The Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology
and
The Magis Center
Present the Webinar
Science, Reason, and Faith: Discovering the Bible
This webinar was presented on December 2, 2023.
Our presenters
Rev. Robert J. Spitzer, SJ, PhD
Science, Reason, and Faith: Discovering the Bible
Father Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., Ph.D. is President of the Spitzer-Magis Center of Reason and Faith (www.magiscenter.com). He was President of Gonzaga University from 1998 to 2009. He is the author of fifteen books, including the award-winning New Proofs for the Existence of God, and most recently, Science, Reason, and Faith: Discovering the Bible. Father Spitzer has his own EWTN weekly television show called Father Spitzer’s Universe. He has appeared on the Larry King Show (debating Stephen Hawking), the History Channel, the Today Show, and PBS. Father Spitzer has partnered with Sophia Institute in publishing apologetics courses for middle and high school students, arming them with contemporary science-based evidence of the complementarity of faith and science.
Abstract
Built into our very nature is a desire to know about the world around us. The big questions of human existence are inescapable: Who am I? Why am I here, and where am I going? Why is there evil in the world? What is the meaning of life?
This yearning for truth ultimately leads us to our Creator. God knows the longings of the human heart, and he reveals himself to us through creation, through Scripture, and ultimately through the Incarnation. Because God the Son became man, we have a person to look to in our pursuit of truth: Jesus Christ himself, who is Truth. Christ helps us see that truth is not just the object of science and reason, but what animates the mysterious and loving power of faith.
In Science, Reason, and Faith, Fr. Robert Spitzer, SJ, explores in depth the Bible and the intersection of three realms that the secular world tells us are separate and incompatible. Fr. Spitzer draws the modern reader’s attention to the many seeming conflicts between science, reason, and Catholic teaching. By tackling these difficult questions, he shows that it is precisely through the integration of science, reason, and faith that we can truly discover ourselves, our world, and our God.
Thomas P. Sheahen, PhD
Using “Science, Reason, and Faith” alongside the Bible
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
Fr. Spitzer’s new book Science, Reason and Faith is subtitled Discovering the Bible because it displays the unity between science, the Biblical texts, and the presentation of the Christian faith contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. For the scientific reader, it is a reassuring surprise to discover how the elements of faith and science fit together so well.
Matters such as finding compatibility between modern physics and cosmology and the text of Genesis 1, or the significance of Old Testament miracles, are explained carefully in a way that a reader without expertise in Biblical scholarship or science can understand. New Testament questions range from the eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ miracles, through the full understanding of the real presence of the Eucharist, to the need for there to be an organized religion.
Structured in question-and-answer form, multiple topics containing a scientific component are explored across both Old and New Testament. This format enables the reader to quickly locate a particular topic of interest; and thus, the book serves as a handbook or reference guidebook. Several hundred citations guide the reader pursuing greater depth.
In my supplement to Fr. Spitzer’s presentation at this Webinar, I will develop some of these topics further, relating them to the principle of God’s omnipresence, which includes God’s supremacy over time, enunciated in my own book Everywhen: God, Symmetry and Time. Our independent approaches converge, which further shows the compatibility of faith and science.
Dr. Robert Kurland
Q&A Moderator
Our Q&A moderator, Dr. Robert Kurland (convert to Catholicism, 1995), is a retired physicist whose research has been in applications of magnetic resonance to problems of biological interest and in MRI (Carnegie-Mellon University, SUNY/AB, The Cleveland Clinic, Geisinger Medical Center). He is a graduate of Caltech (BS, with honor, 1951) and Harvard (MS, 1953, PhD, 1956). In his blog posts and books (the latest: A Science Primer for the Faithful) he has explored the intersection between Catholic teaching and science, and has shown that there is no contradiction between what science truly tells us about the world and our Catholic faith.
Webinar resources
Father Spitzer’s new book:
Science, Reason, and Faith: Discovering the Bible
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.