Gerald Schroeder Tonight at UT

I wanted to take this opportunity to remind Central Texas folks about Dr. Gerald Schroeder coming to campus on Tuesday, March 8, from 7-8 pm in Room 1.202 of Ernest J. Cockrell Hall (ECJ).

The following is unabashedly copied and pasted from SixDay Science owned by my good friend Dr. Sarah Salviander and her team:

For those of you in the Austin, Texas area, the Christian Faculty Network is coordinating a special event in early March:

The Origins of Humankind: From Mud to Man
Comparing Biblical Writings with the Fossil Record

Presented by Dr. Gerald Schroeder

Tuesday, March 8th, 7:00 – 8:00 PM with Q&A to follow
The University of Texas at Austin, Ernest Cockrell Jr. Hall, Rm. 1.202

Free and open to the public

Gerald Schroeder is an MIT-trained physicist and author of the bestselling book The Science of God. He was on the staff in the physics department at MIT before moving to Israel to join the Weizmann Institute, the Volcani Research Institute, and the Hebrew University. He has consulted for agencies of several national governments and lectured all over the world. He has several scientific publications, and his work has been reported in Time, Newsweek, and Scientific American. His formal training in chemistry, physics, and the Earth and planetary sciences provides the basis for the broad scientific perspective he brings to his books and lectures. For the past twenty five years, Dr. Schroeder has also pursued a study of ancient biblical interpretation. An ability to handle the biblical material in the original languages allows him to tap the subtle depths contained in the original texts.

Download a printable poster for the event here.

Also, THIS SATURDAY (for all folks, not just those around Austin), authors Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelburg are hosting a webcast on "The Case for Christianity" and are looking for churches, schools, and ministries to host the event. It is most of the day on a Saturday. The goal is to make it as accessible as possible for folks to attend. I think it is pitched mostly to believers, as there will be a worship artist between sessions (Lenny LeBlanc), but some seekers may be interested. Consider discussing it with your pastor, AND do we as a faculty group have an interest in partnering with any other campus ministries to sponsor a site here on campus? For more information, see http://scholar-redeemer.blogspot.com/2011/02/updates.html. Think of it as a broader version of the Vibrant Dance that includes historical evidence for the faith also. Also, there is an in-home subscription option for $99, if you want to have folks gather around your living room to watch it. (Being able to plug your computer into a large screen tv is recommended.)

SDG

Updates

1) As a follow-up to a recent post on the webcast of “The Case for Christianity,” you now have an individual in-home option if you can't get to a host site. It's $99, so visit www.incastevents.com for more info.

2) Martin Gaskell’s guest post has nearly gone viral. Over the last few weeks, and the last two days in particular, TSR has experienced record traffic, almost all of it due to people coming from PZ Myers’ Valentine’s Day blog dismissing Martin, and Tuesday’s surprisingly favorable coverage of the case by the UK Guardian. In both cases, someone who has read Martin’s post here cited the link in the comments section, and folks from literally across the globe have flocked to read it, leaving quite a few, shall we say, ‘enthusiastic’ comments. Both Martin’s case, and the post about Bob Woodberry’s tenure outcome have been the most viewed posts (by far!), showing how important issues regarding academic freedom are to folks, on many sides of the issues.

As I have read many of the comments on the referring sites in addition to the ones submitted here, it has become glaringly obvious that there are parties on both sides that have their minds made up and no amount of discussing facts and new information will bend them to even consider another point of view. To me, that is the biggest tragedy revealed through this episode. While Christians have certainly been guilty of being ‘closed-minded’ on Genesis and other issues, it is not a phenomenon unique to people of faith.

I can’t think of how to comment or elaborate further without sounding trite, so let me just close with an encouragement to use this as an opportunity to pray for the eyes of all hearts to be opened, that all with eyes and ears may see and hear, and that we begin by showing mutual respect to fellow human beings, whether we believe they are created imago Dei or not.

SDG

Bric-a-brac

Baby, it’s COLD outside! We haven’t been above freezing for over 24 hours, and won’t likely for another 36! This reminds me of my time in Ann Arbor. I’ll admit, I’m sort of enjoying it. There’s even an inch of snow forecast for overnight Thursday—makes me glad I don’t have classes on Friday and can stay home in front of the fireplace! (Though my laptop will also keep me close company—lots of work to do for my classes.)

It is simply amazing to me just how fine tuned the Earth’s orbit is—that just by shifting our relative distance from the sun by a few hundred miles, our temperature shifts from sweltering to freezing and back. I’m sure some geologist or astronomer can tell me exactly how far Texas moves away from the sun between summer and winter, and I’m sure I can even calculate it myself if I bothered to look up the 2-3 pieces of data I’d need, but I can promise you—it ain’t much, and that is incredible. I’m not saying it couldn’t have happened naturally, it could have—if Earth exists, it has to exist somewhere, so why not here—but this is just one of the dozens of ‘just exactly rights’ science has realized about our universe. How many before we give in and say the raw probability of God is higher than the raw probability of random dumb luck?

Recently, I posted about “The Case for Christianity” webcast. They have a new video online. Check it out and tell your pastor!

Also, recently, I wrote about Christian and Muslim Views on Science and Religion. An astronomy colleague wrote me with the following in response:

“One thought occurred when I read Safak's comment that Muslims stopped watching the sky. I'm reading a book about the history of astronomy written by Michael Hoskin that touches on this. Hoskin comments that Islamic astronomy, like that of most cultures up to that time, was primarily concerned with facilitating astrological predictions. Astrology was very popular, but Islamic religious authorities frowned on it, so much so that astrologers/astronomers and their patrons were sometimes killed. That might have discouraged sky-watching. Moreover, from other sources I have read, it appears the decline in science occurred ca. the 11th/12th century when Islam became quite orthodox and the Greek wisdom that Muslims had previously treasured were deemed corruptive to faith.”

Stay warm in the hope of Christ!

SDG

"The Case For Christianity"

Many folks have heard of Lee Strobel, the author of the apologetic “The Case For..” series. He started out as an atheist, trained in law and worked as a newspaper journalist on issues of law for many years before applying his training to study the Gospels. Upon coming to faith, he started writing about what he learned, eventually joining the staff of Willow Creek Community Church for a few years before writing full time. It was at Willow Creek that he got to know Mark Mittelberg, their evangelism director and co-creator of the “Contagious Christianity” curriculum that was so widespread in the 1990’s.

In the spirit of the Vibrant Dance Symposium about which I wrote extensively in the fall, I am excited to announce that Stobel and Mittelberg have teamed up for a live webcast coming up in March, “The Case For Christianity.” In an all day seminar and worship format, they will “present the latest scientific and historical evidence for Christianity—and answer the two biggest objections to the faith. Plus ask your own questions during this compelling interactive telecast.”

According to the website, “1 Peter 3:15 tells all Christians to be ready to defend why they believe what they believe - yet most Christians don't feel prepared to do so. This one day event will help participants walk away encouraged in their own faith and feeling more confident in discussing the claims of Christianity with friends, family members, and others.”

Here are the details:

March 12, 2011—Live via satellite & webcast:

8:30 am - 2:30 pm MST

9:30 am - 3:30 PST & CST

10:30am - 4:30 EST

Event format:

Several high-energy sessions featuring music, visuals, and easy-to-understand illustrations, as well as time for dealing with the provocative questions submitted by satellite viewers, including:

-Affirmative scientific evidence for God (note: the contents are appropriate for any church, regardless of their position on age of the earth.)

-Historical evidence for Jesus' divinity.

-Confronting why God allows pain and suffering, which is the biggest objection to Christianity that is raised by skeptics.

-How Christians can deal with questions raised by their seeking friends.

-Lee and Mark respond to questions from the satellite audience (via email, text messages,) and the studio audience.

Websites:

www.incastevents.com

http://caseforchristianitylive.com/

In my conversations with one of the promoters, I found out that they not only want churches to serve as hosts, but also schools, parachurch organizations, well, pretty much anyone. They see it as a great extra credit event for religion majors, seminary students and others in related fields. I will be sharing this information with pastors, campus ministers and our faculty fellowship, to encourage more opportunities to host this. If possible, I hope to post about it during and after.

This webcast has the potential to help shore up believers’ confidence in the reliability of their faith, and to reach out to folks still asking questions. While events like this are wonderful, mountain top times, their impact is limited unless the viewers act on and pass on what they learned. As many of you know, we really develop mastery of new material when we teach it to others.

Thus, I encourage you to help host the event, attend, and then share with those God brings to you.

SDG