Talks and Classes

Links to talks and classes I have given in various contexts:

• Highlights from the “God, Science, and Humanity” conference at the Church of St. Francis, Potomac, MD, February 10, 2018, sponsored by the Prayer Book Society. The 3 speakers, besides myself, were William Phillips (1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics), Michael Hanby (Professor at the John Paul II Institute, Washington, DC), and Dan Dorman (graduate student in neuroscience, George Mason University).
  • PDF file of my introduction and talk, “Renewing the Christian Imagination.”
  • Powerpoint slides from the talk. 
  • Picture after the conference.   
  • Dan Dorman’s talk from the conference on “The Liturgical Brain” is available in the Spring 2018 edition of the God and Nature magazine of the American Scientific Affiliation. 
    
• My talk at the 2017 Annual Conference of the Prayer Book Society:
  • PDF file of the talk, “How should science and faith relate to one another.”   
  • Powerpoint slides from the talk.
    

• Online Class, Fall 2020, “Anglican Perspectives on Science, Faith, and Faithful Living.” This includes 8 sessions from September to November 2020.
  • Introduction and Class Themes discussed in the introductory class.
  • What is science and what is it not?
  • What do we mean by faith?
  • Faithful knowing in science or faith: commitment and participation.
  • How can science and faith relate: some key theological words.
  • Seeing the hand of God in the world: liturgy-assisted living.
  • Creation ex nihilo: what the world is, along the lines of my essay on this topic for BioLogos.
  • Summary and wrap-up.
  • A Bibliography.
• This class adds new material to an earlier Sunday School class on the same topic developed in 2013.

• Online Class, Lent 2021, 40 Days with St. Augustine. A series of daily readings from Augustine’s writings for each of the days of Lent.

• Online Classes, a basic introduction to Anglican Christianity, plus “Anglican Essentials: Going Deeper” (2021 4-class version) (2022 5-class version).

• Text and slides are available at this link, “Word and Fire, Science, Christ, and Creation,” for my two Davenant Discussions talks April 9, 2022, sponsored by Davenant House.
  • The slides are at these links: Talk 1: Word; Talk2: Fire.
  • The written version (44 pages) is at this link: Talks 1 + 2 pdf.

• “Why is science possible and what is it doing? ” a talk at the All Things That Were Made Conference of the Sacra Doctrina Project, The St. Paul Seminary, St. Paul, MN, June 7, 2024.

• “Science and the Intelligibility of Being,” a talk at the annual conference of the American Maritain Association, April 4, 2025, including scientific, philosophical, and theological aspects of the comprehensibility of the cosmos to the human mind.

• “Saving the appearances: De Koninck, Maritain, and Eddington’s Two Tables,” a talk at the annual conference of the American Maritain Association, March 19, 2026, examining the relation between physics and reality from an historical perspective spanning over 2500 years.