process (Barbour, Religion and Science, Chapters 7, 11 - 12)

Episcopal Church USA. A Catechism of Creation: An Episcopal understanding. http://ecusa.anglican.org/19021_58393_ENG_HTM.htm?menupage=58392. Accessed August, 2007.

Feiser, James and John Powers. Scriptures of the East. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2003. pp. 182-187.

Haught, Op. Cit. pp. 161-175.

Haught, John F. 2003. Is Nature Enough? No. Zygon 38(4): 769-782.

Murphy, Nancy. Getting Mind Out of Meat: A non-reductive physicalist account of human nature. http://www.counterbalance.net/evp-mind/evp-mind-print.html. Accessed August, 2007.

Polkinghorne, John. Science and Providence: God's Interaction With the World. Boston: Shambhala Press; 1989. pp. 45-58.

Stone, Jerome A. 2003. Is Nature Enough? Yes. Zygon 38(4): 783-800.

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre. Christianity and Evolution. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Jovanovich; 1969. pp. 173-186, 194.