Midwest Religion and Science Society

 
Trauma and the Environment: How Then Shall We Live?

The twenty first annual Goshen Conference on Religion and Science took place Friday, March 11, 2022, through Sunday, March 13, 2022.  The speakers for the 2022 conference were Dr. Ann Pederson and Dr. Jennifer Gubbels of Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota who presented the conference message together.  

The titles of the lectures are as follows:

Lecture #1: Seeing the Place of Science and Religion: Epigenetics and Extended Mind
Lecture #2: Inherited Trauma: Epigenetics and Preterm Birth
Lecture #3: Trauma and Resilience: Memory, Place, and Religion

Download the conference schedule (PDF).

Dr. Ann Pederson

Dr. Ann Milliken Pederson teaches Christian theology, with particular emphases in religion and medical sciences, feminist theologies, theology and the arts, and Lutheran constructive theology. She is also an adjunct professor in the Section for Ethics and humanities at the Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota. Pederson has written five books: Where in the World is God? Variations on a Theme (Chalice Press, 1998), God, Creation, and All That Jazz (Chalice Press, 2001), The Music of Creation, co-authored with the Rev. Dr. Canon Arthur Peacocke, (Fortress Press, 2006), The Geography of God's Incarnation: Landscapes and Narratives of Faith (Wipf and Stock, 2013), and Our Bodies Are Selves, co-authored with Philip Hefner and Susan Barreto (Wipf and Stock, 2015). She has also authored entries in the Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science, and numerous articles in Zygon, Word and World, and other periodicals. She is also a Fellow in the International Society for Science and Religion.

Dr. Jennifer Gubbels

Dr. Jennifer A. A. Gubbels is an Associate Professor and Chair of Biology at Augustana University.  She teaches introductory biology, physiology, immunology, and has team-taught courses on medical ethics along with history and religion professors.  Her research is in reproductive physiology, where she has published 12 peer-reviewed publications   on ovarian cancer, and has recently begun studies to determine the molecular cause for preterm birth.  In addition, she has led a research project to determine the stressors experienced by American Indian pregnant women on reservations in SD. Gubbels has also published in journals outside of her main area of expertise, including the Journal for Microbiology and Biology Education as well as Zygon, a religion and science journal (along with Dr. Ann Pederson). She has been an invited guest lecturer to seminaries as a part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science “Science for Seminaries” grant.  Gubbels is a member of the Society for Reproductive Investigation.

The 2021 Goshen Conference on Religion and Science was rescheduled for 2022.

The twentieth annual Goshen Conference on Science and Religion took place on the campus of Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana, Friday, March 6, 2020, through Sunday, March 8, 2020.  The speaker for the 2020 conference was Dr. Michael Spezio.

The first lecture is entitled, "Imagining the True Self: Apophatic Experience beyond Aseity". This lecture introduced positive accounts of Abrahamic mindfulness and distinguish them from several influential, westernized Dharmic forms of mindfulness prior to considering how contemporary apophatic theologies can go beyond aseity in defining human selves and identities, drawing on conceptions in western psychological and brain sciences.

The second lecture is entitled, "Humility as Kenotic Empathy: A Positive Account of Humility and its Dependence upon Theory of Mind and Imaginaries of the True Self." Empathy and theory of mind are typically understood in the West as related to the uncertainty of other minds and the need for knowledge about them. However, empirical work with transformative communities that have positive constructions of humility shows a stronger connection between empathy and humility in openly welcoming and affirming another person as a fully valued "I". This lecture will present these models, connect them with the thought of Edith Stein and with future directions in computational decision neuroscience.

Dr. Michael Spezio

Michael Spezio is Associate Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Scripps College in Claremont, CA, and holds a Visiting Scientist appointment at the University Medical Center (UKE) in Hamburg, Germany. Michael is also an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He heads the Laboratory for Inquiry into Valuation and Emotion (The LIVE Lab) at Scripps College. The LIVE Lab uses computational models of semantic relations, mental processes, and neural systems to study the dynamic valuation of self and other critical for choices about how to live. This work includes studies of empathy, compassion, forgiveness, virtuous formation, mindfulness, prayer, theory of mind, belief and value updates using available evidence, and the extent to which both temporal horizon and evidence weighting influence interactive learning during cooperation and competition. He developed the first course in Data Science Ethics and Justice at the Claremont Colleges and works on virtue in the practices of science. He is Co-Editor of the journal Philosophy, Theology, and the Sciences (Mohr Siebeck) and of the Routledge Companion to Religion & Science. Michael gratefully acknowledges funding from the National Science Foundation, the Templeton Religion Trust, and the John Templeton Foundation.Michael Spezio is Associate Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Scripps College in Claremont, CA, and holds a Visiting Scientist appointment at the University Medical Center (UKE) in Hamburg, Germany. Michael is also an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He heads the Laboratory for Inquiry into Valuation and Emotion (The LIVE Lab) at Scripps College. The LIVE Lab uses computational models of semantic relations, mental processes, and neural systems to study the dynamic valuation of self and other critical for choices about how to live. This work includes studies of empathy, compassion, forgiveness, virtuous formation, mindfulness, prayer, theory of mind, belief and value updates using available evidence, and the extent to which both temporal horizon and evidence weighting influence interactive learning during cooperation and competition. He developed the first course in Data Science Ethics and Justice at the Claremont Colleges and works on virtue in the practices of science. He is Co-Editor of the journal Philosophy, Theology, and the Sciences (Mohr Siebeck) and of the Routledge Companion to Religion & Science. Michael gratefully acknowledges funding from the National Science Foundation, the Templeton Religion Trust, and the John Templeton Foundation.

Christians, Climate, and Culture: Relationships, Tensions and Resolutions

Friday, March 29, 2019 - Sunday, March 31, 2019

Goshen College, Goshen Indiana

The nineteenth annual Goshen Conference on Science and Religion was held on the campus of Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana, Friday, Marchh 29, 2019, through Sunday, March 31, 2019.  The speaker for the 2019 conference is Dr. Katharine Hayhoe.

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist whose research focuses on developing and applying high-resolution climate projections to understand what climate change means for people and the natural environment. She is a professor and director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, and has a B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Toronto and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from the University of Illinois.

More information about Dr. Hayhoe can be found here.

Lecture 1: Mitigate, Adapt, or Suffer: Connecting Global Change to Local Impacts (Public)

"We basically have three choices: mitigation, adaptation and suffering. We’re going to do some of each. The question is what the mix is going to be. The more mitigation we do, the less adaptation will be required and the less suffering there will be." — John Holdren

Climate change is evident in Iowa, throughout the United States, and around the world. Assessing its impacts on agriculture, water, and the economy is essential to setting sound national and global targets that minimize the costs and maximize the benefits of both adaptation and mitigation. Conventional wisdom, first codified in the UNFCCC’s 1992 agreement to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations, suggests impacts are expected to scale with atmospheric concentrations. Here, I explore the relationship between global temperature targets — typically expressed in degrees Celsius, from +2 to +4 --and projected future changes in a series of regional impact-relevant metrics, from drought to energy demand, to answer the question: To what extent do differences in global targets translate into differences in impacts on the Midwest?

Lecture 2: Christians, Climate, and Culture (Public)

Mounting scientific evidence clearly documents the risks posed by climate change to the poor, the needy, and other vulnerable populations, the very people Christians are called to love. As the scientific evidence builds, however, so does the vocal opposition to this evidence: in Canada, the U.S., Australia and even the U.K. Much of the disagreement comes from political and religious conservatives. Why is climate change so polarizing to these communities? What makes it so hard to comprehend and accept? Combining basic tenets of the Christian faith with recent findings from the areas of psychology, sociology, and climate
science, I will discuss potential reasons for these disagreements and the role that shared values may play in moving us forward past these barriers.

Lecture 3: To be announced (Limited to conference participants)