Note! OUR 2018 SCHOLARSHIP CONTEST IS NOW OPEN! As a part of our Local Chapters Project, the CSCA is delighted to offer fifteen student scholarships over three years (five per year) in order to help encourage the next generation of thinkers in science and religion! Science and Religion Conference Scholarships We are offering (at least) five scholarships each year from 2016 to 2018 of up to $1600 each to help Canadian students attend conferences dealing with science and religion. The money for each scholarship will go toward paying the flights, conference fees, and lodging for a major science-and-religion event of the …
Announcing Our “Local Chapters Project”
The CSCA recently hired a Project Development Officer, having received a grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation, Inc. In this post we now offer some exciting details on how we will be putting this funding to work! Our “Local Chapters Project” seeks to answer the big question held by the Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation: Given the unique challenges of the Canadian context, how can we foster and deepen people’s understanding of the integrity of science and Christian faith? The project aims to address the major problem of a small population living in a vast geographical landscape and the challenges such separation …
Nature, Nurture, and Destiny
From several corners of Western culture, the rallying cry entering the twenty-first century has been to be “true to oneself,” emphasizing “self-actualization”: a casting-off of traditional authorities and a rush to realize one’s own potential. But how are we to understand that potential, and the “self,” in view of modern genetics? When considering the role of genetics in human behaviour, it’s not long before one runs up against the question of “nature or nurture,” and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the West is rather confused about the matter. While some use genetics as a way to justify and explain their behaviour–being true to themselves in …
Introducing CSCA’s PDO
The CSCA warmly welcomes our recently appointed Project Development Officer, Mark McEwan! Originally from Edmonton, Mark lives in B.C.’s Lower Mainland with his wife, Krystal. He is avidly interested in matters of science and religion, and is in the final stages of earning a Master’s degree in Theological Studies at Trinity Western University, where he also teaches classes occasionally. In addition to being a certified Electrician, Mark is qualified to teach physical sciences and mathematics at the secondary level (B.Ed., University of Alberta). His academic interests include epistemology, languages, apologetics, and the fruitful interaction of science and theology. Also, he …
Cognitive Science of Religion and Christian Faith
Justin L. Barrett is the Thrive Professor of Developmental Science in the Graduate School of Psychology, and Chief Project Developer for the Office of Science, Theology, and Religion Initiatives at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA. A cognitive and developmental psychologist (Ph.D., Cornell University), his books include Why Would Anyone Believe in God? (2004), Cognitive Science, Religion, and Theology: From Human Minds to Divine Minds (2011), and Born Believers: The Science of Childhood Religion (2012). Barrett describes for us here the latest developments and challenges in the cognitive sciences for Christian faith. The essay is intended as an invitation. Readers are …
Call for Papers: Didaskalia
Dear fellow CSCA members, In addition to serving as the Coordinating Book Review Editor of PSCF, I also serve as the Editor of Didaskalia, which is the peer reviewed theological journal of Providence University College and Theological Seminary. The theme for our Spring 2016 issue is something that I believe will be of interest to you, namely Christ Centered Education. We are inviting essays that address the question: What does it mean to be a Christian scholar and teacher? We are anticipating a variety of perspectives on this, as contributors reflect contextually (i.e., within their own field, discipline, setting/type of institution, …
ASA’s 75th Anniversary
In 1941, before the United States entered WWII, before antibiotics or AIDS, before nuclear power or bombs, before computers or even transistors… five scientists gathered in Chicago to start the American Scientific Affiliation. Now 75 years later in 2016, PSCF will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of ASA with a theme issue dedicated to the history of ASA. Such reflection may offer insights to orient and inform how we understand our present, and thoughtfully develop from here. Chris Rios is an assistant dean for graduate studies at Baylor University. He wrote most recently After the Monkey Trial: Evangelical …
Hearing God’s Voice in Nature
“Hearing God’s Voice in Nature” was the theme of this year’s annual meeting of our broader group, the American Scientific Affiliation. It was held at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa Oklahoma, from July 24 to 27. The campus was a very intriguing setting. As usual, the ASA staff efficiently carried out their duties, seeing that all ran smoothly. Program Chair Dominic Halsmer and Local Arrangements Chair Wes Odom worked hard and graciously to ensure a productive and spiritually enriching time. The contingent from Canada and the CSCA (pictured) numbered about 20, including the foursome from the Sikkema Family from Langley …
Dan Osmond (1934-2015) – Mr. Valiant-For-Truth
Tribute to a visionary By Don McNally It was with great sadness that I learned of Dan Osmond’s passing on Saturday April 24th. Not only had a very good and gracious man departed; a significant chapter in the history of the CSCA had also come to a close. For over 30 years, from the founding of the CSCA in 1973, Dan had been the preeminent voice of the CSCA. Although he withdrew from his high-profile advocacy and activism for the CSCA during retirement, he always had the work of the CSCA top of mind in his prayers and support. In …
Give the Gift of Kenotic Membership
Is God highly exalted, apart from creation, above and beyond space and time, transcendent? Yes. Is God present within creation, personally engaged, working in and through all things, immanent? Yes. Some religions consider the divine as being an utterly transcendent, disconnected, dictatorial figure. Others regard divinity as being wholly immanent, found within nature, bound within time and space. But the Christian faith acknowledges God as both transcendent and immanent. One event which gives great clarity and depth to this is the incarnation: God becoming human in the person of Jesus Christ. He “did not regard equality with God a thing …