Faith Interface

I’m Currently Reading: “The Mindful Brain: Reflection & Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being” (Daniel J. Siegel)

The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being

by Daniel J. Siegel

Hardcover, 387 pages

Published April 17th 2007 by W. W. Norton & Company (first published January 1st 2007)

ISBN 039370470X (ISBN13: 9780393704709)

Over the last 20 years, there has been growing attention in the Western world to mindfulness — paying attention to life in the present moment. A leading neurobiologist investigates the phenomenon of mindfulness as it impacts daily life, offering readers insight into personal relationships, emotional behavior, parenting, and work.

From the author of the internationally-acclaimed best-selling text The Developing Mind, and esteemed leader and educator in the field of mental health, comes the first book ever to integrate neuroscience research with the ancient art of mindfulness. The result is a groundbreaking approach to not simply mental health, but life in general, which shows readers how personal awareness and attunement can actually stimulate emotional circuits in the brain, leading to a host of physiological benefits, including greater well-being, resilience, emotional balance, and improved cardiac and immune function. For clinicians and laypeople alike, Siegel’s illuminating discussions of the power of the focused mind provide a wealth of ideas that can transform our lives and deepen our connections with others, and with ourselves.

The Finite & the Infinite – A Discussion Between Scientists

From The Veritas Forum:

The Finite and the Infinite – Ian Hutchinson and Roald Hoffmann at Cornell University

Two leading scientists discuss nature, knowledge, and faith from atheistic and Christian perspectives.

What can science tell us about the meaning of life? Where are its limits, and—when we reach them—where do we turn for truth and meaning? Does faith in Jesus have anything to add?

Ian Hutchinson, professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT, is a committed Christian believer.

Roald Hoffmann, Nobel laureate, theoretical chemist, and professor of humane letters at Cornell, is an atheist.

Join these two leading scientists in a discussion about life’s hardest questions.

Reconciling Neuropsychology and Theology (Dr Warren Brown)

In this talk given at the Faraday Institute in 2006, neuropsychologist and neuroscience researcher Dr Warren S. Brown gives a fascinating lecture entitled Reconciling Neuropsychology & Theology.

Listen to or view the lecture here (enter “Warren Brown” in the search box). The talk is dated 18 July 2006.

Embodied Souls, Ensouled Bodies – Dr Marc Cortez

Dr Marc Cortez is Assistant Professor of Theology and Academic Dean at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregan.

In this fascinating talk given as part of a Faraday Institute Summer conference in July 2011, Dr Cortez gives an excellent overview of philosophical and theological anthropology – what makes us human – with particular emphasis on the various models of the “hard problem” of mind and body, and how these various models fit with Christian theology. He discusses Karl Barth’s insistance that all anthropological discussions must at least originate in a Christological framework, where Christ is used as a example of ultimate humanity.

Listen/view the talk here, by typing “Marc Cortez” in the search box.

I’m Currently Reading: “God and Science – In Classroom and Pulpit

God and Science: In Classroom and Pulpit by Graham Buxton

View all my reviews

Controversies about science and faith – especially debates about creation and evolution – continue to engage Christian teachers and pastors. How do they deal with such questions and respond with answers that are both informed and intelligent?   This book acknowledges that science can be an uncomfortable topic in Christian schools and churches. The authors recognise that teachers and pastors need a framework for thinking through the hype surrounding these topics so that they can identify the genuine core concerns of people of faith.

Written by three highly respected and experienced educators and pastors, the book will assist in creating a conversation and dialogue on how to discuss science and faith in an open and honest way. It will also help teachers and pastors in their ministry of shaping the minds and hearts of members of the Christian community.

REV DR GRAHAM BUXTON is the Director of the Graeme Clark Research Institute and Head of Postgraduate Studies in the School of Ministry, Theology and Culure at Tabor Adelaide. He is an ordained Anglican minister with extensive experience in pastoral ministry.

REV DR MARK WORTHING is Senior Research Fellow with the Graeme Clark Research Institute. He is well-published and active as a conference speaker in the field of science and religion. Mark is also an ordained Lutheran pastor.

REV CHRIS MULHERIN has degrees in Engineering, Philosophy and Theology and is currently writing a doctorate on scientific and religious knowledge. He is an Anglican Minister and has spent thirteen years working in Argentina.

The book is available through the Graeme Clark Research Institute at Tabor Adelaide.

The Muddled Thinking & Sloppy Semantics of Lawrence Krauss

In this 3 part Reasonable Faith Podcast series, professional philosopher William Lane Craig critiques theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss on the muddled thinking and sloppy semantics of the arguments presented in Krauss’s book A Universe From Nothing.

Craig schools Krauss in the basics of rational thinking, linguistics, semantics and logical deduction – all important elements of the discipline of philosophy that Krauss so chauvanistically denigrates in his book and promotional interviews.

Bill Craig shows that Krauss would do well to educate himself better in the basics of the philosophy of science, philosophy of language, metaphysics and critical thinking. In this way Krauss might have avoided the elementary errors in his work, particularly his boo-boo in equating the term of universal negation “nothing” as if it is actually “something” – a distinct entity with its own ontology.

Craig goes onto to show that when Krauss arbitrarily uses the word “nothing” in his book – meaning dark energy in a quantum vacuum – he is still actually talking about “something” that exists prior to the Big Bang. In making this elementary error, Krauss does nothing to answer the question from Leibniz of “why there is something rather than nothing” – instead only succeeding in pushing the origin of the universe back one step further without answering anything at all — or is that nothing…

Krauss reveals himself as “nothing but” a crass apologist for anti-theistic scientism with a chip. If there ever was an example of prejudiced belief and motivational cognitive bias, Lawrence Krauss would fit the bill perfectly.

Listen to the three podcasts (dated 14th Feb, 23rd Feb & 1st Mar 2012) here or subscribe to the Reasonable Faith Podcast on iTunes here.

God, Science and the New Atheism – Keith Ward

This is an excellent talk given at the Faraday Institute in Cambridge by one of my favourite philosophers, Keith Ward. An excellent discussion of science, philosophy, cosmology, materialism, metaphysics and the rationality of theism.

God, Science and the New Atheism (Hint: Type “Keith Ward” into the search box and select)

Colin McGinn on Mind/Brain Models

Some modern philosophers pride themselves on their “naturalism” but real naturalism begins with a proper perspective on our specifically human intelligence. Palaeoanthropologists have taught us that the human brain gradually evolved from ancestral brains, particularly in concert with practical toolmaking, centring on the anatomy of the human hand.

This history shaped and constrained the form of intelligence now housed in our skulls (as the lifestyle of other species form their set of cognitive skills). What chance is there that an intelligence geared to making stone tools and grounded in the contingent peculiarities of the human hand can aspire to uncover all the mysteries of the universe? Can omniscience spring from an opposable thumb? It seems unlikely, so why presume that the mysteries of consciousness will be revealed to a thumb-shaped brain like ours?

Colin McGinn (Philosopher and Mind/Body Mysterian)

Read McGinn’s full article here.

Can Genesis be Compatible with Evolution?

This is an excellent panel discussion, provided by the Veritas Forum, between two scientists and an Old Testament scholar. It covers questions regarding an informed reading of the Genesis creation account, age of the earth, the origin of humanity and a literal Adam and Eve.

The panelists are Jeffrey P. Schloss, Tremper Longman, S. Joshua Swamidass and the discussion was recordexd at the University of California, Santa Barbara, on 9th February 2012.

Jeffrey P. Schloss is Distinguished Professor and T. B. Walker Chair of Biology at Westmont College. He received his undergraduate degree in Biology from Wheaton College and doctoral training in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from University of Michigan and Washington University. He has held teaching appointments at the University of Michigan, Wheaton College, and the Global Stewardship Study Program. He has been a Danforth Fellow, a Crosson Fellow at the University of Notre Dame Center for Philosophy of Religion, and a Plummer Fellow at Oxford University. He writes and speaks widely on the interdisciplinary implications of evolutionary approaches to altruism and morality.

Tremper Longman III (Ph.D., Yale University) is Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. He is also Visiting Professor of Old Testament at Mars Hill Graduate School, Visiting Professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary and adjunct of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary. He lectures regularly at Mars Hill, Regent College in Vancouver and the Canadian Theological Seminary in Calgary. Longman is the author or coauthor of over twenty books, including How to Read Genesis, How to Read the Psalms, How to Read Proverbs and Literary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation, and coeditor of A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible. He has also co-authored the textbook An Introduction to the Old Testament with Raymond B. Dillard.

Scientist and physician, Dr. S. Joshua Swamidass is an Assistant Professor at the Washington University School of Medicine, having earned his MD and Computer Science PhD at the University of California, Irvine. The author of How Deep is Your Dungeon?, an artful engagement with the biblical story of Job and the nature of human suffering, he has spent time volunteering in medical projects in Mexico, India, and the United States. As a Scientist-Christian, he often wonders about the synergies and tensions between faith and science. His current research focuses on designing computational infrastructure (hardware, data, and algorithms) that can help experimental researchers discover and refine novel medicines.

 Is there an inherent conflict between the Biblical creation narrative in Genesis 1-3 and the modern scientific theory of evolution?

Does one have to reject evolution and the modern scientific enterprise to affirm the Christian faith?

Likewise does one have to reject the Christian faith to affirm modern science?

On the surface there appears to be tension between the two, but maybe there is more space, more intellectual breathing room, when dealing with these questions than previously thought. Dr. Tremper Longman and Dr. Jeff Schloss, preeminent scholars in their fields, not only ask the very same questions but give us compelling reasons to believe that this presupposed conflict is unnecessary.

Listen in on a conversation between a Old Testament scholar and a Biologist as they wrestle with this important topic. This is an excellent discussion on the subject of correct interpretation of Genesis, and Scripture as a whole, as well as general issues of Science & Faith interactions. I recommend you listen/watch right to the end, including the informative Q&A session.

For audio/video downloads of this discussion go here.

To subscribe to the Veritas Forum audio podcast go here.

I’m Currently Reading: “Saving Darwin” (Karl Giberson)

Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution

(by Karl Giberson)

Hardcover, 248 pages
Published June 1st 2008 by HarperOne
ISBN0061228788 (ISBN13: 9780061228780)

Intelligent design, creationism, and evolution have always been hot topics for debate in the Christian West. Creationism and intelligent design are usually seen as the province of religious people, while evolution belongs to the scientists. More often than not, both camps see the other as “the enemy.”

But what about committed Christians who find something lacking in the ideas of both creationism and intelligent design? Can you still be a Christian and support the idea of evolution?

Scientist Karl Giberson believes you can. Raised a fundamentalist and influenced as a boy by Henry Morris’s creationist classic The Genesis Flood, Giberson firmly believed in creationism through his college years. But while working on his Ph.D. in physics, he began to doubt that science could have gotten everything as thoroughly wrong as the creationists suggested, and he gradually abandoned his creationist beliefs — but not his belief in Christianity.

Through careful research, Giberson concluded that Christianity and evolution do not have to be incompatible. In Saving Darwin Giberson paints a clear picture of the creation/evolution controversy and explores its intricate history, from Darwin to the current culture wars, carefully showing why — and how — it is possible to believe in God and evolution at the same time.