REL 285 -  Faith and Science

Course Units: 1

In this course we will read and discuss four books with divergent perspectives on the topic. In the first, The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself (2016), physicist Sean Carroll introduces readers to his scientifically-minded approach to thinking about the physical world, life, consciousness, meaning, morality, and God. In the second, Why Religion Is Natural and Science Is Not (2011), cognitive scientist Robert McCauley argues that while religion draws upon older, faster forms of cognition which enhance the odds of our survival, science draws upon newer, slower, and less robust forms of cognition which nonetheless allow us to critically examine our inbuilt inclinations to believe in the supernatural. In our third text, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction (2010), philosopher Rebecca Goldstein explores the question of religious belief through the life and musings of her novel’s protagonist, Cass Seltzer, a secular psychologist of religion who reconnects in surprising ways with the religious community of his roots. In our final text, Science and Religious Anthropology: A Spiritually Evocative Naturalist Interpretation of Human Life (2016), theologian Wesley Wildman argues that human beings are essentially religious insofar as evolution has bequeathed us with a curiosity and passion for exploring the ultimate whence of our own individual and social existence.

Your initial task in this course will be to read, digest, and discuss these challenging texts. Your ultimate task will be to write a paper that critically incorporates them into an argument presenting your own answer to the following question: Why do religious belief and behavior persist in a scientific age?