Belief in God in a scientific age will be the theme of the Dwight H. Terry Lectures being presented this month by John Polkinghorne, president of Queens' College at the University of Cambridge.
Titled "Science & Religion: Patterns of Collegiality," the series will consist of four lectures:
All four talks will begin at 4 p.m. and will be held in Davies Auditorium, Becton Center, 15 Prospect St. They are free and open to the public.
An expert in elementary particle physics as well as an ordained priest, Mr. Polkinghorne "is interested in the relation between religious assertions and scientific assertions, especially where ideas in the two realms are compatible and where they seem to collide," explains Professor Outka. "He is particularly interested in exploring religion from the perspectives that physics has opened up."
Mr. Polkinghorne was educated at Cambridge and was ordained as a deacon in 1981 and as a priest in 1982. He was a curate in Cambridge and Bristol 1981-84, and was vicar of Blean in Kent 1984- 86. He served as a fellow, dean and chaplain of Trinity Hall at Cambridge University 1986-89, at which time he became president of Queens' College. His many books on science and theology include "The Particle Play," "Models of High Energy Processes," "The Way the World Is," "The Quantum World," "Science and Creation," "Reason and Reality," "Science and Christian Belief," "Quarks, Chaos and Christianity," and "Serious Talk."
The Dwight H. Terry Lectureship at Yale was established in 1905 by a gift from Dwight Harrington Terry of Bridgeport, Connecticut, for lectures on religion as it relates to science and philosophy. Previous Terry lecturers have included John Dewey, Carl Jung, Erich Fromm, Rebecca West, Margaret Mead and Stephen Jay Gould.