Roundtable Discussions

Winter 2008

Organizer: Joel Mehler (jnmehler)

TIME: Sunday, Jan 27, 3:00-5:00pm
PLACE: Joel and Jacob's apartment (EV Building 8, Apt 106)
TOPIC: Biblical hermeneutics (methods and trends in Biblical interpretation)

Oten we are faced with differing, and sometimes competing, interpretations of specific Biblical texts. Indeed, differing frameworks for interpreting Scripture can lead to dramatically different conclusions about Scripture's intent, from the creation accounts of Genesis to the apocalyptic literature of Revelation. What frameworks are available to us for understanding the meaning of these and other texts? What of the conflicts between different frameworks of Biblical interpretation? Can we find a way to allow for different "sorts" of meaning in the Scriptures without compromising the integrity of Scripture itself? An understanding of the basics of Biblical hermeneutics can at least set us on our way to answering these questions.

Materials

• Practical Hermeneutics
• Trends in Hermeneutics

Fall 2007

Organizer: Joel Mehler (jnmehler)

Logistics

• Meeting 1: Evangelism and the Academy - engaging a culture Action
  3 pm, 11 Nov (Sunday), Joel & Jacob's place (EV, building 8, Apt. 106 - on Comstock Ct.)

Materials and Resources for Meeting 1

• The Amsterdam Declaration to the World
• Neuhaus Christ without Culture

Summer 2007

Science and Faith

Organisers: Joel Mehler and Charis Quay

In case you hadn't heard, science and religion are at war.

This is, at least, the impression one gets after spending time with most intellectual crowds, or after spending an afternoon at Borders. A variety of new and used perspectives about "Science vs. Faith" are making their way onto best-seller lists, newsstands and airwaves. Some voices call for a mass public exodus out of religious orthodoxy; others seem to tolerate religious perspectives, but go to great lengths to stress that science, unlike religion, gives us a means by which to "really know" things. But is this a fair assessment? Is there something about "scientific" knowledge that makes it categorically better that all other kinds of knowing? How exactly did science come to take its unique position of authority in society? And are we witnessing a modern-day clash between faith and science, or between faith and a philosophy about science?

This summer, we will be hosting a series of informal discussions centered on these questions. Our approach will be focused less on specific issues related to the science and faith debate and more on the debate itself - what the conflicts are, how they came to be and how we as Christians can think clearly about them. Each meeting will have as its point of departure several readings which will be posted here and one or two Mars Hill Audio interviews which will be played at the meeting. Of course, reading the articles is not a pre-requisite for attending the discussion -– our main goal is to get people thinking and talking about these types of questions.

The will be four meetings throughout the summer on topics roughly as follows.

1. Worldviews: science, scientism and faith
2. Historical perspectives on science and religion
3. Tradition and authority in science and theology
4. All truth is God's truth: knowing the Creator and his creation

N.B. In case you were wondering, yes, junk food will be provided!

A note about roundtables in general and these meetings in particular

As the word 'roundtable' suggests, these will not be lectures where we teach you but rather informal gatherings 'where people meet and talk in conditions of equality': our thoughts on this topic are not as coherent as we would like them to be and we are inviting you to join us in exploring these issues using specific texts as points of departure. We also invite you to suggest short texts (chapters of books, articles, audio or video) we can study together based on the topics above.

Logistics

Please e-mail Joel (jnmehler) or Charis (cquayhl) for more details.

• Meeting 1: 3pm, 15 July (Sunday), Charis and Nani's house.
• Meeting 2: 3pm, 12 August (Sunday), Charis and Nani's house.
• Meeting 3: 3pm, 26 August (Sunday), Charis and Nani's house.
• Meeting 4: 3pm, 23 September (Sunday), Charis and Nani's house.

Materials and Resources for Meeting 1
Worldviews: Science, Scientism and Faith

• Pearcey, Nancy R. and Thaxton, Charles, B. "The Newtonian World Machine: How Does God Relate to the World" The Soul of Science. Wheaton: Crossway, 1994. 79-95.
• Moreland, J. P. " Science and Christianity" Scaling the Secular City: A Defense of Christianity. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987. 185-208.
• C. S. Lewis on Mere Science by M. D. Aeschliman. (In First Things)
• Retelling the Story of Science by Stephen Barr. (In First Things)
• Jarring Sects by Wesley J. Smith. (In First Things)
• Michael Aeschliman, on C. S. Lewis and the problem of scientism. (Mars Hill Audio)
• John Horgan, on whether or not we're coming to the end of the age of science. (Mars Hill Audio)

Materials and Resources for Meeting 2
Historical Perspectives on Science and Religion

• Brooke, John Hedley. "Introduction" to Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives. Cambridge: CUP, 1991. 1-15.
• Review of Peter Harrison's The Bible, Protestantism, and the Rise of Natural Science by James Altena. (In Touchstone Magazine.)
• Deason, Gary B. "Reformation Theology and the Mechanistic Conception of Nature." God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter between Christianity and Science. Ed. David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers. Berkeley: UC Press, 1986. 167-191.
• The Pearcey reading from Meeting 1 is also relevant to this topic.
• Ashworth, William B. "Catholicism and Early Modern Science." God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter between Christianity and Science. Ed. David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers. Berkeley: UC Press, 1986. 136-166.
• Nancy Pearcey, on misunderstanding the history of science. (Mars Hill Audio)

Materials and Resources for Meeting 3
Tradition and Authority in Science (and Theology if we get to it)

• Blaise Pascal's preface to his 'Treatise on the Vacuum'
• Tradition, Authority and Originality in Post-Critical Perspective by Zhenhua Yu. (Tradition and Discovery: the Polanyi Society Periodical.)
• Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. 1-22.
• On the Tradition of Intellectuals: Authority and Antinomianism According to Michael Polanyi by Edward Shils. (Tradition and Discovery: the Polanyi Society Periodical.)
• Thomson, Alexander. Tradition and Authority in Science and Theology. Edinburgh: Scottish Academy Press, 1987. 1-35
• Tacit Knowing and Truthful Knowing: The Life and Thought of Michael Polanyi, a Mars Hill Audio Report

Materials and Resources for Meeting 4
All Truth is God's Truth: Knowing the Creator and His Creation

Please read ONE OR TWO of the following in preparation for the discussion. (Articles listed in rough order of importance.)

• Torrance, Thomas F. The Ground and Grammar of Theology. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1980. 44-74.
• Torrance, Thomas F. The Christian Frame of Mind. Colorado Springs: Helmers and Howard, 1989. 65-86.
• Torrance, Thomas F. The Christian Frame of Mind. Colorado Springs: Helmers and Howard, 1989. 17-34. (Note: second reading from the same book.)
• Hart, David B. The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003. 282-288.
• Hart, David B. The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003. 300-318. (Note: second reading from the same book.)
• God and Evolution, by Avery Cardinal Dulles. (In First Things)
• Tim Morris and Don Petcher, on science, Christology, and why segregating nature from supernature doesn't do justice to either. (Mars Hill Audio)

Other Resources and Readings

• Personal Knowledge, by Michael Polanyi
• Insight, by Bernard Lonergan
• Deep Grace of Theory, blog. (Suggested by Andrew Best.)