Religion and Science Course Website: Your Teachers

Darrel R. Falk is professor of biology at Point Loma Nazarene University in Point Loma, California. He graduated from Simon Frazer University and received a Ph.D. from the University of Alberta in 1973. He is a research molecular geneticist studying gene organization, mechanisms of gene repair and gene cloning technology. He is a Christian and describes himself as a theistic evolutionist. He is the author of a book on the creation-evolution controversy titled Coming to Peace with Science: Bridging the Worlds Between Faith and Biology (2004).

Warren S. Brown is Director of the Lee Edward Travis Research Institute and Professor of Psychology, Department of Clinical Psychology at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He is a neuropsychologist studying the cognitive and psychosocial disabilities in a congenital brain malformation called agenesis of the corpus callosum. He has also studied callosal function in dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease, neuropsychological changes in aging and dementia, brain processes in language comprehension, brain wave changes associated with kidney disease and its treatment, and attentional deficits in schizophrenia. His publications include Whatever Happened to the Soul? Scientific and Theological Portraits of Human Nature (editor with Nancey Murphy and contributor, 1998) and Understanding Wisdom: Sources, Science and Society (editor and contributor. 2000).

John C. Polkinghorne is both a theoretical physicist and a theologian. Following his Ph.D. in 1955, he became a professor of mathematical physics at Cambridge and published numerous papers and books on particle physics. In 1979 he trained for the Anglican priesthood. He was ordained Deacon in 1981 and in 1986 was appointed Fellow, Dean and Chaplain at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. In 1989, he was appointed President of the Queens’ College, Cambridge, eventually retiring in 1996. For his work in science and religion he was awarded the Templeton Prize in 2002 and became the founding President of the International Society for Science and Religion. He has published numerous books including The God of Hope and the End of the World, the trilogy One World: Science and Creation, and Science and Providence. He is one of the foremost living writers and thinkers in the world on science and religion.

Ted Peters is a professor of Systematic Theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, California. He is author of GOD—The World’s Future (2000), Science, Theology, and Ethics (2003), and, with Martinez Hewlett, Can You Believe in God and Evolution? (2006). He is editor-in-chief of Dialog, A Journal of Theology. He also serves as co-editor of Theology and Science, published by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley.

Bruce C. Birch is Dean and Professor of Biblical Theology at Wesley Theological Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and did post-doctoral work at Tübingen University. He is an ordained United Methodist minister and serves on the Council of the Society of Biblical Literature. He has written numerous books, including What Does the Lord Require? and Let Justice Roll Down. He served as one of the editors for the New Interpreter’s Bible and contributed the commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel.

Denise Dombkowski Hopkins is Professor of Hebrew Bible at Wesley Theological Seminary. She is author of Journey Through the Psalms (2002) and, with Michael Koppel, Grounded in the Living Word: The Hebrew Bible and Pastoral Care Practices (forthcoming, 2009) as well as "Judith" in The Women's Bible Commentary (1998) and "1, 2, 3, and 4 Maccabees" and "Judith" in The Discipleship Study Bible (2008).

Beth Norcross worked on the staff of the U.S. Senate National Parks and Forests subcommittee and served as Vice-President for Conservation for American Rivers. She teaches courses in eco-theology at Wesley Seminary and spearheaded its Creation Care program. She is Coordinator of the national Green Seminary Initiative. She is also the author of Use Your Fingers, Use Your Toes (Capitol Books 2004), a step-by-step guide to everyday math.

R. Kendall Soulen is Professor of Systematic Theology at Wesley Theological Seminary. His book publications include The God of Israel and Christian Theology (1996), Handbook of Biblical Criticism, 3rd edition (2001), and God and Human Dignity (2006). He is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. He is an active participant in international Jewish/Christian dialogue.

Susan Willhauck is Associate Professor of Christian Formation and Teaching at Wesley Seminary, where she also directs the Equipping Lay Ministry program. She is a Deacon in the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church. She is the co-author (with Jacqulyn Thorpe) of The Web of Women’s Leadership: Recasting Congregational Ministry, and author of Backtalk! Women Changing the Church.

William Phillips is Leader of the Laser Cooling and Trapping Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and is a Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1997, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discoveries in the field of laser cooling.

See Lesson 1 above for a biography of Francis S. Collins.

Alister McGrath is Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University and senior research fellow at Harris Manchester College. He holds doctorates from Oxford University in both molecular biophysics and theology. He is the author of numerous books and is a leading figure in British theology. His many writings include the best-selling book The Dawkins Delusion? Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine, co-authored by Joanna Collicutt McGrath, which is summarized in this lecture.

Charles Townes is best known as one of the chief inventors of the laser, for which he received the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics. He holds a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology, having written his thesis on isotope separation and nuclear spins. He holds a number of patents and has taught at, among other institutions, Columbia University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of California. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fulbright Lecturer, and is the recipient of the Templeton Prize as well as a long list of other honors.

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	---Religion and Science: Pathways to Truth ---Your Teachers ---________________________________________________________________________
-Lesson One: Introduction
-Francis S. -Collins		Francis Collins studied chemistry at the University of Virginia and received a Ph.D. in 1974 in physical chemistry at Yale, where he became interested in genetics and began studying the DNA molecule. He received an M.D. degree in 1977 at the University of North Carolina, working on problems of inherited diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s disease. His work as a physician caused him to question his long-held atheism, and explorations into faith eventually led him to Christ. He worked as a geneticist at the University of Michigan developing techniques for identifying disease genes and in 1993 accepted an invitation to become Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda at the National Institutes of Health, where he remained until his retirement in August 2008. He wrote The Language of God in 2006 and frequently gives public lectures describing his journey of faith and scientific discovery.
-Lesson Two: Friends or Foes? The Story of a Complex Relationship
-David -Wilkinson		The Rev. Dr. David A. Wilkinson is Principal of St. John’s College, Durham, England, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and a member of the World Methodist Council. Dr. Wilkinson is the author of a number of popular books such as Alone in the Universe? The X-files, Aliens and God (1997) and God, Time and Stephen Hawking (2001). With Rob Frost he also wrote God and Science (1996) and Thinking Clearly About God (2000).
-Lesson Three: Truth in Science and Religion
-Philip -Clayton		Philip Clayton holds a Ph.D. in both philosophy and religious studies from Yale University. He has taught at Haverford College, Williams College, and the California State University, and currently holds the Ingraham Chair at the Claremont School of Theology. He is a past winner of the Templeton Book Prize for the best monograph in the field of science and religion and won the first annual Templeton Research Prize. His current field of research is in the area of emergence. He has published numerous articles in the philosophy of science, ethics, and the world’s religious traditions. He is also the author of God and Contemporary Science (1997), The Problem of God in Modern Thought (2000), Mind and Emergence (2004) and The Re-Emergence of Emergence – The Emergentist Hypothesis from Science to Religion (2006).
-Lesson Four: God and Nature
-Keith -Ward		Keith Ward is a British cleric, philosopher, theologian and scholar. He is an ordained priest since 1972 in the Church of England and has strong interests in comparative theology and the interplay between science and faith. Prior to retirement, he served as Professor of Divinity at Oxford University. He is the author of more than twenty books including Pascal's Fire: Scientific Faith and Religious Understanding (2006), Is Religion Dangerous? (2006), Re-thinking Christianity (2007) and The Big Questions in Science and Religion (2008).
-Lesson Five: Creation and Evolution
-Darrel R. -Falk		Darrel R. Falk is professor of biology at Point Loma Nazarene University in Point Loma, California. He graduated from Simon Frazer University and received a Ph.D. from the University of Alberta in 1973. He is a research molecular geneticist studying gene organization, mechanisms of gene repair and gene cloning technology. He is a Christian and describes himself as a theistic evolutionist. He is the author of a book on the creation-evolution controversy titled Coming to Peace with Science: Bridging the Worlds Between Faith and Biology (2004).
-Lesson Six: What Does It Mean to Be Human?
-Warren S. -Brown		Warren S. Brown is Director of the Lee Edward Travis Research Institute and Professor of Psychology, Department of Clinical Psychology at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He is a neuropsychologist studying the cognitive and psychosocial disabilities in a congenital brain malformation called agenesis of the corpus callosum. He has also studied callosal function in dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease, neuropsychological changes in aging and dementia, brain processes in language comprehension, brain wave changes associated with kidney disease and its treatment, and attentional deficits in schizophrenia. His publications include Whatever Happened to the Soul? Scientific and Theological Portraits of Human Nature (editor with Nancey Murphy and contributor, 1998) and Understanding Wisdom: Sources, Science and Society (editor and contributor. 2000).
-Lesson Seven: The God of Hope and the End of the World
-John -Polkinghorne		John C. Polkinghorne is both a theoretical physicist and a theologian. Following his Ph.D. in 1955, he became a professor of mathematical physics at Cambridge and published numerous papers and books on particle physics. In 1979 he trained for the Anglican priesthood. He was ordained Deacon in 1981 and in 1986 was appointed Fellow, Dean and Chaplain at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. In 1989, he was appointed President of the Queens’ College, Cambridge, eventually retiring in 1996. For his work in science and religion he was awarded the Templeton Prize in 2002 and became the founding President of the International Society for Science and Religion. He has published numerous books including The God of Hope and the End of the World, the trilogy One World: Science and Creation, and Science and Providence. He is one of the foremost living writers and thinkers in the world on science and religion.
-Lesson Eight: Genetic Science and the Frontiers of Ethics
-Ted -Peters		Ted Peters is a professor of Systematic Theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, California. He is author of GOD—The World’s Future (2000), Science, Theology, and Ethics (2003), and, with Martinez Hewlett, Can You Believe in God and Evolution? (2006). He is editor-in-chief of Dialog, A Journal of Theology. He also serves as co-editor of Theology and Science, published by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley.
-Lesson Nine: Concluding Bible Study on Creation Care
-Bruce -Birch		Bruce C. Birch is Dean and Professor of Biblical Theology at Wesley Theological Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and did post-doctoral work at Tübingen University. He is an ordained United Methodist minister and serves on the Council of the Society of Biblical Literature. He has written numerous books, including What Does the Lord Require? and Let Justice Roll Down. He served as one of the editors for the New Interpreter’s Bible and contributed the commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel.

-Denise -Dombkowski -Hopkins		Denise Dombkowski Hopkins is Professor of Hebrew Bible at Wesley Theological Seminary. She is author of Journey Through the Psalms (2002) and, with Michael Koppel, Grounded in the Living Word: The Hebrew Bible and Pastoral Care Practices (forthcoming, 2009) as well as "Judith" in The Women's Bible Commentary (1998) and "1, 2, 3, and 4 Maccabees" and "Judith" in The Discipleship Study Bible (2008).

-Beth -Norcross		Beth Norcross worked on the staff of the U.S. Senate National Parks and Forests subcommittee and served as Vice-President for Conservation for American Rivers. She teaches courses in eco-theology at Wesley Seminary and spearheaded its Creation Care program. She is Coordinator of the national Green Seminary Initiative. She is also the author of Use Your Fingers, Use Your Toes (Capitol Books 2004), a step-by-step guide to everyday math.

-Kendall -Soulen		R. Kendall Soulen is Professor of Systematic Theology at Wesley Theological Seminary. His book publications include The God of Israel and Christian Theology (1996), Handbook of Biblical Criticism, 3rd edition (2001), and God and Human Dignity (2006). He is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. He is an active participant in international Jewish/Christian dialogue.

-Susan -Willhauck		Susan Willhauck is Associate Professor of Christian Formation and Teaching at Wesley Seminary, where she also directs the Equipping Lay Ministry program. She is a Deacon in the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church. She is the co-author (with Jacqulyn Thorpe) of The Web of Women’s Leadership: Recasting Congregational Ministry, and author of Backtalk! Women Changing the Church.
-Bonus DVD: Conversation
-Wiliam -Phillips		William Phillips is Leader of the Laser Cooling and Trapping Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and is a Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1997, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discoveries in the field of laser cooling. See Lesson 1 above for a biography of Francis S. Collins.
-Bonus DVD: The Dawkins Delusion?
-Alister -McGrath		Alister McGrath is Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University and senior research fellow at Harris Manchester College. He holds doctorates from Oxford University in both molecular biophysics and theology. He is the author of numerous books and is a leading figure in British theology. His many writings include the best-selling book The Dawkins Delusion? Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine, co-authored by Joanna Collicutt McGrath, which is summarized in this lecture.
-Bonus DVD: Reflections on a Life of Faith and Science
-Charles -Townes		Charles Townes is best known as one of the chief inventors of the laser, for which he received the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics. He holds a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology, having written his thesis on isotope separation and nuclear spins. He holds a number of patents and has taught at, among other institutions, Columbia University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of California. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fulbright Lecturer, and is the recipient of the Templeton Prize as well as a long list of other honors.
-Bonus DVD: Natural Selection and the Economy of Grace
-Amy Laura -Hall		Amy Laura Hall teaches ethics at Duke University Divinity School. She holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and is the author of Kierkegaard and the Treachery of Love and Conceiving Parenthood: The Protestant Spirit of Biotechnological Reproduction. At Duke University, Hall serves on the Steering Committee of the Genome Ethics, Law, and Policy Center and as a faculty member for the FOCUS program of the Institute on Genome Sciences and Policy.
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