CSCA Conference 2018

Dennis Danielson, Ph.D.

Professor and former Chair, Department of English, University of British Columbia

“Copernicus and the Structure of the Universe”
Debates continue about whether the Scientific Revolution began with the sun-centered cosmology of Nicolaus Copernicus, published in 1543. Was Copernicus a true scientist in the modern sense? What were his chief contributions to what became science? More generally, what effect did he have on our view of the world, and of ourselves? And what was his legacy for scientists who also call themselves Christians? Danielson will argue that Copernicus did indeed offer rich lessons that are still worth pondering today—yet left us with some important unanswered questions.

Dennis Danielson is an intellectual historian and Milton scholar with interests in the history and literature of science. He has received a number of awards for his research and publications, including the Konrad Adenauer Research Prize, awarded jointly by Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Royal Society of Canada. His book The Book of the Cosmos: Imagining the Universe from Heraclitus to Hawking was among Amazon.com’s “Editor’s Choice” top ten science books for the year 2000. Unlike the typical English professor, he has published articles on Copernicus in Scientific American and the American Journal of Physics. (more info).

Janet Danielson, M.F.A.

Lecturer and Instructor, School for the Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University

“Six Pieces of a Reverberant Cosmos”
Danielson was commissioned to write this work for the Isotone Ensemble from Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Composed specifically to accompany her husband’s Book of the Cosmos, it is based on six important scientific discoveries and incorporates some decades of research into the use of sound as a model of physical processes. A movement on spectroscopy, Steel, Clay, and Light, for example, translates the frequencies of light taken from NASA spectrographic graphs into pitches. Another movement references physicist Richard Feynman’s famous bongo playing.
The work was premiered in Oak Ridge and subsequently performed in New York’s Symphony Space with an additional percussion player. It will be featured in CSCA’s Sky Gala evening.

Janet Danielson is a composer and music theorist. She has composed for most genres including an opera, The Marvelous History of Mariken of Nimmigen, and orchestrated her work for the Orchid Ensemble and chorus, In the Very Highest Place. She has developed an online Music Fundamentals course, twice nominated for national awards, as well as a text, Basic Organization of Music. She has published articles on women and music, music and the history of technology, and the harmonic basis of linear perspective.
(more info)

Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D.

Director, Climate Science Center, Texas Tech University

“Christians, Climate Science, and our Culture”
Mounting scientific evidence clearly documents the risks posed by climate change to the poor, the needy, and other vulnerable populations, the very people Christians are called to love. As the scientific evidence builds, however, so does the vocal opposition to this evidence: in Canada, the U.S., Australia and the U.K. Much of the disagreement comes from political and religious conservatives. Why is climate change so polarizing to these communities? What makes it so hard to comprehend and accept? Combining basic tenets of the Christian faith with recent findings from the areas of psychology, sociology, and climate science, I will discuss potential reasons for these disagreements and the role that shared values may play in moving us forward past these barriers.

Originally from Ontario, Katharine Hayhoe is a professor in the Department of Political Science and director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University. She is also the founder and CEO of ATMOS Research, working to bridge the gap between scientists and stakeholders to provide relevant, state-of-the-art information on how climate change will affect our lives to a broad range of non-profit, industry and government clients. One of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People (2014), Hayhoe works hard to help the evangelical Christian community to understand climate science (e.g. her Global Weirding series on PBS). In 2015, she contributed to a gala event at UBC’s Chan Centre alongside Preston Manning and Peter and Miranda Harris, founders of A Rocha International. In 2016, she joined President Obama on the White House lawn for the launch of Leonardo Dicaprio’s documentary, Before the Flood. She is currently working on a second edition of her book, A Climate For Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions (forthcoming). (more info)

Robert B. Mann, Ph.D.

Professor of Physics & Astronomy, University of Waterloo

“The Edge: Physics & Theology”
With the recent discoveries of the Higgs boson and gravitational waves, we are at a point in scientific history where our established theory of particle physics and gravitation has been fully confirmed by experiment, with no contradictions outstanding. Further experimental discoveries will therefore force a modification of our present theory. Likewise, there are a number of paradoxical features connected with our present-day theory that have no apparent resolution. This puts us at the edge of knowledge of fundamental physics from both experimental and theoretical perspectives. This talk will review how we arrived at the edge and what it means to push beyond it from both a scientific and a Christian theological perspective.

Robert B. Mann has a B.Sc. in physics from McMaster University and an M.Sc.and Ph.D from the University of Toronto, and he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. Currently a Professor of Physics at the University of Waterloo, he has been a visiting professor at Harvard and Cambridge Universities. At Waterloo, he works on gravitation, quantum physics, and the overlap between these two subjects. He is interested in questions that provide us with information about the foundations of physics, particularly those that could be tested by experiment. Author of over 350 papers, he has received several awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship, Teaching Excellence awards from the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance and from the University of Waterloo, and an Outstanding Referee Award from the American Physical Society. He was chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo from 2001-2008 and is an Affiliate Member of the Perimeter Institute and the Institute for Quantum Computing. He is a past-President of the Canadian Association of Physicists (2009-11), the CSCA (1996-2005), and served on the Advisory Board of the John Templeton Foundation. His research interests are in black holes, cosmology, particle physics, quantum foundations, and quantum information, and the science/religion dialogue. (more info)

J. Richard Middleton, Ph.D.

Professor of Biblical Worldview & Exegesis, Northeastern Seminary (Rochester, NY)

“Human Distinctiveness and the Origin of Evil in Biblical and Evolutionary Perspectives”
How can faithful Christians affirm the distinctive biblical view of humanity in Genesis 1:26-28 as created in God’s image (imago Dei) and yet hold to an evolutionary account of human origins? On the face of it this looks like a difficult, if not impossible, task. Not only does the claim of evolutionary descent seem to contradict the idea of human uniqueness, which is usually associated with the imago Dei, but Genesis 2 recounts God’s creation of an initial human pair, not a large population group, and the Bible makes no reference to earlier human ancestors.Then there is the traditional picture, based on Genesis 3, of the initial human pair forfeiting a primal paradise through a single act of disobedience, which led to the introduction of death for both humans and the natural world. This certainly contradicts what science tells us about human origins and the nature of biological mortality.Middleton will draw on his expertise as an Old Testament scholar to address the question of how we may take seriously the complexity of what Scripture says about the human condition, while fully embracing an evolutionary perspective on Homo sapiens. Could it be possible that these texts, which are certainly not meant to teach science, can prime us theologically—in terms of our worldview—to be open to what evolutionary science tells us about ourselves?

J. Richard Middleton (PhD Free University of Amsterdam) is Professor of Biblical Worldview and Exegesis at Northeastern Seminary (Rochester, NY). He is adjunct professor of Old Testament at the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology (Kingston, Jamaica) and is past president of the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association (2011-2014). He holds a B.Th. from Jamaica Theological Seminary and an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Guelph in Ontario. Middleton is the author of A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology (Baker Academic, 2014) and The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (Brazos, 2005). He coauthored (with Brian Walsh) The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian World View (IVP, 1984) and Truth is Stranger than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age (IVP, 1995), and has co-edited (with Garnett Roper) A Kairos Moment for Caribbean Theology: Ecumenical Voices in Dialogue (Pickwick, 2013). He has published articles on creation theology in the Old Testament, the problem of suffering, and the dynamics of human and divine power in biblical narratives. His books have been published in Korean, French, Indonesian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
(more info)

Santa J. Ono, Ph.D.

President & Vice-Chancellor, University of British Columbia

“Science And Faith: Servant Leadership and the Secular University”
Drawing on his own experience as a researcher, academic and senior administrator at the University of Cincinnati and the University of British Columbia, UBC President Santa J. Ono, will discuss how servant leadership can help faith and science co-exist at the modern secular university.

Santa J. Ono is 15th President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British Columbia. As a professor of medicine and biology, Ono has worked at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, University College London, and Emory, where he served as faculty advisor for several InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapters. He was the first Asian-American president of the University of Cincinnati when he was appointed in 2012, and he has been inducted by Johns Hopkins into its Society of Scholars. His research areas include the immune system, eye inflammation, and age-related macular degeneration. Ono is deeply committed to diversity and being open about one’s religious beliefs while being respectful to those with differing beliefs. His favourite book is The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis S. Collins.
(more info)

Robson Hall is a three-storey residence with beautifully furnished double occupancy rooms and six modern, comfortable community lounges (two on each floor).  Every two adjacent bedrooms share one bathroom.  Elevator service is available in Robson Hall.

Amenities inside each room:

• two twin size beds
• two dressers
• two closets
• two built-in desks/desk lamps
• two chairs
• fridge
• sink

Amenities in each bathroom (shared between rooms):

• shower
• toilet

Amenities in each community lounge:

• couches
• coffee tables
• dining tables/chairs
• fridges
• large island with sinks
• TV/DVD

PROMO MATERIALS

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