AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion

News & Events: Lecture

Epic of Evolution
12-14 November 1997
Field Museum in Chicago

 

This was the first major public conference organized by the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion. This multidisciplinary conference provided scientific accounts of and philosophical and religious commentary on evolution from the Big Bang through the evolution of human culture. This event yielded a number of products, including a public television special (broadcast on WYCC in Chicago in spring 1998), an eight-part video series, and a volume based on the conference presentations, currently entitled The Epic of Evolution, to be published by Prentice Hall in 2002.

Epic of Evolution Conference

Sponsored by the AAAS Program of Dialogue Between Science and Religon with the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago

(Titles enclosed in "?" are those selected by the Presenters.)

Wednesday, November 12

8:30 am	Registration/Coffee
9:00	Welcome to Conference
	Session I - Introduction: The Importance of Understanding Evolution
	An overview of the importance of the science and religion dialogue, of evolution as a grand paradigm in science and a factor in the religious assessment of humanity's place in the universe, of the need for greater scientific literacy and of the significance of the science and religion relationship in science education.
	Introduction to the Conference
	Audrey Chapman	Director, Program of Dialogue between Science and Religion, American Association for the Advancement of Science
9:30	Session II - Cosmic Origins: Evolution on the Grand Scale
	a presentation of contemporary cosmogonies and their religious significance.
	Contemporary Cosmogonies
	Joel Primack	Department of Physics, University of California - Santa Cruz
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
10:20	Break
10:35	"The Cultural Significance of the Story of the Universe"
	Brian Swimme	Department of Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness, California Institute of Integral Studies
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
	Panel Discussion and General Q&A with Audience
11:55	Lunch Break
1:15 pm	Session III - Matter to Mammals: The Evolution of Life on Earth
	presentations of the stages of evolution of life and historical perspectives on the religious reception of evolutionary theory.
	The Evolution of Life
	Niles Eldredge	Department of Invertebrates, American Museum of Natural History
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
	Historical Perspectives on Evolution and Religion
	Ronald Numbers	Department of the History of Medicine, Center for Health Science-Medical School, University of Wisconsin-Madison
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
2:55	Break
3:10	Session IV - Darwin and Neo-Darwinism: Natural Selection as the Mechanism of Evolution
	presentations on natural selection and other evolutionary mechanisms and contemporary theological responses to Darwinism.
	"The Mechanism of Evolution"
	Ursula Goodenough	Department of Biology, Washington University
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
	"Neo-Darwinism in Theological Perspective"
	John Haught	Department of Theology, Georgetown University
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
	Panel Discussion and General Q&A with Audience
5:30	End of Day

Thursday, November 13

8:30 am	Coffee
9:00	Session V - From Lucy to Linus: The Appearance of Homo Sapiens
	presentations on the origin and development of humanity and the human brain and religious interpretations of what it means to be distinctively human.
	"Innovation in Human Evolution"
	Ian Tattersall	Department of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
	"The Evolutionary Hierarchy of Mind"
	Terrence Deacon	Department of Anthropology, Boston University
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
10:40	Break
10:55	"Evolution, Neuroscience and Human Nature"
	Nancey Murphy	School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
	Panel Discussion and General Q&A with Audience
12:20 pm	Lunch Break
1:50	Session VI - The Journey toward Meaning: The Evolution of Culture, Society and Religion
	presentations on the evolution of culture and religion and theological perspectives on the biological foundations of human society.
	The Evolution of Culture
	Solomon Katz	Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
	"The Evolution of Religion: Views of Cosmology and History"
	Mary Evelyn Tucker	Department of Religion, Bucknell University
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
3:30	Break (15 min.)
3:45	"Homo sapiens: The Cultural Religious Animal?"
	Philip Hefner	Chicago Center for the Study of Religion and Science
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
	Panel Discussion and General Q&A with Audience
5:10	End of Day

Friday, November 14

8:30am	Coffee
9:00	Session VII - Selfish Genes and Self-giving Lives: The Evolution of Ethics and Morality
	presentations of theories of the evolution of morality and the origins of ethics.
	"The Human Enigma: Biological and Cultural Evolution"
	Francisco Ayala	Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of California-Irvine
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
	"Sociobiology and Moral Discourse"
	Loyal Rue	Department of Religion and Philosophy, Luther College
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
10:40	Break
10:55	"The Evolutionary Roots of Morality - An Assessment from Theological Ethics"
	Stephen J. Pope	Department of Theology, Boston College
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
	Panel Discussion and General Q&A with Audience
12:20 pm	Lunch Break
1:50	Session VIII - Where Do We Go From Here? Evolution and the Human Future
	presentations on the human future in the light of evolution from environmental, traditional and theological perspectives
	Human Impact on the Evolution of the Environment
	Mary Barber,	Sustainable Biosphere Initiative, Ecological Society of America
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
	Science, Tradition and the Future
	N. Scott Momaday	Regents Professor, Department of English, University of Arizona (invited)
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
3:30	Break
3:45	"The Story and the Dream: The Next Stage of the Evolutionary Epic"
	Thomas Berry	History of Religions, Fordham University (retired), Greensboro NC
	Q&A with Lecturer and Audience
	Panel Discussion and General Q&A with Audience
	Closure
5:20	End of Day