Professor Kurt Buhring
Saint Mary's
College
Religious Studies 351
"Religion and Science"
Are religion and science in conflict with one another, or should we
understand each discipline simply to be asking different questions, using
its own method and language? Perhaps religion and science are actually
most fruitfully understood as two complementary ways of thinking about the
world that have much to learn from one another through encounter?
This course explores the relationship between religion and science,
currently and historically, through an examination of various
intersections of the two disciplines. Selected topics to be addressed
will include: the origins and development of the universe and our planet;
who we are as human beings biologically, psychologically, and
theologically; and environmental ethics and bioethics. Through these
explorations we will seek to come to a richer understanding of the
interplay of religion and science and more nuanced conceptions of God,
humanity, and the universe.