ITEST Webinar

Science at the Doorstep to God

This webinar was presented on September 23, 2023.

Our presenters

Thomas P. Sheahen, PhD

The Importance of Fr. Spitzer’s
“Science at the Doorstep to God”

Dr. Thomas P. Sheahen, director emeritus of ITEST, earned BS and PhD degrees in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During his 45-year career as a research physicist, predominantly in energy sciences, he worked for various industrial and national laboratories. In the 1990s, Sheahen wrote the textbook Introduction to High-Temperature Superconductivity. More recently, he wrote the book Everywhen: God, Symmetry and Time, which stands at the intersection of faith and science, and explains how mankind’s limited capabilities have led to a deficient and weak perception of God.

Abstract

Father Spitzer’s new book, Science at the Doorstep to God, is an especially important book at the present time, because the realization that our universe had to be created by a super-intelligent Transcendent Being is emerging into the public domain.

Here, Fr. Spitzer builds upon science to convincingly establish that God created the Universe, and mankind does have a soul, containing both intellect and free will. These are the points that well-informed Christians must be prepared to defend. The reader of this book can be confident that there IS solid scientific evidence underpinning the theological statements we assert about mankind. We can promote a resurgence of faith, backed by reason and scientific evidence.

Our religious leaders, both clergy and laity, need to be better informed about new scientific evidence and its implications.

Dr. Cynthia Toolin-Wilson

Q&A Moderator

And now we will entertain questions from our participants. You may type your questions in the chat area at the bottom of your screen. Our Q&A Moderator, Dr. Cynthia Toolin-Wilson, is a life-long New Englander. Born and bred in Rhode Island, she frequently returns to Bristol to enjoy fried seafood and Del’s frozen lemonade near the Bay. She now works for Pontifex University, and teaches online at Holy Apostles College and Seminary, and Avila Institute. She lives in Vermont.

Cynthia earned an M.F.A. in Writing (Creative Nonfiction: Memoir) from Albertus Magnus College in 2015. Her more than 60 nonfiction journal publications and conference presentations include several memoir pieces. Her book, The Story of Holy Apostles College and Seminary, co-authored with Prof. Robert Hubbard of Albertus Magnus College, was published in 2019. Her personal story as the subject of an attempted abortion, Survivor: A Memoir of Forgiveness, was published by En Route Books and Media in 2021.

Webinar resources

Father Spitzer’s new book:
Science at the Doorstep to God: Science and Reason in Support of God, the Soul, and Life after Death

Father Spitzer’s Journal Articles

Articles on Metaphysics and Philosophy of Science

• “Fine-tuning and Indications of Transcendent Intelligence”—with James Sinclair in Theism and Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy, ed. by Joseph Koterski, S.J., and Graham Oppy (New York: Macmillan Reference, 2019) pp. 331-363.
• “A Contemporary Metaphysical Proof of the Existence of God” in International Philosophical Quarterly (December 2019).
• “Indications of Creation in Contemporary Big Bang Cosmology” Philosophy in Science, Vol. 10, pp. 35-106.
• “Proofs for the Existence of God – Part I: A Metaphysical Argument” International Philosophical Quarterly, 41:2 (June 2001) pp. 162-186.
• “Proofs for the Existence of God – Part II” International Philosophical Quarterly, 41:3  (September 2001) pp. 305-331.
• “Definitions of Real Time and Ultimate Reality” Journal of Ultimate Reality and Meaning: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Philosophy of Understanding, 23:3 (September 2000) pp. 260-276.
• “Indications of Supernatural Design in Contemporary Big Bang Cosmology” Journal of Ultimate Reality and Meaning, Vol. 27, No. 4 (December 2004), pp. 265-287.

Articles on Professional Ethics, Education, and Leadership

• “Getting to the Heart of Ethics” Journal of Business and Professional Ethics, Vol. 25, Issue 1 (Spring 2006).
• “Catholic Social Teaching and Pope Francis on Free Markets and Sustainability” in Journal of Jesuit Business Education 9, 2019.
• “The Complexity and Rapidity of Decision-Making and the Failure to Integrate Ethical Reflection into It” in Catholic Business Journal August 2008.
• “Four Themes of Jesuit Business Education” in Journal of Jesuit Business Education, 4, July 2013.
• “The Heart of Business Ethics” in Journal of Jesuit Business Education 1, July 2010
• “The Role of Philosophy in Jesuit Higher Education.” Jesuit Education 21: Conference Proceedings on the Future of Jesuit Higher Education, June 1999.  by Martin R. Tripole.  (Philadelphia, PA: Saint Joseph’s University Press, 2000) pp. 152-159.
• “Covenant Love:  Interpersonal Personhood and Work in the Social Theory of John Paul II,” in Prophecy and Diplomacy: The Moral Doctrine of John Paul II. Ed. by John J. Conley, S.J., and Joseph W. Koterski, S.J. (Bronx, NY: Fordham University Press, 2000) pp. 270-284.

Dr. Sheahen’s Resources

• Everywhen: God, Symmetry, and Time
• ITEST Webinar: Everywhen: God, Symmetry, and Time published by En Route Books and Media in 2021.