Past Events
2008- 2009 Albertus Magnus Society Meetings
The theme of the year 2008 – 2009 is “Evolution and the Human Spirit”. At each monthly meeting a
presenter will discuss what science has to say about how we have evolved in the past, evolutionary
processes that are evident in the present, and where human evolution (or scientific engineering)
may be heading in the future. These ideas will be considered from the point of view of science,
theology and ethics. Following the presentation, there will be questions for reflection and
discussion by the participants, so that we can deepen our understanding of who we are and where we
fit in an evolutionary universe.
September 25, 2008, 7:00 p.m. Priory Campus, Room 263
Paul G. Heltne, PhD
Our Evolving Consciousness – Do Great Apes Have Ethical Precepts?
Classical studies of higher primates indicated an extremely close relationship to humans.
These studies have been confirmed by genome sequencing. But just as we knew morphology and
psychology were complex, we now know that genetic outcomes are profoundly complex. If we step aside
from certain powerful philosophical and religious presumptions as we examine language and
mathematical studies in the lab, and cultural studies in the field, we see much more clearly who we
humans are. Our conversation will explore what it may mean to be so intimately connected to fellow
primates and to the rest of the natural world.
Paul G. Heltne, PhD is Director of the Center for Humans and Nature and President Emeritus of
the Chicago Academy of Sciences. He earned his Ph. D. from the University of Chicago and has taught
at Johns Hopkins University Medical School departments of Anatomy, Pathobiology, and Comparative
Medicine. As director, later president of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, he organized symposia
which provided groundbreaking information on chimpanzees and bonobos. He was instrumental in
developing the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and leads its ecology and evolutionary biology
discussions. Heltne advocates an ethic which recognizes humankind’s utter dependence upon and utter
responsibility towards nature. He currently works with colleagues from the International Union for
the Conservation of Nature on the ethics of biological conservation, and also studies the ethics of
regional planning for Chicago in a warming world.
October 23, 2008, 7:00 p.m., Priory Campus, Room 263
Philip Hefner, PhD
Beyond Human--Where Is the Human Spirit Leading Us?
Human creativity, expressed through science and technology, has performed significant
alterations in the natural world, particularly in plants and animals. That creativity is now
directed toward the human being, towards ourselves. These efforts have been described in terms of
"three overlapping revolutions: genetics, nanotechnology and robotics." Such interpretations have
given rise to controversial concepts: Transhumanism and Posthumanism. These ideas exist on a
continuum that stretches from well accepted human enhancements at one end to what proponents call a
trajectory toward a "new species" on the other end. Hefner will place this discussion in a cultural
and theological context, suggesting that Transhumanism is rooted in basic human nature as God has
created it--our nature as God's created co-creators.
Philip Hefner is Professor of Systematic Theology, Editor of Zygon: Journal of Religion and
Science, and past president of the Zygon Center for Religion and Science. He holds a Ph.D. from the
University of Chicago, and is an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. As
scholar and seminary professor, he has focused on the relation of Christian tradition and
contemporary culture, with a specialization in issues of religion-and-science. He has written 6
books and more than 150 scholarly articles, and he was the first American to receive the Templeton
Prize for Progress in Religion.
November 13, 2008, 7:30 p.m., Priory Campus, auditorium
Stephen J. Pope, PhD
ALBERTUS MAGNUS LECTURE - Ethics After Darwin
Stephen J. Pope will examine what it means to be human in light of evolutionary science. What
does it mean to talk of ethics after Darwin? How does Christian ethics reflect the nature of the
human as understood within this changed landscape? Stephen Pope is noted for his research on the
relationship between evolution and ethics.
Pope is professor of theology at Boston College and a past chair of its department of
theology. He is author of The Evolution of Altruism and the Ordering of Love (1994) and more
recently Human Evolution and Christian Ethics (2007). Originally from the San Francisco area, Pope
completed his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, where he studied under James Gustafson. His
specialties include Christian ethics and evolutionary theory, love and justice in contemporary
Christian ethics, charity and natural law in Aquinas, and Catholic social teaching.
Tickets to this lecture are available to the public for $10. Members of the Albertus Magnus
Society, as well as DU students, faculty and staff, are admitted free. Members please note the
location and starting time.
November 14, 2008, 11:30 a.m., Priory Campus, auditorium
ALBERTUS MAGNUS LUNCHEON
Stephen J. Pope will give brief remarks, and open the floor for further conversation.
Members of the Albertus Magnus Society are admitted free. Invited guests – admission $20.
Invited DU students, faculty and staff – admission $10.
January 22, 2009 Can Theology Say Anything
about Mind in the Universe?
Daniel E. Martin, doctoral candidate at the University of Dayton, will draw upon the work of
Polanyi, Jonas, and Lonergan to present a theological framework that takes evolutionary science
seriously and can speak to the presence of consciousness in the cosmos.
February 19, 2009 Consciousness and the
Soul: New Considerations
Carla Mae Streeter, OP, Professor of Systematic Theology at Aquinas Institute of Theology,
will address the meaning behind the shift in popular language from "soul talk" to "consciousness
talk," and the possible implications the shift has on concepts of faith, grace and God.
March 26, 2009 Prospects for Life Beyond Earth
in an Evolving Universe
Grace Wolf-Chase, Astronomer, Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, and Senior Research
Associate, University of Chicago, will outline recent discoveries showing that the raw material for
life appears to be ubiquitous in a universe containing hundreds of billions of galaxies, and how
these discoveries affect humanity’s views of its place in the Cosmos.
April 23, 2009 New Planets and
Extraterrestrial Beings - Does Jesus Have a Role?
Thomas F. O’Meara, OP, Professor of Theology at Notre Dame and Catholic Theological Union,
will explore questions that the likely existence of creatures living on other planets raise for
Christian theology: Do they exist in worlds of grace, of sin? What is their relationship to
Jesus?
2007- 2008 Albertus Magnus Society Meetings
September 20, 2007
Douglas Anderson, MD, Loyola Medical Center, Chicago
Sensing the Spirit: Neural Correlates of Musical Perceptions
October 18, 2007
Robert Calin-Jageman, PhD, Dominican University, River Forest
Remembrance of sea slugs past: What simple organisms have taught us about the
mechanisms of learning and memory
November 15, 2007, Albertus Magnus Lecture
Kathleen Duffy, SSJ, PhD, Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia
Science, Religion and Teilhard's Textured Cosmos
November 16, 2007, Albertus Magnus Luncheon
Kathleen Duffy, SSJ, PhD, Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia
January 17, 2008
David Gilley, PhD, Rush University Medical College, Chicago
Are We Built to Believe? The Cognitive Foundations of Religious Belief
February 21, 2008
Carol Rausch Albright, PhD, Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago
One God, Complex Self
March 13, 2008
Kathryn Linn Geurts, PhD, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Hamline University, St. Paul,
MN
Marc Anderson, musical researcher and performer, percussionist
Sounding the Spirit: Call and Response in Embodying the Divine
April 17, 2008
Jay Gottfried, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, Northwestern University
Exodus 29:18 - Historical and Neurobiological Interpretations of Sweet Aromas and Burnt
Offerings
May 15, 2008
Daniel A. Beach, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Dominican University
Hugh McElwain, STD, Professor of Theology, Dominican University
Genes and Memes