2011-2012 Albertus Magnus Society Events


science_salvation

 

The series will focus on technology, that is, the practical application of various sciences. One has only to read the daily headlines to realize that while rapid advances in technology have brought the promise of a better life, at the same time they raise the specter of unintended, detrimental consequences. Can theology articulate ethical norms for the development and use of technology in a way that will protect the integrity of creation and the dignity of the human person? Has our culture forfeited its responsibility for prudential judgment and moral restraint in the face of dazzling scientific discovery? How do we begin to think through the potential side effects of scientific advances before moving ahead with blind optimism?

 

 


Defining the Human Person in an Age of Technology

Thursday, September 15, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Auditorium, Priory Campus

Jame Schaefer, PhD, theology professor and co-chair of Marquette University's Albertus Magnus Circle, will ask the key question:  How can we who profess that God is the creator and sustainer of the universe envision our roles in an age of rapidly advancing technologies--some of which are helpful, some harmful, and some that seemed helpful in the short term but pose long-term threats to humanity, other species, and Earth? An approach to answering this question can be found within the Catholic theological tradition. Probing the thinking of Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas yields a method and motive for making decisions about developing and using technologies. Faith-filled people who follow this method can justifiably consider themselves God's virtuous cooperators. 

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Discernment and Community in the Twitter Age

Thursday, October 13, 2011, 7:00 p.m. 
Auditorium, Priory Campus

Trevor Bechtel, PhD, professor of religion at Bluffton University and former associate pastor of Charleswood Mennonite Church, will discuss various types of communities and their patterns of discernment around technology. He will explore the typically reserved, although occasionally surprising, approach to technology by the Amish and their cousins the Mennonites. He will also pay attention to some of the new ways that communities form quickly around common interests using technologies like Twitter. Perhaps the most dramatic examples of these new communities are the so-called "Twitter" revolutions in the Middle East in the winter of 2011. Thinking through these examples with an eye towards the way contemporary Christians in North America live their lives, Bechtel will propose a number of "rules" for good technology use.

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Albertus Magnus Lecture - Children of a Fertile Universe: Chance, Destiny and a Creator God

Thursday, November 17, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
Auditorium, Priory Campus

George Coyne, SJ, astrophysicist, Jesuit priest and President of the Vatican Observatory will address the question:  Did we come about by chance or by necessity in this evolving universe? According to our best scientific knowledge the question is not formulated adequately. It is not just a question of chance or necessity because, first of all, it is both. Furthermore, there is a third element that is very important. It is what we might call the "fertility" of the universe, which, at about 14 billion years of age and containing about 10,000 billion billion (10 22) stars, offers so rich an opportunity for the successful interplay of chance and necessity that its character must be considered in the search for our origins. Coyne will present the best scientific understanding of the universe and our place in it, using actual photos from deep space. He will address the perennial question: Does science support or contradict belief in a Creator God? As believers, may we reflect on the question: What kind of God would create a universe like the one we know through science?

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In the Beginning . . . Recasting the Christian Story in Light of Scientific Developments

Thursday, February 2, 2012, 7:00 p.m. 
Priory Campus, Room #263 

Heidi Russell, PhD, program director for the M.A. in pastoral studies at Loyola University's Institute for Pastoral Studies, asks:  With the world changing all around us at such a rapid pace, from the development of new technology to the discovery of new subatomic particles, how do we continue to speak the Christian story in a manner that is relevant to today's world? What does it mean to talk about the human person as embodied spirit or enspirited body? How do we understand the place of Christ in a new cosmology? What does it mean to talk about salvation and resurrection in a world of quantum mechanics? We will explore the exciting new possibilities presented to Christian theology, as well as some of the difficult questions. 

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Nuclear Power: Promise and Peril

Thursday, March 22, 2012, 7:00 p.m.
Priory Campus, Room #263

William George, professor of theology at Dominican University, and Thomas George, engineer and developer of software used by the nuclear power industry, will share the podium to address the questions:  Can nuclear power be a morally and technically responsible path into the future? Or is it better seen as a Promethean quest to steal fire from the gods and to venture where human beings ought not to go? In this presentation and discussion, two brothers--an engineer who uses mathematics to ensure nuclear safety and a moral theologian who writes on obligations to future generations--explore both the promises and the perils of nuclear power.

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Dr. Frankenstein's Footsteps: A Critical Look at Some Key Films 

Thursday, April 19, 2012, 7:00 p.m.
Bluhm Lecture Hall, Parmer Hall, Main Campus 

Dan Dinello, professor of film and video at Columbia College Chicago, will be our speaker. The amoral mad scientist of popular culture often serves as a lightning rod for contemporary anxieties about irresponsible scientists, their technological creations, and the unforeseen consequences of their work. While sometimes written off as the product of knee-jerk anti-intellectualism, the madly over-reaching scientist reveals himself as a critical response to the perception that too much of what science produces results in horrific weapons, corporate profits, and dehumanizing technological systems. Further, the mad scientist can be seen as a metaphor for Scientism - science transmuted into a self-congratulatory, quasi-religious belief-system within which scientists become priests in the religion of technology. 

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