Date: Wednesday, January 11
Time: 12:30-1:30
Location: Tate 473
The first Christian Faculty Forum monthly meeting of spring semester will be held Wednesday, January 11, with Dr. Tom Lessl as our speaker. Tom is a professor of Communication Studies at UGA, and his research addresses the modern scientific identity, especially in relation to religion. His book, Rhetorical Darwinism: Religion, Evolution, and the Scientific Identity (Baylor University Press, 2012) examines how science’s early association with religion has shaped its public identity. He is especially concerned with narrative patterns that modern scientific culture has appropriated and adapted from western religion for such purposes. His talk is entitled “Is Religious Belief a Type of Knowledge?” (abstract below). The meeting will be held in Tate 473 from 12:30-1:30 .
Abstract: It is widely assumed that belief and knowledge are opposites, that while skepticism gives rise to understanding, belief deters it. The thesis of my presentation is that there is no belief-independent knowledge. I will support this argument by examining two beliefs that are vital to science: 1) that nature is ordered and 2) that this order is intelligible. While both of these beliefs contributed to the emergence of classical science, they were strengthened by the spread of Christianity.
A light lunch will be served to everyone who sends in their RVP by 5 pm, Tuesday, January 10, by filling out the form below.