Lori Pearson is offering a course about Religion and Science in winter term. The first third dives into the history of understandings of religion and science, examining how in the ancient and medieval period, they were viewed as virtues that were aimed at helping people live in accordance with the structure of the cosmos; this part also looks at how philosophical developments in the modern world came to classify religion and science as competing and autonomous entities, with science in particular (by the turn of the 20th century) becoming authoritative for solving problems (including especially societal problems). The next third looks at questions of environmental ethics, and the last third looks at religion, technology, and ethics. Here is the description, along with the tags:
Religion 224: Religion, Science, and the Moral Imagination (4,5c –winter 2026)
How do we imagine the relationship between religion and science? Are they at odds, in harmony, or different ways of imagining ourselves, our world, and our futures? This course explores historical understandings of religious and scientific thought, asking how the two came to be separated in the modern era. We use the imagination to explore power dynamics and moral judgments embedded in assumptions about matter, nature, mind, bodies, persons, and progress. We draw on literature, philosophy, and theology to consider questions about ethics, focusing on climate change, ecofeminism, technology and personhood, AI, and the possibility of alternative futures.
CL: 200 level
DGAH – Digital Arts and Humanities Program :: DGAH Critical Ethical Reflection
ENTS – Environmental Studies Program :: ENTS Society, Culture and Policy
LAR: Humanistic Inquiry :: LAR: HI, Humanistic Inquiry
LAR: WR2 Writing Requirement 2
PPOL – Public Policy Program :: PPOL Ethics
RELG – Religion Program :: RELG Christian Traditions